FOCUSED THINKING
The Quran is a religious book, all the teachings of which are based on religion and spirituality. But there are no watertight compartments in life. Every kind of religious teaching has some secular or worldly aspect to it. This applies also to the Quran. For example, fasting is a religious teaching of the Quran but, at the same time, fasting has a secular aspect in that it is good for one’s physical health.
This is likewise true of tawhid—the most important teaching of the Quran—meaning the oneness of God.
There is no god but the one God. The following Quranic verse most aptly expresses this:
Say, ‘He is God, the One, God, the Self-sufficient One. He does not give birth, nor was He born, and there is nothing like Him.’ (112:1-4)
Obviously, this is a religious tenet, but it also has its secular aspect, that is, focused thinking. When a believer adopts the belief that God is only one, he develops the habit of concentration. Concentration is the ability to direct all your effort and attention to a single point.
Belief in tawhid develops a well-integrated, focused personality. Such a personality hinges upon a single focused mind. In the first instance, focused thinking takes on the hue of a religious belief but, according to the law of nature, it underlies and conditions the temperament of the believer to the point where it spreads and affects all the other aspect of his personality.
Thus tawhid leads to focused thinking, and focused thinking prevents the individual from becoming the victim of a split personality or a fragmented mind. This kind of thinking makes one an integrated personality. And there is no doubt that an integrated personality is the most important aspect of a man or a woman.
Focused thinking saves you from mental confusion. It helps you to concentrate all your efforts on a single point, thus saving you from all kinds of distraction and from developing what is called a ‘grasshopper’ mind.
When a believer adopts the belief that God is only one, he develops the habit of concentration. Concentration is the ability to direct all your effort and attention to a single point.
Focused thinking develops concentration, enabling you to differentiate between relevance and irrelevance, between the real and the relative. It leads to concerted effort, ensuring that one will not waste one’s time and energy. Being focused in one’s thinking means that one’s journey will follow a single track without any kind of deviation. One who engages in this kind of thinking is bound to achieve great success.
It is said that the father of modern science, Isaac Newton, had the special capacity to think in this focused way. Many other great thinkers and super achievers had this ability. Indeed, there is no example in history of anyone achieving great success without having this gift. Focused thinking is the greatest quality in both men and women.
When a believer develops focused thinking in terms of his religious belief, it is not possible to confine it to religious matters. Naturally, it widens its sphere to cover all other aspects of the functioning of his mind. So, believers in the one God naturally become believers in a single target. In terms of religion, this is to believe in the oneness of God and, in terms of non-religious matters, it means concentrated thinking. Here, religion and secularism go hand in hand on the road of life.
