By Imam Vernon M. Fareed
Unlike any other living thing in creation the human being has freedom of choice, and by virtue of this freedom he bears responsibility of most of his decisions. The body is a willing servant and does only what its master instructs it to do. The manner in which we think has a great deal to do with the way we feel as well as our station in life. The following statement from the late Imam W. Deen Mohammed is a case in point to highlight the degree to which our thinking affects us.
“A doctor was once hearing the complaints of his patient, and his patient didn’t really have any real complaints except in the mind. The complaints were of the mind not of the physical body, and this person was living a very unhappy life and needed help. They needed more help than you would expect from some two year old child. So after struggling with this patient for a long time the doctor said, “I am going to give you a different prescription just for today.” The person said, what is it? The doctor said; “forget about yourself and go out and find somebody that needs some help and help them!” Sometimes that’s the only way you get healed for your own sin. You have to take your mind off your own problems and off of your own self. Find somebody as miserable as you are – even more miserable and go try to help them and that will be the cure for you!
G-d has created us that way. Yes, G-d has created us that way! The more we are concerned about others, the more we are able to benefit from our own life. As our interest in others grow, we are able to do more to make our own life better. And unless we have an interest in others we could build up nothing but interest in our selves or for ourselves, then the more selfish you become. We don’t always get the wrath of this, or I will say injustice, to the people that we live among and with. None of us came here by ourselves, we had a parent and if we didn’t, we had someone to step in the place of that parent and care for us. We couldn’t manage by ourselves, as little infants and toddlers, etc., so none of us have done so by ourselves.
Before we are aware of what we need personally, other people are giving of themselves to us. So the best benefit will come to us when we do the same thing they did. Find you somebody that needs help, and do your best to give them some help.” IWDM
We have a prescription in the words above, for the help that we need to cure our minds. We are finding more and more people depressed today than ever before, and we are finding more people sleep deprived and stressed out than ever before. These type of individuals are prime candidates for this prescription above. The prescription medicine alone that you get from the doctor will not solve the problem! Most of the time these medications only mask the problem, or at best gives the individual the ability to function. People need real healing in their lives, and oftentimes this will come only when there is a change in the way that they think!
You might want to lose weight, or you might want to improve your financial status and someone might offer you the solution to these things, but unless you change your way of thinking you will never accomplish your goal. So having the solution to a problem in front of you or at your disposal is only half of what it takes to meet the challenge – the other half is changing the way you think. Remember, the mind is the boss and the body is just a willing servant!
