Are You Crazy?

Sanity and insanity have to do with one’s thought process. Sanity is considered to be a balanced thought process according to the standards of ethical values and norms of the society.

Anything practised by a majority of people for an extended period of time, at a certain stage, it becomes normal. Normal is something that everyone likes and practises. Something that people, as a majority, do not practise, is considered to be abnormal.

If every single person in the world is crazy, then being crazy is normal.

For example, if every member of the nation speaks loudly — and they scream and shout — and they consider it normal, what can you say?

So sanity and insanity can be described, however, there has to be a societal, spiritual or intellectual mirror in which you can judge the norms of sanity.

Sometimes normal things, according to your common sense, appear to be abnormal in the eyes of others who have different standards of ethical and moral values.

Learn more about how the different sources of moral values affect our worldview in the May edition of the Messiah Herald: Save Society with EQ.

In the country where I was born, if somebody is naked and walking on the street, people will call him a mad person. However, in Europe it has become a fashion; [some] people are demanding to be allowed to walk around nude. There are restaurants in Central London where the diners eat naked. They’re all well-educated people; even then, they do not think that if everybody is naked, it will create a chaotic hygienic problem. I really don’t like this idea, but then again, so what? If somebody else wants to be naked, I don’t care; it is their life and they have the right to live it as they want.

So we don’t really know what is sanity and insanity anymore, because people have different standards nowadays.

This article was originally posted on Younus AlGohar's Medium page. 

Quote of the Day: Eternity is, Ironically...

'Eternity is, ironically, parallel to human nature.' - Younus AlGohar

Self-Awareness Level 2, Lesson 7: Emotional Sanity

Editor's note: the following is the seventh lesson in Younus AlGohar's course on Self-Awareness, Level 2: Emotional Intelligence.

For better background information, read Self-Awareness, Level 1, in the Messiah Herald.

Read Self-Awareness, Level 2, Lesson 6 here.

Having studied different cases relating to our intellectual well-being and welfare, the findings have astoundingly surprised me. I conclude that the human brain is so vulnerable to becoming prey to different situations where emotions play their part, and our emotional sanity is badly affected.

What happens to our mental welfare when we strive and long for certain things but don’t get them? A sense of deprivation prevails on the surface of our emotional river. What transpires in a human brain when a person has access to all luxuries and comforts in the world?

The Sense of Achievement and Sense of Deprivation

Let’s suppose a child asks his or her parents to buy an expensive toy. Some parents are financially well-off and have so much love for their child that they buy that expensive toy for their child.

Having acquired that toy, what transpires in the faculty of the child’s emotions? What possible emotional aftermath could occur when the child’s desire is fulfilled? He must have gotten a sense of achievement.

In comparison to the child who acquired the toy of his or her desire, let’s talk about a child who had a similar desire but his or her parents were not able to afford that toy. As a result, there was a sense of deprivation felt by the child.

We have to closely monitor these two senses. What would be the impact of these two different senses on these two different children?

If this is just a single incident, whereby the child did not receive the toy from his or her parents, and when another toy is desired, it is given to the child, that initial sense of deprivation would become null and void. For the child who did acquire the expensive toy, the sense of achievement would have created this notion in his or her brain that anything is reachable. He or she begins to think, ‘I just need to say it for it to be done.’ This is where the imbalance in your emotional state occurs. 

The Duty of a Parent

Once the child acquired what he or she desired, now is the time for that sense of achievement to become null and void. Next time when the child asks for even a small toy, don’t give it to him or her. By doing this, you are actually securing his or her emotional well-being. The sense of achievement the child had developed when he or she acquired the expensive toy will go down the drain when another desired toy is not given to him or her. Their emotional sanity is restored.

If you had refused to buy a toy for your child, the sense of deprivation would strike on his or her mind; what you should do is to buy your child the toy they ask for next time, even if it is inexpensive. If you don’t do that, the sense of deprivation will have taken root in the child’s brain which is not good for his or her emotional sanity.

The sense of achievement and deprivation both go hand in hand. They are parallel to each other. 

When a child is sick, the doctors tell you to give the child paracetamol - and, in intervals, give them ibuprofen. Similarly, fulfil one desire of the child and say no to the other.

