By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
25 November 2022
Tiki Hai Hayaat Takhmeena-O-Tawaqqo Pe
Isi Udhedbun Mein Ye Zindagi Tamaam Hui
-Dayashankar ‘Naseem’
(Life hinges on assumptions and presumptions/Tamely does life end in this perpetual dilemma)
Aaghaaz Se Pahle Anjaam Ka Dar Hota Hai
Doorandesh Bada Tangnazar Hota Hai
(One is already scared of the end before one embarks upon a sojourn/ A farsighted person is often very parochial……..Explanation: A farsighted man is full of assumptions and presumptions and that impede his success and growth)
” To assume that someone is angry and presume that the friendship has gone sour are manifestations of negatively hyperactive human imagination. “
Psychologist William James
Keep Thinking Much Before The Event;
Mark My Words, You’re Bound To Repent
-Thomas Fuller
Human life is based on assumptions and presumptions, two baseless and overhyped fears. We often miss the target because of our silly assumptions and fabricated apprehensions. ‘ Until you swim, how can you assume or presume that water is deep,’ Laotse would often tell his disciples.
Alexander the Great would never have dared to come to India from Greece had he assumed and believed that the moment he would set foot on the soil of the East, he would die. His father Philip’s court astrologer Veranoite warned young Alexander never to go to the East. But he dared and came and also won nine battles before an abdominal ulcer forced him to horse back to Greece. He didn’t care for assumptions and therefore could come so far and win comprehensively. Had Napoleon Bonaparte assumed that he was destined to remain an ordinary man, he’d never have become the emperor of France because an Italian clairvoyant Pellidos made his natal chart and told his mother that this boy would never be able to achieve anything in life! Had M K Gandhi and Mandela assumed that their countries would never get freedom from the colonial rule, they’d never have striven and become so great. And their countries would also have remained colonised.
Assumptions are the weapons, nay alibis, of the weak and timid. To assume is not to resume. Assumptions prod us to give up. They affirm our vague beliefs and make them strong convictions.
English poet and critic William Hazlitt said, ‘ Assumptions are the feathery wings of our imaginations.’ They indeed are. Life’s eighty percent tragedies are caused by assumptions and beliefs that were never tested and examined. In medical science, there’s a chapter called ‘Assumptive Therapy’. Doctors are taught how to make the patients get rid of their assumptive ailments. Once the patient is cured of his/her assumptions, the ailments also disappear in a jiffy.
The foundation of all man-made organized faiths is based on assumptions and presumptions. That there’s something called Hereafter or Afterlife is a glaring example of this phenomenon or proclivity, whatever you may want to call it. A blindly fanatic Muslim or Christian will assume that whatever rubbish is written in the Books is god’s words and presume that all others will face eternal damnation on the Day of Judgement. Human relations, interactions, actions and all interpretations are based on this assumption and presumption, two sides of the same coin. When you start assuming, you tend to lose the sight of your objective. To quote an Urdu poet, ” Ye Sochte Hi Rahe Aur Bahaar Khatm Hui/Kahan Chaman Mein Aashiyaan Bane, Kahan Na Bane ” (The spring ended in assuming where should we make an abode in the garden and where not).
Let your assumptions remain assumptions and don’t allow them to get ossified. Once they get ossified, they also become fossilised and then you can’t disabuse yourself of them. To assume is to subsume oneself with negativity and despair. Ergo, stop assuming and life will open up a plethora of opportunities for you. Avoid over-thinking.
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A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the world’s premier publications in several languages including Persian.
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