Satisfying the insatiable

"The emulous desire of abundance engrosses you. Until you visit the graves." (Surah Takasur)?

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The pleasure you get from your favorite meal does not last long, after several hours of watching your favorite series do not end your boredom, listening to music does not make you happy, no enormous numbers of likes on social media are enough for us, in the end, we want more. The wants never end, and we never achieve happiness. It is interesting to see that that increased number of something you like does not make you truly happy. It is usually the other way around. In economics, this is known as the diminishing law of marginal utility, and in Psychology, hedonic adaptation. The pleasure from a commodity, experience, or behavior decreases as we keep doing it, and we need a higher intensity of stimulus to get the same amount of pleasure as we get the first time. The more you have something, the more you want it.

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To understand this, see how the neurotransmitter dopamine works. Dopamine is released in our brain when we receive a pleasurable stimulus. It is responsible for motivation and motivates us to do those activities from which we get pleasure. For example, you are watching your favorite show, scrolling on social media, getting a salary increment, etc. The problem with dopamine is that, a level rise follows a crash below the baseline, which results in a dreary state. Now, to have that same amount of rise in the dopamine level, you have to have a stimulus stronger than the first one because the stimulus of the same intensity will not produce the same amount of pleasure as the first one did.?

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The crux is that the body desires more and more of a stimulus; it is impossible to satisfy human desire. Talking about the desire for wealth, the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said “If the son of Adam had a valley full of gold, he would want to have two valleys. Nothing fills his mouth but the dust of the grave, yet Allah will relent to whoever repents to Him.” (Muttafiqun Aliyah).?

As I previously mentioned, in the first two verses of surah takasur, I will now describe the four meanings of the word “takasur”. Following are its meanings: 1) The desire to have a lot, 2) Competing with others in getting a lot, 3) Taking pride in having more, and 4) the High prevalence of this desire amongst humans.?

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For instance, let's take money as a desire here (as it is very relevant in the capitalist world in which we live). So, 1) we desire to have more and more money, 2) we compete with each other on it by comparing our lifestyle with other people and strive to have more of it, and 3) we take pride in having more (Posting pictures or adding stories on social media accounts to let others know what we have) 4) This desire is present globally in almost all humans.?

It is just one example; we can utilize takasur on our other physiological and psychological desires.?Now, the question comes: how do we manage our wants?

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Walter Mischel conducted an experiment on children in which he took them to a private room where they were presented a marshmallow on a table in front of them. At this point, the researcher made a deal with the participant. The researcher told the child he would leave the room if he did not eat the marshmallow. When he came back, he got another marshmallow as a reward. However, if he decides to eat it before the researcher comes back, he won’t get the second marshmallow. The researcher left the room for 15 minutes. Children reacted differently; some ate the marshmallow as soon as the researcher left, some controlled their temptation for a few minutes but eventually gave up, and few managed to wait the entire time. As years passed, the researchers conducted a follow-up study on these children, and what they found was surprising. Children who were able to control their urges had higher SAT scores, lower substance abuse, better responses to stress, and better social skills. This ability to resist an impulse to get a better reward in the future is called delayed gratification.?

Delayed gratification can help us manage our needs, wants, and impulses and live better. The concept of life after death can be a great psychological tool and motivator to practice delayed gratification in our daily lives. By this, we can solve issues related to emotional regulation, manage the consumption of goods and services, control addictions, practice self-control, eradicate self-centeredness, and increase prosocial behavior. Now the question comes: what is the end reward? For what should we delay our gratification? What is the second marshmallow in this case?

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The life of pleasure in the hereafter, as the Quran says, “Then as for one whose scales are heavy. So he/she shall be in a state of pleasure” (Surah Qariah). In Surah Layl, Allah says about a righteous person, “and soon he is going to be satisfied".

So you see, whatever we do here will eventually be rewarded in the next life with better things. So, why hustle so hard for pleasure? Why live a life of hedonism and eventually die of depression? The only way to satisfy the insatiable is to live life according to the commands of Allah and his messenger (SAW) and abstain from the trap of hedonic lifestyle.

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“But you prefer the worldly life. Whereas the hereafter is better and more enduring.” (Surah Al Alaa)

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