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How many times have we desperately covered our ears with our hands, tightly shut our eyes and fearfully stashed our heads into the sand ignorantly like an Ostrich because we do not want to face realities that have struck our smooth running lives? May it be a life-altering choice that turned out to be wrong regarding your physical health, or your career choice or regarding the person you want to spend your entire life with or even sometimes religious beliefs; Allah will always show you the truth in His divine ways. However the question is, are you willing to accept Allah’s truth?
In human psychology, the concept of cognitive dissonance is the mental discomfort that leads to severe mental stress. This is a result of when an individual’s ideologies and values are confronted with new information contrasting their current beliefs. The cycle of cognitive dissonance is as follows;
- Denial: the individual repeatedly asserts that the ‘new information’ is false.
- Anxiety: the individual experiences mental stress as a result of conflicting ideologies and inconsistency between their beliefs and the ‘new information’ which leads to psychological discomfort.
- Confirmation Bias: the individual prefers to confirm their ideologies as ‘correct’ regardless of it being false in comparison to the ‘new’ information.
Source: The Roadshow for Therapists
There is no denying that every individual experience cognitive dissonance during a certain phase of their life. Allah is ever so merciful that he has readily provided His believers with a solution of how to overcome the vicious cycle of cognitive dissonance in the Holy Quran.
Source: Quran o Sunnat
“We have come to you with the truth, but most of you hate the truth” (43:78). -Holy Quran
If mentally you are disturbed by conflicting ideologies and if heaviness has overcome your heart, perform wudu and recite the following,
أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم – “I seek Allah’s protection from Shaitaan, the Accursed one.”
By doing so, Allah will surely spiritually cleanse you from anxiety stricken confusions that can mislead you to reaching wrong conclusions. After that, earnestly pray to Allah to guide you to the ultimate truth and give you the strength to follow the correct path that He has divinely shown you. But remember, when He shows you the truth do not ‘hate’ it to further burden yourself, rather embrace it as His pious believer.
