POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE SPIRITUALITY
Different Results
THE definition of spirituality given in the dictionary is—the state of being opposed to worldliness. This definition is partly true, for unworldliness is not just for the sake of unworldliness. It is for the sake of a higher goal. And that goal is to develop a spiritual way of life.
There are two kinds of spirituality—negative spirituality and positive spirituality. Negative spirituality means renouncing the material world, or leaving society and settling in some jungle or on some mountain. This kind of negative spirituality has no creative role. It suppresses all the natural qualities of a human being, who then dies without having made full use of his potential.
Quranic spirituality is spirituality of the positive kind. It means living in the world and trying to derive spiritual food from material things as a matter of intellectual discipline. It means to control rather than kill one’s desires.
The fact is that God Almighty has created man with great potential. It is not good to suppress this potential. One should rather avail of this potential for the sake of personality development. It means experiencing all the good and all the evils of society and trying to live with others without reaction.
The fact is that God Almighty has created man with great potential, It is not good to suppress this potential. One should rather avail of this potential for the sake of personality development. It means experiencing all the good and evils of society and trying to live with others without reaction.
Positive spirituality can be termed creative spirituality. For example, there is a verse in the Quran which says with reference to the believers that “they forgive people when they are angry.” (3: 134). It means that positive spirituality is based on the formula of anger management rather than on trying to become a person who has no feelings of anger. The formula for positive spirituality can be summarized thus: turn your negative sentiment into positive responses; make friends out of enemies.
The formula for positive spirituality is based on the principle of simple living and high thinking. Simple living and high thinking are complementary to each other. Simple living saves you from all kinds of distractions and high thinking saves you from being the victim of negative experiences. Simple living and high thinking are a sine qua non of the spiritual culture.
Positive spirituality is mentioned as follows in the Quran: “You are on the sublime character.” (68: 4). Sublime character is that character which is based on high thinking.
If you read the Quran, you will find that it lays great emphasis on patience (39: 10), reconciliation (4: 128), forgiveness (42: 40), avoidance (7: 199) and contentment (4: 32). These teachings apparently seem to advocate passivity. But that is not so, for they embody great wisdom.
The Quran tries to build that kind of mind which is able to manage all the affairs of life on the basis of spirituality. It is not passivity that is advocated but skill in the proper management of life’s problems. The purpose of this formula—indeed, the Quran’s greatest concern—is to concentrate on high goals and one who wants to achieve high goals has no option but to foster the aforementioned qualities. He has to try to effectively manage all undesirable situations.
Otherwise, he will become preoccupied by trivial issues and will fail to continue his journey towards higher goals.
The Quran tries to build that kind of mind which is able to manage all the affairs of life on the basis of spirituality. It is not passivity that is advocated but skill in the proper management of life’s problems.
In the chapter Al-Shams (The Sun) of the Quran, you will find these verses: “He who purifies it will indeed be successful, and he who corrupts it is sure to fail.” (91: 9-10). These Quranic verses refer to the importance of personality development, laying emphasis not on its physical but on its spiritual aspects. It is no exaggeration to say that this is the main theme of the Quran, personality development being its basic goal.
What is purification of the soul? It is to purify your mind of all kinds of bias and negativity. In other words, it is to decondition your conditioning. This is the mind the Quran tries to build. One who fails in this de-conditioning process will become a corrupt or an unwanted personality in the divine scheme of things.
Man’s personality is like an onion. An onion has a central core, but this core is covered by many layers. If you want to reach the core, you have to remove all these covers or layers. The same is true of the human being. A human personality is always subject to the process of conditioning, which wraps it up in many layers.
The process of conditioning begins right from birth. Initially, it is an unconscious process. The individual’s family, his institutions, his society, and his community: all are sources of this conditioning. From childhood up to adolescence, he is affected by this conditioning. Only after reaching adulthood does he become able to understand this problem consciously.
From here onwards begins what is called personality development. It calls for an awakening of the mind and a conscious discovery of this problem. At this stage, the individual must develop the capacity for anti-self thinking. He must engage in introspection. He must try to decondition his previous conditioning with complete objectivity. This is the most important task for every man and woman.
What is de-conditioning? It is a process of sorting out the ideas and concepts you have stored in your mind, all of which you must view with complete objectivity. You must overhaul your personality in a dispassionate manner. You have to remove the negative thoughts in your mind to turn your negativity into positivity.
A man asked the Prophet of Islam a very comprehensive question. He said, “O Prophet, give me a master piece of advice by which I may be able to manage all the affairs of my life.” The Prophet replied: “Don’t be angry.” (Sahih al-Bukhari)
This means you must try to purify yourself of anger. Don’t allow anger to become a part of your personality. It is only in this way that you can truly develop your personality.
Repentance is an inner spirit, a
readiness to atone for every kind
of mistake.