Say no to one toy and say yes to the other. If you keep saying yes every time the child wishes to get something, you are actually destroying your child. If you keep saying no every time, because you think, ‘I do not have means, how can I buy anything for my child?’ this is detrimental to your child’s mental health. Even if you have to borrow some money, get your child the toy because you will be doing it for the sake of the welfare and wellbeing their emotional state.

The same goes for the adults. If you try and every time you try, you fail, this is going to have a very bad impact on your emotional sanity. 

When I was in Pakistan, a friend of mine asked me to go to China with him. So we went to the Chinese embassy. He got the visa but I was refused. Then we made a plan to visit Bangladesh. We applied for a visa. He got the visa but I was refused. I was beginning to wonder, ‘Why? What’s wrong with me?’ I didn’t really realise what was going on. Then a few months later, I applied for the British visa. When I was entering the UK embassy in Islamabad, I was so nervous and paranoid; my heart was galloping like a horse. I was denied the visa once again. At this point, my emotional sanity was disturbed.

Then, I applied for the Indian visa and I got it. You can’t imagine how happy I was! I had broken the shackles - I was on the no-go list and suddenly I got a visa. My emotional rationality and sanity was being restored. Getting the visa was one thing, but the aftermath implications of having or not having the visa was another.  If I have the visa, I will have a sense of achievement, if I don’t have it, I will have a sense of deprivation. Both are aftermath impacts. I was relieved and it restored my emotional condition.

For example, every day in your business, you are losing £1000. Suddenly, one day, you make £500. You will be amazingly happy because the losing streak has stopped. That change will make you happy - not because of the monetary benefit, but because of your emotional well-being. The sense of deprivation will be gone. The sense of achievement, when you needed it, will restore your emotional sanity.

What Affects The Emotional State?

We are living in a jungle of different types of emotions. Every action and deed is directly linked with an emotion.

Every action and deed, whether it is your deed or somebody else’s, is going to have some effect on your emotional state. For example, if you see somebody is helping the needy ones, you will have positive emotions for that person. If someone is beating up somebody for no reason and is being abusive, you will have negative emotions for them.

Everything we do will have an impact on the emotional sanity of people around us. You are the one who will make positive or negative emotions in the hearts of other people.

What you do will shape up emotions of people for you. This is the reason why some people fake what they do in order to earn positive emotions from others. In the eyes of people, they do certain things and everybody praises them but behind the scenes, something else is going on.

If the schools, colleges and universities are full, you should not expect anybody to be ignorant but even then the world is full of ignorance. Similarly, when the mosques, churches, temples and synagogues are full of worshippers, why is the world bad?

When these people are in the worship places, they are good; when they come out, they change. If they were genuinely worshipping God, they would have changed. This world would have changed.

Are You Emotionally Intelligent?

It’s not just your actions. What you say is also directly linked with emotions. When you say something nice, it will please many hearts. One nasty word from you will trouble so many hearts. People will develop a sense of hatred because they cannot deny what they see and hear.

No matter what you do behind the scenes, what you do in front of people is the only thing that will create negative or positive emotions in their hearts.

People have negative emotions for you because of your bad deeds and words. People love you and praise you because of your good deeds and morality. The way you give people respect and the way you conduct yourself [will generate positive emotions in their hearts for you]. You are not emotionally intelligent if you do not realise this.

Some wounds that are caused by weapons heal quickly, but the wounds done to your heart verbally stay on the soul forever and are never healed. Make sure you are very careful with your mouth. With this one piece of meat between your jaws, you create problems for yourself.

Everything is live. People change their mind every second. You could do good things all your life and just do one bad thing will make people change their mind about you. Be careful. Nobody is your enemy. You yourself are either your friend or enemy. When you become carefree and think, ‘I will do what I want to do,’ you are actually making people hate you. You think you are powerful and you got away with what you said, but people will hate you because you are exposing yourself. If you are incapable of doing any goodness, stay the way you are, but do not fake it.

We are all closely linked to each other. Our lives are very much dependent on each other. You cannot live a solitary life. Our happiness is very much dependent on others. Emotions are the backbone of your social life. What you say and do will definitely create some kind of emotions in your heart as well as in the heart of others.

Conflict of Emotions

Do you realise that in the moment in time when you feel a sense of achievement ,somebody in front of you is touching upon the sense of deprivation?

