Everyone seeks happiness and tries to avoid suffering. This tendency is built into us. It gives direction and purpose to our activities. It is, therefore, true to say that Purpose is integral to our nature without which we could not exist. As we are part of all life and of the Cosmos, made by its processes and laws, then purpose is inherent in the whole of Existence. Happiness may be defined as a state of self-fulfillment and misery as a state of frustration or unfulfillment. There are, therefore, different degrees of happiness and misery and they will, depend on the nature of the person or entity considered. Some basic characteristics are common to all human being and there are some differences, which make each person unique. These differences refer mainly to relative quantity or strength rather than quality.

The notions of Paradise and Hell can be regarded as the ultimate Poles - the one attracting and the other repelling. Paradise may be defined as "closeness to Allah", who is Unity and, therefore, to Unification. Hell may be defined as "distance from Allah" and, therefore, to disunity and disintegration.

Paradise and Hell are said to exist in Heaven where we will experience them in the Hereafter (i.e. after death in this life) when our consciousness has become disentangled or released from the prison of the gross material. It almost self-evident that there is much more to Reality than we are conscious of. We have a restricted consciousness in this life, because it is concerned mainly with maintaining life within the environment and with various ambitions and desires connected with our body and its senses. Our idea of what we are, what our life and environment is, is also restricted by our consciousness. But we do learn and acquire knowledge and skills willingly or unwillingly. This indicates that there is a world beyond what we any instant know, and our motivations do change accordingly. This is true of us both individually and collectively, and as a race, and indeed, of the whole of life. Evolution does take place and it is not accidental.

The world we are conscious of is only a small part of total reality. Heaven may, therefore, be regarded as that part of total reality of which we are not yet conscious. Though happiness and misery have physical effects, they are not physical states nor are they mere ideas in the mind. They are experiences. That is, they are states of consciousness. But Paradise and Hell do not refer to the experience of the individual alone. They refer to conditions or places in the Collective or Universal Consciousness of which the individual consciousness is a part. But they are consequences of the state of a person of his thoughts, motives and actions according to natural laws. Though these consequence become manifest to us only on the day of awakening, they are taking place all the time - every action not only produces changes in the environment but also modifies the person doing it. We could become conscious of this. The Day of awakening is not necessarily after physical death, but a person can be regarded as asleep or spiritually dead in this very life - his body, worldly mind or restricted consciousness is the grave. And he might awake (34:46).

The realization that Reality is greater than the bit we experience changes our entire attitude to existence and our value system.

But there are signs and indications even in this life about the existence of the greater Reality:-

There are also signs in this life about the reality of Hell and Paradise:-

We may, therefore, take the happiness and suffering which exists on earth as examples or particular cases of general phenomena known a Paradise and Hell. It is evident from 2:26 that the description is not literal but metaphorical or symbolic. Paradise is described as a Garden, which provides nutrition by virtue of the spiritual river. Hell is also called the Fire, which burns, but also transforms. Fire causes suffering as long as you stay in it. It is a consequence of ignorance and unawareness.

It is truth, the knowledge, understanding and awareness of it, which lead to self-fulfillment and Paradise and ignorance and stupidity that leads to Hell. This does not only refer to individuals but also to whole communities in which people interact and in which all individuals should be responsible for each other. No community is destroyed without warning about their misdeeds.

For those who seek Truth there is a promise that: -

However,

The reason for this blindness is that we have ceased to function according to our inherent God-made nature and have formed a crust owing to desire for, and attachments to sense objects. The Prophet Muhammad (saw) is reported to have stated that all men are born Muslim (that is, in surrender to Allah), but it is their parents who make them something else.

The Quran, therefore advises:-

We are not normally aware of what our inherent purpose and goal is. We may have been misled by what we have learnt from others, by systems of ideas, by illusions caused by an inadequate examination or processing of the data of experiences, by habits of thought, by fantasies, by diverted attention, by various forms of mental addictions. We may, therefore, lack the appropriate knowledge, motivation and ability to fulfill ourselves.

