Life, 1984

• Intelligible Life, 1985

• Universal Human Rights, 1992

• The Philosophy of Islam's Political Principles, 1987

• Positive Mysticism, 1992

• Pioneer Culture to the Rescue of Mankind, 1993

• The Qur’an, A Symbol of Intelligible Life, 1995

We would like to end this book by adding that we would highly appreciate any suggestions readers of this book may wish to provide us with.

had stepped into – at least, the way he stepped into them.

His childhood was spent with his silent, boyish thoughts; his youth, however, involved studies mainly focusing on humanity and the universe. As time passed, these two issues became more and more important to him, though his peers did not think so.

His first book, The Relationship between Man and the Universe (The Change of Physical Mass in Man's Understanding from the Earliest Times up to the Twentieth Century), written in three volumes, showed how distinctive his way of thinking was; even though he was just a young man, he had begun a journey that he spent the rest of his life on – studying humanity, the universe and the facts that sacrifice the universe for man and man for himself.

By considering things from a novel point of view, Muhammad Taqi Ja’fari tended to use historical issues with a new definition and for a new purpose. This made him be much more than a pure philosopher; other scholars paid attention to his thoughts on the basics of recognition and discovery and insights into science and philosophy.

Still, he never stopped at that, and tried open up a new road by using the latest findings in the humanities and also experimental sciences like physics and mathematics. In fact, his questions about the mystery of life and his stops at stations like how evolutions arises in culture, the secrets about education helped him swiftly pass through the narrow road of “what there is”

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and “what there should be,” and see life as an elevation.

That was when he reached a crucially fundamental domain called “intelligible life,” and then devoted all his capabilities into extracting a constructive truth out of obvious realities like culture, economics, science, history, philosophy, civilizations and technology that could save the world from falling into oblivion for the stormy hands of those who lack balanced thinking.

Since Ja’fari put a great deal of care into his work, and experienced and analyzed both Western and Eastern unsolved issues with incredible vigor and passion, and also probably due to his pioneer discoveries regarding issues where others failed, the second half of his lifetime had him change into an internationally renowned thinker.

Many Western scholars and thinkers from prominent universities all over the world visited him and held talks and discussions with him – over 100 major interviews, some of which have been published. Allamah Ja’fari and Bertrand Russell had correspondence with each other. Professor Rosenthal, Dr. Kenneth Alan Luther, Dr. Allal Al-fasi, Professor Gankowski, Professor Van Ess, Professor Koroda, Professor Muhammad Abdul-Salam, and many others were among those who came to Tehran to hold discussions with Allamah Ja’fari.

This book contains selections of but parts of the late Allamah's thoughts on some fundamental issues. It can be considered a way of thinking attempting to view truths from a new scope. Allamah Ja’fari's thoughts clearly show that he never confined himself to geographical boundaries; his main concern was mankind and the future – a future we

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cannot afford to neglect.

Those who knew him admit that he excelled at avoiding prejudiced or limited thoughts, and this book should also verify this fact – it is the cry of a thoughtful bird who sees the world as a garden to develop, fly and fly higher and higher in. He heeds us not to forget flying higher. Through his hundreds of comprehensive studies and analyses, he has told us that it is impossible to solve the mystery of life without making it face eternity.

If recognition is not feasible, the senses, mind and tools of experimentation must be used to acquire various viewpoints needed for coming to a concrete conclusion.

2- Conflicts in Findings: Those against the possibility of recognition believe that different people have various points of view when identifying facts, and achieving unity in this matter is impossible. Man may be appealed by something today, but disgusted by it tomorrow. What seems extremely valuable to him today may prove worthless later. Such a conclusion is not acceptable, for conflicts in identifications either lies in observable affairs or human imagination. If the dispute arises from worldly affairs, it in fact proves that identification is real, for without it the mind would never react differently towards various facts. Conflicts in mental and sensory discoveries also convey that recognition is real, for the mind and the senses create certain discoveries under certain circumstances and conditions.

3- The Variability of the Universe: Some believe that the constant changes and developments occurring in the universe and its components defies identification, for not only external facts, but also the human mind and senses undergo change, and thus cannot fully reflect facts.

The solution for this source of error is that change and progress in the two worlds –mental and physically observable– alongside identification shows that the main factor is something beyond the mind and the senses, and therefore is not prone to change. The mind and the senses merely serve as to transfer the knowledge to the discoverer – the self,

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soul, character, or spirit.

4- What is reflected from the observable world into our mind is not well-defined enough to be able to be compared with the facts and have the mental concepts matched with the external facts. Thus, we are not certain what there is also in the mind – in other words, whether it is compatible with the world outside or not.

In response to this problem, we must say that the human mind is capable of absorbing facts from the universe and also process them. This shows how powerful and significant the human mind is, not its incompetence. Sophists, however, imagined that the mind should be like a mirror that only reflects the facts, with no external impression on them.

5- The intimate relationship and dependency among the components of the universe has brought some to believe that ignorance toward just one part will lead to total ignorance. Such reasoning is applicable only to those who claim they have knowledge of absolutely everything, not considering the knowledge they gain from their tools for observing the external world as relative. However, there are cases of absolute knowledge, which do not fit into any form of logic or reason – “the universe is real and follows certain laws,” to name one.

are outside. A smell we sense, for example, is not the same when it has entered us. Likewise, when we taste something sweet and the message about it is transferred to our nervous system, our nerves will not exactly feel that sweetness. Our nerves do not turn into different colors when we see different colors, either. When we lift a heavy object, our nerves do not become heavier. Therefore, we may conclude that having entered inside man, no phenomenon retains its identity. We undoubtedly have to eat something sweet to realize its sweet taste, but is the same sweet food passed on to our nervous cells? Furthermore, internal contents and conditions influenced by external factors can change the identity of the external factors, too. For instance, let's say we encounter a dead body. What we feel through our senses is the view of a dead person. If the dead body belongs to a close friend, it would cause sorrow, and if it belongs to an enemy it would delight us. Two different reactions to a single phenomenon; hence, how internal factors can influence our perception of external facts.

In fact, man's natural senses are justified through internal factors. In other words, phenomena that enter us through our senses are interpreted and accounted for by man's own wishes and knowledge.

2- Artificial Devices and Tools: Man has made tools and devices to help him explore nature and the universe. The invention of the telescope, the microscope, and many other

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devices has helped man discover phenomena he could never explore using his own senses. No matter how powerful these devices may become, they cannot eliminate the role of the senses and internal conditions; they cannot change the mind into a mirror which passes things into humans exactly as they are. The reasons for this are:

a) These tools and devices are man-made, so they are dependent upon man's selection or elimination.

b) What tools and devices reflect to man is limited to certain circumstances. For example, they reflect insect fur, the human body, mercury, leather and cement each in a different way. Any modification in the magnifying glass can influence the appearance of the observed phenomena.

c) Even if the artificial tools and devices reflect facts as they are, the internal passages they must go through will affect them, for they are being received by human senses and mind.

3- Man's innate talents and powers, such as intelligence, wisdom, imagination and thought can also serve as tools of discovery.

in the human mind – imagination, memory, abstraction, comparison, aesthetic search, association of concepts, and others – which can, if not functioning correctly, damage man's process of gathering facts.

Moral ethics: Moral ethics form one of the most important and most dignified factors in recognition. Moral ethics means activating every human aspect on the path toward the highest aim of life. It can make the truth flourish for man, which in turn can make gaining knowledge the means and the end of his life – as the means, discovering knowledge can help man gain the facts on his way to perfection; as an end, it involves the expansion of man's identity in the universe.

6- The arousal of love: Love can also cause knowledge and recognition. When love is the motive for the discovery, man will see the facts as beautiful. Discoveries based on love ignore all logical reasoning.

7- Belief: Belief refers to the mental state in which all events are considered in a special way. When one believes in the struggle for survival, for instance, it will make the knowledge of power his first priority.

There are two kinds of belief – dynamic and static. In static belief, man sees everything in a specific, fixed way. For example, if an intellectual considers man as virtually evil, he will also interpret everything else from this viewpoint, too. In dynamic belief, however, man does not interpret all facts from a single, inflexible aspect; his belief makes him able to accept other phenomena and facts as they really are.

8- Faith: Faith is accepting the truth that is the most active element of the human character, and accounts for every aspect

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of man's existence. The knowledge brought about by faith is the most soothing and motivating. Faith is a truth that shines on all of man's darkness in life like an immortal sun and can save his character from falling apart and multiplicity, and adjust his life by means of patterns of order and harmony. Faith makes every action carried out on the path toward man's desired ideal feel like life itself.

or the person's own inclination. Furthermore, the deeper the attention is, the readier the mind will be to activate its forces about a subject.

4- Indirect understanding: In this step, we try to somehow gain an understanding of the subject; otherwise, its knowledge will never be possible. However, our understanding will be indirect, for all phenomena are interrelated. When we see colors, for example, we need proper light. Our distance from the subject is also significant.

5- Direct understanding: In empirical sciences, where the subjects are analyzed, researchers can gain direct understanding. In other words, the researcher can gain knowledge of the subject regardless of any relationship it may have with other phenomena. However, we must keep in mind that phenomena are interrelated, and each can be studied in different ways. The mutual interactions between phenomena reveal various identities for each, and a direct understanding of a phenomenon may not necessarily include its whole identity.

6- Direct grasp: Here, by “surrounding” we mean all-around understanding of subjects – it engulfs every aspect of the subject. However, in most cases of knowledge we are concerned with complete knowledge of one specific subject, not surrounding all aspects around it, too, for each field of science tend to study a particular aspect of a phenomenon.

7- Indirect grasp: Surrounding the effect by means of knowing about the cause. Usually, the human mind is influenced by the previous pieces of knowledge it has gained, and finds it quite hard to achieve a pure, absolute, direct grasp of the

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subject without being affected by the previous ones. Say, for instance, that we look at a bright light and then try to know what color something is; the difference in quality between the bright light and the color will affect our knowledge of the color.”

to tell the truth, which he believes will develop his character. The principles that say the practical element is more important than knowledge in human development does not mean that practical usage without knowledge is necessary; it means, in fact, that the important thing in human development is practical, knowledge-based development and change, not mere abstract knowledge piled up in the researcher's mind.

3- Imitational Knowledge: Imitation means accepting another person's words, actions, behavior and thoughts without any reason. Imitation consists of five elements:

a) The imitator

b) The imitated

c) The phenomenon or reality being imitated

d) The aim of the imitation

e) The credibility of the imitation

Some imitations are completely distinctive of original knowledge, whereas some others are not. Detectable imitations are harmless to human knowledge, but the ones not detectable can be quite dangerous. Some detectable imitations are, nevertheless, necessary, like consulting an expert.

4- Supposed Knowledge: In supposed knowledge, there is no observable evidence, and the researcher must take the relevant mental conditions and concepts into consideration.

5- Theoretical knowledge: Here, some of the knowledge is compatible with researchable items, but the whole issue cannot be interpreted by means of experimental evidence. These two forms of knowledge sometimes make scientific knowledge fade a little. Mixing suppositions and theories with scientific laws may cause little harm in issues concerning the observable world, but applying them to the humanities may bring about irreparable harm to human culture, as the theory of the originality of the sexual instinct did in interpreting human life, inhibiting man's evolution and

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changing all human values.

6- Purely Descriptive Knowledge: This kind of knowledge tends to set light on the facts in order to provide a bridge between the initial contact with the facts and the stage of true recognition. In the initial step, man merely photographs the facts, but in descriptive knowledge, facts are described from all viewpoints. The descriptions are sometimes so interesting that the initial state of mind feels that the original knowledge is not necessary, and this can make human thoughts stagnant.

7- Worship-based Knowledge: This form of knowledge concerns issues for which man does not know the reason, although they have reasons. For instance, man follows the rules he is instructed on how to worship God, and the reasons behind them are not completely unknown taking the aim of human life into consideration; they use their intelligible contents to adjust the relationship between man and God.

8- Experimental Knowledge: This kind of knowledge is not limited to the phenomena and relationships in the world of nature, for rather than testing an observable fact by means of human senses or laboratory devices in order to study it, experiencing something means exploration efforts about facts, and can apply to the analysis of these issues:

a) The experimenter, who possesses healthy senses and mental activities and is capable of making contact with facts.

b) Accepting definitely certain principles, like the principle of causality.

c) The motive of experiment in order to identify phenomena and make use of them.

d) The phenomenon or relationship being experienced to identify

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it is real, not imaginary or baselessly assumed. Realities are far vaster than our senses and observations can handle. Today science uses radioactive research to explore galactic changes millions of years ago in space, even about things that have disappeared now. By experiencing effects, human knowledge searches for the causes he could not trace while experiencing. Experience can study the actions and reactions in human organs and behavior, looking for facts which he undoubtedly accepts, without making contact with their identity directly.

In brief, all phenomena in the world, even imaginations, hallucinations, will, pleasure and sorrow, beauties, obligations and other observable issues can be experienced and identified.

9- Logical Understanding: includes understanding resulting from preliminaries based on logical principles. Logical certainty is sometimes conscious and sometimes not. Many deductions and reasoning are done hastily and not consciously. Even many scholars and intellectuals come to logical conclusions about phenomena and their interrelations without sufficient attention, knowledge of logical principles and rules, but instead with much haste and uneducated omissions and selections.

The highly significant point here is that the formal logical method does not allow man to make direct contact with facts because it concerns general concepts (secondary rational ideas) and logical symbols (including coded symbols and mathematical symbols in logical mathematics); thus, the abstract aspect of formal logic, in any form it may be, overcomes direct realism, and the certainty it causes does not include the relaxed state brought about by direct contact with facts.

On the other hand, changing concepts by means

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of jargon and transforming them into symbols may dry them up so much that they will resemble human fictional products rather than the facts themselves. Therefore, some philosophers do not consider professional logic as very worthy, especially since many discoveries, inventions and great works of art have been produced by minds that never fell into formal or professional logic. Edison never read any books on formal logic to use it in his inventions.

We must say that the most formal logic can do is accurately arrange the concepts and realities that have been actually observed, or potentially exist in human knowledge; it should never be given the duty of pulling the unknown from behind the curtain of human senses or laboratories.

10- Supreme Understanding: Correct usage of facts and realities by means of complete mastery and dominance over them, in a way that facts are acquired like the levels and the identity of the human self are acquired intuitively. In supreme understanding, the refined form of realities and facts flow into man, which he absorbs like his self and its powers and actions – intuitively.

11- Deductive Knowledge: Deduction is known as achieving results without going through the preliminaries. Some thinkers, however, have objected to this definition, believing that it is impossible to leap from one point to another without going through certain steps. Considering the level of compatibility between guessing and realities, we can categorize deductive knowledge into three groups:

a) Guesses that are compatible to all facts, in which the

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whole reality is suddenly acquired as it is. This kind of guessing is directly proportionate with increase in knowledge and taste.

b) Guesses that agree with realities to some extent, in which a fraction – not all – of the facts are acquired.

c) Guesses that are compatible with realities, albeit in another form. We may assume, for example, that the society may be able to resist tyrants without the leadership of a powerful political figure, but in fact it happens in the presence of such a leader. We had guessed correctly about the people's resistance against atrocities, but not about how it was going to happen. The identity of guessing and deduction is not limited to the speed at which the preliminaries are gone through; the subject to be guessed about is also obscured from the mind.

12- Knowledge by Assumption: Here, indirect premises or inadequate facts lead to some form of acquisition of knowledge. It differs from guessing, because firstly, guessing moves so rapidly from the premises to the results that the preliminaries are ignored, and secondly, the subject is hidden.

In some people, assumptions are stable mental activities, but most assumptions are scattered, temporary and unpredictable. Some judges, despite the legal information and evidence at their hand, have a special taste for legal judgment. Some politicians have a good sense of politics apart from all the political authority and expertise they may have. Some people have an instinct for art or business. However, none of them say they make guesses.

13-

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Intellectualism: Here, we mean understanding facts without any illusions or mistaking them with superstitions or established traditions. Such knowledge is quite clear, like the clarity in seeing a physical phenomenon. On the other hand, there is decadence, which means being rigidly fixed with precipitated knowledge acquired before.

An intellectual – or “clear-minded” – person may therefore be considered as somebody who, having gained knowledge of the present and future, tries to make the ideals of his society embrace reality. The true intellectual is a person who has logically adjusted his relationship with vast facts during the course of time, and having achieved a correct understanding of causes and effect, and the changeable and unchangeable, feels himself responsible for making intelligible life become a reality in his society, and will undergo any sacrifice he must make to achieve that.

14- Intelligence: Confirming a theorem about which we know more than 50 percent but less than 100 percent has been called intelligence, idea, or opinion. Such conclusions and confirmations are frequently used in science, artistic analyses and complex affairs of daily life. “My idea is…” does not convey certain knowledge, but a knowledge that calls for further study.

15- Knowledge by Discovery: A quality consisting of a mixture of mental activity and reflections in an area free of the mind. The truth about this kind of knowledge is still unsolved; we can only identify the discoverer's state of mind prior and subsequent to the discovery. We do not know how the discovery actually takes place.

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There are a few points that can be observed about discovery:

a) The researcher's endeavor along with his devotion and eagerness about the concerned fact.

b) Gaining new knowledge about the concerned subject.

c) Hope for achieving the facts. Some discoveries happen without a certain goal, like X- rays which Roentgen discovered without having aimed for previously.

d) The most mysterious thing about knowledge by discovery is a kind of mental freedom. When making a discovery, the mind is released from all chains, laws and rules, and finds itself suddenly facing a true light.

e) Evidence shows that when making a discovery, the mind uses an unknown factor, which cannot be intelligence, talent or great knowledge, for many people possess them, but do not make any discoveries.

f) Having made the discovery, the discoverer experiences huge freshness and joy. Maybe it is because the discoverer sees some aspect of his discovery in himself, too.

16- Illuminative Knowledge: In this kind of knowledge, “the facts and the truth shine on the human mind without needing any previous sensory preliminaries or formal thought.” A form of mental enlightening occurs upon the facts. An example is when man realizes that the universe has meaning, and each component in it influences the general harmony and flow of the universe. Knowledge by illumination can happen in everyone, but getting drowned in desires and wishes can prevent it.

17- Intuitive Knowledge: The direct contact between man's inside and facts non-observable to his senses – naturally or intellectually – is called intuitive knowledge. It differs

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from knowledge by illumination in the fact that intuition casts light on the subject itself, not the facts concerning or surrounding it. In intuitive knowledge, man uses his internal insight to see facts with a clarity far superior to his sensory sight or his intelligence.

18- Knowledge by Revelation: Revelations here are internal flashes. This kind of knowledge is similar to discovery, except knowledge by revelations has vaster domains, and can cover a great variety of realities. Discovery calls for a great deal of mental effort, but revelations can happen with a very meager background of knowledge.

19- Knowledge Based on Divine Revelations: In this form of knowledge, God reveals realities to a human being that deserves them. Holy Prophets of God had this attribute. Sometimes the prophet can directly receive the realities from God – through a certain power of recognition he has gained – and sometimes an angel is responsible for delivering the divine revelations to him. These are pure realities and truth, and convey what is useful for man's prosperity. Divine revelations are absolutely undoubted and certain.

the kind of internal light that is caused by making contact with reality. If a thinker studies man from not a purely one-dimensional point of view, but from various aspects, achieving the internal light that is the result of establishing contact with the identity and aspects of man's existence, he will accomplish knowledge. Kinds of science that serve selfish motives or self-benefit-seeking and are created by fatalistic factors of our senses or mind cannot fit into this definition.

2- Supreme Amazement: We may categorize amazement into seven groups:

a) Initial, Superficial Amazement: Here, the human mind wants to discover and identify the things it encounters, but with the previous knowledge it has, it cannot do so, and thus falls into amazement. The more we know about new facts, the less this kind of amazement will be in us. Children do not experience this form when they find something new, for they have no background knowledge about it.

b) Amazement due to Ignorance: When man encounters a phenomenon that amazes him, two things may happen: a) man may know nothing about his amazement; he may not realize that he is amazed because of his own lack of knowledge. b) His mind may recede, and ignorantly fight the amazement.

c) Amazement Caused by Doubt: Some people are infatuated by their knowledge, and have absolute trust in what they know. Thus, if they face something unknown, the doubt and uncertainty they will encounter puts them into a very disturbing state of amazement.

d) Amazement alongside the Known:

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There is some amazement alongside what man already knows about. It prevents him from becoming overconfident and arrogant about his knowledge, preserving his modesty.

e) Amazement far beyond Science and Thought: If the thinkers who are engaged in one or several fields of science or philosophical issues do not fall prey to mental arrogance and overconfidence and prevent themselves from being infatuated by their own knowledge, they will achieve a special kind of amazement, which can be of two kinds:

● Negative, static amazement, where one feels at a mental stalemate, and the progress comes to a total halt. Such people believe that all knowledge ends in uncertainty and doubt.

● Dynamic, positive amazement, which is a powerful force in discovering what we are amazed about. This form of amazement is a phenomenon full of feelings of greatness and attraction toward issues far beyond formal sciences, laws and principles. At this high state of knowledge, the contradictions and conflicts one observes in science and knowledge are replaced by supreme forms of unity.

As Jalal-addin Muhammad Molawi (Rumi) says:

گه چنین بنماید و گه ضدّ این جز که حیرانی نباشد کار دین

نه چنان حیران که پشتش سوی اوست بل چنین حیرت که محو و مست دوست

Things change with time; indeed,

religion is merely creating amazement.

This amazement, however, is not absolute; it does not lead to a dead-end.

Rather, it makes man fascinated by God's love.

f) Supreme, Ideal Amazement: This form of amazement

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is neither a sort of doubt or uncertainty, nor direct abstracts of sciences and experiences. Here, man feels the divine light of God's beauty and greatness radiate into him.

Thus, he achieves immense dominance over facts, drowns in the universe and enjoys peculiar pleasure and fascination. This is why the Holy Prophet of Islam asked God to increase his amazement. This form of amazement is far superior to all sciences and knowledge. As the renowned Iranian poet Attar Neishabouri describes it:

مرد حیران چون رسد این جایگاه در تحیر مانده و گم کرده راه

گم شود در راه حیرت محو و مات بی خبر از بود خود وز کاینات

هر که زد توحید بر جانش رقم جمله گم گردد، ازو او نیز هم

گر بدو گویند هستی یا ﻧئی؟ سر بلند عالمی، پست کیی؟

در میانی یا برونی از میان؟ در کناری یا نهانی یا عیان؟

فانیی یا باقیی یا هر دویی هر دویی یا تو نئی یا نه تویی؟

گوید اصلاً می ندانم چیز من وین ندانم هم ندانم نیز من

هر که در دریای کل گم بوده شد دائماً گم بوده و آسوده شد

(When man feels the light of God, he can

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even go far beyond that, and reach the truth about God, and if he is asked, 'Do you exist or not? You are a highly developed being, why do you degrade yourself so much? Are you mortal or immortal? Or both? Are you both of them, or are you you, or are you nothing at all?' He will reply, 'I don't know who I am, for anyone who drowns in the ocean of the whole, is lost forever, and thus has reached eternal tranquility.)

3- Mystical Knowledge: In this form of knowledge, man accomplishes an understanding of the universe with all of its components and interrelations that is truly crystal clear; he sees each component as a symbol of God's greatness.