There is a conflict of emotions between you and that person, which will create jealousy.

Day in and day out, we only care about ourselves and we hurt others. When we do this, even our family members are emotionally millions of miles away from our hearts. Sometimes we do it and we are responsible for creating this rift and sometimes they are responsible. How can you have a good relationship when emotionally you are falling apart? 

Now is the time for us to be emotionally and spiritually intelligent. We should know what it is that is good for us and what is bad for us.

In order to have a good relationship, you want to make sure that your emotions are aligned and you do what you can to create an emotional bond [with those around you]. When you do not have an emotional bond, how can you have a love bond? It is not just our own emotions - we should also be concerned about the emotions of those who live around us.

A good spiritual man is one who only begets positive emotions, who does not beget negative emotions and who does not cause any other person to beget negative emotions.

Food For Thought

Do we care about the effect of what we do and say on the people who live with us? Or the people that we are dealing with in our day-to-day lives? We also must monitor ourselves and ensure that anything we say does not affect anybody’s emotional sanity or cause them to create negative emotions in their hearts.

On the other hand, if you are doing or saying the right thing - for the benefit of humanity -  and it hurts somebody, then it is not your problem. This is because they do not care about humanity; the truth is hurting them because they care about their ego. If they did not care about their ego and actually cared about the humanity, then the truth would make them happy. Always say the right thing [no matter what].

Self-Awareness Level 2, Lesson 1: How Thoughts & Emotions Impact Behaviour

Editor's note: the following is the first in Younus AlGohar's course on Self-Awareness, Level 2: Emotional Intelligence. For better background information, read Self-Awareness, Level 1, in the Messiah Herald.

The full lecture is available in English language on the AlRa Tv YouTube Channel. Press the play button above to watch the video.

Human psychology is very sensitive. Emotions (both positive and negative) and our reaction to different things are very complicated. Whether it is love or hatred, generosity or stinginess, holding grudges or forgiving people, it is all about emotions. Emotions play a very pivotal role in our life.

Not enough has been discussed in the spiritual circles about human behaviour and emotions. However, everything is revolving around emotions.

Emotions are, oftentimes, a set of reactions to things. Whether you are being grateful to God or you’re being thankful to your fellow men; whether you’re unhappy with yourself, with your fellow men or with God; it is all reaction.

You will see people with positive and negative reactions. Some people are more likely to exhibit positive emotions. Some others tend to be very economical with exhibiting positive emotions.

Negative emotions come from the negative source in you. Positive emotions will come from an enlightened heart and a conscious soul.

Sometimes, you will see people with only negative reactions and emotions. You’ll wonder why such people only exhibit negative emotions, and why their reaction is oftentimes more severe than expectations. This is all human psychology. Our brain is the centre point where everything is cooked.

Some people spend 16-18 years in school, college and university. They become discerning, learned individuals. They think they know everything, but that is foolish. There is so much knowledge. There is so much to know about so many things in your life, that you can never learn enough to understand everything.

Psychology on its own will tell you nothing. With just psychology, you will become a sophisticated mind with a lot of unresolved, mysterious stories in your brain.

I have noticed one thing as a spiritual person: that in every field of different types of knowledge if spirituality is not present, that knowledge is useless.

For example, psychology is the study of human behaviour, but it doesn’t tell you what it is that human behaviour depends on. It doesn’t tell you how human behaviour becomes positive and how it turns negative. Psychology is all about human behaviour but it doesn’t tell you the source; it doesn’t tell you how to manoeuvre your emotions.

Emotions are like a tennis ball that you throw at the wall and it rebounds back to you. Sometimes, somebody will say something you don’t understand; you’ll derive a desired meaning out of what they said and get angry. When you get angry, there will be an outburst of unclassified emotions.

So in that case, the action will be taking place inside your brain and the reaction will also be taking place inside your brain. You’ll be the sole creator of the mess you cooked in your mind.

What happens when somebody is not sound by mind? Oftentimes, unruffled, undisturbed peace surrounds him; even then, there is an unsolicited reaction. He’ll just be sitting in solitude and sometimes he’ll cry. Other times, he’ll smile. When you ask him what happened, he will say, ‘Nothing.’ What is it then?