People tend to seek pleasure and avoid pain. However, it is well known that things that give pleasure may, when over indulged in, lead to suffering - e.g. eating too many sweet things may lead to disease. Apart from this each additional sweet produces less pleasure per sweet. Pain, on the other hand by repelling from the source, may lead to pleasure. Each additional bit of the source of pain also reduces the amount of pain per item. It is not, therefore, the pleasure or pain which should be the focus of attention but the things which cause them.

The human organism, as other organisms, is a system in which all the parts interact and are inter-dependent. It has a certain amount of autonomy as indeed all object have. It also belongs, as a part of a greater system, to this planet and ultimately, the whole Cosmos. And it has arisen by a long history of adjustment to it. This ability to adjust may be defined as intelligence. But there is also in the Cosmos an inherent striving to develop. The adjustment of organisms, therefore, also involves development. This may be the result of the accumulation of experiences and periodic revolutionary phase changes when Quantitative changes turn into Qualitative ones, and major re-organization occurs. Changes from ice to water at the melting point, and of water to steam at the boiling point are examples. There are, therefore, three levels of Causation - the action of one thing on another, intelligent adjustment and re-organization.

The goal is, therefore, a state of inner and outer harmony and is also known as self-fulfillment. The anti-goal is a state of inner and outer disharmony and conflict, a state of self-contradiction. Pleasure comes from a process that leads to self-fulfillment and pain comes from a process that leads to self-destruction. Pain and pleasure, themselves, are only indicators.

A human being, from the Islamic point of view, is a unity formed from the combination of the material of the earth and the Spirit of God (32:7-9). Therefore, though consciousness is a spiritual faculty it has connections with the human body, particularly the brain. There is a parallelism or correspondence between the physical and the spiritual owing to their interaction. However, the phenomenon of sleep does indicate that consciousness is not the same thing as the brain. It is possible to define the mind as the functioning or behaviour of the brain or person. But consciousness does not refer to the mind either. It is perfectly possible to think and act without being conscious. And even during sleep the brain is active. Sleep is similar to death.

Neurologists have found a so-called Happiness Centre located on the back left side of the brain. This area is bigger in people who are most cheerful and smaller in those who are more miserable. The electrical activity here is found to increase when a person is happy and decreases when he is sad.

Studies show that some people are naturally more cheerful and happy while others are less so. There seem to be different levels of genetic predisposition to happiness and misery that can be modified by environmental factors, circumstances and personal efforts. People can be said to have different baseline levels of happiness. Circumstances can cause a person to fall below or rise above this line. Persistence of circumstances may cause the baseline itself to change up or down. But circumstances affect people according to how they interpret them. Accordingly, inner attitude and efforts, self-suggestion etc. can cause the baseline to change.

Human beings, like other organisms, have to live in an environment with which they are in exchange of materials, energy and information. They have needs from the environment that must be fulfilled by actions on the environment. The actions are possible because of the materials, energy and information within the organism. These actions use up the materials and energy that they have, and this creates the needs that motivate their action. If the intake exceeds the output then growth can take place. But this growth, like fat, may obstruct the functioning of the organism. Or it may increase its needs or abilities. There are, however, many levels of needs - physical, social, cultural, spiritual and they are inter-connected to various degrees.

In every case there are three factors to consider:- (a) the inner need. (b) the outer condition or supply, (c) the abilities of the organism to harmonize the two.

The opposition between the inner need and the outer condition represents a problem, a stimulus that activates us. When faced with a problem the fight/flight/defense mechanism is aroused, the purpose of which is to remove the problem and restore harmony or unity. This can be done by searching for and providing a third reconciling factor, the solution. Human knowledge, motives and abilities do just this.

Tension, the readiness for action is caused by a hormone adrenaline - Its effects are to increase the respiration rate in order to supply more oxygen, increase the heartbeat and blood pressure in order to supply the muscles and nerves with more nutrition, takes away blood from inner organs and skin into muscles hence the pallor and sometimes the loss of control over bowels and bladder, increase muscle tension, increased narrowing down and concentration of attention. Action relieves the state of tension. If pressure of circumstances cause this to become a persistent state or it becomes a habit, a constant attitude, then damage will be done to all the organs and systems involved. Nervous exhaustion will ensue and immune system will be damaged leaving the person open to all kinds of diseases.

