Page 60 - The Solution To Secret Sorrows

o
P
o
e
o
H How Do People Deceive
w
D

p
e
c
i
e
v
e
l

e
D
m
s
e
T Themselves?
h
e
s
?
e
l
v
One issue that draws people into trouble and unseen torment is
their self-deception and belief in the world's falsehoods. By inculca-
tion, a person can persuade himself that something he wants to be
true, really is. Since he interprets events in a way as he wishes to
view them, he comes to believe in his own interpretations—so much
so that even when those offering a different opinion are clearly
telling the truth, he thinks that they are committing an error.
For example, by one's own self-inculcation, a person may come
to think that his friends do not love him enough. Through such in-
terpretations of every incident, he may create plenty of evidence
that he is right. Even if people make satisfactory explanations and
perform acts that ought to prove the contrary, a person who has con-
vinced himself that he is right respects none of them. He uses every
detail to reinforce his own assumptions and even makes up imagi-
nary evidence to convince himself of what he wants to believe. The
fact is, however, that the person in question views the world as he
wants to and interprets events as he likes. For this reason, he lives in
continual torment.
This characteristic can be observed in most people in ignorant
societies, but may also be seen in believers who have not fully estab-
lished faith in their hearts and who fail to interpret every incident in
their lives according to the Qur'an. Failure to interpret events in the

58