Why Don't We Act According To What We Know?

Knowing what to do tells you nothing about what happens in your head when you try to do it

As salamu alaykum wa rahmotullah,

Trust you're well and preparing for Ramadan. I pray Allah make us witness it, help us to perform good deeds during the period and accept them from us as acts of worship.

In an effort not to miss an edition of this weekly digest, I thought to do something different while keeping it short and simple. So rather than share my thought, it's a question I have and I'll like to read your thoughts. Please do make your comments on this post, on the tweet, as a WhatsApp chat, or send an email - whatever works for you.

Some context...

Have you ever been in a position where you know you should act in a particular way, but for whatever reason acted in a different way? For example, you know an act is forbidden - let's say lying, backbiting or watching pornographic contents, yet you still go ahead to do it at that moment. Why does this happen?

I recently read in a book that knowing what to do tells you nothing about what happens in your head when you try to do it. And I've been asking myself, why do we know a thing, yet act in a different way?

As Muslims, we know that sins have evil consequences, yet we engage in sinful acts. Why?

We know how rewarding it is to wake up for the night prayers, yet we don't. Why?

We know that we'll leave this world one day and return to our Creator to account for our sojourn, yet we act and live as if we'll be here forever. Why?

I used to believe that having knowledge about the evil consequences of sins and tremendous benefits of performing good deeds will help stay away from the former and do more of the latter. However, my experience has made me realise that it's one thing to know, and another thing to be able to act accordingly with the knowledge.

I'm curious to know why this happens. My belief is if we're able to crack the why, then we'll probably know what to do so that what we know and how we act can be in accordance.

So tell me, what are your thoughts on why we don't act according to what we know?