As human beings, we have an inherent need to seek to assert control, for we believe that if we can control our circumstances, we can ensure our survival.
Yet it is often extremely difficult to control external forces and factors, let alone other human beings, and so we often find ourselves perpetually frustrated, often unconsciously attempting to employ greater and greater levels of force to assert dominance over the circumstances of our lives. Yet doing so only feeds the cycle of frustration, stress, anxiety and anger.
Ironically, however, when we learn to control our own beings, i.e. control our inner selves and states, we counterintuitively gain control over our lives.
Meditation Equals Control
Allah Almighty states in the Holy Qur’an that it is only when one learns to change inwardly and within that their circumstances and conditions will change outwardly and without, [13:11]. Thus, there is a direct and reciprocal relationship between what is happening within us and what happens, occurs and manifests in our environments and experiences.
When we are in a state of peace, tranquility, harmony, stillness and surrender, we attract to ourselves circumstances and situations that are in vibrational resonance with such positive states of being. Yet when we are anxious, stressed and fearful, we likewise attract to ourselves situations and circumstances that mirror our internal state of neuroticism, further feeding the cycle of frustration and anger that characterizes so much of human experience (see Mastering the Law of Attraction).
The key to experiencing harmony, peace and stillness in our life circumstances is to first experience peace, harmony and stillness within. In seeking to forcefully control the outer world, we experience frustration, for we are not gods in creation. Yet paradoxically, in surrendering control by simply surrendering and choosing stillness in the moment, we make possible the flow of divine grace into our lives and environments, indirectly leading to experiences of greater grace and goodness.
» Meditation = Control
Ultimately, what matters preeminently is what we experience inwardly, and this we can develop control over through practice (see Islamic Meditation Program).
Flow is Greater than Force
By tapping into the peace and the presence of the Divine, we allow the flow of divine power and light into our lives. In doing so, we ourselves enter into the state of flow, and so increasingly experience ease by the grace of God. Yet when we are not in flow, we instead often find ourselves using force, which can only lead to frustration, for what one resists will persist.
» Flow > Force
By learning to surrender and become still through meditation and meditative spiritual practice, we literally open our hearts and souls to the flow of divine mercy through us and into our lives and circumstances. This is one of the meanings in the sacred verses of Surah ash-Sharh, in which Allah Almighty affirms, “Verily, with difficulty there is ease,” [94:5-6].
Often, in order to assert control, we use force in attempt to manage our circumstances. Yet force inevitably fails, while flow naturally and effortlessly results in and leads to success.
The Paradox of Control
Paradoxically, by giving up, surrendering and relinquishing control through force over circumstances, we gain mastery over our lives. Our experiences of reality originate from within, and so real and authentic power is within. Inevitably, we are led, guided and directed to the power of faith, for it is through faith that human potential is awakened (see Awakenings Academy).
To your divine and eternal success.
