One of the important teachings of Islam is to be truthful. It is no doubt
relevant when dealing with people/society.
However does it apply equally in the realm of our psychology & subsconscious
mind? In Psychology,it is a well known fact that one can change oneself thru
positive self-affirmation & visualisation .It is believed that the
self-affirmations to the subconscious mind is best done in an “already achieved
mode”. For example,a student who is weak in mathematics and wish to improve on
it should say the self-affirmations as “I am excellent at mathematics” & also
visualize himself as ALREADY being good at Maths repeatedly. Or a person who is
a coward could reprogram his mind by saying to himself,” I am brave”,etc.This is
so that the subconscious mind is set with the positive intended goal and thus
will program the whole body with the message.
But the question is that such self-affirmation is not the truth (or not the
truth yet).
When he is telling himself that he is ALREADY being good at Maths, he is
actually “lying “ to himself. Is it acceptable in Islam?
In surah al-anfaal verse 43 & 44 describes how Allah makes the Muslims see the
enemy as small in number whereas they are actually LARGER than the Muslims. So
it seems it is allowable to “lie” to oneself in a positive way?
Also the concept of “husnul zann” of giving “70 excuses” when dealing with
Muslims show that we prefer to see the positive aspects rather than the real
truth?
a student who wishes...
Perhaps you have heard the expression: "You are what you think." Surely, concentrating on the "positive" rather than the "negative" can not be a bad thing!
Sra