4- Wisdom: Wisdom conveys knowledge of the components of the universe and their interrelations as a harmonious whole, which depends upon the Creator of the universe. Man acquires this form of knowledge by means of moving on the path of evolutional development. When he achieves it, he will see all human beings moving toward God, and anyone who deviates from this path has in fact fallen astray from the way to perfection and greatness.

are generally conscious.

b) Science has not yet found the internal factor that causes non-reflective activities.

c) When non-reflective activities take place consciously, definite aim becomes necessary.

that there is no relationship between the strength or weakness of recall and the little amount of contents in the memory or subconscious. Observations and experiences show that any unit considered as crucially important or put inside man by stronger influences also has stronger retention and recall.

5- Analysis: This kind of mental activity consists of analyzing a series into its components and units, and then studying them.

6- Combination: Here, the mind collects the components and discovers how they are interrelated in the whole series. Some philosophers, like Russell, consider the analytical method as extremely important, and name their method “logical atomism.” Both the analytical method and the combination method should be taken into attention, as both are necessary to recognition and knowledge.

7- Understanding the Relationship between Mental Activities and the Subject: Occasionally, mental activities take place without complete awareness, but since mental activities are objective, sometimes man can become completely aware of them, and they can happen consciously. Such awareness allows the mind to adjust the relationship between the mental activity and the subject.

8- Careful Thought: This term conveys careful thought and prediction about the eventual and ultimate consequences, which is essential to those who wish to achieve ideal amazement; a balanced relationship between the past, present and future is necessary in order to move toward perfection. There are a few conditions that must be provided to accomplish correct states of careful thought:

a) curate identification of the laws and principles of life.

b) Studying the possibilities about events.

c) Taking unpredictable, unexpected

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events into consideration.

9- Harmonizing: This mental activity involves logically organizing affairs and things that help us reach our goals. Harmonizing the components, basic parts and the fundamental activities one must carry out are quite crucial for some goals; sometimes it is so important that it can indicate the individual's genius or mental advantage.

10- Logical Thought: There is a distance between the state man is in and the goal he must achieve. Without logical mental activity, filling that gap will not become possible. In other words, logical movement means starting out from the initial phase and going through the path to the goal. Man must also select and omit some of the items to do so.

11- Supreme Thought: The objective mental process that flows in the fundamentals of man's supreme relation with the universe, and the basic identity of the two, is called supreme thought. Here, the general basics and results of logical thought are formally put to use. With supreme thought, man's knowledge advances far beyond observable effects in order to reach the truth. For instance, man may see a small bird and realize things about the goal of the universe; observing the limited laws concerning a small part of the earth can help him understand the general laws dominating the universe – in fact, realize how harmoniously orderly the universe is.

12- Reasoning: This involves putting logical thought to work, together with awareness of thought units. Here, awareness and attention to the laws and principles of thought are necessary, whereas

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in pure thought the mental activity may take place unconsciously, although thoughts start to work according to the laws and principles. Awareness and objectiveness are quite crucial in reasoning.

13- Supreme Reasoning: What we mean here is that there are other supernatural concepts far beyond the issues and laws concerning the superficial natural world. Formal logical reasoning is merely making a relationship between man and nature and other human beings; it does not deal with the good, evil or responsibility concerning it. Supreme reasoning, on the other hand, always takes justice, supreme responsibility and real unity among men into consideration, and is concerned with logical interpretation of the universe. Avicenna has discussed supreme reasoning in the eighth and ninth part of his Esharat.

14- Dominant Understanding: Here, it seems that a special kind of “smell” guides the mind toward understanding the relationship between the general facts and all the details. This penetrative understanding of all details can apply to various domains, like hadith, law and politics, where one can reach the level of jurisprudence. Those who have not achieve high levels of science and knowledge cannot reach dominant understanding. Some people, however, have a quite penetrative, analytic understanding of life and the fixed and variable principles about it.

15- Imagination: This form of mental activity makes the observable facts about the world undergo changes in the mind, and the identifier considers these changes to be the same as the real facts in the world outside, and accepts their characteristics

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and effects. When imagining things, sometimes the mind makes up things that do not exist, and sometimes it destroys things that exist. For instance, on a mountainside on a dark night, where no living thing is in sight, man may imagine seeing a wild lion, and run away as fast as he can. Imagination consists of several steps:

a) The first step includes the imaginer's mental background about the fact. If he has not ever seen a lion, for instance, he will never be able to imagine one.

b) External circumstances must be ready for the imagination to take place. For example, one cannot imagine seeing a lion in the middle of a crowded city, or inside his house.

c) The mental state of the imaginer, like the factors of fear or keen interest in the fact being imagined, is also important. These mental states sometimes show the weakness, and sometimes the power of the imaginer's character. Those imaginations that arise from man's weaknesses generally lead to harmful results, whereas imaginations based on his powerful character put positive mental activities to work. All works of art arise from the latter.

When imagining something, two conflicting phenomena take place simultaneously:

a) one is the imagination action, which considers what is not to be and what is not to be, and

b) the other is the knowledge that what has been imagined is in fact false and wrong. For example, when we watch an actor play the role of a hurt, oppressed man, we know that he is

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only acting and is not really hurt, but still we may weep because we feel pity for the hurt, miserable person. Making a distinction between these two opposites – knowing that the actor is not really hurt, and feeling sympathy for him – is truly one of the most amazing and greatest functions of the human soul.

goes, the closer our knowledge will be to certainty.

3- Certainty: Here, we have a hundred percent contact with the subject. Two factors influence certainty:

a) Discovering the truth by means of man's reality-seeking exploration, industrious struggle with doubt and uncertainty and eagerness to reveal the unknown. This is called logical certainty.

b) The induction of the facts into the human mind by means of omitting any causes or motives for doubt. The weaker the human mind, the more it can be influenced, and the stronger the character of the inducer, the faster and better his ability to influence others.

c) Sometimes, social circumstances provide the grounds for removing any doubt or uncertainty about a particular subject, in a way that even the common public can reach certainty about it without much careful thought. This kind of certainty is called seasonal or mortal certainty.

4- Quiescence: This is much like certainty, except that here man feels ready to decide to act in accordance with the discovered realities.

5- Knowledge: Various definitions have been presented for knowledge. Some have called it the reflection of facts in the mind. For a subject or theorem to be included in knowledge, omission, selection, secondary knowledge about facts reflected in the mind, imagination, making them dependent upon laws and principles, and also paying attention to the possibility of it breaking up due to newer discoveries, are all elements that should be taken into consideration when interpreting and justifying scientific knowledge.

Three levels can be mentioned for knowledge to take place:

a) Initial Level:

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At this level, the mind faces many certainties and doubts. Any phenomenon the human senses face shows a truth independent and separate of other phenomena. At the initial level, the certainties and doubts that enter the human mind are like influences that come and go, and any conflict or contradiction between them is unimportant. In addition, man makes decisions based on his own knowledge.

b) Intermediate Level: At this level, man faces different aspects of facts, and realizes any conflict his perceptions may have. This is where the human mind falls into doubt and uncertainty. However, in the case of those of weak character, these doubts hinder the discovery of the truth, whereas in those who have a strong character, increased curiosity is most advantageous. All in all, knowledge has to go through doubt and uncertainty at this intermediate level, which is quite crucial to man's knowledge.

c) Supreme Level: The human mind is at the peak of knowledge at this level, and the universe expands in his eyes, and man feels quite confident.

6- General Knowledge: This kind of knowledge involves exploring an indefinite fact which is applicable to more than one individual, or can be considered as part of a whole. For instance, we may know that one person in the group of people we are facing is a teacher and the rest of them are students, but we are not sure which one is the teacher. The mathematics of probabilities involves inexact knowledge, which is also quite essential in discovering

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the laws and principles of the universe.

7- Detailed Knowledge: If a fact is identified with a hundred percent certainty in the human mind, its knowledge can be called precise knowledge, like knowing exactly who the teacher is among the group of people in our previous example.

8- Certainty: At this level, man (the one who becomes certain) seems to see the truth. This kind of knowledge is more effective than the three previous steps, for if the opposite of what man feels certain of is proved, it will deeply affect him mentally. Certainty is divided into three steps:

Step One: Here, certainty is like a mirror, showing facts crystal clear.

Step Two: The subject is explored in a way that all of man's mental levels are deeply impressed by it.

Step Three: The subject man is certain of becomes a part of him.

9- Gained Knowledge: A reflection of facts occurring in the mind is called gained knowledge, like the reflection of facts in the mind.

10- Intuitive Knowledge: Intuitive knowledge involves human knowledge of the human nature itself, along with its internal effects, like pleasure and pain, will and decision-making, thought, imagination, speculation and association of meanings. We can thus classify intuitive knowledge into several levels:

a) The known is an unknown nature. In other words, it is a nature that we know about in the observable world. This level of intuitive knowledge is merely a raw awareness. Undeveloped minds know nothing more about themselves than the collection

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of organs that make up the human body. They think that the limbs, the eyes and the ears, etc, are the “self.”

b) In the next level, the “self” is considered as a truth that is in charge of human life in nature and its various interrelations. Man's behavior is based on correct goals, and he attempts to put all of his potentials and abilities to work in order to advance his character by using all laws and principles of life.

c) The “self” becomes independent of anything apart from the “self.” In other words, at this level the “self” realizes its own independence. This is where the highest possible level of intuitive knowledge occurs.

11- Passive Knowledge: This kind of knowledge has two meanings:

a) It can mean the reflection of facts in the mind, which is related to factors and motives beyond the human nature.

b) It can be any dependent kind of knowledge, even if it does arise from the human nature, for the knowledge that is caused by the human nature – albeit seeming independent and beyond being influenced by factors and motives – cannot be totally independent, for its nature is dependent upon God, who does not depend on anything at all. Those who have developed themselves along the path to discovery and knowledge realize this kind of dependence quite well, both in its initial steps and final levels.

12- Active Knowledge: This kind of knowledge is not dependent on any factor or motive, and although it can cast clarifying light

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on everything we know, it does not depend on any of them. This kind of knowledge undergoes no change or development. It is only God who possesses such knowledge; just some levels of it can intuitively occur in man in the form of knowledge being present in the human mind.

knowledge or stupefaction, are all factors that can indeed influence the domain of the self, and color knowledge, particularly regarding theoretical and receptive facts in the humanities.

2- The Behavior of the Characters: The internal active element that determines how one acts is called his character, his behavior, like artistic character, political character, legal character, etc. Sometimes man's character is so influential that it affects man's knowledge profoundly. If one has artistic character, for instance, “influences the basics, characteristics or results of the knowledge he gains with his artistic feelings. By discovering one's behavior, we can guess what his viewpoint is regarding facts.

3- Various Factors of the Brain: Factors like imagination, confirmation, memory, thought, speculation, abstraction, allocations, the conscious and the subconscious, intuition, and revelations can play an active role in the human mind. They affect our knowledge and viewpoints. Any disorder in our conscious, subconscious or unconscious domains can influence our scientific outcome. If one of man's dearest relatives dies in a terrible incident, the grief of the incident will affect his mind when making judgments about it. As Jalal-addin Muhammad Molawi (Rumi) says:

چون تو با پرّ هوا بر می پری لاجرم بر من گمان بد میبری

هر که را افعال دام و دد بود بر کریمانش گمان بد بود

چون تو جزو عالمی پس ای مهین کل آن را همچو خود دانی یقین

چون تو برگردیّ و برگردد سرت

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خانه را گردنده بیند منظرت

ور تو در کشتی روی بر یَم روان ساحل یم را همی بینی روان

گر تو باشی تنگدل از ملحمه تنگ بینی چو دنیا را همه

ور تو خوش باشی به کام دوستان این جهان بنمایدت چون بوستان

(Since you see everything as serving to fulfill your whims and desires, you become pessimistic about me. If one behaves like wild beasts, he/she will become suspicious about great human beings. Man, as generally a part of the whole universe, sees the universe similar to himself. If you turn your head, it will seem that the world is revolving, too. If you are in a ship, you may think the shore is moving away from you. If something distressing happens, the whole world will become miserable to you, and if you are happily spending time with your friends, it will be like a paradise.)

4- Natural Senses: One of man's channels for establishing contact with facts is his senses. Man's natural senses comprehend objects and actions in a particular way. Man's eyes or ears cannot, for instance, see or hear all sounds or scenes. The natural senses can make contact with certain phenomena in accordance with their special structure, and the slightest change in their structure will affect man's knowledge.

5- The Secondary Effects of the Natural Senses: Illnesses and changes that occur in

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man's natural senses are some of the secondary effects of the natural senses. In some diseases, for instance, man may see everything in a particular color.

6- Sensory Activities that Affect the Conscious: Continual contact between the human senses and natural phenomena makes the mind unable to make direct contact with them. When man encounters a phenomenon like sunlight, for instance, he is affected in a way that his subsequent contact with sunlight will be influenced with it. As Farabi says, the human eye gets the light from the sun, and uses that light to see the sunlight.

He adds, “Each of our senses is affected by what it observes, and the influence is similar to the quality of the observed facts. If the effect is strong, it will remain for some time after the direct contact with the observed fact is over, like the human eye looking at the sunlight. If man stops looking at the sun, the effect will remain for a while. Also, if the ear hears a long, tiring sound, it will keep hearing it a while after the sound goes away, too.”

Jalal-addin Muhammad Molawi has also pointed out man's manipulative role in his famous story about the elephant:

پیل اند ر خانه تاریک بود عرضه را آورده بودندش هنود

از برای دیدنش مردم بسی اندر آن ظلمت همی شد هر کسی

دیدنش با چشم چون ممکن نبود

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اندر آن تاریکیش کف میبسود

آن یکی را کف به خرطوم اوفتاد گفت همچون ناودانش نهاد

آن یکی را دست بر گوشش رسید آن براو چون بادبیزن شد پدید

آن یکی را کف چو بر پایش بود گفت شکل پیل دیدم چون عمود

آن یکی بر پشت او بنهاد دست گفت خود این پیل چون تختی بُدست

هم چنین هر یک به جزئیکاو رسید فهم آن می کرد هر آن می تنید

از نظرگه گفتشان شد مختلف آن یکی دالش لقب داد آن الف

در کف هر کس اگر شمعی بدی اختلاف از گفتشان بیرون شدی

(An elephant was brought into a dark room, and many people came to see it. But since the room was dark, the people touched, and each person came to a different point of view. One who had touched the elephant's trunk said the elephant is like a drainpipe. Another, who had touched the ear, said it resembled a big fan. One man touched the elephant's leg, and claimed the elephant was like a pillar. Another touched the elephant's back, and said it was like a bed. Each person expressed the

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knowledge he had gained based on what he had found; the ideas were quite diverse. Had they candles, however, their remarks would be united, and accurate.)

Thus, men have diversities due to several factors:

a) Limitations in their ways of contact with facts

b) The reflections in the mind – each man, having discovered one part of the elephant's body, interpreted it merely based on that one part.

c) Being content with the initial impression. If one man touched the trunk, for instance, he said it was like a drainpipe. Another, who had touched the elephant's ear, said it looked like a fan. In other words, each of them remained content with what they had initially found.

7- Tools Used for Expanding Knowledge: The tools and laboratories man uses in order to expand his knowledge definitely affect his ways of discovery. Each machine shows facts in accordance with its own particular structure; a telescope, for instance, is by no means comparable with man's senses in showing heavenly bodies, and any change in its structure will also influence our view of space. Each object has different characteristics. If the temperature of a room is 27 degrees, for instance, each object in it, like the carpet, the windows, wooden objects or woolen clothes will have different temperatures.

As Max Planck says, “The physicist's ideal desire is to discover the real world outside. Despite all the tools of discovery he has, his measurements will never tell anything about the real world. Measures are merely somewhat

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uncertain messages; as Helmholtz says, they are signals transmitted to the real world, from which man attempts to get conclusions, like a linguist trying to decipher documents dating back to an ancient civilization.

The linguist must accept the fact that the document has some meaning if he is to succeed. Likewise, the physicist must believe that the real world follows laws and principles that we cannot fathom; he may even have to abandon hopes of totally discovering them, or determine their identity with any certainty.”

Man's tools and devices of discovery lead to two forms of manipulation on man's behalf. If he looks at tiny particles through a microscope, for example, the particles are revealed to him having gone through two tunnels: the machine itself and man's own senses.

8- Man's Methods and Goals: How man tends to discover and identify things and his goal both influence his process of discovery. When man focuses all of his senses and thoughts upon a certain goal, his knowledge will be limited to that particular end. If a man heads for a mountain in search of firewood, he will not pay attention to anything else on his way, and if asked whether he saw anything else there, he will say “No.” If one studies facts in order to achieve a certain goal, he will not understand the facts accurately. Basically, scientific fairness implies that if studies with a certain goal fail, the scientist should not claim that he studied but could not find anything; they had

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better say that he was not able to find what he needed with the tools he had.

9- The Various Situations Facts Have: Farabi believes that since knowledge and the known are correlated, if the existence of the known is complete, the knowledge about it will also be complete. Likewise, if there are any contradictions about the known, its knowledge will not be complete, either, such as movement, time, infinity and oblivion.

The truth about movement is gradual exit from potentiality to activity, and each moment of it involves proof and defiance. The dependency of movement upon the moving subject and its relationship with the cause brings about contradiction. If we could gain knowledge about any kind of motion from the moving subject and its cause, our knowledge would be more complete.

Not all of the above nine factors influence recognition at the same time. One or several of them usually affect the knowledge we have of a subject.

kinds:

a) Realities being discovered for their own sake, which includes all of the creatures of the world.

b) Tools and objects used for gaining science and knowledge.

c) Objects that serve as a transit between the recognizer and the recognized, like the light needed to see physical objects.

Facts: Cold weather, for instance, forces man to put on warm clothes. He escapes wild animals. If he sees a hole on his way, he steers away from it, or searches for light to identify things. Such approaches we have in regard to facts are the best reasons to prove that they really exist.

how physicists discover the laws governing nature.

Principle Two: Harmony between the recognizer – the mind – and the facts in gaining knowledge; in other words, cognition behaves equally towards all facts. For instance, the human eye always sees large objects small from a distance, or the rotation of the blades of a fan always seem circular, not sometimes.

This is how man has made a great many discoveries throughout history.

Because of scientific knowledge, we must say that purely scientific approach to facts is one of the highly significant and crucial methods for revealing facts; however, it is not the only way. Having accepted this point, and provided that we do not deviate from the truth, powerful minds may attempt to find other ways to discover facts, and even achieve better results. Doesn't the fact that spiritual witnessing of facts can lead to the discovery of thousands of secrets in knowledge prove that there must be ways to discover facts apart from formal scientific methods?

When discussing the relationship between the self (the recognizer) and facts we must keep in mind that if the subject of study is man and his various aspects, the self (the recognizer) and its cognitive tools and methods will be more influential. For example, when man thinks about will, he takes into consideration the will in him and what he knows about it, and even lets other humans know about it. Or if hedonism is the dominant element in the mind of an intellectual, he will use it

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to interpret the characters of other men, too.

This is why we say that when Machiavelli describes man and his moral, political and social virtues, he definitely does so based on his own beliefs and thoughts. Machiavelli cannot understand the character of a fair, just person who follows his logical responsibilities; Machiavellian accounts of such a man's character would be purely based on selfishness.

secondary knowledge of the realities reflected in the mind, imagining them, their dependence on laws and rules, and also the possibility of their breaking away from the old laws and rules owing to new discoveries, are other elements necessary for knowledge.

level, the subject reflected in the mind falls into the streams of side information, concentration and universal laws, and principles. We now have a clearer knowledge of the subject, for it is no longer a mere reflection. In this step, the mind learns a lot about a phenomenon, and begins to discover how it relates to other phenomena. For example, when observing a leaf, the mental awareness of the observer does not only make him study the physical aspects of the leaf; he will go beyond that and study its other aspects, considering it as a link of the chain of the universe.

Considering science according to the state of mind the scientist may be in, science will have three steps:

a) Elementary: in this step, the mind encounters a great deal of certainties. Any phenomenon man realizes is considered as a separate fact.

a) Intermediate: the mind encounters various aspects of phenomena, and figures them out, provided there is no conflict between them; thus, the mind passes doubt and enters the higher stage.

b) Advanced: the mind is at the peak of its awareness here, and reaches complete certainty by means of total knowledge of all phenomena.

various ways. In other words, people recognize facts by means of different factors, namely:

1- Expanding the dominance of the “self” upon nature in order to make use of its physical and spiritual benefits,

2- The enjoyment of science,

3- Eagerness for discovering facts,

4- Literal advantage-seeking, whether the greed for wealth, fame or popularity.

5- Spiritual flourish and elevation through establishing contact with the truth.

Each of the above-mentioned factors is rooted in self-preservation and the perfection of the soul, and has advanced science throughout history. The third and fifth factors were more dominant in the past, but nowadays the factors which mostly aid man to govern nature are considered more significant.

Endeavors toward the flourishing of the soul are considered by some philosophers as the highest aim of philosophy.

Islamic philosophers also believe the primary purpose of seeking science to be perfecting the soul and flourishing the spirit.

cases and facts which only arise at times, never qualify as a scientific law, even if they still may be worth studying from a scientific point of view.

Likewise, when a thinker says, “Every scientific law proves that any phenomenon arising in the physical, observable world depends on the existence of certain circumstances and the absence of inhibiting factors which, if distorted, the phenomenon will fall apart,” describes the same aspect about scientific laws as this statement, “If there were no order and harmony in the universe, there would be no laws in human knowledge, either.” Such theories not only do not conflict as definitions of scientific laws, but even verify one another, studying the same truth from various – and very useful –points of view.

Generally speaking, a scientific law is a general theorem showing a harmonious process in the universe, the occurrence of which calls for certain conditions and circumstances; if any of the required conditions are not fulfilled, the process cannot take place. The continuation of the needed circumstances make the process last, and the continuation the conditions provide is what gives the scientific law its generality.

When taking a scientific law into consideration, the following four aspects should be studied about it:

1- The Reality of a Scientific Law is the harmony existing in nature, protected by God. If we do not believe in God, we will have no logical way to account for the harmony and order in nature, the continuation of which is the origin of scientific laws.

As

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we know, there are several theories on the laws of nature:

a) Laws are innate,

b) Laws are not innate, or the instructional the theory about laws

c) The theory of observable, orderly symmetries,

d) Laws are conventional.

In the first theory, the scientific law discovers the innate why others are related to other phenomena. In other words, it is unsolved how the original law is to be interpreted. The other problem with this theory is that the internal relationships and characteristics of an action are considered absolutely relative. Characteristics that are innate and internal to one process may be external in another.

The instructional theory, which we approve of, states that there is no extended rope to pull phenomena after each other, and prove that Phenomenon A must definitely be followed by Phenomenon B. We have failed to directly observe the essential relationships that form the laws of nature even with the most accurate tools. We know that the essential relationships that make up the laws of nature are not mental, and that the laws of nature show each scientist various constants that science is based on. Will there be a day when we can observe these constants? Thus, the best of these theories on the nature of the laws of nature is the instructional one, for it accounts for the more important hows and whys.

