CHAPTER 8

SPIRITUALITY

EVERY MAN MUST HAVE A DEEP AND MEANINGFUL PURPOSE

Why am I here? What’s the point of life? Existential problems are not easy to address. However, nearly everyone goes through an existential crisis at some point in their lives. I don’t believe in letting things happen to me. I believe in unleashing myself at problems before they arrive. You, like most people, will one day ask yourself these questions if you haven’t already. The simply answer is that we are all here to serve God in some way or the other. God gave us various talents and abilities that we must harness and use to serve humanity, and in so doing we serve the purpose God ‘intended.’ That’s the actual answer, I know it’s a bit heavy, but it’s the truth.

What if you don’t believe in God? Well, then don’t. It’s simple, there’s not a single person that can really tell another person what to believe. I do urge you to find out what it is you believe and what purpose you serve. It’s a question only you can seek guidance on and try to discover for yourself. It must come from within you regardless of what anyone else says is right. I’m convince that what I just said is 100% true and that our divine purpose is actually to serve God and nothing else. That’s what I know to be true.

No one can say that they know that to be true if they actually don’t know that to be true. You must arrive at that truth authentically and within your being. If you are a praying man, then you should seek God’s help in finding your way through life. God really does help those who ask for help. It’s a truism founded in every theistic religion. There really is no escaping that fundamental belief in all faiths of prayer.

I start my day with prayer and I end my day with prayer. I ask God and I give thanks to God. Those are part of the cardinal principles of prayer. Asking God is acknowledging that God gives, and giving thanks is acknowledging that you receive. It’s the relationship between the All Powerful who Owns everything and one who has nothing. It’s a very important acknowledgement for a man to know that he is under the guidance of Him. He must acknowledge that there is also divine accountability for all his actions and that despite his male ego, he can’t actually do whatever he wants.

The truth about life is that it doesn’t matter how many things go right for you if you are not grateful. It will not make you a happier person by simply accomplishing your goals. The only thing that will make you happy is if you’re grateful for what you have. You cannot really be grateful if you do not acknowledge that there is a Divine Giver to whom you owe gratitude. It’s that simple. Even if you didn’t believe in God, the idea of God is itself a necessary construct for the survival of man.

Man has this innate need to contextualise his existence and to establish a sense of continuity between him and all that preceded him. For this man needs an origin story, a place where he came from, a point in which he began. This origin story is furnished by the Bible, the Qur’an, the Torah, the Gita and various other books. These stories are necessary and form deep connections within our psyche such that it informs most of what we do. It is exceptionally powerful to believe in something, and if one must believe, the belief that makes most sense is the belief that One God originated everything. That there is a Creator of the Heavens and Earth, who sustains life, renews it, and maintains it.

The God I believe in is present and active. That’s the God I invite people to believe in. I don’t believe in an absent God, one who created everything and then rested. I believe in a God that both creates and sustains. A God who is active within creation, and without creation. I believe in the God of every Prophet and Sage. I believe in the God that binds all of humanity into one Brotherhood. That’s the God I believe in and that’s the God I invite people to believe in. But if you don’t believe, that’s not my problem, it’s yours, and that’s fine. I must honestly tell you that there is only One God and that is the Truth.

I don’t know how to speak about a spirituality without belief in One God so I’m not going to do that. I imagine that people can still live meaningful lives, to the extent possible, without gaining a semblance of the ultimate meaning. In other words, someone can find meaning in simply looking after other people without ever claiming a belief in God. There is meaning in everything and there are mercies from God through all goodness that is done. One cannot deny the goodness of anyone, regardless of what they claim belief in or whether they disbelieve.

For you and me, it is important to address the crisis of existence. How you address it isn’t as important as addressing it to begin with. Take time out and ask yourself the big questions of life. Try to find the ultimate meanings of existence, outside of merely procreating and defecating. There must be more to life than money, women, children and shiny toys. There is more to life than all that. However, that doesn’t mean that all those things should be shunned or rejected.

I went through a period of life where I did in fact shun and reject all forms of indulgences. I felt that I would find God if I denied myself myself. I believe it worked. I did find God that way, but it was incredibly strenuous. Ironically, once I found God, I became this. I became worldly on the outside and spiritual on the inside. I sleep with three women regularly and enjoy all manner of worldly pleasures. I like fast cars, and dangerous sports, money and fancy restaurants. I’m far from abstemious because I’ve learnt that Godliness isn’t the absence of worldly pleasure, it’s the fact that your heart is not attached to any of it. Through my years of severe fasting and practicing self denial, I learnt to guard my heart from attachments, because worshipping

one God means that your heart cannot have room in it for anyone other than Him. Don’t run after the toys you find in the shop, go to the one who makes the toys.

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