“God can’t give us peace and happiness apart from Himself because there is no such thing.”

― C.S. Lewis

I have been thinking a lot about this quote and want to share some (personal reflections).

Thread.

The hedonic treadmill is a principle which states that people tend to return to stable levels of happiness after an extremely positive or negative experience. It's the common experience everyone seems to have whenever we acquire our wants or go through extensive pain and loss.

Islam designates 5 daily prayers set throughout the day for believers to untie themselves from whatever state they are within and connect with the divine essence. We are given not one but five opportunities every single day to start fresh, and start anew.

Allah (swt) says “O you who believe, seek help through patience and prayer. Surely, Allah is with those who are patient.” (Q. 2:153).

We know that the word "sabr" means much more than just patience, it also means forbearance and resilience, a perpetual state of balance.

Yet, patience on its own does nothing if left to the cruel and spontaneous nature of the world. With Allah it all makes perfect sense. There is cosmic harmony in knowing that every event, its atom(s), and its very existence, in on course to some final (intended) end.

"Then, He fashioned him and blew into him from His spirit. He made for you hearing, seeing, and hearts, yet little are you grateful." 32:8

Consider for a moment the above verse and ponder one by one what it would be like to NOT have the things mentioned. What would it be like?

Your very existence, the parts from what you were made, the atoms, the laws, the principles, everything to its bare contingency relies on actualization, realization, existence, and continuation from Allah (swt). Without Him all of this would not exist. God creates and sustains.

When you realize that you are bit a small building block that relies for your existence on something profound, necessary, and foundational, you realize there is no *YOU* without Allah. He is the sole reason for everything you do, you experience, and will encounter. He owns all.

If you're looking for peace in anything else then it is by its very nature contingent, it can not provide you peace because it does not hold peace, it does not even sustain itself, yet you as temporary being want permanence from impermeant things? This world will never give that.

Allah (swt) is the source of all peace because He is the only necessary being, the one from whom all existence, all goodness flows, without God there would be no world, and there would be no divine essence from which we could draw our powers from, God wants us to turn to Him.

Once you realize your place in the world, your relation to the world, and its nature to fall like a castle made of cards, you will realize that the only thing worth fighting for, the only thing still, consistent, and ever flowing with goodness and refuge is Allah (swt) himself.

Perhaps instead of looking outside ourselves we should look inside ourselves to recognize the manifestation of divine beauty within our souls and their dispositions. Only Allah can give us true peace, anywhere and anyone else, is simply acting as a false home owner.

End/