The state of happiness appears to be connected with the production in the brain of endorphins. These lead to nervous and muscular relaxation, a feeling of well being, lower blood pressure and decrease in heart and respiration rates, strengthening of the immune system, better functioning of all organs and expansion of consciousness.

Many people are very ambitious for wealth, power or prestige, but find that these do not produce happiness. A person does, after all, only need a certain amount of food and clothing and can only use so much at a time. In fact, the intensive pursuit of these at the expense of physical health, social and psychological welfare are indicators of an obsession and deeply entrenched unhappiness and their behaviour reinforces this. These pursuits tend to arise from an irrational fear of deprivation caused in childhood. Such people also create a great amount of misery for others. Not only does their own misery cause them to become callous and indifferent to others, but there is also a subconscious aim - the desire to punish others for their own suffering or, at least, to equalize it. Their mind may be too occupied with their own misery or heroic attempts are being made to escape from it by diverting attention to other thing.

Three things are necessary for happiness:- security, love and significance (respect, a sense of having some value). These are interdependent. The withdrawal of love, especially in early childhood, causes insecurity and a feeling of worthlessness. When this is reinforced repeatedly it becomes very strongly fixed and the behaviour of the individual comes to be dominated by the desire to seek security, love and significance. He either withdraws into himself and into a world of fantasy - a psychological flight, or constructs various defensive barriers, or else he goes on the attack. This may consist of boasting in words, action or manners to raise himself (in his own estimation or in that of others) or to diminish and reduce others, also by words, action or manners. Those who are not given security, love or respect are not capable of giving them either. We, therefore, get a vicious circle which may become a downward spiral. This appears to be the main basis for the escalation of competition when there is no need for it. Competition does, of course, exist in nature because of the inbuilt tendency of life to expand and the existence of limits to natural resources. But coexistence, cooperation and unification are also evident in nature. All these tendencies must exist in balance. Human beings possess enhanced intelligence and ought to be able to control their affairs better. But they have allowed competition to destroy the other tendencies to a large extent. Instead we get two types of people - the Domineering and the Dominated, each requiring the other. However, these types may be also be propagated by the traditions and culture of the classes into which man has become divided originally by the same tendencies. There is, of course, also the possible tendency to acquire the resources, abilities and powers necessary to fulfill a goal or purpose and a objectively good one. But though many claim that this is the reason for their actions it is more usually the case that they are rationalizing an irrational obsession, which they wish to hide from themselves. Much self-confrontation, self-examination and self-control is necessary to recognize objective truths and to behave objectively. It requires the development of what the Quran calls the Self-accusing soul (Nafs-i-Lawwama -75:2).

This ability to look into oneself appear to have atrophied owing to three factors:- (1) That external stimuli, temptations and pressure have increased greatly owing to technology, organization, industry, materialism caused by advertisement and shop displays, the speed of life, pressure of work and other stresses. (2) The inner scene is unpleasant and painful, being full of contradictions and features which conflict with their value system, thereby creating guilt. People would rather escape from it than rectify it because that is easier to do. (3) We live in age of ideas of all kinds pressing on us from many directions and contradicting each other - newspapers, magazines, television, radio, films, politicians, various kinds of advisers, scientists and so on. People have been conditioned by their culture to a mixture of ideas and values that have not been digested, organized and assimilated. They have very little contact or compatibility with their inherent nature. There is an increasingly strong barrier between the persona and the essence. This is like the difference between the nutritious core of the fruit and its skin - more like the coconut.