According to the instructional theory, the universe and everything in it are constantly changing, for God's blessing flows into it from the world of supernatural. Jalal-addin Muhammad Molawi (Rumi)

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has supported the instructional theory in these verses of his poetry:

قرنها بگذشت و این قرن نُویست ماه آن ماه است و آب آن آب نیست

عدل آن عدل است و فضل آن فضل هم لیک مستبدل شد این قرن و امم

قرن ها بر قرنها رفت ای همام وین معانی بر قرار و بر دوام

شد مبدّل آب این جو چند بار عکس ماه و عکس اختر برقرار

پس بنایش نیست بر آب روان بلکه بر اقطار اوج آسمان

(Many centuries and eras have gone by, but the reflection of the moon shining on the stream of times is still coming from the same moon. Justice, for instance, is still as it was; greatness has remained unchanged. It is only the centuries and the people who have changed. O Noble One! Centuries have gone by, but truly original human concepts and virtues are still standing firm. The water in the stream of the universe keeps changing by the moment – not even two moments are the same – but the picture reflected upon the water from the moon and the stars (the truth) is firm and steady. Thus, the basis of the reflection of the moon and the stars cannot be on the water; it must be connected to higher things.)

In fact, Jalal-addin Muhammad Molawi

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(Rumi) is pointing out that time passes us by, relationships change and peoples and social trends evolve, some disappear forever, but the basic concepts and truth about man and the universe prevail firmly.

The instructional theory believes that the creatures of the universe do not innately possess the ability to continue their existence, but receive it from a higher, greater world. In other words, the fact that A must have the Characteristic B, or B must be the result of A is not their innate quality, but divine blessing. Let us quote from Albert Einstein: “I consider God the protector of laws.”

And also from Max Plank:

“A physicist's ideal is to externally discover the truth; yet, his sole tool – his devices of measurement – never tells him anything about the real world. Measures are merely doubtful messages to him. As Helmholtz believes, they are signals the real world sends him, and he tries to make a conclusion from them, just like a linguist attempting to read a document found from a lost civilization. In order to achieve any results, the linguist must accept the fact that the document has some meaning. Likewise, the physicist has to base his work on the rule that the universe follows laws we cannot comprehend.”

Bertrand Russell believes that by imagining that the realities about the universe come from another eternal world, we will have a pleasant picture of our world.

2- How Scientific Laws Are Discovered: the first factor in discovering scientific laws is the concrete belief

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and intelligent understanding of the fact that no phenomenon in the world is without a law. If a scientist tends to discover the laws of nature, he must basically have faith in the harmony in the universe. As Einstein writes:

“ For even the slightest rays of intelligence and logic to be able to shine on the world, deep faith that the universe is harmonious is essential. A burning desire to understand is necessary. Men like Newton and Kepler undoubtedly had such faith and desire.”

Ever since man became capable of relating to other creatures from a scientific point of view, his primary motive for discovering the laws of the universe arose.

The steps the mind must go through in order to discover a scientific law are:

a) The communication between his senses and tools with the subject.

b) Experiencing and completing the observation by means of the senses and technical tools. In this step, trial and error observations are carried out until the scientific law is established.

c) In the third step, the mind proceeds to consider the puzzling points, and deletes those that do not comply with the law studied.

d) The last step includes a general theorem in the mind of the researcher forming a law, abstracting itself from observable cases in the world.

3- The generality of the scientific law, and its origin: A theorem cannot become a scientific law unless it applies to a great many cases. The generality of a law originates from the continual order dominating nature, which brings about effects

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and similar results. The two factors that influence the generality of scientific law are:

a) The generality of the characteristics found in all creatures, like the law of self-preservation. The generality of the characteristics among creatures is a result of the experiencing and generalizing all cases concerning the subject. For example, in order to study reproduction in living creatures, all animals must be studied. Direct observation of every case is, however, quite difficult, but observing a large number of them can lead to a generality, and turn the hypothesis into a scientific theorem.

Experiencing each single case is neither possible nor necessary. By realizing the original identity and elements of a subject, a general theory about its cases can be presented. For instance, when we discover the identity of water by means of knowing its basic elements, we may consider it as a scientific theory, and present general principles on it. Nevertheless, the mere discovery of identity is not sufficient in order to discover all forms of a kind, and all characteristics must be taken into consideration. General knowledge about a certain animal, for example, cannot mean knowing about all animals.

b) Abstracting the facts about the universe and understanding how they are related; we call this abstract composition, which involves mental activity aiming to find the identity of facts not needing observation of all cases, like understanding numbers, geometric shapes and the principles concerning them. 2 × 2 = 4, for instance, is a result of abstracting numbers and the relationships

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among them.

4- The criteria for being scientifically valuable: any fact identifiable according to the following aspects can be considered as a scientific subject. In other words, the characteristics a scientific subject should have are:

a) The possibility of determining its identity and characteristics,

b) The possibility of studying the conditions which promote and /or inhibit its occurrence,

c) The feasibility of studying and logically calculating its effects and results,

d) The feasibility of distinguishing cyclic phenomena (like the four seasons) from those phenomena that are related by means of a cause-and-effect relationship,

e) The phenomenon should be comparable to its similar and opposite cases,

f) The principles and laws governing scientific laws (such as the impossibility of combining opposites in philosophy, two opposites neutralizing each other, and many others) should apply to it.

Thus, many natural phenomena like mines and trees, and also social, economic, political, and psychological topics, and even valued facts such as justice and duty can be studied scientifically.

Therefore, higher facts like dignity, virtue, duty, justice, etc, can be investigated scientifically in the same manner as physical phenomena can. Justice, for example, can be studied scientifically if these six characteristics are taken into consideration:

1- Justice is a topic that has a definite identity and can be defined. The identity of justice is “behaving in compliance with law,” or in fact the innate quality that prevents man from breaking the law.

2- Justice follows the cause-and-effect law. It cannot occur in man's life without a cause. Justice cannot deviate from the cause-and-effect law.

3- Justice keeps man

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away from committing evil deeds and falling into psychological disorders, and can also make his free will flourish. It is impossible to imagine man without this quality, which motivates him toward the good and dutifulness.

4- It is not possible to have justice without its effects and results. Justice certainly brings about outcomes, which must be identifiable, for justice itself is identifiable, too. For example, scientific research can show that just people are well-balanced, confident, and enjoy a good reputation in their society.

5- As other scientific topics, justice is also comparable with similar cases. Justice can be compared with other human virtues.

6- Certain conditions and circumstances are required before justice can embrace reality. Not everything can provide those conditions, which is also the case for any physical phenomenon to occur, too.

where further separation is impossible. This philosophical perception had been accepted before science had discovered the facts about atoms and molecules. Is the order in the universe in its particles – where laws are abstracted – or is it non-innate and non-innate, and laws are conventional?

c) The problems that arise after making contact between scientific laws and facts. For instance, when science discusses the various kinds of movement in nature, the movement of creatures can be used as the basis of a series of philosophical problems.

d) Problems that arise simultaneous with the arising or continuing of scientific theorems, such as the mortality or immortality of matter, time, space, and the basics about values and virtues. In any period, with our scientific knowledge reaching a certain level, such theorems and concepts come into the eye of human thought, too.

e) Other issues that fall into philosophical discussions concern the characteristics of the “self,” and its supernatural activities, like the survival of the “ego” throughout man's life, the constant qualities of the human self or the abstraction of generalities and numbers and concepts that balanced, sound minds are capable of.

3- The knowledge caused by “scientific understanding, guesses, innovations, inspirations and observations,” is called philosophy. For example, science shows the order in nature, and the perceptions we get from guessing prove that natural flows are not baseless; both of them show that the universe must have a meaning and a highly significant rhythm. Some people realize the glory and elegance of nature by means

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of evidence and observation, which is also a form of philosophical perception.

spirit deeply, making him ignore some realities.

دگر نو شدن حال ها رفتن این کهنه هاست

روز نو و شام نو، دام نو و باغ نو هر نفس اندیشه نو، نو خوشی و نو عناست

عالم چون آب جوست بسته نماید، ولیک میرود و میرسد نونو، این از کجاست

نو زکجا می رسد؟ کهنه کجا میرود؟ گرنه ورای نظر عالم بی منتهاست

(Don't let yourself get stuck in the past and the old; remember that your current year is worth more than your last three years altogether. What does all that exists indicate? Another world. The newness of the present is the fading away of the old. New days, new nights, new problems, new gardens; each breath signals a new idea in new clothes. Though the universe may seem limited like a stream, but it continually flows on; where does it originate from? Where does all the new come from? Where does all the old go off to? Indeed, beyond what we see lies an endless world.)

3- From any scientific theorem, many analytical and combination theorems can be derived. In other words, when a reality is determined as a scientific theorem for an observer, it can become the starting point for his progress to analyze and combine things and make a great deal of scientific theorems.

4- No clear issue exists without there being theoretical theorems

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around it, and vice versa. Thus, no theoretical issue is without an apparent theorem, either. The farther you get from the issue you are scientifically studying, the slower your progress will be after some time, for the path will get darker and darker.

rise to the highest of philosophical and supernatural issues.

Researchers and scientists who possess deep insight and sharp observation, like Albert Einstein and Max Planck, are able to see higher aspects of the universe – things unintelligible to those who devote themselves to nature. Nature scientists of pure mind and accurate actions can use their knowledge of this world to reach “evidence about the perfect absolute,” achieving a certain originality and brilliance. Thus, these mountains, jungles and fields – though seeming to be obeying purely natural laws – can be seen as meaningful parts of a meaningful whole that possesses a great rhythm having made the ascend.

that pays considerable attention to not only intelligence and wisdom, but also the purification of the human will; it prevents man from abusing his relationship with himself and the truth. Supernatural knowledge defines the range, level and harmony of natural sciences. Supernatural knowledge is not limited to the knowledge of the facts about the world; it should discover what is useful to man's development and emancipation. When supernatural knowledge does not ignore the realities about human life, it will lead to these advantages:

1- Achieving such knowledge, man will regard the other sciences he has as part of his supernatural knowledge;

2- It presents man with the principles and fundamentals of knowledge and discovery, enabling him to find his ultimate aims.

3- Natural sciences identify the components of nature for us, but they say nothing about the highest of its principles and the purpose of its creation; supernatural knowledge, however, reveals not only the ultimate principles and ends, but also provides man with the most elevated of feelings and emotions. It shows him the highest aim of life. Despite all the recent scientific advance, attention to the philosophy of life has unfortunately not only not increased, but rather diminished.

4- If man defies supernatural knowledge, his knowledge will be limited to phenomena and their inter-relations. He would ignore the discovery of the real truth of what they all depend on.

5- Supernatural knowledge is higher than all forms of human knowledge, not at their service, for it is not confined to the discovery of short-lived

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events and mortal phenomena. “Supernatural knowledge, the pinnacle of which is the knowledge of God, cannot be regarded as a device.” It is far too high to be that. Without paying attention to knowledge about God, man cannot make any spiritual advance.

Ever since late 17th century, the West has ignored the supernatural. The viewpo­ints that have led to this ignorance are:

a) Auguste Comte – who divided the history of mankind into divine, philosophical and scientific periods – and some others believe that we are living in the era of science, not philosophy, so there is no need for talk about the supernatural. We must say that if philosophical issues were unnecessary, there would not be so much discussion about the highest of philosophical matters between philosophers during the last few centuries. Comte has categorized history based on human cognition.

For instance, he believes that during the divine period, when man was unable to understand the reasons underlying natural phenomena, he assumed that they had supernatural reasons, but now that man has discovered how they happen, he does not need supernatural elaboration for physical phenomena. Yet, understanding philosophical issues requires a great deal of mental effort, and man has to be at the peak of his mental development – which Comte believes is our era – to understand them. Furthermore, if we accept Comte's categorization, we cannot logically interpret the philosophical schools of thought before Jesus Christ was born, or even the medieval ones.

b) Another reason why the supernatural has been

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ignored is that man feels he has no need for advanced philosophical issues now that science has made immense progress; since he has been able to make contact with phenomena by means of scientific developments for a few centuries, he thinks there is no room for philosophical discussions any more. Those who support this belief have forgotten that experimental sciences are too limited to be able to answer certain philosophical questions.

For example, the human mind is interested in moving from the specific to the general and vice versa, which is beyond what science can do for him.

c) Combining scientific methods with philosophical ones by philosophers of the past also led to the neglect toward the supernatural. In the past, scientific and philosophical problems were intertwined, and philosophers did not necessarily use scientific methods to solve scientific problems, so some people have come to think that only scientific methods are to be used for studying phenomena, and philosophy should be put aside totally. They ignore the important fact that separating science from philosophy and all their issues and problems does not omit one of them in favor of the other. Philosophy deals with things that science can never consider.

The supernatural should be protected from superficial approach. Philosophy is not a science easily presentable to people. However simplified advanced philosophical issues may become, they will only torture the average mind, for they are far above it to be fathomed.

These days, some intellectuals have fallen into superficial approach, and try to present

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the highest of philosophical concepts in a way the public can enjoy. Although presenting thoughts in a simple way is important, it should not fall into superficiality, where even supernatural issues can be made understandable to the public. Having studied some philosophical books and terms briefly, some people think they can easily understand them, so they begin giving opinions and remarks about it.

is of importance in discovering facts about the universe, but it is incapable of a full discovery. The combination method can serve as its complementary.

Extreme applications of the combination method makes man cast doubt upon the most obvious of realities, and be left with a scattered collection of knowledge. Nowadays some people think that the analytical and combination methods belong to scientific domains and the combination and generalist approaches suit philosophy. We must keep in mind that the scientific method is not solely analytical, nor is the philosophical method entirely combination. A harmony between the two methods is what can provide man with accurate knowledge.

The analytical method is suitable for studying sets where the components have no interactive relation with each other. In other words, the analytical method is best when if by discovering each component, accurate knowledge is achieved. But when the components interact with each other and their combination results in a new phenomenon, the analytical method does not suffice. Merely mentioning that water consists of oxygen and hydrogen, or that salt is a combination of sodium and chlorine is not enough – merely identifying hydrogen and oxygen tells us nothing about the qualities and characteristics of water.

Knowledge gained by the analytical method, therefore, ignores the combinatory characteristics of the whole.

The problem with the analytical method is that having separated the whole and studying each component, the researcher considers each component as absolute. In other words,

The most serious harm the analytical method can do to knowledge is that

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by following this method, the thinker, having separated and analyzed the whole, a component becomes the absolute reality of his study, affecting everything else.

As an example, George Sarton believes that, “The history of science is one of the major parts of the spiritual history of human beings, and the other major parts are the history of art and religion.” On the other hand, he has said that, “In order to account for man's progress, the history of science should be the basis of the explanation.” In fact, he is following an analytical method; therefore, he is considering the history of science, a mere part of the history of human evolution, as the absolutely basic part.

sake and objects for the self's sake, the reliance of variables on unchangeables, and the uniformism of the mind.

4- In philosophy, we can achieve a form of certainty mixed with some vagueness, but in science we cannot achieve any certainty because of the influence of factors like the tools of knowledge.

There are a great many subjects which science fails to discover, such as the final value of good and evil, or in general any phenomenon that has absolute value and cannot be measured like natural issues; issues like absolute reality, absolute nonexistence, etc are also among them.”

Philosophy is putting all its efforts into finally solving problems that have existed since the earliest times. In other words, philosophy still endeavors to discover the truth about philosophical matter, absolute values, the relationship between man and the universe, and the extent of the mind's judgment in realities. Another part of philosophy tends to understand general principles including various scientific results.

Despite the disputes scientists and philosophers have, they need each other. Contemporary philosophers believe that science can help them by proving the preliminaries to some philosophical proofs, and also by providing new problems for philosophical analysis.

The philosopher knows things that the scientist can neither deny nor study on by means of scientific methods. However, the sometimes the scientist becomes concerned with the possible necessity of gaining such philosophical knowledge and their influence on scientific explanations or the foundations of those explanations.

For example, when a physicist discusses movement in physics or when a chemist

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studies interactive movements in chemistry, each have a certain concept of movement in his mind; likewise the philosopher attempts to perceive a kind of movement that involves everything. When the physicist or chemist assume that the meaning of movement according to the philosopher is vaster than what physics and chemistry (or experimental sciences, in general) offers, they may conclude that by taking the philosophical meaning of movement into consideration, they may both discover new meanings and even develop their approaches.

Science also explains various forms of physical matter with all their specific characteristics to us. The flow of human thought, however, does not stop at that; it attempts to discover the truth that can be the absolute matter in all external objects, and then come to a general relationship regarding movement. Thus, it is in such philosophical problems where science seems to be at the service of philosophy.

The philosopher knows quite well that science has discovered some of the realities and facts of the universe, and that scientific contact with facts – if accurate – is more reliable than the philosophical one, but purely scientific knowledge cannot bring us to the discovery of all components and levels of the universe. In other words, the mind may even playfully inhibit the progress of thoughts, so using science whenever possible is necessary. The philosopher should, however, keep in mind that his scientific contact with facts can only reveal to him some limited aspects of the facts, and he should never expect science to

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introduce him to all components and levels of the universe.

is the intellectual's mind becoming engaged with the problem – if this happens the intellectual will start his work on it, whether belonging to Western or Eastern philosophy. Industrial advances, changes in social relationships and the rise of a new meaning of Epicurean freedom led to new issues in the West, the study of which even infiltrated their philosophy and created special philosophical principles and basics. If such phenomena had arisen in the East, however, the same would definitely have happened to Eastern philosophy, too.

Th­e points of criticism on the characteristics of thought systems in Western and Eastern philosophies are:

1- The claim that Eastern philosophy focuses on non-physical facts and Western philosophy pays more attention to materialistic issues is not acceptable. Although Western philosophy did find some tendency toward naturalism thanks to Francis Bacon, many Western thinkers did not follow it. In the twentieth century, many Western thinkers focused on the supernatural, and their naturalistic tendencies never prevented this. Einstein, Planck, Bergson and Whitehead had a comprehensive approach to the issues about man, both natural and supernatural.

2- Stating that Eastern philosophy is based upon pure reasoning and intelligence and Western philosophy is founded on experimental methods shows how ignorant one can be toward the developments of thought systems in the West.

If the West has paid more attention to naturalism – which certainly follows experimental methods – throughout the recent centuries, it is due to the needs of those countries; if the East also felt the need to study

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the qualities and characteristics of vegetables and plants and physical and chemical phenomena, they would have used such methods too, rather than the al-vahed theory, which states that only a single, unique thing can arise from the nature of a single, unique thing. In the early stages of the development of Islamic culture, when Muslims paid a lot of attention to naturalism, experimental methods were put to frequent use.

Scientists like Zachariah Razi, Avicenna and Hassan ibn Heissam used laboratory devices in fields such as chemistry, physics and medicine. Neither Islamic thinkers nor Western intellectuals, however, were ignorant toward the basic principles of philosophy, and the necessity of abstraction and mental generalization, for without them they could never have abstract natural laws from the order and harmony dominant over the universe.

3- Another point of criticism is the statement that Western philosophy shows little emphasis on general concepts and fundamentals, whereas Eastern philosophy searches for general laws that interpret the universe. Positivism – which aimed to categorize sciences and give philosophy a positivist aspect – failed in the West, and was criticized by many Western philosophers, who turned to non-experimental methods. No intellectual can defy a series of mental fundamentals and still believe in observable facts that cannot be analyzed without those fundamentals.

4- The claim that there is no criticism or reconsideration in Eastern philosophy, whereas Western philosophy criticizes and reconsiders the fundamental philosophies of the past quite often is not correct. All books on Eastern philosophy include a criticism of

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the thoughts and ideas presented before. Islamic thinkers and intellectuals have never been mere followers of their predecessors' thoughts.

For instance, though Farabi and Avicenna have accepted some of the philosophical ideas of Aristotle and Plato, they never completely followed them. In his book Asfar, Mollasadra has discussed and criticized many of the philosophical thoughts before him, and presented new ideas, too. If Eastern philosophy were truly obedient of prior thoughts, there would be no valuable works like Qazali's Tahafat-ul-phalasefe or Ibn Rushd's Tahafat-ul-tahafat.

We must remember, however, that philosophers have also sometimes turned to indirect criticism; in other words, they have criticized the thoughts of others alongside presenting their own ideas. Some of them have even interpreted the thoughts of other philosophers, for sometimes a thinker cannot properly word his own thoughts, but another intellectual may be able to correctly interpret them in a better way. This has been an important step toward eliminating the disputes between philosophers. Furthermore, respecting others' views is a highly significant principle in scientific and philosophical research; even in the West, there are both inconsiderate figures like Bertrand Russell and also quite morally well-adjusted ones like Whitehead and Planck.

5- It also incorrect to say that in Western philosophy there is much attention to making a distinction between “what there is” and “what there should be” when discussing mankind and the universe, whereas Eastern philosophy shows little emphasis on it.

First, we cannot make

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any separation between what exists and what there should exist concerning man, for human life is drowned in an ocean of “propers.”

Second, such a distinction is merely an excuse for some people to make a negative approach toward morals and religion which are the basic factors of human development.

Third, we cannot speak of “what there should be” without discovering the existence of man and activating his positive potentials; this is what neither Western nor Eastern philosophy knows how to do.

causality and its details, thus eliminating its vagueness.

5- Science has made amazing progress in discovering some parts of nature. If these advances are put to use on the path toward human unity – which philosophy is responsible for – man can make correct use of nature, and move from “what there is” to “what there should be.” Science and philosophy should join ships to solve the problems of mankind. If the scientist and the philosopher are to have stronger cooperation, they should first acknowledge each other and then follow these principles:

a) The scientist and the philosopher should both know that analyzing the components of nature for the purpose of scientific research does not damage their interrelation, for:

اگر یک ذرّه را برگیری از جای خلل یابد همه عالم سراپای

(Disturb one particle, and the harmony of the whole universe will be disturbed.)

b) Scientists should avoid statements like, “It's definitely this, and nothing else,” for the universe is quite open, and man's limited senses and devices and internal ideals shouldn't let make such generalizations.

c) Scientists should accept the fact that there is a start and an end to the universe, even though science cannot verify them as observable physical phenomena. The scientist should not fall into such a superficial approach in which:

ما ز آغاز و ز انجام جهان بی خبریم اول و آخر این کهنه کتاب

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افتاده است

(We know nothing about the beginning and the end of this world; it seems that it is an ancient, great book whose first and last pages have been lost.)

d) The scientist should realize that his contact with facts is done through his senses and experimental devices, so he can never directly achieve contact with all the facts of the universe:

ای خدا بنمای تو هر چیز را آن چنان که هست در خدعه سرا

(O God, Who is aware of all obvious and hidden! Reveal everything in this deceitful world as it truly is.)

Jalal-addin Muhammad Molawi (Rumi)

e) The scientist should realize that unless he understands and acknowledges the existence of divine wisdom and philosophy in the universe, he cannot claim to have gained any – not even the slightest – knowledge of the universe, for his knowledge and sensory and mental activities are components of the universe themselves, and should be added to the components of nature. The wise human should say that:

کاشکی هستی زبانی داشتی تا ز هستان پرده ها برداشتی

هر چه گویی ای دم هستی از آن پرده ای دیگر بر آن بستی، بدان

(If only the universe could speak, and would thus reveal all its secrets, for all the theorizing, imagination, reasoning and contradicting made by man about the universe cannot possibly

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provide him with complete knowledge about the universe, for they are merely phenomena and parts of the universe.)

Jalal-addin Muhammad Molawi (Rumi)

f) The scientist and the philosopher should believe in God so that they can interpret the flow of natural laws and the movement in them.

Following the above principles can not only provide the grounds for science and philosophy to cooperate, but also make them both work together on the path of wisdom. If science can help man discover one or many components of the world inside or outside, philosophy can show us the general principles dominant over the universe.

