Every aspiration that sets out along the path of love for this world is blameworthy, for it makes the world seem sweet in order to lure us into its trap.
Any aspiration that is worldly and directed toward this world, accompanied by heedlessness of the Hereafter and forgetfulness of the purpose of creation, reduces a person to worthlessness and ultimately casts them into Saqar.
An aspiration consumes all a person’s faculties, strength and resources in order to fulfil itself. Only a transcendent aspiration is worthy of having everything spent in its pursuit. Base, worldly aspirations strip the soul of its gold and leave it with nothing in return.
Aspiration marks the furthest point in the spiritual journey of anyone who aspires. If the aspiration is to win the pleasure of God Most High, it will have no end; it will continue forever. But if it is worldly and base, it will be buried here in this world. A person’s aspiration should not even be the pleasures of Paradise, for that would confine it to the same limited plane. The human aspiration should be God Himself.
اللَّهُمَّ أَنْتَ ثِقَتِي حِينَ يَسُوءُ ظَنِّي بِأَعْمَالِي وَ أَنْتَ أَمَلِي عِنْدَ انْقِطَاعِ الْحِيَلِ مِنِّي وَ أَنْتَ رَجَائِي عِنْدَ تَضَايُقِ حُلُولِ الْبَلَاء
إلَهِي كَيْفَ أَخِيبُ وَ أَنْتَ أَمَلِي
و إياك [أَنْتَ] أَمَلِي فَلَا تُخَيِّبْ آمَالِي
Aspiration enlists a person’s entire being and draws all their thoughts toward itself. We must therefore govern our aspirations and direct them toward God.
Aspiration nourishes a person’s ardour, longing and love; we must take care not to squander the very essence of our devotion.
Worldly aspiration, like love of this world, is the root of all sin.
Aspiration is a passionate, yearning desire. Our desire, then, should be immense, and we should offer it in sacrifice to the Almighty God.
Aspiration makes everything a sacrifice to itself: everything becomes fuel for it. It feeds on all a person’s resources and very being.
Worldly aspirations are nothing but mirages, and those who pursue them squander their resources on an illusion.
Worldly aspirations bring death.
Limited aspirations entangle a person in bounds, restrictions and constraints.
Aspiration reshapes the goal to suit itself; it appropriates the goal.
We must reflect: what is being spent, and on what? Does the expenditure match the return? To trade the Hereafter for this world through blind, worldly and self-centred aspirations is a mark of folly.
We must not let Satan and the lower self manufacture our aspirations and take charge of directing them. Let us draw on the guidance of the Two Weighty Things to shape transcendent aspirations for ourselves.
Transcendent aspirations do not deprive us of worldly pleasures; rather, these can readily accompany aspirations directed toward God.
Please refer to the attached file.