Research has shown that babies need to be close to their mothers, to whom the child was physically attached and who is a source of nutrition and warmth. Thus, security, love and significance are combined in its connection with the mother. When the mother goes away the child feels insecure and show this in agitated behaviour. But when the mother returns and reassures it with close contact, the child subsides into contentment and can now continue to engage his attention on toys or whatever it was occupied with. If this separation and return happens frequently but gradually increases in extent, the child learns that the departure of the mother is not a permanent loss and becomes gradually independent. If, on return, the mother remains distant the child tends to grow up insecure and either constantly seeks reassurance, being less able to put attention on anything else. Or else it tends to become depressed and withdraws into itself. Interest, enthusiasm and motivation declines. Such children have difficulty in learning and achieving. They have greater inner needs - they need more than they can give, require support rather than providing it, and are more dependent than responsible. They are more timid and passive and their self-confidence, initiative and enterprise is low. The whole Society, therefore, suffers. It is exactly such people who are also dominated, controlled and exploited by the other Dominating types.

The proper development of the child requires both parents and both roles. They are also the role models for the son or daughter and learn how to adjust to the opposite sex from their parents. It i within the family that motivation and moral values are learnt and human psychological energies are cultivated and channeled. Whereas it is true that some people can overcome the consequences of dysfunctional families and a difficult childhood because of inherent factors, other fortunate circumstances, or personal efforts, it is also evident that all would be much better off if family life was ideal. But children damaged by being brought up in bad families also produce bad families. This according to the Laws of Thermodynamics tends to create a downward spiral quite naturally. A reversal of this, an upward spiral, requires sustained conscious efforts, which is only possible for extra-ordinary people, those inspired by a spiritual system.

Self-respect and the respect of others, also depends on having a self-image, a system of values, and a purpose. It can be obtained by association, attaching or identifying oneself with a power source - some powerful or famous person, group, institution, ideology or cause. In order to produce happiness the self-image must be realistic, good and useful. A false self-image that produces egotism, arrogance or conceit cannot produce happiness for several reasons. It isolates a person from others and creates conflicts. It also creates illusions, which collide with reality. The greater the conceit the greater the eventual fall and suffering. No man is, in fact, independent and a creator of his own talents and circumstances. Everyone benefits and depends on things supplied by the talents and work of others and on the resources, forces, laws and processes of the world. The more he realizes this the better is his adjustment to reality.

One way of obtaining significance is to have a goal and working towards it. Achieving it creates happiness. But failure causes misery if a person identifies himself with his circumstances. Therefore, achievable goals are required. Goal posts can be moved in small steps. And it is necessary for a person to learn to detach himself from his circumstances. Failure in a project should not be regarded as necessarily a reflection on the person himself. It may be because of circumstances he could not have foreseen. If knowledge or skills are required he can still acquire these. One can learn from failures more than successes. This is because success may be accidental and there are a much greater ways of failing than being successful. Indeed, the success or failure of an action are irrelevant when it is the effort itself which has the transforming value. A sense of priorities is required. Most things are relatively trivial in comparison with ones life and inner state.

Misery may be caused by guilt feelings owing to excessive pride and arrogance and isolate themselves from others. Humility and forgiveness counteract this. People who have excessively high standards not only tend to punish themselves when they fail but also judge and condemn others by them. And conversely, if they judge others according to high standards they also condemn themselves by the same standard. Or else they hide themselves from themselves by projecting their own failings on others. All this causes intolerance, criticism of each other, back biting, gossiping, social conflicts, construction of barriers and both social and mental isolation. The result of which is that the free flow of psychological and spiritual nutrition is obstructed.

More generally, misery is caused by having high and unreasonable, illusory expectations, and tensions due to ambitions, attachments, addictions, obsessions, phobias etc. Gratitude, an optimistic attitude (glass is half full rather than half empty), and a positive attitude (looking for opportunities and at possibilities in a situation rather than for and at difficulties and obstructions) are conducive to happiness.

Religion cultivates security, love and significance by association with God who is the ultimate source of power, removes attachments and false expectations, provides a set of objective values and priorities, promotes gratitude and optimism, provides forgiveness, creates a self-image. This makes people independent. The idea that the spirit of God is within oneself and makes one a Vicegerent does not only (a) bestow responsibilities on the person for himself, others and the cosmos, but it ought also to (b) bestow an expanded sense of his own potentialities and (c) a sense of unity with others who also have the same spirit within them.