Wisdom and philosophy are able to make the human soul flourish. If science and philosophy were the two wings of a bird, wisdom would be its soul, which can take it from “what there is” to “what there should be.” It is wisdom that provides man with the truly original feeling of being.

of the study of man – the human character:”

1- The humanities that concern man's natural life, like biology, physiology, pathology, and man's relationship with his surroundings.

2- The humanities that relate to history, such as the natural history of man, the political history of man, etc.

3- The humanities related to economics, like work and its values, production and distribution, economic development, etc.

4- Those that are related to man's social life, like sociology, anthropology, management, politics, law, etc.

5- The humanities that pertain to man's evolutional “propers,” like culture, civilizations, literature, aesthetics, art, etc.

6- The humanities that concern man's mental potentials and activities, like psychology, psychiatry and identifying faculties such as the memory, imagination, will, choice, genius and discovery.

7- The humanities that are related to values or virtues of individual or social evolution, like morals, religion and positive mysticism.

The above seven forms of the humanities should move on the path that can take the human character – the “self” – to perfection. The human character and its needs and potentials should always be the main factor in the humanities. Alas, it is not so nowadays, and the humanities have fallen into merely considering phenomena; they study the effects – human behaviors – instead of the real truth. Today's humanities are obsessed with statistics instead of scientifically accurate discussions. Ignoring the human “self” and its pivotal role in human life has led to these effects:

a) Important phenomena in man – like emotions, thought, intelligence, and will – have been studied without taking

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into consideration the influence of the “self” in managing them. Due to the neglect toward the human “self,” some scholars of the humanities have even come to ignore issues like thought, intelligence, imagination, will and freedom of choice, and only study their resulting behaviors.

b) Some great values that are innately planted inside man have been ignored, like religion, morals and mysticism. Thus, ignorance toward the “self” has caused little attention to be paid for it to flourish, which is brought about by moral values and the sense of duty; the final goal of the “self,” being attracted by divinity, has been forgotten.

c) Misinterpretation of free will – flourishing freedom on the path to development and perfection – is a result of studying free will without considering the “self's” dominance over the positive and negative poles. Ignoring the “self” leads to misinterpretations of free will, and also other effects like nihilism and alienation. In other words, man's advances in providing his own luxury, he will feel totally void. Ignoring the “self” arises from two factors: one is hedonism and selfishness, and the other is various thoughts and beliefs, among which the following are the ones that have caused the major deviations in the humanities:

1- Extreme naturalism: Man has never been moderate in his mental endeavors. Intellectuals both past and present have damaged evolutional flow of science. Due to their extreme naturalism, scientists and intellectuals have focused on analyzing physical phenomena and issues that are measurable, and pay little attention to the

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essence of life and the human “self.”

2- The theory of the evolution of kinds, presented by scientists like Darwin, and Lemark which brought great harm to the greatness and sacred value of the human “self.”

3- The theory of the originality of power, supported by intellectuals like Nietzsche. Although power is the primary condition for man's intelligible life in both domains of individual and social life, it must be the power with which each person respects the right for others to live too, not enslave them to his own advantage. People like Nietzsche have in fact interpreted themselves, not power and its usage.

Do these supporters of the essence of power mean to describe that up to now it has been the powerful who have controlled life, or are they commanding the powerful to do so?

They cannot be claiming to be describing the truth, for ignoring all the humanitarian deeds, the sacrifices human beings have made for each other, the resistances they have shown against atrocities and their struggle for freedom throughout history would mean ignoring the whole of history altogether! Thus, we must say that these supporters in fact express their own internal ideals and wishes, not a real historic trend.

4- Freud's extremist theory concerning the sexual instinct also degraded the value of the human “self” and human moral virtues. Some of Freud's theories on various forms of sleep and his classifications of man's conscious (consciousness and unconsciousness) are considerably useful, but his negative approach toward man's qualities

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and mental greatness and also his misinterpretation of morals and religion deserve criticism; these theories caused a great deal of confusion and misjudgment among the simpleminded.

In brief, the humanities should move on the path of correctly interpreting the “self,” and also respond to these six questions:

a) Who am I? b) Where have I come from? c) Where have I come to? d) Who am I with? e) Why have I come here? f) Where do I go from here?

to name the twentieth century 'The Century of Alienation from Himself and Others,' nor would he become a tooth of rigidly cold machinery with all the emotions, aesthetics and humanitarian tendencies he possesses.

2- The philosophy of science must take any measures necessary to avoid proving facts by means of statistics. Statistical proof and deduction in scientific theorems needs careful evaluation. Statistical studies can sometimes shows us an aspect of a phenomenon, but it should be never considered as a form of absolute discovery. Statistics cannot identify a phenomenon from various points of view.

3- The philosophy of science should make scientists realize that they should consider science like rays that first light up the insides of the scientists, then light up the whole society. In other words, the philosophy of science is to remind scientists that science consists of two values:

a) Science is innately brightly illuminated, and can enlighten man up too, so it is innately valuable.

b) It also has value as a means; it can be used on the path of human life, which can be quite suitable and advantageous, too.

4- The philosophy of science should reduce man's playfulness and pretension concerning cognitive factors, like his senses, laboratory tools and any device that can help man make contact with facts.

5- By discovering the relationship between various fields of science and presenting general viewpoints on ideologies, the philosophy of science can save researchers from being trapped in the vicious circles of their own fields, and make them seek the fundamental goals

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of life.

In other words, the philosophy of science should make researchers understand that although they may be experts in their own particular field, they may know little about the domains beyond it, especially the fundamentals and aim of life.

6- Though presenting methods of discovering facts in science is quite difficult, here is how the philosophy of science can help:

a) Showing how to think correctly.

b) Evaluating entirely theorems that are presented to researchers in form of theories.

c) Freeing researchers from inadvertent reliance on predefined principles.

7- Determining the importance and criterion for preferring various branches of science to one another. The philosophy should prove that sciences are not equally important, and some may be preferred to others. The philosophy of science can identify the criterion by means of vast research and study. The criteria should be the intelligible life of human beings.

8- Research on the philosophical origins and basics of each branch of science and discovering their inter-relationships in order to discover the greater unity of sciences.

9- “Revising continually the principles and laws of science and nature and their corresponding tools,” the primary factor of which is establishing a free relationship with the concerned principles and laws; in other words, accepting them should not be as sacred as believing in divine rules, so that man might feel free to put them to use at his wish.

The philosophy of science should on one hand provide the crucial necessity to constantly revise scientific laws and theories and on the other hand show

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acceptable, mental methods for the revision. This does not mean, however, that there is no fixed scientific law; what it means is that there should be a modernist approach to various scientific principles if different aspects of issues are to be considered.

The point that is of high significance and calls for complete awareness and care is that even the mental aspects of science and knowledge – which are considered as unchangeably correct – need continual reconsideration; they must be exposed to the latest information and discoveries every day, as if we were discovering them again and again, for as we said, most scientific and industrial discoveries are caused by the modernist dynamism and mental endeavor of thinkers who thought the principles and laws of their times should have been revised.

no science – not even philosophy – can be expected to be able to comment on man as it would about abstract mathematical topics. Mathematical activities are based upon quantity, whereas the humanities deal with qualitative issues and a series of realities. There are two factors that generally make the philosophy of science fail regarding the humanities:

● The difficulty of the identification of the laws and principles governing man's four relationships. Although a great deal of effort has been put into discovering humanity and human potentials and various aspects, he general knowledge and agreement on it is quite little, therefore the philosophy of science cannot successfully describe the fundamentals and methods of the humanities.

● The diverse, contradicting reactions man shows in response to different situations has also created complications for the philosophy of science making progress in the domain of the humanities. Man endeavors in many ways to fulfill his economic, legal and health needs, and since many of these needs are fixed, the humanities are able to describe basic economic needs and their consequences according to general laws and principles.

They can be studied from a philosophical point of view, but having fulfilled man's needs, it is impossible to foresee how the society will then be. We cannot predict, for example, after the fulfillment of the needs, whether people will definitely have a fine religion, culture, politics and moral ethics or not. In other words, when man's specific needs have been satisfied, his status regarding his

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four relationships – with God, himself, the universe and others – cannot be defined.

will be his best guide through the darkness of life, creating a light in him that can be the criterion that can distinguish fake from genuine and right from wrong – in other words, certainty from doubt.)

It is necessary to have a criterion that can distinguish certainty from doubt. As Jalal-addin Muhammad Molawi believes, no matter how scientifically advanced man becomes, he will not be able to purify his soul completely of doubt. However, if he can relate his knowledge to divine knowledge, his doubts will not upset him anymore, for his soul will find a light that will serve as the criterion, providing him with serenity and accuracy.

No matter how accurate man's senses and tools may be, he will never be able to keep away from his doubts about his knowledge of the universe. Therefore, this doubt will always remain with him: what are the boundaries of his role as actor and spectator in the universe? However, if we can somehow make contact between the drop-sized knowledge we have to dive in the oceans of divine knowledge; then our doubts would no longer make us suffer.

The factors leading to doubt can be divided into two groups:

a) Some believe that doubt arises from man's acts in discovering facts about the world. In ancient times, some people believed strongly in doubting, for they thought that errors of their senses influenced their judgment of facts. Now that man knows about sensory mistakes, this factor has been eliminated. The playfulness of

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the senses only leads to doubt in facts when we cannot guide their playfulness toward our observation's advantage; with technological advances now, we cannot consider our senses to play a crucial role in creating doubt any longer.

b) Some others believe that since there are a few unknown things in the world, and all components of the universe are interrelated, philosophical doubts are inevitable.

There are shortcomings in this viewpoint, too. There are a great many facts that are clear to man without the least shadow of a doubt; furthermore, without accepting a series of unquestionable realities, human knowledge would never be able to exist. On the other hand, having doubt in some components does not conflict with belief in the whole system.

For instance, we may see a painting full of hundreds of lines, shapes and colors, and we are certain that the artist has had a definite subject in his mind to use them for; however, we may not be able to clearly understand all of them. If we believe in the overall harmony in the world of nature, our lack of knowledge about some phenomena and relationships do not contradict the whole system.

Doubts vary in subject and the degree of certainty in the units surrounding them. Here, we can divide doubts into deep and superficial kinds. If our knowledge of a subject we are doubtful of is superficial, our doubt about it will also be superficial. If we know a lot about it, however – that is, if there

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is more light on the subject – we will be in deep doubt. For instance, if we do not know much about whether “internal freedom is variable or not,” we will have superficial doubt about it, but the more we know about internal freedom and change, the more dark points there will be, and the deeper our doubts will become.

The doubts thinkers and intellectuals have should not be considered to be the same in all cases, either. Bertrand Russell, for example, had a profound knowledge of logic, mathematics and Western philosophy, but he did not know Eastern philosophy, psychology, ethics and religion; his doubts on all of the mentioned topics cannot be regarded the same.

Doubt is a phenomenon essential to the progress of human culture and civilization. Doubt about formal knowledge, however, must be for the purpose of discovering newer facts and secrets, and it should not cause man to cast doubt on everything. If he does not intend to discover new knowledge, he may question the whole fundamentals of human thought patterns. This is no longer philosophical doubt; it is a mental illness. In facts, doubts should not be regarded as originally, innately desirable, but rather as a means to escape decadent, archaic knowledge, and make efforts to reach new facts. Some have referred to doubt as the “means to flee from rigid, fixed laws and principles.”

that science, art and politics are virtually desirable, whereas some others think that without mental endeavors on the path of human life, they would be worthless. The value of science and philosophy should be considered in connection with intelligible life.

Intelligible life is the life in which all of man's positive aspects are fulfilled, and as we know, one of the most fundamentals of positive human aspects is seeking the supreme aim of life, that can interpret and justify life intelligently and logically.

In natural life, science can intoxicate man and make power overcome righteousness.

Science can cast light upon one aspect of man, granting him the power to reveal facts. This kind of using this power is only possible in intelligible life. We know that gaining awareness of facts is one thing, and adjusting man's relationship with them is something totally different, as being aware of many issues concerning righteousness and justice is quite different from behaving righteously and justly toward others. In intelligible life, science never serves to inflate the natural self, promote arrogance and boastfulness or taking advantage of others.

In brief, science can be used in two different ways:

1- Discovering facts in order to adjust and moderate the four relationships:

a) Man-God

b) Man-himself

c) Man-the universe

d) Man-other human beings

This form of science is like a pure light shining onto man's nature. This science is pure light, created by God, the One who enlightens the whole universe. It is with this form of science that man can activate his abstract perfection and greatness

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(i.e., innate light) toward reality.

2- Understanding realities in order to reinforce man's desires, or inflating the natural self. When science is used in this way, man considers himself as the end and others as the means. In other words, he intends to dominate others. Such a science will lead to nothing but disaster and doom for man. It will alienate man from himself, which will make him also alienated from the universe and other human beings.

neck, so I could kill them all with one single stroke!” Anastas, who taxed the air people breathed, is another example.

If we study the history of mankind, we will not come to accept this theory, for despite all of the animal-like conceited figures, there have also been men of great valor and glory.

3- Some believe that the fundamentals of human nature are still unknown to us, but we do know that man has shown on great many occasions his selfishness and desire for pleasure. Many human beings have considered themselves the end, and many others have assumed the role of being the means to the end. This theory suffers from two weaknesses: first, we cannot claim that we know nothing at all about the fundamentals of man's nature. We are aware of some aspects of man. Some physiological, psychological and social aspects of human nature have been identified. We cannot deny the endeavors anthropologists have made. Secondly, although history has seen selfish vultures of human beings, it has also witnessed men of the highest human values.

4- Man is believed to have a great variety of potentials and talents, only some of which have been investigated or known. We can study the activation of man's potentials from two points of view:

a) Activating the human potentials related to man's compulsory life.

b) Man's attention and great eagerness for his own perfection. Some human beings have been successful in activating their potentials. These seekers of greatness and perfection have always

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saved human virtues from annihilation. According to this theory, man possesses both glorious, incredible virtues as well as evil and corruption.

a part of human nature. Furthermore, the following verse cautions man for his haste, so if it were all or part of his innate nature, it would be impossible for him to give it up.

خلق الانسان من عجل ساریکم ایاتی فلا تستعجلون

“Man was created of haste. Assuredly I shall show you My signs; so demand not that I make haste.” (21:37)

emotions, feelings and anxieties (over 100 different types), 19) Introversion and extroversion,

20) Analytical and combination thought, 21) An existent called the heart, with over 100 functions, 22) Intellectualism and solidity of thought, 23) Hope, 24) Dissatisfaction of monotony, 25) Wishing, 26) Denial, 27) Sacrifice, 28) Seeking benefit over others, 29) Idealism, 30) Worship, etc.

man's nature. In other words, the orderly, logical flow of every power and potential of mankind is called its nature. Now we can present counterarguments for the three problems we posed above:

First, we cannot deny their claim that human nature is not included among man's psychological, mental and instinctive activities, for those who believe in human nature do not intend to prove a separate, psychological reality or a body part which may be denied; every power man possesses, in its natural, logical course of action, is a part of human nature.

The second problem – stating that the changes man undergoes conflict with human nature – does not seem correct if we take into consideration the survival of human aspects throughout all the changes mankind has seen. For instance, thought, one of man's aspects, does not undergo change during all the ups and downs of man's life. Only the raw material or subjects related to human thought are interpreted.

Thirdly, the third problem – defying human nature based on the differences existing between individual and collective thoughts and behaviors – also appears to be incorrect, for if we are to recognize human differences as the criterion, we should not recognize any other of the human aspects, either. For example, do people not differ in their ideas? Are humans not different in the emotions and reactions they show in response to motivations and conscientious activities? Must we defy thoughts, emotions and the conscience?

As we have already mentioned, the human nature consists of the

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logical, orderly flow of each of the human forces. Now, by means of comparing it with each of the human forces, we can come to a more accurate analysis of the human nature:

1- Thought: Thought includes activities done on known things in order to discover the unknown, or activities done on the means in order to achieve a goal. If human thought acts logically and omits or selects the means correctly to achieve his end, he has moved on the path of his intrinsic nature; however, if he falls astray from the correct way of thinking, and behaves illogically, we may say that his thought has deviated from human nature.

2- Will: If the human will chooses and activates the useful motives, his will arises from a healthy, sound human nature.

3- Emotions and Feelings: If man's emotional behavior is rational in response to the stimuli that arouse his feelings and emotions, and do not fall for imaginations, flashbacks or scattered thoughts, his feelings will have a healthy human nature; the slightest distortion in the normal flow of feelings and emotions will harm them.

4- Selfishness: If acting on the path of self-preservation and aiming for human development, selfishness is compatible with the true, original human nature. Yet, when it falls into hedonistic pleasures, it deviates from the real course of human nature, and becomes self-conceit.

5- Conscience: Conscience is one of man's greatest internal powers. If it acts legitimately, it will have a healthy human nature. For instance, if the human conscience proves

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him right and wrong, or makes righteous judgments and scorns and tortures man when he sins, it has moved on its rational path.

6- The Supreme Feeling of Responsibility: It can behave in two ways:

a) The Supreme Feeling of Responsibility toward People: In this case, man sympathizes for the joys and sorrows others feel, and considers love toward his fellow human beings superior to all other aspects of social life.

b) The Supreme Feeling of Responsibility for Man's Own Self-development: Man does not feel his existence in the universe is aimless; he is always in attempt to lead his existence to perfection.

Both forms of the supreme feeling of responsibility mentioned above can be in accordance with the human nature if man acts rationally.

All human beings generally have an original human nature, which is pure and has the potential to seek greatness and perfection. If man succeeds in protecting his pure nature from deviations, inculcations, and the pre-defined grounds of an unhealthy society, he can keep it pure and original. These verses from the Holy Qur’an imply the existence of the human nature:

فاقم وجهک للدین حنیفا فطرﺓ الله التی فطر الناس علیها لا تبدیل لخلق الله ذلک الدین القیم و لکن اکثر الناس لایعلمون

“So set thy face to the religion, a man of pure faith – God's original upon which He originated mankind. There is no changing in God's creation. That is the right religion—but most people know it not.” (30:30)

صبغه الله و

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من احسن من الله صبغه

“Having faith in God, and submitting to God's will on the way to development and perfection is in fact being colored by God – and who can color [human lives] better than God?”(2:138)

Phenomenon of Inventions, Discoveries and Innovations: If discoveries and inventions do not originate from man's internal potentials, they must arise from external factors; however, there is not similarity or association between external factors and the discoveries and inventions made by man.

The inventions and discoveries do not arise from the great deal of information man has about a subject. If external factors could lead to discoveries and inventions by themselves, anybody who had them would become an inventor or a discoverer.

3- Different Behaviors – Political, Judicious, and Artistic: Some people have specific behaviors. Some seem to have a political kind of style, others a military, judicious, artistic or managerial behavior. The fact that people have different behaviors proves that they must have the potential needed for it. For example, if one has an artistic kind of behavior, he must have artistic potential, too.

4- The Activation of the “Self” that Manages Man's Life: As we have already mentioned, man's soul is abstract, and has been interpreted in various ways, like the “self” and the “ego.” The external factors that enter man's life cannot be regarded as parts of the existence of the “self,” for they are by no means comparable. The “self” is not a result of external factors; however, the accumulation of these factors inside human life can bring about the activation of the “self.”

In brief, if the 'self' potential did not exist inside the phenomenon of life, external factors – that cannot consciously save their own existence against any

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creature – could never create the 'self.'

5- Mental Activities: We arrange the pictures we get from the world outside in our mind. The mind regards some phenomenon as true and some others false. The mind's potentials help it carry out various tasks. If man did not possess the potential of wisdom, for instance, it could not use its wisdom in any task at all. Without the potential of moral conscience, man would never accept a series of “shoulds” and deny others. Likewise, if man did not have the potential to seek beauty, he would never enjoy watching beautiful things.

same circumstances – he cannot simultaneously be righteousness and selfishly cruel. He may be righteous at times, but under certain conditions become cruel. We may consider man's conflicting potentials from two points of view:

1- Positive, Opposite Potentials: An example is the potentials for crude emotions and purely intelligent ones. The former are not any principle or law other than their causes, whereas the latter cannot do anything without obeying the law.

2- Potentials Implying Possibility and Power: Many qualities can arise in man, although he does not innately have them. In fact, the appearance of atrocious, vulgar qualities is the result of the disappearing or destruction of man's innate potentials; man has no innate negative quality of his own.

The former group mentioned above can be harmonized and organized in order to result in man's mental and spiritual development. For instance, if man's powers of thought and intelligence are enhanced, his crude emotions will become highly elevated ones.

The latter group, which are potential, cannot even flourish at the same time, let alone be harmonized. If man's potential for justice is activated, for example, at that moment he cannot be cruel and unfair. Thus, when a certain potential is activated, its opposite cannot possibly arise alongside it; if the conditions and circumstances change, however, the opposite may arise. Man must always beware of the opposites of good qualities arising within him.

In a word what God has blessed man with is purely positive, constructive potentials. Even the nature of the filthiest of man's

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instincts is useful and good. It is man who neutralizes his positive, constructive potentials, and abuses his instincts. The fact that man possesses various potentials does not conflict with the fact that his nature is abstract, either. The human nature has to be non-physical, and supernaturally united to be able to have different potentials. If man's nature were not supernatural, it would be impossible to interpret and justify the interference, overlapping and observable inseparability of his potentials.

his “self,” man can supervise and dominate his actions much better.

Considering the vastness of the human “self” and its tendency toward progress and perfection, we may categorize it via “width and length” categorization:

a) Wider selves: Having gone through the preliminary stages of development, man possesses a natural self. This natural self is the non-self-conscious aspect of the self, and develops as time goes by.

In fact, man acquires a “moral” self, possesses a 'scientific' self, gets a 'social' self, and has an exclusive 'divine' self.

b) “Length” selves: Since birth, man develops both from a physical, natural point of view, and the development and perfection of his “self.” As Jalal-addin Muhammad Molawi (Rumi) says:

از جمادی مُردم و نامی شدم وز نما مُردم ز حیوان سر زدم

مُردم از حیوانی و آدم شدم پس چه ترسم؟ کی ز مردنکم شدم

حمله دیگر بمیرم از بشر تا بر آرم از ملایک بال و پر

وز ملک هم بایدم جستن ز جو کلّ شی هالک الّا وجهه

بار دیگر از ملک پرّان شوم آنچه آن در وهم ناید، آن شوم

پس عدم گردم، عدم چون ارغنون گویدم

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کانّا الیه راجعون

(Apparently, I stopped being like an animal; it seemed that sort of life died in me. But that death elevated me to higher states of human perfection. So why should I fear these successive deaths, for they are lifting me up toward development? These deaths made me even more alive. I was not losing anything; I was merely heading for a higher stage of life. After that, I was at the stage of humanity for a while. Now if I lose my human body and give myself to human death, angelic spirit will fill my soul, and fly me toward divinity. Soon, I will even surpass angels, and head for a hugely greater world. No point or state living beings move on the path of has stability or eternity, for everything is mortal, except His Divine Essence. Then, I will even climb beyond being like angels, and reach a state reason and wisdom can never fathom; I will head for oblivion, which is the general rhythm of the universe conducted by God's Mighty Will, telling us that 'we will all return to God'.)

We can also present another classification for the self:

1- The Natural Self: This kind of self is common between man and animals. The natural self cannot step out of fatalistic circles, or supervise and dominate various affairs. At the level of the natural self, man acts in accordance with fatalistic factors and principles.

