Peace of Mind

THE ART OFCLEAR THINKING Peace of Mind Perhaps the biggest problem in present times is that today, maybe not a single person enjoys peace of mind. Almost every person, rich or poor, has become prey to mental tension. I once learned of a computer engineer who all of a sudden received a sum of 750 million dollars from America for an invention. But this huge amount of money led to enormous mental stress for him, so much so that in a period of just a year, he lost his sleep and began consuming sleeping pills. The condition of a vast section of people, both ‘big’ and ‘small,’ in the world today is something like this. Generally, two sorts of solutions are offered for this problem of mental stress and tension. The first is the recommendation that one should try to earn as much money as possible so that one can obtain as many items of convenience, comfort, and luxury as possible. However, experience clearly shows the inadequacy of this approach. Many people accumulated a huge amount of material wealth during their lifetime but, despite this, remained devoid of satisfaction and tranquility until they finally departed from this world in that same state. The fact is that by nature, man is a perfectionist, while the present world is, in every sense, imperfect. This situation creates a contradiction between man and the present world. It is as a result of this contradiction that despite obtaining all sorts of worldly ‘goods’ a person does not enjoy contentment. Everything in the world appears to