Is it Really a Life Cycle?

There is a common perception of assuming everyone will indulge in a bit evil at some point of their life. A studiomate of mine was reading aloud an article about an actress whose suggestive photos were dug up by a tabloid magazine. She didn't deny it and told the tabloid, "kalau tak buat muda-muda, bila lagi?" This perception is many a time seconded by my friends and family to a point that it is acceptable to indulge in a sinful scenario at least once in a lifetime, like it is a phase. My mother sometimes hinted that it is okay to go clubbing and I should experience the nightlife because 1. I'm still young. 2. I have nothing to lose.

Oddly enough, it is also expected for somebody who exudes piety to somehow morally rot later in life. I find this perception amusing, if it were not untrue. It is as if we have a barometer of good deeds and when it exceeds its limit, it will, at some point, explode. And whenever I protested the idea, people who told me of this 'life formula' will talk of real people who got their taste of trying to be too good. "So it's better to go clubbing, have drugs, smoke and have sex while we're still young?" I would usually retort. "Exactly!" they'll answer.

I personally think people who have this perception are justifying their past or present actions because "everyone's doing it" and "it's better now than after marriage". That or they are questioning god's greatest and most significant creation: human beings. Animals for instant do whatever they're doing based on instinct alone and nothing else. We, homosapiens base our actions through reason. Muslims base our actions through both revelation and reason.

The common 'do now than later' idea is loosely connected to our most basic emotion: curiousity. When I was smaller, I was bombarded with No's and Don'ts and when I asked why? because God says so! Maybe adults would think that reasoning with a small boy will have no effect on them to respond to real situations later in life but they, these so-called adults taught me ABC and I'm still using the alphabets to write and read.

Jangan minum arak, haram! Nanti masuk neraka!

Jangan rokok, haram! Nanti masuk neraka!

Being a smart aleck like I was (or probably still am) I responded "Tapi bapak rokok apa..."

Oh, bapak lain cerita.

Aik. Not knowing the real-life complication of smoking and drinking, I drank like Dato' Linggam and smoke like a train when I finally got out of home. The concept of Neraka and Syurga was too illusive to be taken seriously, especially when hormones reigns control. A yeal later when I read Leo Tolstoy about the reason why men stupefy themselves, I know now that the reason why so many people drink is to drown and darken their conscience. How many times have you heard people who had to drink before doing anything physically risky. French troops too were given alcohol before they fought the Boer war. Murders, rapes, accidents and other human-inflicted tragedies were caused by people who were too drunk to think straight.

Smoking may not physically stupefy our senses but it is a habit that gives enough reason for us not to think so much. When I sit down, doing nothing, I will subsequently be flooded with ideas, problem that needs solving, friends in need, appreciation of my surrounding etc. but when I take out a cigarette, light it and smoke, my thoughts will be diverted and simpler and more attractive tasks will come to mind and the only thing I would think of are my ideas. That's why some people can't do their work without smoking because they will become less self-critical and ignore their own contradiction which will perpetually produce work of lesser quality. And that is also why people who are under stress smoke, so they will only be able to apprehend a small portion of the problem.

So in short, smoking and drinking will make us morally immoveable.

Metaphorically, these habits will deny us from looking at an object in front of us. Our sight will either be diverted to something more simple and attractive (smoking) or our eyes will be shut altogether (drinking).

So to say thay we human will be victims of life's cycle of deeds and misdeeds is just plain rubbish. Mistakes are made when people do not have enough knowledge to judge a situation and shit happens in life to guide us back to the right path. So if we drink/go clubbing/ do drugs to forget about it, we will have to encounter the same thoughts when we wake up only for it to be forgotten by distracting ourselves again and again and again....

If I knew this before I got out of home, I wouldn't have to face my misdeed's consequences on earth or (god forbids, wait, he made the rules!) during the afterlife.

So it is not a cycle. The cycle is entirely up to us. The cycle is not imposed nor is it compulsary. We made it compulsary. Two words guys: Revelation & REASON!