2- The Human Self: Having stepped out of the natural self, man

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finds his human self. Justice, love for other human beings and paying attention to other morals and virtues become significant. With this kind of “self,” man can bring the natural self and its various activities under control. He is not totally free of fatalistic issues, however, for the natural self is combined with the human self, and plays a role in man's deeds.

3- The Human-divine Self: If man's soul and spirit are elevated, he can go beyond his normal human self, and reach a “human-divine” self. The spirit is released from all the chains trapping it, and finds divine freedom.

We may divide the identity of the self into two kinds:

a) The self with the identity of the natural self-conveys the management of purely natural life, which exists in all living beings, from animals to even just, spiritually elevated humans. Its only purpose is to inflate the self and dominate anything other than the self, considering everything else at the service of enhancing the inflation and dominance of the self. All good or evil are evaluated by selfish criteria.

This kind of self will trod on all moral virtues to get what it wants, burn down the whole world for a meager desire. It is totally “self-oriented.” This is the self that has caused the natural and animal-like aspect of the history of mankind to continue, hindering the history of humanity. The qualities of the purely natural self are:

● It considers itself the leader, and obeys itself.

● It is morbidly selfish

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and arrogant.

● The natural self-fights anything that does not appeal to its desires.

● It worships itself.

● It has a tendency toward hedonism.

● It can mislead man from righteousness and justice.

● It denies all harmony and order in the universe.

● It considers wishes and favoritism prior to discipline and order.

● It regards itself as the end and others as the means.

b) The self with the identity of dynamic progress toward perfection: This form of self is always elevating; it never spins around itself. It does not lose its perfectionist, progressive identity, for it never falls into selfishness or arrogance. This kind of self never regards the purely natural self as the criterion for morals and virtues, for it knows too well that man's true rise to perfection is possible only outside the natural self, which merely aims to achieve pleasure and repel harm.

When man possesses a dynamic self, he will at least:

● always assess himself,

● take himself seriously, and

● care about himself.

self-battle, leading to a war against others, too. By independence of character we mean that man may consider his own existence as being far superior to all values and morals. The only kind of independence that means is the independence of selfishness. Cultures can have great influence on how people assess themselves; some cultures totally ignore the issue of educating people how to assess themselves, which is absolutely essential – for even a short time.

presented to him, and b) the self itself becomes important to man, too.

If the self is not important to man, he will never attempt to discover what is useful or harmful to him. The two factors mentioned above account for why many human beings are not well-intentioned about their own selves.

There are many factors that lead to the self being considered as worthless, the most important of which is the activation of the self without any free endeavor. As we know, man feels his ego arise in him after childhood, without having done any attempt to acquire it. It is the lack of attempt to acquire the self that makes man feel no importance in it, and do no study on its characteristics.

Education is of great significance in self-discovery. Unfortunately, societies that neglect the role of religion and moral ethics in various aspects of human life, do not feel enough respect and value for the life of human beings so as to acknowledge its existence, and consider its education as important. If the “self” were of importance to man today, millions of human lives would not be at the peril of tyrants' whimsical desires and wishes.

of the self or the absence of some of its elements that make man fail in his life. This form of self-alienation can be of six kinds:

1- Ignorance about the self: This kind of self-alienation has engulfed most of humanity today. Although prophets of God and great men of wisdom have preached man to discover themselves ever since the history of mankind began, their preaching has seldom been entirely fruitful. Self-knowledge is so important that an ideology is useless if it cannot make man discover himself and what is proper and appropriate to his life.

The point here is that with all the unknown and unsolved mysteries in man, how can the self-alienation caused by lack of knowledge of the domains of human life be eradicated? Considering the quality of “self-familiarity,” the answer should be quite obvious, for it is one of the characteristics of human life that when it gains some extent of knowledge of its self, it can save itself from self-alienation only to that extent. Of course, if man has the capability to discover himself but does not do so, he will suffer from one of the most degraded forms of self-alienation.

2- Losing the self: In this kind of self-alienation, one sees one's self in another person. It is caused by two basic factors:

a) Extreme extroversion, where man thinks too highly of “other than himself,” and is drowned in its attraction. Such an inadvertent tendency toward others can alienate man from himself. The only way to escape this

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kind of self-alienation is by paying attention to the fact that no advantage possessed by the “other than oneself” should make one lose one's “own self.”

b) Sometimes it is the weakness and incapability of the “self” that cannot safeguard its independence. The feeling of humiliation may lead to such weakness and incompetence.

These two factors can make man feel that he exists actually outside himself – feel that his life exists in others.

3- Self-defiance: If one knows that cruelty to others actually means cruelty toward oneself, and that escaping duties is in fact escaping one's own self, and that lying can distort reality, but still does cruel deeds and tells lies, has in fact defied his own self. When man feels his internal tendency toward the philosophy and aim of life, but destroys it with his own desires and wishes, is he not defying himself? Denying the beginning and the end of creation is a sign of self-alienation.

4- Bargain-like self-alienation: This kind of self-alienation is based upon greed for benefit and advantage. Those who suffer from it consider themselves as merchandise that can be traded with others. They are ready to lose even themselves in return for a profit.

5- Living with an unreal self: This kind of self-alienation involves ignoring one's own elements of life. Man neglects his own potentials and lives with his unreal self. There are two kinds of unreal self:

a) The self that is full of desires, hopes and aims that pertain to selfishness. This is the unreal

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self that normal people deal with. Their self, in other words, is a mere set of baseless tendencies and wishes.

b) The self that copies and imitates the life of others. Many human beings live with the self of others, not their own. They imitate the behavior and thoughts of other people; their life is no more than a photograph of others' life.

6- Ignoring the power and advantages of the self: Man has a great many potentials, which are what make him superior to other living beings. Outstanding figures of history have been those who have succeeded in activating these potentials. This is the kind of self-alienation man will suffer from if he cannot manage his potentials and advantages. In fact, several factors make him escape his potentials, and become self-alienated. As Jalal-addin Muhammad Molawi says:

جمله عالم ز اختیار و هست خود می گریزند در سر سرمست خود

تا دمی از هوشیاری وارهند ننگ خمر و بنگ بر خود می نهند

می گریزند از خودی در بیخودی یا به مستی یا به شغل ای مهتدی

(People are running away from their own existence, their own free will… but where to? To stupefying infatuations that will take them far away from consciousness and awareness – if, even, momentarily. They turn to drugs and alcohol and submit to being dehumanized. With the

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occupation or infatuation they acquire, they are fleeing from self-consciousness toward unconsciousness, but they do not know that they will be pulled back into their natural, physical self by the chains of their desires and whims, for their escape was not upon God's command.)

If man loses supreme self-awareness, then conflicting and contradicting forms of awareness and destructive forms of freedom can bring about his intoxication and self-alienation.

previous selves in order to achieve a developed, evolved self. Such a new self is impossible without making use of freedom.

When discussing this form of self, we must keep a few points in mind:

1- The factor of endeavor and adjusting the self on the path to evolution is far beyond passive, mortal selves. This basic factor may be considered as man's higher knowledge of supreme ideals.

This theory is quite useful in finding the grounds needed and the correct explanations about the means to pass on to evolutional 'selves,' but it cannot provide the management factor that is able to correctly give the 'selves' and their means (the knowledge, experiences and gradual familiarity with ideals) evolutional adjustment.

2- The origin of man's endeavor toward an evolved self lies in his spiritual aspect. In other words, we must admit that man has a spiritual aspect and that it is capable of guiding his selves on the path to evolution and perfection.

3- When the selves are guided onto the path to evolution, the previous ones are not eliminated, for not all of the previous elements and aspects are negative or imperfect enough to be deleted; they do contain elements necessary for the new selves, like correct ideals. Furthermore, some elements of the previous selves can provide the preliminary development and growth for the new ones.

4- A more evolved self means changes inside the self in order to achieve more independence and eliminate fatalistic states surrounded by the changes in nature and other human beings.

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Evolution in the self makes man's potentials and talents become activated, changes his internal conflicts into constructive ones, and increases the capacity of his existence.

5- The evolutions in the new self, along with use of freedom, eliminate the chains that trap man, granting him greater internal freedom.

6- The human self must take eternal prosperity into consideration if it intends to evolve, for as the eternal capital, the self cannot be exchanged for anything except eternal prosperity.

7- By achieving eternity, the self becomes immortal due to divine immortality. This does not mean, however, that it moves to another world in which it becomes immortal; it does mean, either, that the self is totally demolished. We are referring to the elevating evolution of the self in this world – the expansion and development of the various aspects of human existence.

8- Along with any change or development the self undergoes, it finds new characteristics, too. If it achieves divine immortality, it will never think about gaining advantages or personal benefit, or competing against “other than the self.”

not be dependent upon what others do, like a musical instrument that needs to be played by others.

2- Dependency upon the self implies obeying the logical principles of life.

3- Self-dependent existence does not mean exploiting other human beings as one's tools. If man is free of negative self-alienation, he will never claim “I am the end, and the others are the means,” for that would take him to the inflation of his natural self, not the independence of his human self.

The steps needed to be taken in order to return to the self are:

a) First, man must become aware of the issue of life and its value and significance. Humans cannot regain their lost existence without proving the independence value of life.

b) Human laws must have origins far superior to the desires of natural life; likewise, the executors of the law must also have supernatural tendencies so that they can guide people toward an existence dependent on the self.

c) Education is quite significant in making the existence dependent upon the self-embrace reality. Education must devote all of its efforts and use all of its skills and appropriate expertise ever since man is born into trying to make him understand that he is for now merely a meager stream of existence originating from the foothills of history, genetics and the environment; quite soon, however, the immense power hidden in him will change him into an ocean so great that all the other streams, rivers and lakes will turn to him for

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help. In order to demonstrate to man this amazing development, it is necessary to introduce him to thousands of outstanding figures in history who have taken great steps toward changing man's goals and way of life.

d) Man must gain a clear understanding of independence and dependence; he should realize that total independence is impossible, and total dependence also leads to man's alienation.

the human spiritual states – if not derogatory and vulgar – can be related to God.

Man may guess what his future spiritual state may be by means of comparisons and metaphors, but he can never have definite knowledge of it. This kind of shortcoming makes man moderate in his feelings of innate greed and ambition, and prevents him from rebellion. By reinforcing human thought and intelligence in the knowledge of facts, this can be overcome.

3- Voluntary shortcomings that originate from man himself: The two weaknesses mentioned above are not considered as imperfections in the creation of man, for they are involuntary and cannot be eliminated entirely; however, man suffers from a series of shortcomings that are brought about by actions he does at his own free will, and is responsible himself for overcoming them. Wars, atrocities, lies, and addictions are examples of shameful weaknesses that are caused by man himself, and only he is responsible for eliminating them.

There are three situations in which the powers and weaknesses of human beings reveal themselves:

1- Differences in potentials and talents and involuntary situations make people differ. A genius is quite different from someone who has fairly little intelligence. The former can be regarded as powerful, and the latter as weak. When a person has literary talent and taste, he can be considered as stronger than the one who does not have it. Various talents for learning, intelligence, the

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power of guessing, and talent for economics, law and politics can categorize people into strong or weak. The variety and diversity in talents and characteristics is so great that some people may be strong in certain potentials and weak in other ones. In such cases, since each person has advantages that others do not possess, the members of the society must harmonize their different potentials and talents to serve everyone's development and perfection.

2- Sometimes the difference between the strong and the weak is used for progress toward intelligible life, and both the strong and the weak aim for the pinnacles of intelligible life. The diversity in the potentials, talents, emotions, desires, thoughts, cultures, physical situations and social environments is so great among people that the difference between the strong and the weak can never be totally eliminated; social life, instead, should be adjusted in a way that each individual, with all of his/her characteristics, can head toward intelligible life.

3- Sometimes the strong and the weak compete against each other. Their competitions can be divided into three groups:

a) Competition without conflict: The strong and the weak continue their lives without intersecting each other. They each go their own way, none taking action against the other.

b) Disturbing competition: This kind of rivalry may lead to the opponent's doom. We must say that all rivalries and competitions in the domain of purely natural life that are dominated by the self are of this second kind; the 'other than the self' is considered as

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worthless, and man tries to dominate anything to his advantage if he has the power to do so, and if he does not, he will take any measures needed to get it, burning in desire all the time. Like animals, their 'natural self' knows no boundaries, ever-inflating; even worse, they always believe that the whole universe owes them everything, and whenever they fail to achieve their desires, they think that the world has been cruelly atrocious to them, and they should seek their revenge.

c) Constructive competition: This kind of rivalry guides both sides toward perfection. Such rivalry is quite approvable, even reiterated. Many verses of the Qur’an emphasize the importance of competing with others in good deeds:

و لکل وجهه هو مولیها فاستبقوا الخیرات

“And for every nation there is an end, a goal in life; so, what matters is to be ahead of others in good deeds.” (2: 147)

Those who do not take part in the competition of doing good, make themselves weak and incapable at their own will.

In brief, in this kind of rivalry between humans, which is of the constructive kind, the two persons do not confront front each other aiming to destroy one another; it is a serious attempt to do more good, to become more talented than the struggling men were before.

Some are general definitions, which take an overall look at it, without presenting any specific cases; for example, conscience means awareness about the self or one's character.

2- Others are specific definitions, concerning the effects of conscience, for instance, facts like bring a compass of the character or supervisory role conscience.

activities or a spiritual phenomenon cannot imply that an individual is basically devoid of it.

2- Differences in the functions of the conscience in human beings: Some say that if the conscience is to be original, why is there so much diversity among people in its functions? Various functions for the conscience cannot defy its existence, as the existence of brutally savage human beings cannot prove that there is no conscience; the furthest we can go is to say that conscience is a relative phenomenon, prone to variation in its intensity, which varies from one person to another. If people use their conscience in various intensities, it should lead to the conclusion that they do not have a conscience at all, as diversities people have in their usage of their mental powers cannot imply that they have no intelligence.

3- If the conscience is original, why is there so much debate and dispute over it among thinkers? We must counter argue by pointing out that thinkers are in debate and dispute over a great many things, and conscience is merely one of them. Do philosophers not disagree over matter and its identity? Is there absolute agreement over motion and time? If thinkers are in debate over issues like matter, motion and time, it does not defy them, as is the case about conscience.

4- The function of the conscience is not compatible with that of intelligence and reason: Some claim that the conscience does not function compatibly with intelligence and reason; the former

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is highly concerned about the good and evil of actions, whereas the latter is not at all. Moral conscience can identify gratitude and thankfulness, and intelligence can study it. There is no conflict between reason and conscience, despite the occasional differences seen between some principles of moral conscience and some schools of thought. For instance, moral conscience decrees that be fair and just, but hedonism believes that a person should enjoy himself, going after his desires. This is definitely not a conflict between the methods of moral conscience and those of intelligence and reason; it is a difference between the principles of moral conscience and the views in various schools of thought.

5- Is conscience created by the society? Some sociologists believe that conscience is an outcome of man's social life, and has no identity of its own. We must say that human societies are not capable of creating new phenomena in man; the most they can do is to give them a touch of color. Can the society make its members discover the unknown without thinking? Can a society make all of its members mathematicians? Can we have a society in which people's desires are controlled in such a way that everyone follows a moderate, balanced way of life?

Man is a being possessing a great many potentials, and high flexibility. Human societies can merely determine how the potentials are put to use. In brief, if this means that social and environmental laws and factors are generally influential in coloring the

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conscience, it is a highly proper point, confirmed by our scientific and sensory observations. It does not mean, however, that the conscience is totally a consequence of the society and environmental factors. We also admit that social and environmental factors may affect the conscience, but it does not mean that the conscience is made by the society, even if it is done by an internal flexibility.

6- The conscience starts functioning from childhood: Freud believes that the conscience is based and founded by the dos and don'ts engraved in the human mind in childhood. Since a child obeys his/her parents, he believes, and the parents continually order him to do or not do certain things to protect him, a phenomenon called moral conscience is gradually formed in the child.

If commands and preventions can lead to moral conscience, the same thing should happen in animals, which is not true. Freud may argue that it is only man who can develop a conscience through intrigue and forbiddance, whereas we must accept that man has an internal characteristic that allows him to develop conscience when encountering certain motives.

7- There are no fixed principles concerning conscience: Some believe that it is impossible to set fixed principles for the conscience, for it is a personal, variable phenomenon. Our response is that each mental or spiritual phenomenon arising in man is accompanied with certain personal factors. Yet, all phenomena follow their own

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set of laws. When phenomena like recall, will, or decision-making arise in man, they are accompanied with the individual's certain characteristics – thus, it is characterized, and does not defy its orderly nature.

8- Moral conscience cannot be fixed, for man's moods and mental states vary: Since human mental states are always changing, moral conscience also undergoes continual change, and no fixed phenomenon can be associated with it. Some people are extremely conscientious in some cases, and at other times totally put their conscience aside. Thus, how could we ever consider moral conscience as being a fixed phenomenon? We must say that we should consider the difference between conscience – or any phenomenon – and an activity done under certain circumstances. Conscience itself is a fixed phenomenon, but its activities depend on a variety of factors. Do we use our intelligence and reason equally at all times? If we do not, does that defy its existence?

9- Conscience and man's tendency toward machinery: Some say that despite all the value and significance moral conscience has, there is no need to continue discussing it now that technology has begun to dominate man. Nowadays, man does not need an internal factor, or a built-in judge to distinguish good from bad. Our response is that having accepted the necessity of conscience for man's emancipation, we must take its advice in the technology-infatuated world we are living in. If people realize its significance, they will take fundamental steps toward its revival. Even now, people are still

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deeply moved when they learn about sacrificial actions made by other human beings.

worry.

11- The conscience can be held responsible.

12- The conscience can differentiate good from evil.

13- The conscience can supervise.

14- The conscience can suffer from upsets and fits.

15- The conscience can decree.

16- The conscience can find serenity.

17- The certainty of the conscience is much greater than that of reason and intelligence.

18- The conscience can set up trials.

19- The conscience can scold and reprimand.

20- The conscience is capable of judgment.

21- The conscience can be entrapped or freed.

22- The conscience executes the law.

23- The moderate conscience shows facts without manipulation.

24- The conscience reminds human beings about the necessity of sympathy.

25- The conscience is where man can privately confer with himself.

26- The conscience can speak with man's reason and intelligence.

27- The conscience can be deceived.

28- The conscience can be disabled.

29- The conscience can be put to the test.

30- The conscience can weaken and strengthen.

31- Man's internal freedom arises from his conscience.

32- The conscience reflects God's words.

33- The conscience feels that man's “self” is immortal.

34- The conscience has conflicting waves.

35- The conscience reminds man about the objectiveness of creation.

with the human body, it manages all of the body organs, natural instincts, forces and potentials.

4- The Almighty God, though connected to the universe, is far superior to space or time; the human nature is also superior to the human body organs in regard to time.

5- God is virtually united, but also has many innate characteristics that do not conflict with the divine unity.

6- God has created the universe out of complete nothingness; there was no sign or history of it before whatsoever – without any matter previously. The human nature does the same with its imaginations, analyses and discoveries.

7- God is aware of both the unchangeable and the variable; however, his awareness about the variable does not cause his knowledge to multiply. Likewise, knowledge created by pertinence to the variable does not lead to change.

8- God and the human nature are both doers equipped with free will. There are some differences, however, between divine and human free will.

9- God knows all generalities and details, and this knowledge of the details does not affect God's divine nature. The human nature, also capable of awareness about details, does not change by intuitive knowledge, either.

10- God is dominant over all components and events in the universe, and He dominates all components of the universe equally.

11- We can recognize the principle that God exists and has glory and beauty; however, we are unable to comprehend God's divine nature, for our tools of recognition do not have the capability to dominate the nature of

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divinity. In the same way, the sacred nature of man is not identifiable either; we can only identify man's principles of existence and his characteristics.

12- God has affection for all of His creations, especially mankind. This affection does not rise out of instinctive factors or seeking benefit. The human nature is also capable of being affectionate to man's inventions and creations, and can develop his affection to be free of any motives of advantage-seeking or instinctive factors.

13- God loves beauty and perfection, and although He infinitely possesses beauty and greatness, He wants His creations to possess them too. Regardless of all social and cultural factors, the human nature also has a tendency for beauty and perfection; seeking beauty and perfection can be considered as some of the most important of man's nature.

14- Whatever God creates, God's divine nature remains unchanged; in other words, God's creations are not parts of a whole, which break away from it when created. Likewise, the human nature can create billions of ideas, imaginations, decisions and deeds, but none of them affect it.

15- The Almighty God is constantly active, and all of the changes and developments in the universe eventually refer to God's continual activity.

16- God created the universe without intending to gain any advantages. The human nature can also fulfill its duties without expecting any benefit in return. By purifying his soul, man can learn to do things for their own sake, not for a reward or escaping punishment.

17- We can never interpret the universe

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reasonably unless we accept God and the fact that the universe depends on God.

18- Since God has absolute knowledge and control over the universe, His patience is endless. The human nature has some of that patience, too.

19- By means of intuitive knowledge, God is aware of His nature and characteristics. The human nature is also capable of gaining such knowledge.

20- The universe cannot limit God – in other words, the creatures in the universe cannot occupy space or locations where God is absent. The human nature is also so dominant over the human body that nobody organ can never be limited or denied.

He will avoid deceits that are destructive to his soul.

● Greed, boastfulness and arrogance will leave him.

● He will be able to use and enjoy beauties.

● Destructive rivalries and conflicts will be replaced by constructive competition.

● Man will achieve spiritual expansion.

● He will be able to assess means and ends correctly.

● He will interpret power accurately.

● Human societies will become a united family.

● Man will endeavor to spiritually develop and increase the knowledge of his fellow beings.

The necessity of accepting self-possession : Man must put sincerity into his relationship with his own self, and accept the truth.

Self-deceit is the worst way man can betray himself. If man does not accept reality, he will be betraying himself.

Maximum use of man's positive, constructive potentials: With self-awareness, man will never destroy his own positive potentials. He will not use his potentials in order to destroy other human beings; he will use them for his own spiritual development and serving others.

Affection toward others that arises out of human nature : Self-awareness makes people be kind to one another. By kindness here we mean affection rising out of sublimated emotions, not purely natural tendencies. By spiritual elevation, man sees himself in harmony with others in the universe, and thus begins to feel affection for them.

2- Man-The Society: Emile Durkheim has presented a rather extremist approach to man's relationship with the society. He believes that the human self is built by the society, and man has no independent

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identity regarding his social surroundings. In response, we must say that man possesses many potentials, and the society can merely develop or inhibit them.

Though the society is able to take charge of radical identities, it cannot determine the identities. Preparing the grounds for man's physical and spiritual development – or hindrance – is the farthest the society can go. In other words, Man is born with a series of potentials, and many factors can influence them, one of which is the society and its various components. It can, however, trap man into fatalistic, unconscious factors guided by social management, which may prevent human beings from becoming self-alienated.

3- Man-The Universe: If man thinks he has been created as a worthless being for a certain period of time and thus has no relationship whatsoever with the universe, he has in fact begun to destroy himself. With regard to man's relationship with the universe, he has several responsibilities:

a) Man must discover the universe and the orderly harmony governing it: Man's approach to the universe must be both general and detailed. From the detailed point of view, man studies and discovers the universe by means of his senses and technical devices, whereas through his general point of view he can understand concepts and meanings.

b) Taking the rules of gravity in the universe seriously and making use of them: The universe includes many physical and spiritual laws that cannot be ignored. Cause and effect, and also actions and reactions are examples of such rules,

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which man should use.

c) The universe has a supernatural, divine aspect: The supernatural, divine aspect of the universe consists of its relationship with its creator. Understanding this aspect makes man's sense of duty and responsibility be aroused, and find a new, profound concept for life.

