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As salamu 'alaikum,
The following is translated from Ibn al-Arabi's 'Fusus al-Hikam'. I found it in 'Understanding Sufism' by Aftab Shahryar.
According to him [Ibn Arabi] the right relationship with the world is:
The world is a place of preparation where one is given lessons and passes many tests. The world is not bad. On the contrary, it is the arena of the hereafter. What you plant here, you will reap there. This world is the way to eternal bliss and therefore it is good, worthy to be cherished and to be praised. What is bad is what you do with the world when you become blind to truth and totally consumed by your desires, lust and ambition for it. Our master the holy prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be with him), in whom wisdom was as clear as crystal, was asked, what is worldliness he answered:
'Everything that makes you heedless and causes you to forget your lord' and 'Who ever prefer the world to the hereafter is made to suffer three things. An unbearable load that is never lightened, a poverty that never becomes richer, and an ambition, a hunger that is never satisfied'.
Therefore one who lives for this world alone is bound to suffer its pains and difficulties - trying to resolve its problems by himself, being totally dependent on it like a beggar, trying to obtain the needs of his flesh, and his ego from it. That flesh, that ego whose appetite never knows satiation, whose ambitions are endless, is always wanting, always hungry, always dissatisfied. These are the rewards of the world to those who make the world their lord, forgetting the Lord of the universe.
This does not mean that you should abandon the world, nor do your duties in it or participate in its affairs - retiring to a corner, making no effort, doing no work. The Messenger of Allah says: Allah likes to see the believer working at his profession. All that you need from the world is something lawful to satisfy your hunger, something with which to cover yourself, and a roof over your head. Let these be the only things that you ask from this world, nothing more. Don't be envious of the apparent abundance the world-bound seem to enjoy, nor wish for the riches they have gathered without any consideration of right and wrong, of lawful or unlawful. How long does one stay in the world?
(Ibn Arabi, Fusus al-Hikam)
The following is translated from Ibn al-Arabi's 'Fusus al-Hikam'. I found it in 'Understanding Sufism' by Aftab Shahryar.
According to him [Ibn Arabi] the right relationship with the world is:
The world is a place of preparation where one is given lessons and passes many tests. The world is not bad. On the contrary, it is the arena of the hereafter. What you plant here, you will reap there. This world is the way to eternal bliss and therefore it is good, worthy to be cherished and to be praised. What is bad is what you do with the world when you become blind to truth and totally consumed by your desires, lust and ambition for it. Our master the holy prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be with him), in whom wisdom was as clear as crystal, was asked, what is worldliness he answered:
'Everything that makes you heedless and causes you to forget your lord' and 'Who ever prefer the world to the hereafter is made to suffer three things. An unbearable load that is never lightened, a poverty that never becomes richer, and an ambition, a hunger that is never satisfied'.
Therefore one who lives for this world alone is bound to suffer its pains and difficulties - trying to resolve its problems by himself, being totally dependent on it like a beggar, trying to obtain the needs of his flesh, and his ego from it. That flesh, that ego whose appetite never knows satiation, whose ambitions are endless, is always wanting, always hungry, always dissatisfied. These are the rewards of the world to those who make the world their lord, forgetting the Lord of the universe.
This does not mean that you should abandon the world, nor do your duties in it or participate in its affairs - retiring to a corner, making no effort, doing no work. The Messenger of Allah says: Allah likes to see the believer working at his profession. All that you need from the world is something lawful to satisfy your hunger, something with which to cover yourself, and a roof over your head. Let these be the only things that you ask from this world, nothing more. Don't be envious of the apparent abundance the world-bound seem to enjoy, nor wish for the riches they have gathered without any consideration of right and wrong, of lawful or unlawful. How long does one stay in the world?
(Ibn Arabi, Fusus al-Hikam)