You’ll be thinking about something nice and that nice thought will have a rebound. There will be a reaction: you will feel happy. This is self-acquired happiness. Then you will think of something really horrible and have all sorts of ideas. [You’ll draw conclusions based on your own estimation]. This is how you manipulate your brain.

Some people have a habit of thinking too much. If you wear a jacket every day, it will wear out very soon. If you use your tongue a lot, it will wear out one day. Then after that, anything that comes from your mouth will be nonsense. In a similar way, there is a gateway between the conscious mind and subconscious mind which is opened when you overload your brain. You won’t even know who is coming and going. Thoughts will be coming like rain from the subconscious mind. You won’t even be thinking about something, but the thoughts will be coming.

When you experience something and you think it is of less importance, then it goes into your subconscious mind. You only remember things which are in your conscious mind. However, sometimes, when you’re overloading your brain, the gateway between the subconscious and conscious mind is opened. Then you begin to remember the things stored in your subconscious. [And you become confused].

For example, something happened last week that you forgot because you thought it was of less importance. It was stored in your subconscious mind. Now, because you are [putting a lot of pressure on your mind], those thoughts are now coming into your conscious mind from the subconscious. You’re not aware of the source. You didn’t think about it, but you saw it happening somewhere.

The IQ and EQ Level

The IQ (intelligence quotient) level is all about putting every piece of information in your conscious mind. For example, you walked through a street. When you walked through the street, what did you see and did you think about it? That is what your IQ level will be judged upon.

For example, where I am sitting, there is a laptop, laptop case, bag, bottle of water, juice, glasses, phone, small fan, light and wall socket.

If you pay attention, every piece of information will go into your conscious mind. If you don’t pay attention, it will go into your subconscious mind. As result, your IQ level will go down.

It is like you have £100 in £20 and £10 notes and you only pay attention to the £20 notes because £10 notes are of less importance to you. You’ll put the £20 notes somewhere safe; you’ll put the £10 notes in your pocket and you won’t notice that they are falling out.

To improve your IQ level, when you look at something, pay attention. When you pay attention, that information will be stored in your conscious mind.

For example, you walked through a hallway and didn’t notice the glass of water on the side. If someone says, ‘There is a glass here,’ you’ll say, ‘Where? I didn’t see it.’ You saw it, but you didn’t pay attention, that is why it is not in your mind. Some people are so confused; they can see the glass, but there is no coordination between their mind and their eyes.

The IQ level is all about storing every piece of information in your conscious mind. You can ignore things, but your eyes can’t.

Your eyes are cameras. If you keep your camera on, it will keep showing pictures and images, whether or not you want to see them. In a similar way, your eyes and ears record every image and every word. Thoughts, things - anything you notice and hear - if it is done with attention, it is stored in your conscious mind and improves your IQ level.

This is what I am telling you; you won’t find it in psychology books. The IQ level, when not accompanied by the EQ (emotional quotient) level, is zero.

If you see someone beautiful and don’t show emotions, you [are not mentally sound]. If I see a beautiful woman walking, if both my IQ and EQ levels are good and I’m not religious, I must say, ‘Wow, beautiful.’ This will mean I have a healthy brain.

In order to improve your IQ level, you have to work on your EQ level. You become ill mentally when your IQ level lacks emotional intelligence. Show emotions!

If you see something and there is no reaction, you’re suppressing your soul!

For example, a room is messy and stinking, but you will see someone sleeping there because he lacks emotional intelligence. His emotional sensory system is not responding to the fact that the room is dirty. This means that there is something wrong with his emotional sensory system.  He will see that somebody is handsome and beautiful, but he won’t care. This is a mental disorder.

Another scenario is if something has fallen on the ground in a restaurant kitchen. All the workers, rather than picking up the fallen object, prefer to step over it and be on their way. This is because their brains are not working properly. They become naive to everything and are not aware of the intelligence of emotions. This is why they have turned into cabbages.

If a human being doesn’t have emotions, in my eyes, there is no difference between them and a cabbage.

So the IQ level is all about the EQ level. It is about emotional discipline. When there is something that should awaken your senses, and still your senses are not awakened, then you are emotionally dead.

When your emotions are dead and your brain is not responding, you cannot obtain divine love. It is impossible.