4- Man-God: Man can achieve perfection by means of his relationship with God. This is when man understands that God created him perfectly, so he should develop divine attributes in himself. If man realizes that divine perfection and greatness awaits him, he would never keep himself busy indulging with worldly affairs.

In his relationship with God, man must take God's dominance and control on him seriously, for if man feels that his whole existence is overwhelmed by God, he will never deviate from the path of righteousness.

be scientifically discovered. The reasons for this are:

1- The infinity of man's greed for gaining advantages, whether selfish or seeking perfection: Since man knows no boundaries in expanding his “self-love” or “supreme self,” there can be no true moderation for the free psyche. The endless quality of the self is due to man's supernatural aspect. The human character has two sides. On one hand he deals with what his senses reveal to him, and on the other hand he is concerned with the supernatural and moral values. The human self can infinitely advance on both sides, so we cannot imagine a real moderation between them; neither on the positive side, which pertains to the “supreme self,” nor the negative one, which involves the natural self.

2- Man's endless flexibility: Man can vary fatalistic factors and make optional selections due to his infinite flexibility. Proper education and training, for example, can bring about such a spiritual revolution in man that a criminal becomes a fair person, or vice versa. This proves that true moderation is not verifiable.

is the main goal of the self in managing man's existence.

The self can aim for two kinds of self-preservation in the domain of the psyche:

a) Self-preservation based on fatalistic factors: Like animals, man lives only according to his natural instinct and tendencies in this state. In such people, spiritual moderation is merely the harmony between instincts and fatalistic factors. It is a pseudo-fatalistic product of the management of the self, and if the unconscious parts are put together as a machine, they would all function harmoniously.

b) Self-preservation based on the development of potentials: Some people to some extent put their potentials and powers to work. Influenced by geographical, cultural, legal, and political factors of their society, they cannot consider ideals any higher than their society offers for their “self,” so they make no attempt for its advance. They go after anything they consider useful – that is, what their social circumstances offers them.

If there are sophisticated figures in such social conditions that can make people realize that they can make better use of their potentials and forces, they will have a chance of being guided to the path of perfection and greatness.

By elevating himself from the “how it is” to the domain of “how it should be,” man can have better spiritual moderation. Man is a being that possesses the basic factor for such a promotion; he has a built-in tendency towards the proper virtues he deserves.

There are two reasons that prove that man possesses a strong internal force that

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moves him from “how it is” to “how it should be:

a) The fact that many human beings throughout history have achieved extreme greatness and perfection: History shows us many prophets of God, men of wisdom and moralists that have harnessed selfishness and achieved the ultimate level man can advance to. Without such internal purification, Abraham could never have attempted to slay his own son.

b) The necessity of education and guidance: If the potential to enter the domain of “how it should be” didn't exist in man, education would never have existed; we clearly see, however, that education has had a profound effect on human beings.

The essential factor that evolves man from “how it is” to “how it should be” is his perfection-seeking, intense eagerness to expand his existence all across the whole universe and totally dominate it.

Any human being who enjoys mental well-being will be interested in such spiritual development.

The moderation man achieves through development and perfection is true moderation, and he will see every event and moment of the universe as new. As Jalal-addin Muhammad Molawi says:

تازه می گیر و کهن را می سپار که هر امسالت فزون است از سه پار

جان فشان ای آفتاب معنوی مر جهان کهنه را بنما نوی

ای جهان کهنه را تو جان نو از تن بی جان و

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دل افغان شنو

گرچه هر قرنی سخن نو آورد لیک گفت سالفان یاری کند

تا نزاید بخت تو فرزند نو خون نگردد شیر شیرین، خوش شنو

Don't let yourself get stuck in the past and the old; remember that your current year is worth more than your last three years altogether. Endeavor to elevate your character the best you can, for your efforts will refine your inside of all the old precipitated in you from nature, and refresh your soul. When your soul is refreshed, the universe before you will also be fresh and new. When man thinks about God's divine state from the very depth of his conscience and devotes his whole ego to perceiving divinity, he will completely realize that each moment of his life will be new, and his soul will be fresh is its contact with God.

Though each century brings with itself new speech and new speakers, the past also promotes it by establishing the fundamentals of human culture. Your spiritual prosperity should present the results of original truths like newborn babies, which open their mouths and feed upon previous knowledge, thus evolving your spiritual life.

In fact, Jalal-addin Muhammad Molawi (Rumi) is inviting man to abandon this material world, and submit himself to divine changes.

Internal moderation in the domain of

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“as it should be” is not possible without considering the supreme aim of life and obeying moral values. If the human self is to develop and establish a correct relationship with the universe, it must be attracted by the ultimate aim of life and acquire the highest of human virtues.

In brief, taking into consideration the philosophy of creation and obeying divine values is absolutely crucial if spiritual moderation is to be achieved. Only then will man's internal potentials be in harmony with various factors, and result in his mental well-being and spiritual moderation.

spiritual expansion each person feels is proportionate with that person's system of character. For example, those who are drowning in their “natural self” find an expansion when they achieve a higher position or more wealth in which they regard the whole universe as their servant. One who seeks knowledge, on the other hand, considers unsolved scientific issues as crucially vital and cannot achieve spiritual expansion without figuring the unsolved out.

does not.

When man encounters obstacles hindering his path to achieving his goal in life, and fails to pass it, he will experience one of the following spiritual states:

1- He may undergo mental contraction due to doubt and anxiety about achieving his goal. If such people have powerful thoughts, they will thus develop a pessimistic ideology.

2- He may abandon all efforts to reach his goal, and become totally indifferent. All values would then appear as worthless to him.

Those who have experienced progress toward perfection are able to withstand external setbacks, so they do not suffer from spiritual contractions when encountering obstacles.

soul, but frequent expansions result in spiritual joy and freedom.

inhibits his development and progress.

This inability in man – that is, not all of his potentials being activated – cannot lead to the human nature remaining unsolved, for oppressing human potentials is not due to lack of knowledge about them, for man does not correctly put the little knowledge he already has about himself to use, either. Does man truly not know the fact that fighting righteousness is wrong, or does he know it and still does not stop doing it?!

3- Sometimes an incorrect point infiltrates the culture of a nation as a basic principle, which leads to incorrect interpretations of man. For instance, the culture of slavery so strongly penetrates into ancient India that even an intellectual like Aristotle accepts it and expresses ideas confirming its originality.

4- Analyzing and separating the human nature, which has become quite fashionable nowadays, has brought about great confusion in the humanities. Intellectuals who have studied one of man's aspects have become so obsessed with that one aspect that they have considered all of man's existence in it, thus imperfectly interpreting man. Despite its weaknesses, the analytical method does, however, have its advantages in studying and interpreting the nature of man it’s incredible accuracy, whereas combination methods sometimes show superficial tendencies that prevents correct knowledge.

Expertise is definitely an essential part of scientific advance, but experts of the humanities have to beware not to allow their expertise to cause disastrous damage to human harmony and unity.

The disadvantages of the analytical method are:

First, it cuts

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off all relationships existent between realities. The fact that man's various aspects are interrelated is totally ignored; all human facts are studied separately from each other.

Secondly, it neglects the harmony in the human character; therefore when one aspect of man's nature appears to be significant to an intellectual, he – consciously or unconsciously – interprets man solely from that point of view.

Ever since studying man by means of the purely analytical method became popular, one essentially important principle was forgotten: comparing man with at least one product of the interaction of chemical elements which has characteristics different from the separate, individual elements, in particular chemical compounds that cannot be changed back to their components. By comparing the unity and harmony existing in life and the human character with the product of a chemical compound, we see that it has both new qualities and is irreversible.

The third problem with the analytical method is that the thinker sometimes falls into the disastrous “There is nothing except this” state of mind. As some of them have claimed in interpretation of man:

● Man has a social aspect and nothing else.

● He is an absolutist, and nothing else.

● He is a hedonist, and nothing else.

● He is merely a sexual instinct and nothing else.

● Man is nothing but a wolf.

● He is an exploring animal, and nothing else.

● Man is no more than a selfish animal.

● He is an animal seeking freedom.

● Man is an ambitious animal greedy for power, and nothing else.

● Man is

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a bargaining animal, and nothing else.

Anthropology can only make logical progress when the “There is nothing else except this” viewpoint does not exist.

Since only one aspect of man is considered in the analytical method, sometimes man becomes obsessed with it, and puts all of his other aspects at its service. Furthermore, obsession toward one aspect makes man fall astray from science and research, and become intensely infatuated merely with the fascinating fame and influence of outstanding figures of science.

or “heart.” Persian literature cites 427 different words deriving from the “heart,” like “heart-disturbed,” “heart-given,” “heartless,” and many others. The human “heart” and conscience are so important that when intelligence, wisdom and logic fail in discovering the secret underlying an issue, man refers to his heart and nature to prove that he is right.

5- In contemporary psychology, a certain range has been abstracted and described for the psyche; going beyond these limits is considered as being psychologically unbalanced. In this kind of psychology, there is no difference between a rigid, stagnant soul and one that is dynamic and tries not to see an event the same at two different moments.

For instance, why do some people become fascinated in themselves, why do some others have a dynamically progressive psyche, and try to avoid self-obsession, and save themselves from nihilism? There is no distinction between a stagnant soul and a dynamic one in this psychology; both are treated as equal.

their lives.

In order to understand nihilistic feelings, we must first consider the mental characteristics of a nihilistic person:

1- A nihilist does not regard life as a necessary issue. He hates life rather than enjoying it.

2- For nihilists, the facts, principles and relationships of life undergo dramatic change. Beauty and ugliness are meaningless, orderliness becomes a mere hallucination.

3- A nihilist's soul is influenced quite quickly and easily, sometimes even taking his consciousness away. As Jalal-addin Muhammad Molawi (Rumi) says:

میگریزند از خودی در بیخودی یا به مستی یا به شغل ای مهتدی

With the occupation or infatuation they acquire, they are fleeing from self-consciousness toward unconsciousness, but they do not know that they will be pulled back into their natural, physical self by the chains of their desires and whims, for their escape was not upon God's command.

4- Values are worthless in the eyes of a nihilist; greatness and degradation are no different to him.

The first two groups basically do not ask about the philosophy of life at all. The first group, who cannot abstract life from themselves, are unable to consider the phenomenon of life. The second group, although developed people, regard life as a part of the whole universe, heading for the aim of creation. The second group are quite joyous people.

به جهان خرّم از آنم که جهان خرّم از اوست عاشقم بر همه عالم که همه عالم از اوست

I love this world because God has created it. The

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beauty of the world comes from God.

Sa'adi

of life; when they fail, they hopelessly turn nihilistic. Some others turn to despair when they cannot achieve wealth and luxury. Such people cannot find the correct answers, for they do not ask the correct questions.

4- Neutral aspects: feeling the necessity of a general viewpoint of life: If man is to ask questions about something, the subject matter must be outside his human nature; he should look at it from a superior point of view.

We must keep in mind that asking about the aim of life never includes asking about the means and levels of life, for each part of life has its own philosophy; thus, any thinker exploring the philosophy of life should not consider all components of life. The human ego should rise higher than natural life to be able to question it.

This is when the human ego does not search for the philosophy of life in purely natural life anymore. Unless one reaches the highest levels of the human self, distinguishing the aim of life from its shadow will not be possible. One cannot deserve to ask about the philosophy of life without stepping beyond his normal life, which is riddled with material things and feelings.

relative goals in natural life really could provide the ultimate goal of life, there would be no more need for research on the philosophy of life.

2- As man's knowledge and dominance over his life increases, it has been proven that man's true life is meaningless without choosing higher aims for life. Without an intelligible aim, human life will lose all its value and significance.

3- If the universe and the phenomenon called life have no aim, life will have no meaning at all. As Nasser Khusro, the renowned Iranian poet says:

روزگار و چرخ و انجم سر به سر بازیستی گر نه این روز دراز دهر را فرداستی

All this world and stars are not all of what there is; someday, all this will come to an end.

schools of thought see the main aim of life in having luxury and comfort. “Can anyone accept the logic that you should lose your life today, so that a living human being in future may have a comfortable life? Now that life today is not any less comfortable than the future, why should it be sacrificed? Furthermore, those human beings whom history remembers as distinguished and aware, did not even consider their own comfort as their aim of life; how can they consider the comfort of beings like themselves in future as their aim of life?

6- Man: Some schools of thought believe that man is the aim of life. Moral ethics, avoiding disturbing others, activating human emotions and respect toward others are the main principles of this belief. The problem with it, however, is that it provides no logical grounds for man to give up his greed, and learn how to sacrifice his own wishes for the sake of others'.

7- Abstracting the soul from material interests: Some Indian religions consider the aim of life as purifying the soul from all desires, whims and wishes. Although this belief reinforces one aspect of the soul, it ignores the others, which are activated by establishing a correct relationship between man and the universe.

The climax of this aim of life is when the abstraction-seeker considers himself as God, claiming that there is nothing in him but God. After quite convincing study and thoughts that satisfy my conscience, I have come to the conclusion

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that these Indians, having reached an extremely delicate view of the universe, where they are able to see the universe as a unit for their own perception, make a very strange mistake – instead of realizing how great their soul is, they make God seem smaller! We can say, however, that if the human soul makes such mistakes in these delicate states, their soul truly has made no progress at all.

8- Nirvana: Presented by Buddha, this belief is said to be achieved by abstracting the soul away from material and physical pleasures. Nirvana ignores man's talents and potentials, making the human ego fall astray from its true path. In other words, it omits some facts about man.

9- Absolute freedom: Here, being released from any form of confinement or limitation is considered as the aim of life. Simpletons who follow such a belief have not understood the meaning of freedom correctly, for freedom is a means, not an end. Freedom is the power to choose, and if accompanied by proper thought and choice, can elevate man. Since freedom arises from the dynamism of life, it cannot even be the partial aim of life, let alone the main one.

10- The ultimate aim of life in divine religions: Life, as seen in divine religions, is an outstanding effect of God's will. Thus, the aim of life is to reach God. The Holy Qur’an has also expressed the aim of life in various ways.

philosophy of life can be categorized into ten groups:

1- Verses saying that creation is not aimless. (3:191)

2- Verses implying the objective righteousness of the universe. (6:73)

3- Verses that show that life has an aim. (23:115)

4- Verses that state that the universe has not been created as a means for playfulness or amusement. (21:16)

5- Verses that believe God is the final destination of everything.( 41:53)

6- Verses that say man will return back to God. (3:109)

7- Verses that say those who do good will go to heaven and evildoers will end up in hell. (Counsel, 41:22) and (4:140)

8- Verses that regard the end of life as meeting God. (18:110)

9- Verses that call drowning in purely natural phenomena as “worldly life,” and denounce such a life. (47:36)

10- Verses that state worship as the aim of life, encouraging man to be pious and pure. (51:56)

Studying these verses leads us to some conclusions:

a) The creation of the universe has not been in vain. We can conclude this principle by studying the external world and the order and harmony ruling it, and also by studying the internal world.

Ever since mental development begins, a kind of original perception occurs inside us that contends with the playful manipulations, hallucinations and imaginations about the universe. This battle, like the battle between the conscience and evil, goes on until it wins and shows man the ultimate aim of the world, or it loses, sending

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man off to a nihilistic place to hang about.

b) The universe is orderly and righteous; nothing in the universe moves outside the realm of values and proper merits.

c) The universe is not a plaything; it is quite serious in its creation. By understanding the mathematical face of the universe, we can realize how serious it is.

d) The universe is moving toward its final destination. Such a destination cannot be lower than the stages it passes through, and it cannot be equal to them either. The final destination of all movements and developments is God.

e) The law of actions dominates the universe. All of man's movements, developments, words, thoughts and actions lead to reactions in this world and the other world.

f) The aim of life is much higher than purely natural life. The supreme aim of life cannot be of the same kind as the advantages of natural life, for the benefits and desires natural life provides belong to natural life, which cannot be regarded as the real aim of life itself. Thus, the ultimate aim of life must be beyond the conditions of purely natural life.

g) The principle of reward and punishment shows that each human being will receive the rewards or punishment he should get with the aims he has set himself in his life.

h) The final aim of human life is the success of man's supreme nature in life, which begins from God and returns to God through worship. Worship means accomplishing the nature of life in its

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various aspects. Once man steps beyond his purely natural life, his worshiping will begin. If man understands himself as a part of the general rhythm of the universe, who must make efforts to activate the disposition of his existence, he will turn to worship. Thus, all aspects of man's life can be regarded as worship, and as Imam Ali says, the whole world can become man's mosque.

Therefore, a university student, a farmer working on his farm, and a worker busy in his workplace are all worshiping God, provided that they consciously move along the path toward God. The ultimate aim of life as Islam sees it is:

The ultimate aim of life is making the ideals of this passing life with the waters of intellectual-spiritual principles and freely guiding the human character – which has arisen from earth – toward divine attraction, freeing it from natural factors and selfishness by means of awareness of pure soul, which is connected to the general rhythm of the universe.

A life with an aim is a conscious effort; every moment of the observable aspect of such a life is the preliminary to the next, evolutionary moment in a transparent world upon which divine light shines on man's pure conscience, and its deep aspect is drops pouring into the ocean of eternity, elevating the human character with its waves all the way to God.” That is a life with an aim – intelligible life, which means:

انّ صلوتی و نسکی و محیای و مماتی لله

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رب العالمین

“My prayers, worship and death are at the will of God, the Creator of the universe.” (6:162)

passion for work and activity: Since achieving the aim of life is impossible without moving along the path of divine attraction, serious work and effort is a crucial fundamental man with an objective life. As Jalal-addin Muhammad Molawi says:

دوست دارد یار این آشفتگی کوشش بیهوده به از خفتگی

اندرین ره میتراش و میخراش تا دم آخر دمی فارغ مباش

All this anxiety and effort – however it may be – is appreciated and approved of by God. He likes desperation and anxiety, and creates challenges and situations of hard effort for us so that we do not fall into sleep in this world. O people! Struggle, endeavor and carve yourself a life out of this rough path, and never cease trying.

7- Gaining supreme freedom: In an objective life, man's lusts and desires are harnessed in order to achieve supreme freedom

Life with supreme freedom is one of the characteristics of an elevated, objective life. Without such a freedom, which consists of man's release from selfishness, hallucinations and even other kinds of freedom gained for the natural flow of man's life, like social freedom and freedom of expressing one's ideas, we will have no logical response to the question of the meaning of life.

8- Freeing man from petty absolutism: The human mind always tends to aspire for absolutism, so man must always consider the supreme aim of life as the absolute, so that other affairs and things will

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seem to him merely as a means to achieve it.

despite its numerous aspects. They neglect the unity between life in this world and in the other.

5- A spiritual-looking life aiming for material life (pretending to aim for the other world, but actually aiming for this one) Those who have chosen this kind of life are incapable of understanding the truth about life, and merely pretend to know it. They ignore the fact that being pretentious will only fool the simple-minded, and even that for a short time. These people have actually tricked themselves, living a life of gradual spiritual suicide. They look quite like a saint, but are evil inside.

6- Living in this world on a path to life in the other (an intelligible life) This is the lifestyle prophets of God have approved of. They believed that life is a truly great reality, and that proper, pious knowledge and deeds are needed like two wings that can fly man toward evolution, guiding his worldly life toward a life in the other world. Man should make use of this world only to develop; however, the heart and soul of all of man's worldly activities relate to the other world. This form of life – worldly in appearance but in fact aiming for the other world – will never make man feel nihilistic, and its many problems are easily tolerable for man.

fundamentals

The fixed fundamentals include the principles and rules which do not change because man's basic needs and talents always exist.

The changing fundamentals, however, refer to the principles that vary with the subject material and circumstances.

Our study of the fundamentals of education will involve two parts:

1- Absolute and relative goals that include the extent and limits of education.

2- The principles that provide the essential basis of education.

due to correct upbringing– realizing that honesty strengthens his character– his knowledge of honesty will be much deeper and stronger. Some of the principles of education are:

1- The most important thing about education is realizing its necessity. Each human being must attempt to gain knowledge, and adapt himself to be able to do that. Being lazy or inconsiderate about education will destroy man's constructive talents and powers. Man must remember that education is the rule of man's life and how to live it. Education helps him make the distinction between right and wrong, good and bad. If man admits the crucial role education plays in creating a life based on righteousness, he will definitely go after it.

2- The human soul, like the universe, has rules and laws, ignoring which will cause disorders in man's soul.

3- Education must convey the supreme aim of life to man.

4- Education is a gradual process; individuals cannot be educated in a hurry.

5- Unconditional promises are not possible in education; teachers must keep in mind that they are dealing with delicate, sensitive mental rules, and the least slip may totally neutralize all educational efforts.

6- Education requires discipline and effort, on behalf of both the teacher and the student. Effort and discipline are both necessary, because education is a serious matter. The more crucial a fact is considered, the more serious it will become, and the more serious something is regarded, the more firmly one will try to gain all the knowledge about it.

7- Man's perfectionist ego

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must be considered in education. The perfectionist ego considers the highest of human values, ideals and goals; here, since man does not only see himself, he will not consider himself as the ideal of all things, either.

8- Education can make man aware of his inventive creative potentials. It can help his creative talents flourish. Unfortunately, despite the current advances in the humanities, the rules of activating talents remain unclear. Thus, the kind of education that can activate creativities and geniuses is still not available to man.

● The differences between the characters of various individuals should be taken into consideration in education. Although there are educational principles and fixed fundamentals that are applicable to all people, educating some certain individuals also calls for special strategies. In other words, it is necessary to consider each individual's character and qualities, and then devise the necessary methods of education.

● The trainee should also always try to reinforce his modes of reception. Man should consider himself in need of facts and truths to elevate and develop his character throughout his whole life. In youth, however, the ability to receive facts and truths should be strengthened. As Maxim Gorky says, “A good teacher should be a good student.”

● Respect for character is quite a sensitive issue in education. The character of the trainee – or student – must be accurately evaluated so the appropriate behavior needed with regard to the trainee can be determined.

If the character

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of the trainee does not have the capacity to accept the advantage you wish to present him with, the value of the advantage will be tarnished in his view, and it may harm him too, so the extremely popular fact today – “Always respect the individual being educated” – calls for reconsideration. If the individual's character is in a way that respect would make him selfish, we will be actually betraying him, not giving him an advantage.

9- It is vitally essential that values are not to be sacrificed for achieving goals.

10- Human life is valuable, provided that it does not violate the principles of other human lives. The life of each human being “depends upon rays of divine light; serving other people is equal to worshipping God, and harming human lives is deviation from the right path.”

11- There is a reaction to every action. “We must accept the fact that if we present an individual or the society with a bunch of flowers with purely good intentions, a bunch of flowers will definitely be given to us in return, directly or indirectly. If this fact is considered as a part of human education, man's mental revolution will begin, and we can claim to have stepped beyond natural history and entered human history.”

12- Both the trainer and trainee should accept that no results will be achieved without hard work.

13- Only an original effort will prevail; subsidiary, unneeded ones will fade away. What remains is what is to people's benefit.

14- Both the

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educator and the educated must avoid being cruel or undergoing cruelty.

15- Not taking the principles of education seriously leads to nihilism.

nature. There are certain conditions to qualify as such a teacher:

a) The teacher or trainer must have what he wants to teach. He must know what he is to teach the students/trainees, and how human character develops. The teacher must not act without knowledge.

b) The teacher or trainer must be committed and devoted. He must realize that sooner or later, he will see his efforts produce results.

این جهان کوه است و فعل ما ندا سوی ما آید نداها را صدا

This world is like a mountain, and whatever we do is like shouting; they are reflected back to us.

Jalal-addin Muhammad Molawi (Rumi)

a) The teacher or trainer must believe in the job. Education is impossible unless the teacher believes in the facts he is to present with eagerness, love and faith.

b) He should realize that his observable manners and actions are even more important than his words. His external behavior shows that, first of all, he believes in what he is doing. Secondly, the materialization of an action requires certain conditions that words do not have. It is when the teacher actually does things that it is revealed how he has conquered the barriers and left them behind. Thirdly, words are the means and actions are the end. By carrying out what he says, the teacher shows that actions are of crucial value.

Seeing the teacher or trainer actually do something and proceed with it, shows how much that action is to be done. The student

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realizes that his teacher would never spend his time and energy on that action without having knowledge about it.

c) The teacher should continue his endeavors to develop himself. Teachers and trainers must always consider themselves in need of education. “The best teacher is always the best student himself.” As God as said to the Holy Prophet Muhammad :

قل رب زدنی علما

“Say 'God, increase my knowledge.”(20:114)

In our daily prayers, we ask God ten times a day to guide us to the right path, which reiterates how crucial this point is.

d) Love and devotion toward the completion and development of the student or trainee: If the teacher has no other motive to teach besides making his living, or showing off, he will never be able to develop anyone. Many of the great figures of history have had teachers who were devoted and committed to their jobs.

e) Asking God for help: The teacher – or trainer – should always depend on God, and ask Him for help. In education, we must ask God to help us succeed, for here, we are dealing with the development of the character of a human being. We want to change a heap of flesh, blood and bone into a Plato, a Socrates, a Jalal-addin Muhammad Molawi. Also, education is one of God's actions, so we must ask Him to allow us to deserve to be his representative in doing so.

By asking God for help, here we mean that people are very diverse – despite the

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great many points mankind has in common – thus, meeting the quota in education may mean having one teacher for each student. When we are facing a person who, though having many things in common with everyone else, has specific characteristics of his own that we may not even be able to totally discover throughout a long period of several years, we will have no other way for educating him but ask God to help us.

چیست این کوزه؟ تن محصور ما و اندر آن آب حواس شور ما

ای خداوند این خم و کوزه مرا در پذیر از فضل الله اشتری

کوزه ای با پنج لوله، پنج حس پاک دار این آب را از هر نجس

تا شود زین کوزه منفذ سوی بحر تا بگیرد کوزه ما خوی بحر

O people! What does the jar of our existence contain? Salty water, which is transferred inside us through our senses, filling up our inside and making us suppose this is the best existence possible in the universe. Dear God! Accept our physical jar, for You are the Kindest, and have promised us that You have bought the faithful's lives and possessions and given them heaven instead.

The jar of our physical existence includes five pipes – in fact, five senses. These five pipes are mainly employed by our animal-like instincts, and thus tends

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to keep in itself merely mortal pleasures that leave, on the long run, nothing but bitter results. Dear God! If You bless us and safeguard the water in our jar from contaminations, our jar can penetrate into the endless world of Your Love; then, our meager jar will be like a great sea.

Jalal-addin Muhammad Molawi

f) In the realm of education, the teacher must not be discouraged by the student's stubbornness, or react with anger. The educator must not behave in a way that makes the person being taught resist his lessons, for if that happens, even the best of teachers cannot bring about the least mental development in the student.

Even the shocks the teacher gives the student must be administered in a way that leaves no negative impact on the student's soul. The gentle, logical mental 'taps' that we believe to be one of the greatest factors in human education, if administered crudely and thoughtlessly, can make the soul of the student react in defense if it doesn't disable it. Not only will the student fight back, he will also take an offensive position against the lesson.

Thus, the mental shocks and reminders should be given after childhood, when mental maturity has been achieved. Also, the student must realize that the main goal is his development and perfection, nothing else.

whale – but man is capable of very dramatic change. Educators and teachers must realize that each child they face may be trained into an Abraham or Moses, or even into a Genghis Khan, a Nero, a Yazid or a Machiavelli. Thus we must have in mind the principles of educating human beings:

1- The age of the student or trainee: Man has certain characteristics in various ages, each period calls for a different form of education. During childhood, for instance, man is intensely dependant upon his parents, and models his parents' behavior. Before mental maturity, man's character imitates others, but when man becomes able to dominate his internal existence, he will have an independent character. From youth to middle ages, physical development wanes and powers and talents are activated.

2- The importance of the material taught: The more important man considers the content, the more he will try to learn it. What man learns toward the end of childhood and at the beginning of his youth has a deep influence on him, because during these periods what is induced as education is regarded as the most important and desirable thing. In any part of man's life, if he considers a reality as crucial, he will be deeply influenced by it. This is why teachers and trainers should always make the crucial importance of the content they teach easily understandable and acceptable for students – provided that, of course, the teachers and trainers have agreed upon it before.

3- The necessity of compatibility

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between the ideas of the teachers and trainers and those of the trainees and students: If there is harmony between teachers and parents during the childhood or adolescence of the students, education will prove more successful. Adversity between the school and the home can lead to harmful effects on the soul. There are three forms of harmony or disharmony between teachers and the students' parents:

a) If there is complete harmony between parents and teachers, and the children are also eager to learn, education will lead to remarkable results, and create very prosperous people.

b) If parents are indifferent toward their children's education, and only expect them to become educated members of the society, the students will not become as developed as the former group, but at least they will not suffer from internal conflict and contradiction.

c) If parents disagree with the education their children are receiving, the children will suffer from mental and spiritual problems. Social leaders should do their best to present educational contents in a way that no mental or spiritual conflict is caused. Great men of wisdom, anthropologists and moralists have emphasized that the seeds of faith in God must be planted in the hearts of people so that they can reach perfection.

4- Taking care in how the students or trainees are transferred from the emotional period to the intellectual period: Man's mental maturation begins with progress from crude emotions to reasoning and intellect. This gradual process has certain forms of sensitivity. The children's mental activities during this

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period should be processed so that they do not feel empty and nihilistic. If those who are in the crude emotions period understand that human values are merely based upon emotions and not on reasoning, they will fall into great many problems, because they will think that any duty should make them ecstatic, or that God will grant their every wish. There are two important points that must be kept in mind during the period of transition from emotions to reasoning and intellect:

a) The teacher/trainer must educate his students/trainees of the importance and necessity of reasoning and its role in making man's contact with facts more logical without drying up the origins of life.

b) Teachers should take great care when presenting the ways to make the transition from emotions to reasoning and intellect, for not all people can use the same methods in all conditions. For some people, explaining the errors that arise from absolute reliance on emotions and neglecting intellectual activities works more effectively. In some others, it is best to explain the advantages of reasoning with regard to facts. Other people prefer to have the reasoning methods of great figures explained to them. Still, some others are influenced by appropriate stories from which the results of reasoning are extracted.

c) Explaining emotions and reasoning should not be overdone, or one of them may be sacrificed.

5- Creating great interest in asking questions: In education, we must do something that will make our students eager for discussion and reasoning instead of

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mere imitators; only then will we educate scholars in different fields and majors who are also creative.

the human character, every legal trial would include a study of the mental qualities of the parents of the accused. No one has up to now claimed that an evil person must be the offspring of an evil parent, or vice versa.

2- The over-intensification of some mental qualities that inhibit education: If natural mental characteristics are over-intensified, the human soul will refuse to accept any more facts. For instance, if hedonism – one of man's natural mental aspects – is reinforced inadvertently, all aspects of the human soul will be affected by it, and other characteristics will fade away. This is why we must say that mental and spiritual well-being calls for all potentials and natural characteristics to develop equally and I balance ever since childhood.

3- Resistance against education due to lack of character: If man has no active, fixed character, he will refuse to consider any truth as necessary or proper. Such people resist educational matters, and their resistance increases as they age. Eventually, their resistance against education will prevent them from learning about the truth and higher evolutionary development, which will only lead to irrecoverable damage and loss.

4- Avoiding encouragement and rewarding, superficiality and ignoring the necessity of seeking the truth: Students should be made to go after the truth, not rewards. Teachers must educate their students to follow the truth and its crucial advantages instead of merely thinking about their own physical or material life. Students must realize that if life is not adjusted based upon original

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truths, artificial things such as money, power and fame will dominate their lives.

and emotions arising from sensible evolutionary lifestyles.

Culture is generally a bi-polar phenomenon; it has both external and internal natures. On one hand it concerns man's mental structure and spiritual make-up – which other living beings lack – and on the other, it has observable effects, too, which are behaviors and results physically visible.

certain society, like mutual respect.

social evolution.

● Liquid, colorless culture: Based on no fixed mental basis or principle, it is always undergoing change.

● Self-oriented culture: Here, cultural phenomena and activities themselves are regarded as goals rather than means to get us to higher goals.

This form of 'self-goal' was quite typical of scientific, technological and economic cultures of 19th and 20th century societies. It caused stillness in the real nature of culture – providing creativity and development in the ideals of life of the human ego. The other thing it has done, which is as dangerous as the former, is that instead of being the maker and manager of technology, man has become an irresponsible part of its fatalistic trends.

A Pioneer, Dynamic, Objective Culture: This kind of culture arises from the basic principles of man's evolutionary life. Its motives are original human aspects, and its goal is the ideals that make man head for the attraction of life's supreme end. This is the culture that can provide man with truly original human civilization, and free him from all selfish rulers. Cultural activities also aim toward the highest of human values. If a culture is creative, objective and progressive, it will never fall.

Pioneer culture originates from two factors – primary and secondary. The primary factor is the active, mental factor that tends to change the universe into man's ideal home by using constructive human aspects. The secondary one involves the external and internal factors exclusive to each nation or peoples, accounting for their lifestyles.

If pioneer

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culture is to dominate human societies, man should recognize the highest aim of life as one of the basic elements of culture.

The basic principles of pioneer culture are:

1- The principle of perfection-seeking and eagerness toward it. Cultural truth is eternal, even if its peoples and occurrences vary.

2- The principle of respect, which has been called love for peers, love for mankind and affection in human cultures.

3- Man's high desire for a proper life

4- Correcting and adjusting the four relationships:

a) man-himself

b) man-God

c) man-the universe

d) man-his fellow beings

original, pioneer culture. As we know, the clear aspect of culture interprets man's life in all its aspects. If man turns to himself again and finds the supreme goal in his life, he can change and improve the clear aspects of culture.

The supreme goal of life creates pioneer culture. The supreme goal of life answers the six questions – Who am I? Where have I come from? Who am I with? Where have I come? Why am I here? Where do I go from here? – thus accounting for where it stands in the universe, and acquiring an original culture.

a limited period of time, but the disturbances and contradictions they cause each other will soon destroy their harmony.

If various cultures have the same ideas about things useful for man's physical and mental life, they can coexist harmoniously.

can make a culture stable are:

First, the positive relationship between the culture and some necessary components of the society. For instance, the special culture Indians have toward animals is necessary due to India's specific environmental or ideological factors, whereas other societies have neither such beliefs nor the necessity to do so.

The second, factor is time. Cultural elements become more firmly fixed through time and also more attractive. The continuity of a cultural element, however, does not necessarily mean that it is correct or attractive.

For example, selfishness has been quite common throughout the history of mankind, and few human beings have succeeded in correctly assessing themselves and controlling their selfishness. Does the mere fact that selfishness has prevailed mean that it is correct and well-established? Obviously not, for the stability and continuity of a phenomenon in various aspects of human life does not necessarily mean that it is righteous and justified.

The traditions and customs of a nation are the third factor. As cultural elements, traditions and customs affect different people, and create a specific identity that can provide the culture of the society with continuity.

The fourth, factor is the compatibility of cultures with facts. Any culture that can be compatible with the fixed principles of human life will be stable.

If the factors that make a culture stable belong to its ethnic necessities, they must be studied. If the necessities are due to the people's mental principles and rules, time cannot ruin the necessities; if they are based upon the beliefs

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of influential figures among the people, the stability of the culture depends upon how influential these individuals are, and how logical they are.

In brief, the mere firm establishment of a culture among people does not imply its originality or its compatibility with the truth. Although when a culture deeply infiltrates inside people it does become like lenses in their eyes through which its followers see the universe, since many cultures of past and present prove baseless when analyzed, we can say that for every positive step man takes on the path of his evolutionary life, he must analyze the culture that dominates his society, throw away any sedentary elements and prevent them from inhibiting his development.

mind that harmony among cultural elements in a society does not necessarily mean that all elements originate from the same principles, for every cultural element or phenomenon must arise from its own, specific origin. It does not matter, for example, for the moral culture of a society to originate from emotional principles, whereas its scientific culture may be intellectual and observational; likewise, artistic culture may arise out of abstract tendencies while historical culture originates from observable, realistic elements, and religious culture is based upon pure spiritualism.

what is good and right has waned.

● The culture of scientific conscience has been marred by greed for fame, power and selfishness.

● The culture of caring for geniuses and constructive figures and using them correctly has faded away in today's societies.

● There is no culture of constructive relationship between people; human beings behave toward one another with savagery.

● If human culture has really had evolution, why does man ignore the most fundamental principles of his life:

a) an Intelligible life

b) human dignity and grace

c) responsible, intelligible freedom

d) all laws should be equally applicable to all people

Man still suffers from cultures influenced by Machiavelli, fighting for survival and greed for power. Stagnant evolution in culture has deprived most people of realizing the supreme realities and following them. People cannot comprehend intelligible beauties. The culture of mechanistic life has disabled man's understanding of the beauty of the universe, justice, freedom and dignity.

Nowadays, committing immoral acts is the preferred way to achieve one's goal in political cultures. The logic of human economics has turned into consumerism, and the culture of making a living for life has become living to make an earning.

take some of these principles into consideration:

1- Worldly life is fundamental: Western man has no goal beyond life in this world. They believe that this world is man's ultimate location of existence in the universe.

2- Absolute freedom: Any individual or group can do as he wishes, as long as they do not disturb others. Thus, the individual's life for his own sake has no meaning, for man can do the filthiest of actions legally as long as he causes others no inconvenience. Western culture emphasizes mutual coexistence, not human effort on the path to an intelligible life.

3- Greed for power: Power plays a crucial role in Western culture. It has made cooperation, affection and tolerating legitimate actions of other human beings mere tools for reaching power. The powerful do their best to disable man in order to reach their own animal desires more easily.

4- Hedonism: Western culture encourages hedonism. Some Western so-called “thinkers” have even used science to promote hedonism. If human pleasure is downtrodden, they believe, man will fall into mental disorders and complexes.

5- Desire for seeking profits and advantages: Western culture sees man as always seeking his own benefits and desires. That is what has led to so much exploitation of various peoples and loss of human life

6- Machiavellianism: Machiavellian beliefs dominate the political culture of the West. Human principles fade away, and politicians can use Machiavellian principles to ignore human values.

7- Pragmatism spreads: Another basic characteristic of Western culture is spreading pragmatism without correctly interpreting it. If

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Western thoughts were based on the premises that mere emphasis upon abstract concepts is not the only way to practically use true facts, and an intelligible interpretation of the facts of the universe were presented, the West would never be what it is today. Unfortunately, the current trend is judging as true or false based upon only observable actions. Thus, the criterion for being the truth is only observable actions.

8- Ignorance toward the limitations of science: In the West, man pays attention to only science and what he gets from his physical senses and laboratory devices. Religion, moral ethics, philosophy wisdom and mysticism are overruled because they are regarded as non-scientific.

9- The incapability of Western philosophies: There is no question that ever since many years ago, not only has the West failed to present a systematic philosophical school of thought or world-view to man, but has even been unable to provide a significant number of profound, meaningful – though scattered – material. Alas, man cannot interpret or freely choose his way of life without a general understanding of the four relationships (man-himself, man-God, man-his fellow beings and man-the universe).

10- Prolific, profane arts become popular: Although there is a concept of perfection hidden in art, what exists in the West today is prolific art. Lowly, decadent concepts are presented in the most attractive form to fascinate people. Prolific art and using culture in the service of one's desires and lusts is a factor that can destroy original human cultures.

are four basic aspects to man's relationship with the universe:

1- Knowing the universe

2- Perceiving the universe

3- The changes in the universe

4- Changing the universe

The factors that can activate the four basic aspects mentioned above are:

1. Scientific, 2. Philosophical, 3. Intuitive, 4. Moral, 5. Wisdom, 6. Mystical, 7. Religious.

There are several points we must consider when discussing the aspects and factors mentioned above:

1- The identity and boundaries of these aspects and factors is not so clear-cut to make it impossible for them to become distinct and unmixable in the human mind or spirit. For example, we may have both scientific and intuitive knowledge of a fact; however, some people may not be capable of understanding one thing by two different ways simultaneously, so they must sacrifice one to gain the other.

2- The criterion for categorizing the aspects into these four kinds is that when the “self” encounters “anything other than the self” – the world outside and the world inside – it either engulfs and dominates it, thus gaining knowledge about it, or understands anything other than the self by the powerful universe-discovering senses it has in it, which is called receiving the universe. The human self-gains knowledge about facts by means of its communication with the human mind. If it proceeds to abstract, judge, compare, analyze, prioritize and theoretically select, and achieve a supreme kind of influence by means of extremely high feelings, it will have achieved

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reception.

3- There is a time in every human being's life when one realizes that there is a much higher state than their current one, and if the human being decides to achieve that more elevated position, the changing process has already begun. Free will, of course, plays a highly significant role in man's changing process.

4- Man cannot change evolutionarily unless he recognizes his unity with others. In other words, the “self” (the ego) must be harmonious with other “selves;” the “self” cannot change without changing the other “selves.”

Thus, man cannot be indifferent about others on the path to evolution. For a developed, elevated human being cannot bear to see others suffer or be oppressed, and always endeavors to help them develop. Man will never change without trying to change others, too. There is also a good deal of hadith supporting this:

من اصبح و لم یهتم بامور المسلمین فلیس بمسلم

“Muslim is not the one who wakes up in the morning without caring about other Muslims.”

5- Now let us take the seven factors into more detailed consideration:

a) Scientific knowledge: includes making contact with facts about the universe by means of observation and experiment.

Generally, any form of scientific knowledge consists of contact with facts about the universe for the purpose of learning them, by means of experiments, observations and conclusions about directly or indirectly observable topics or phenomena concerning the universe, whether in the world inside or in the world outside.

b) Intuitive

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knowledge: involves direct reception of facts without making use of sensory or experimental observations; i.e., Perceiving the truth beyond qualitative or quantitative phenomena and observable beauties. Intuitive reception requires going through the appropriate preliminaries and paths. Intuitively recognizing beauty, for instance, it is necessary to make sensory contact with beautiful phenomena.

This contact is not, however, in manner in which man can understand how and when he will intuitively recognize beauty. In other words, specific intuition about beauty cannot be regarded as a synthesis based on the previous interaction of several units, or as a certain result of direct logical comparison arising from two major and minor premises.

c) Moral knowledge consists of the development and flourish of knowledge gained by the senses and other tools of knowledge and intellect in an inside guided by conscience. Thus, when a human being of high moral ethics and values gains knowledge of mankind and the universe, the knowledge will always flow through him like something that is continually renewing itself. The knowledge will never form a barrier between man and the truth; it will never be used for selfish desires.

d) Knowledge by wisdom: If we consider the first four forms of knowledge mentioned above as man's motive and guide in life, the mystic knowledge they acquire can be called wisdom. Here, man harmonizes the four kinds of knowledge, and uses them in order to move toward intelligible life.

e) Mystical knowledge: If the aspects mentioned above are accompanied by a

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divine light than places man in the domain of the attraction of the truth, making man move toward it, man will achieve mystical reception and understanding.

f) Religious knowledge: Religious knowledge consists of faith in the properness of acquiring these six aspects in order to move along the path of divine attraction with the determined principles based upon what holy prophets of God preached.

6- None of the seven factors are produced by the human mind. One or several factors of knowledge have arisen and been used by man depending on the conditions of the time and locations he existed in. Most people have only used some of them; very few have been able to gain them all; Jalal-addin Muhammad Molawi (Rumi) and Avicenna were among those very special ones.

The seven factors can support and complete each other. Some thinkers believe that each of the seven factors have a specific, distinct identity, and conflict with each other, but this calls for criticism and further consideration. In fact, the seven factors cannot be separated, for each completes the other. For instance, man can use technology to discover some aspects of the human nature, but he can never claim that he has discovered man scientifically as man really is. Likewise, it is wrong to claim that one has explored the entire universe intuitively. When the human character gains one of the factors, in fact, if it realizes what other factors exist and what they can do, it will feel insufficient, and attempt to achieve

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the other ones, too. If man only pays attention to philosophical knowledge of the universe but knows that some of his research must rely on scientific data, he will feel that his explorations are not complete unless he gains scientific knowledge, too.

implies intuition.

Intuition involves the reality that activates interaction of substances from movement or movement out of substance interaction, guiding particles toward the field of factors that prolong and preserve their existence and also guiding the preserving field toward the particles. In a nutshell, it moves the identity of every being.

Thus, we must say that all scientific theories involving nature and its relationship with man, include a general subject upon which intuition is possible, and other subjects concerning the world of nature where intuition is possible are those that enter science by means of discovery. As we know, no discovery is possible without intuition.

Intuition also takes place in discoveries, too. Abstraction, which takes place in mathematical theorems, is an intuitive matter, for the truth of numbers cannot be reflected in the mind by any qualitative or quantitative aspects at all.

4- Knowledge of the universe from a moral ethics point of view: Separating the moral aspect from the scientific and philosophical aspects has led to harmful effects on man's life. Those who defend such a separation believe, “When we are studying and doing experiments about an observable phenomenon in the lab, it does not matter whether our relationship with people is based upon affection or hatred and revenge. It is not important whether we are using the lab by force or legally.

Even when we are busy testing, we should not think whether the results of our research will be advantageous to man or not.” Moral knowledge makes man accept facts

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are he has understood them, and reflect them to others. Such a human being will never make other facts fade away by learning about one fact; he will never let his character be imprisoned by a certain fact, making him fall behind other facts.

5- Wisdom and knowledge of the universe: Studying the two mathematical and natural theorems mentioned above from the viewpoint of wisdom makes man aware of the great potentials in his brain and soul that are activated by gaining knowledge of these two theorems; he also realizes that the universe is founded on a supreme wisdom that has made all creatures move toward a certain end.

Here, man realizes that knowledge of the two above mentioned theorems is the effect of a universal wisdom that has been presented to us.

ای خدا ای خالق بی چند و چون آگهی از حال بیرون و درون

قطره دانش که بخشیدی ز پیش متصل گردان به دریاهای خویش

قطره علم است اندر جان من وا رهانش از هوی، وز خاک تن

O God, O Indisputable, O Aware of all inside and out Creator! Connect the drop of knowledge you gave us to your seas. Free the drop of knowledge in me from desires and lusts.

Here, Jalal-addin Muhammad Molawi (Rumi) means that if the knowledge man has gained is freed of lusts and desires with God's help and kindness, it

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will shine with wisdom and mysticism.