When your senses are not even responding to tiny things like the room being dirty, it is not that you don’t care; your senses are not awakened. If something is lying on the floor and your mind is not telling you to pick it up and put it to the side, there is something wrong in your mind. This is a mental illness. Some people think, ‘Why should I do it?’ That is also a mental illness. Maybe tomorrow, you will say, ‘I need to use the toilet, but why should I do it?’

Giving Yourself Peace of Mind

You’re sitting and with a bird’s eye view, you have seen everything. Your eyes have stored all the images. Sometimes, we just see things without [hearing them]. Our eyes record those images and they go into the back of our mind, stored in the subconscious. Oftentimes, when those images reappear before our eyes, we wonder what it was. Your eyes have stored the images but you didn’t pay attention, this is why the information is incomplete. This is why your thoughts are ruffled and disturbed.

When you are somewhere, in order to have a healthy mind, you must see things with attention. If you don’t pay attention, this image which is stored in your subconscious mind will not have enough information and then it will trouble you later on.

At home, if somebody knocks on the door, I ask, ‘Who is it?’ I am not bothered about who comes and goes, but I need to know. This is because if somebody was knocking on the door but I don’t know who it was, this thought that somebody came and knocked on the door will be stored in my subconscious. It will bother me later on.

When things are incomplete and they transfer themselves from the subconscious mind onto the conscious mind, they create doubts.

Be careful: your eyes are like spy cameras. Everything is being stored. You want to make sure that everything being stored by your sensory system is not incomplete. Pay attention so that every piece of information is complete. When there is full information, your mind will be healthy. You will never be under any delusion or have any doubts.

Oftentimes, when people close to me are annoyed and irritated, I want to know why. I cannot feed my brain with incomplete knowledge. This is important for me. For example, if  you leave your phone at home at 3 AM, you’re walking alone and you don’t tell anybody where you’ve gone or why, [this will disturb me]. This is the inquisitiveness of my mind. I have trained my mind not to store anything incomplete. I need to know the reason. Right or wrong, I don’t care. I’m only concerned that when this information is stored in the back of my mind, it is not incomplete.

You need to be careful. Everything is being stored. What you need to do now is, whatever is being stored should be stored along with relevant information. If the information stored in your mind is incomplete, your IQ level will go down. IQ level is judged by what you have in your conscious mind and how much your conscious mind is affected by your subconscious mind. When you know everything which is being stored, this information will never go into the subconscious mind because it is not useless. The more information is stored in your conscious mind, the more intelligent you are.

In Conclusion

The relation between emotions and intelligence: the ability to identify something is intelligence, to react is emotions!

Some people make a mountain out of a molehill when they have pain. When somebody else has pain, they think, ‘It is none of my business.’ Such people are emotionally dead.

This is the initial introduction to the type of psychology I am imposing on you. This will go on for seven days. I bet after the completion of Self-Awareness Level 2, you will think you are a saint because you will stand on a street and you will know everything. You will know why people are doing what they are doing. This is IQ and it is accompanied by EQ level.

You cannot be an intelligent man if your emotional sensory system is dead.

If the room is stinking and you are comfortable, you are a cabbage. You are unresponsive. When you are sitting somewhere, your eyes are storing all the images and you’re not paying attention to it. You’re completely ignoring their existence. This is where your IQ level goes down.

It doesn’t take too long. Wherever you’re sitting, you can see things; just pay a little attention and complete the information.

For example, I need a glass and there is a glass nearby but because I didn’t pay attention, the image of the glass is in my subconscious mind, but the information is incomplete. Then I’ll ask someone to bring me a glass and they’ll say, ‘It is there.’ This sort of thing happens many times with so many people, but why?

We simply say, ‘They have an absent mind.’ What is absent? The mind is not absent; the information is absent in the mind.

In Self-Awareness Level 2, we will deal with IQ and EQ. Then comes higher awareness: awareness of God in you. Now we’re talking about awareness of you in you; in the third level, we will all talk about God and his presence inside you. Who is behind the scenes working in you? Level 3 will help you know who is inside you - God or the Devil - and how to detect it.

Self-Awareness Level 2 will go on for seven days. I guarantee you that after these seven days, you will have a lot more understanding of life and a lot more confidence.

Quote of the Day: Anger is an Exhibition...

'Anger is an exhibition of fear.' - His Holiness Younus AlGohar