6- Mystical knowledge of the universe: here, man achieves an understanding beyond formal sciences, and sees a brilliant light in the universe that is not due to senses, reason or intellect; such a light can change what you know into what you see. Thus, in this form of understanding, man recognizes his dependency – and that of his knowledge – upon the universe in the form of intuitive knowledge.

7- Religious knowledge of the universe: Religion approves of any knowledge that reveals facts and knowledge of them to man. Religious knowledge creates a kind of light in man that makes his soul more fertile and productive. The religious aspect has all the other six aspects mentioned above.

and soul is even normally sound, his reception of these units and their whole will reach a limit where he will wish to be a part of them, or feel them as a part of him.

1- Perceiving the universe from a scientific aspect: Scientific knowledge differs from understanding it. Scientific knowledge is mental understanding of facts, but scientific understanding means man's soul acquiring the facts. We must remember that scientific knowledge and scientific understanding and acquisition do not depend upon each other. Man may have scientific knowledge, but he can be quite far from scientific reception, or even vice versa. However, the more comprehensive and complete scientific knowledge is, its reception and understanding will also be greater.

2- Perceiving the universe from a philosophical aspect: Philosophy means the knowledge of the basics and fundamentals of the universe or its creatures as they are, so philosophy can provide the human soul with the factors needed for understanding the universe. Man can gain complete knowledge of the universe, and achieve internal recognition and understanding of the basics and fundamentals of the universe. The best reason for such reception in man is the unique sense of excitement and joy man feels when its basics are founded in him. No sound man would say:

به جهان خرّم از آنم که جهان خرّم از اوست عاشقم بر همه عالم که همه عالم از اوست

I see the world lovely and beautiful because God, the most beautiful of all,

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has created it.

when watching beautiful scenery, Sa'adi must have received basic knowledge about the universe when he composed the above verse.

3- Perceiving the universe intuitively: In intuitive understanding, man's inside makes direct contact with facts. In fact, intuition is the highest form of understanding, and it can discover the truth. Thus, the certainty it results in is clearer than that of science and philosophy.

4- Perceiving the universe with a moral aspect: Morals make the human soul flourish, so that it can attract the good and intelligible ideals with an aware conscience. Moral ethics clarify man's understanding of the universe. Those who do not have good manners and temper, see the universe as dark and illusive, for their internal refinery is unable to purify the facts about the universe pouring into them. Their inside is already full of wishes and desires, so they regard as facts as baseless; the world never seems serious to them.

5- Perceiving the universe by wisdom: Understanding the wisdom of the universe and man's own existence, which has been emphasized by the holy prophets and great men, too. One cannot understand the universe without recognizing its value. Here, man uses all of his potentials and powers to achieve the truth about the universe and his own existence. In philosophical recognition, man's existence understands the general basics of the universe without realizing its value and properness.

6- Perceiving the universe with a mystic point of view: Here, the brilliant light of the universe, which is a ray of divine

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glory and beauty, is realized. This form of reception of the universe cannot be put into words. One cannot possibly understand such an extreme feeling without getting a taste of it.

7- Perceiving the universe with a religious aspect: As religions aims to make the human character and all of its potentials and aspects flourish and develop, all of the six forms of reception mentioned above are necessary to man. In Islam, if one is to make contact with his own existence intuitively, one must take all of these forms of reception into consideration, and take any necessary measures to gain them.

weapons that can be used to save or destroy mankind. A human being full of animal desires and selfishness may take steps toward the annihilation of humanity. That is why we say that we must create the proportionate kind of development and change in each specific person by means of education or any other scientific knowledge.

2- Change with a philosophical aspect: Since the aim of philosophy is achieving general knowledge of the highest basics and concepts of the universe, and it saturates man's sense of seeking generalization and unity, philosophy can have a significant role in changing man profoundly.

3- Intuitive change: True intuition causes man's development.

4- Change with a moral change: Acquiring elevated moral values guides man toward perfection. Moral change provides the grounds for mystical change. Mystic ecstasy and excitement will be useless without man having purified himself of everything immoral. Alas, some jump to mystical change before achieving moral change, and this is premature maturity – better called “out-of-place” maturity.

They expose their soul to unreal expansions and contractions and fluctuations, and fall into despair and depression because they have not yet suitably adjusted or purified their own standing and duty with regard to the universe.

If man's internal wishes and lusts are not harnessed, he will fall for crude, mortal desires, and see himself and his personal ideals as the absolute. Such people will fall into conceit and arrogance, although it will seem like extreme modesty and humbleness. All in all, man will never achieve mystical change

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and development unless he acquires moral values.

5- Change with wisdom: By wisdom here we mean not pretending to be wise or drowning in fascinating jargon, but awareness of the supreme aim of life and the universe, and acting based on that awareness. By awareness, of course, in wisdom we refer to mental and spiritual clarity, not usual awareness.

6- Change with a mystic aspect: In real mysticism, the human ego is not regarded as the end; in fact, the ego is put on the path of change and development, freeing it from its natural self. In this form of change, all of man's forces and potentials are attracted by God. In mystical development, man's knowledge shines with mystical intuition in any state he may be.

7- Change with a religious aspect: Here, all of the six aspects mentioned above receive attention, for religious change covers all aspects.

کی تواند که شود هستی بخش

خشک ابری که شود زآب تهی نآید از وی صفت آبدهی

How can one who has not been blessed try to bless others? How can a dry cloud ever produce rain?

1- Changing others from a scientific aspect: Scientific knowledge is as important in changing others as it is in changing oneself. Those who intend to develop other people should not separate people from the universe in their effort to help them focus on the domain of concepts and supernatural meanings.

2- Changing others from a philosophical aspect: As we know, by philosophical knowledge we do not mean mental chess games with a bunch of rigid concepts and sacrificing the facts of the universe with pleasant jargon; in fact, here we refer to understanding the basic fundamentals and principles of the universe. Philosophical training and development differs from teaching philosophy, for it requires preparing the trainees' minds to comprehend philosophical facts, and allow their human ego to develop having understood the basic fundamentals of the knowledge of the universe. Then, the great world inside man can flourish. Thus, philosophically developing and changing means the conversion of the little knowledge he has of the universe into its complete, detailed form.

3- Intuitively changing others: The trainer cannot create intuition in his trainees. What he can do, however, is to prepare their souls and minds to understand and receive intuitively. The trainer should intrigue mental concentration and the ability to focus in

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his trainees, free them of their predefined principles and basics and make them aware of their hidden potentials. We must remember that two kinds of intuition can be possible in intuitive developing:

a) General intuition about the universe, which occurs in great explorers of mystic knowledge.

b) Intuition about some facts of the universe and the supernatural. However, intuition of all facts and realities without need for intellect, sensory preliminaries and experimental activities is possible – at least, on the path of normal life.

4- Changing others with a moral aspect: Acquiring moral qualities can make man's potentials flourish. In fact, man's life cannot be changed without developing his moral values. Those trainers and instructors who ignore man's great moral aspects and only focus on scientific and technical issues, achieve no more than preparing man for his battle for survival. Man cannot be made to develop mystically unless he is also morally developed, too.

5- Changing others by wisdom: Here, man must acquire the highest of human qualities, to such an extent that he uses the qualities for decorating and transacting with his own disposition. Trainers and instructors cannot guide their trainees toward this aspect merely through moral aspects, for the basic aspects of wisdom must exist inside the individual himself if he is to exactly feel the necessity to follow them. In fact, only wisdom can provide the basis for moral ethics; wisdom to moral ethics is as the soul to the body.

6- Changing others with a mystical aspect: Self-knowledge is the first

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step in mystical change. Perseverance – the preliminary to action – and accepting facts are other important steps.

7- Changing others with a religious aspect:This is the main goal of all prophets God has sent. The other six aspects mentioned above are added advantages for human life, which if added to the religious aspect, can bring about man's ultimate development and perfection. In this aspect, one can move on the path of divine attraction and reach intelligible life by means of belief in basic religious principles and observing its soul-developing mandates.

The principle “People's lives should not be disturbed,” for instance, is a value-based issue rooted in man's nature. There are two reasons why it is essential:

a) Disturbing people's lives leads to personal vengeance or legal punishment.

b) Disturbing people's lives causes discomfort, annoyance and tortures the conscience.

Any form of annoyance to others influences the souls of both the disturber and the disturbed. Defying values based on facts affects them. If people resist values, the values will not be defied. If someone commits suicide, for instance, he has actually confronted a fact with another real phenomenon. In suicide, it is not a matter of one credited act destroying another; in fact, a mental disorder is destroying the most original reality of all – human life.

By ignoring values rooted in his true nature, man causes disorders in his soul. If, for example, one defies justice – commits an atrocious act, in other words – he is in fact damaging his own character. A liar causes disorders in his soul and his ego when he lies, consciously or unconsciously.

and values pertain to “what there should be.”

The value-based realities rooted in man's free will have a scientific aspect. To elaborate on this, we must consider the definition of free will. Free will consists of the supervision and dominance of the human character upon the positive and negative poles of the action with good-will goals. If such an action takes place, it will be an action done by free will.

Those who see values as non-scientific believe that the human character influences actions of free will, so we cannot discover the factors and motives that have brought about actions of will; we are thus unable to predict actions of free will by means of regulated calculations like the law of causality, and unpredictable phenomena cannot be scientific. In response to their statements, we must keep a few points in mind:

1- It is a scientific principle that if an object has arisen out of various causes and factors, studying the different possibilities can show us its cause.

The greater the distance between man and the optional action that will occur in the future, the more likely the occurrence of events and incidents that will affect it, or even prevent it. Naturally, we have to scientifically calculate all the possibilities and discover what events and incidents that may occur until the time of the action; the nearer we get to the time we intend to do it, the more we know about the factors and events that take place, so the clearer

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our picture of what will happen will also be.

2- Man's actions based on his free will can be scientifically studied in two different domains:

a) In the domain of the factors and motives of the action: As we know, man never does anything without a motive, and the greater the motive, the more likely for it to happen. Also, the vaster the range of man's motives, the higher the possibility of the action occurring.

b) In the domain of the human character there is also a direct relationship between the strength or weakness of the human character and his optional actions. The stronger man's character and the more awareness the individual has about the preliminaries and goals of the action, the more likely for the individual to do it. The more committed the human character is to moral values, the more accurate our explanation and justification of the optional action will be.

3- An action of free will can also be scientifically studied after its occurrence, which itself shows that the occurrence of actions based on free will is scientific.

4- The nature of values can be identified and studied scientifically and philosophically. We can ask, for example, what is the nature of justice, sacrifice and dutifulness? Other questions may be posed about why values have arisen and what consequences they have. The results of commitment to moral values can be studied scientifically. What results high moral values leave in the occurrence of man's mental tranquility and the improvement and development of the society

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is a scientific issue. If we consider high human moral values as having proper human qualities that arise out of moving on the path of evolutionary preserving the human disposition, we can ask philosophically whether man being put on this path is in his nature or does it happen externally. If the answer is the latter, why has this phenomenon arisen in some human beings?

All in all, value-based realities cannot be separated from sciences. That would weaken and even insult the sciences.

of “what there is,” the whole reality of the universe will be meaningless. If we accept that the universe has a mystery and glory which makes it a sign, man's existence must be an effect of God's wisdom and will. God's wisdom says that man is full of hidden potentials, based upon which a series of do's and don'ts can be presented. Can we accept that God may give us the means for evolution but not its instructions?

Even if the Qur’an makes no direct statement that man's existence is a sign that makes him commit himself to the do's and don'ts that help him develop and perfect himself, the meaning of the existence of divine wisdom and will inside man proves the reality that man is responsible for gaining an intelligible life, just as the universe is a sign telling us that we are responsible with regard to what is good and what is bad.

We must keep in mind, however, that attention to how harmonious and glorious the universe is does not lead to the deduction of religious duties or responsibilities. No one can say that the wisdom and glory of the universe makes us realize that we should pray in the morning. Throughout history, many peoples have presented many duties as legal, moral and religious instructions, but none have been proven by the harmony of the universe. What we mean here is that the amazing order and harmony in the universe proves is:

قطره ای کز جویباری میرود

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از پی انجام کاری میرود

(Every drop of water passing by in a stream has an aim.)

The conscious human being must realize from the order and harmony of the universe that he must do his own part, too.

necessity of life. This is why the desirability of life leads to hedonism and greed for power.

Viewpoint 2: The issue that effort is needed for life to continue depends on God, the creator of life. This is the theologians' point of view. They believe that the “what there should be” ordered by God is based upon man's sound reason and pure disposition.

All moral values like justice-seeking, righteousness-seeking, and moderating selfishness can be analyzed by means of these two basic principles:

Principle One: It is “what there is” that is rooted in man's natural talents. In other words, man innately has tendencies toward justice, righteousness and other moral qualities. If the talent for seeking justice, righteousness and moderating selfishness did not exist, there would never be so many outstanding, developed figures in history.

Principle Two: “What there should be” originates in “what there is.” The desire for development and evolution, which innately exists in man, needs some guidelines beyond the purely natural self – “what there should be” – from divine religions to prevent man from falling into selfishness and hedonism.

There is another way for elaborating on the relationship between “what there is” and “what there should be,” and that is giving moral issues a conditional form – i.e., if desired human spiritual development is the issue, justice is necessary. In other words, we can state unconditionally that justice is needed for man's spiritual development. Although such a theorem cannot prove the necessity of spiritual development, when we suppose that development is desirable

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and needed, the necessity of justice for development is also conveyed.

“what there should be” from “what there is.”

3- If one is to study the relationship between ideology and world-view, it is necessary to discover what their goals are.

now we can proceed to the relationship between world-view and ideology.

If world-view means identifying some parts and phenomena of the universe and their interrelations – and man ignoring the general, fundamental laws and principles dominating the universe – such an incomplete, limited form of world-view cannot make a specific belief for man and guide him toward certain duties he should fulfill. In such a world-view, the human mind does nothing more than a mirror in contact with facts. It merely reflects the phenomenon in itself. Such a superficial knowledge cannot direct man to a definite ideology.

On the other hand, if world-view refers to associating all factors of internal perception with the external world rather than only associating the senses with the world, such a world-view would definitely bring man out of his indifferent, neutral side in regard to contact with the universe, and make him accept certain beliefs and perform certain actions as his duty. In this form of world-view, man is not confined to merely scientifically knowing the universe; he also considers his own perceptions about the universe, like glory or justice. Thus, we can say that overall, comprehensive world-view can lead to ideology.

Man has a variety of potentials and talents, so he can make contact with the universe from different aspects. We can, for instance, see aesthetic aspects in the universe since we possess such a sense. We use justice in our individual or social life because we have the potential to understand justice.

Another original human potential

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is man's questioning himself and his life. “Who am I?” he asks himself, and this takes him to the conclusion that makes him behave in a way to discover the philosophy of his life. In other words, if man's world-view is in the form of an isolated part of the universe photographing it, he will never achieve an ideology, but if he believes that, “There is a universe which I am an active part of; I am born from the parts of this universe, and gradually, with the knowledge I gain and the potentials and talents that flourish in me, I see a nihilistic world and life as equal to my own oblivion,” he will definitely come to the conclusion that he must submit to certain actions, and cannot act according to his wishes and desires any longer.

one – feelings, actions and desires arising from animal instincts and reproduction – he will never find an elevated aim for his life. If man is to find the true meaning of life, he should go far beyond his natural life.

4- Life has two dimensions: physical and spiritual. Since the material aspect of human life is the grounds for man's mental and spiritual activity, any disorder in his physical aspect will affect the other, too. The mental and spiritual aspect of human life are essentially important, but should be activated by means of proper development and flourishing further.

5- Human life cannot be discovered without activating the spiritual dimension of life. As a general rule, when man drowns in some phenomenon, since he cannot control it, not only will he never understand it deeply, the phenomenon will be unable to show its true self, too. If man's life flourishes, his starting point and destination in life will also reveal themselves.

6- If the spiritual dimension is not activated, man's life will pass with baseless games, attractions and mockery. Sometimes man deceives himself with limited knowledge, and sometimes his natural instincts influence his reasoning and wisdom, making him move along the negative path of life, interpreting life with the pleasure he gets out of satisfying his natural instincts.

The selfishness and hedonism caused by man's indulging in his instincts makes him misinterpreting his life, and struggling along the wrong path for a whole lifetime. If man's spiritual aspect is activated, his tools of

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discovery will no longer be affected by desires and pleasures, but logically flourish, for the spiritual aspect of life casts a kind of light upon all of man's knowledge, preventing any deceit. Without activating the spiritual aspect of life, life loses its true form, and man will drown in the superficial prolific of life.

7- Human life has no value without the activation of the spiritual aspect. Respect toward man's nature is not possible unless the spiritual aspect of life is activated, and that happens only when all humans are considered as equal. As we read in the Holy Qur’an:

من قتل نفسا بغیر نفس او فساد فی الارض فکانما قتل الناس جمیعا و من احیاها فکانما احیا الناس جمیعا

“Whoso slays a soul not to retaliate for a slain soul, nor for corruption done in the land, shall be as if he had slain mankind altogether; and whoso gives life to a soul, shall be as if he had given life to mankind altogether.”( 5:32)

When man becomes so evil that he insults God by killing another human being – and insulting the creator of the whole universe is in fact equal to insulting the whole universe itself, too, which man himself is also the most valuable and glorious part of – killing one human being is equal to killing all of mankind, and giving life to a human being is equivalent to giving all of humanity life. This is why the human disposition of a human being who has a deep understanding

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of truth is so heavily respected.

Throughout history, the human nature and disposition has been paid respect for various reasons, each of which calls for study and criticism. Some of them are:

a) Throughout history, all outstanding figures have generally advocated respect for the human disposition, and the public, influenced by them, have imitated them in doing so.

b) Crude, primitive emotions and feelings have also led to support for respecting the human disposition. However, this motive has no strong basis, so it cannot be regarded as a stable factor. It fades when cruelty and filth is done by man, or man's selfishness overflows.

c) The third reason is religion, for all religions see respect for the human disposition as their highest item of anthropological agenda. In divine religions, respect for the human disposition is based on God's will, which has created man's life as glorious and precious.

d) Deep feeling for the human disposition; recognizing and receiving man's disposition in the general harmony of the universe. Such a feeling is in fact the supreme religious feeling mentioned above. Of course, man's reaching this great and profound feeling – which regards each human being as a fundamental component of the general harmony of the universe – calls for development and perfection.

e) Some regard scientific, industrial and artistic advances and human cultures as the motive for respecting the human disposition, whereas such issues can only prove the greatness and importance of human potentials, not the necessity of respecting the human disposition. During the last few centuries,

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science has made a great deal of progress, but respect for the human disposition has waned.

f) Humanists also support the value of man, referring to the decree of wisdom and reason on the necessity of supporting mankind. Depending on reason and wisdom – theoretical wisdom and reason, at that, which does not concern supreme human values and principles – respect and value for the human disposition cannot be gained. Reason-based humanism, which has become hugely popular these days, has still not been successful in bringing human beings together in friendship and affection, or creating respect and love between them. The only motive that can make value and respect for the human disposition a reality is a religious one.

8- Concepts like character, ego, spirit and soul will only exist when the spiritual dimension of man's life is activated. Drowning in selfishness and hedonism destroys the harmony in man's management of his life, inhibiting his character, ego and spirit – which are vital for the evolution of man's life – from flourishing. When man feels hedonism is all he needs, he will not seek spirit or character anymore.

its “natural self” – it will be unable to evolve. The natural self (ego) manages the initial, compulsory life; it never undertakes activating supreme levels and aspects. Let us quote from Jalal-addin Muhammad Molawi (Rumi) from Divan-e-shams:

برگشاده سوی بالا، بالها زده اندر زمین چنگالها

خواجه می گرید که ماند از قافله خنده ها دارد از این ماندن خرش

(The soul has spread its wings, heading for the heavens, but the body clings to the earth – this world – with its claws. The wealthy man weeps, for he has fallen behind his group; his donkey is laughing at this.)

2- God helps man with his spiritual evolution. As Imam Ali has said:

عبادالله ان من احب عبادالله الیه عبدا اعانه الله علی نفسه

“O servants of God! God's most precious servants are those God has helped to crush their lusts and desires.”

God, of course helps man know and elevate his soul when man himself wants it. As Jalal-addin Muhammad Molawi says:

چون چنین خواهی، خدا خواهد چنین حق برآرد آرزوی متّقین

(When you want it, God will do it: God grants what the pious ask for.)

The potential and grounds for the will and enthusiasm to do good deeds is hidden inside man; the best reason to prove it is the great, glorious group of developed righteousness-seeking humans that have existed throughout history.

If such a will and progress toward development and perfection does not flourish,

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several inhibiting factors can be named, which we can generally categorize into two groups:

a) Man's hallucinations and inductions to himself, implying that it is too difficult for him to gain mystic knowledge and elevate his soul.

b) External factors also sometimes inhibit man. Unsuitable social circumstances, the lack of constructive education and many others factors are what man must overcome and do his best to move toward development and perfection; he should not shrug off developing himself.

3- The most important form of justice is justice toward oneself, which is not possible without harnessing one's desires. Self-preservation is the most significant factor that makes life go on. When the human disposition is released from all laws or human principles, it will fall into its natural path.

Any activity aiming to preserve the natural self is destructive to man. If man proceeds toward elevating his soul – in other words, if he defies his desires and lusts – he has taken the first step toward making justice a reality. If man cannot do justice with regard to his own forces and potentials and save himself from drowning in lusts and desires, how can he ever provide others with justice?

4- One must not attempt to fulfill others' wishes and desires to the extent that one's own soul becomes corrupt. When governing people requires convincing them, and convincing them must be done by satisfying their desires and lusts, the result will be nothing but the corruption of the soul of the ruler and his

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helpers.

One who is sensitive about the improvement and refinement of his own soul, will never be ready to corrupt it in order to fulfill others' wishes; rather, the shining rays of his brilliant, good-deeded soul can cast light on others, too.

5- Make use of yourself for yourself. As Imam Ali says:

فاخذ امرو من نفسه لنفسه

“Developed man makes use of himself to his own benefit.”

خویش را تسلیم کن، بردار مزد وانگه از خود بی ز خود چیزی بدزد

چون به هر میلی که دل خواهی سپرد از تو چیزی در نهان خواهند برد

(Make me true, and take any reward you like from me; but if you give your soul to anyone you wish, they will steal your inside from you secretly.)

Jalal-addin Muhammad Molawi

Man possesses potentials and talents that blossom on contact with the world outside. Some people make use of their potentials in order to achieve their natural goals; still others use them to gain human goals – these people make positive use of themselves. They activate their positive potentials, and enjoy perfection and development.

6- If you do not know yourself, you are doomed. Let us quote from Imam Ali:

هلک امرؤ لم یعرف قدره

“If man does not recognize his own value and potential, he is doomed.”

We cannot make use of ourselves without knowing ourselves. Man cannot activate his talents and potentials if he does not discover them and know about

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them.

7- Nobody will pay any attention to one who pays no attention to his/her own self. If man does not care about himself, and does not activate his talents and potentials, he should never expect others to care about him, either.

As Imam Ali has said about this essential principle of evolutionary life:

و اعلموا انه من لم یعن علی نفسه حتی یکون له منها واعظ و زاجر لم یکن له من غیرها لا زاجر و لا واعظ

“Lo and behold, he who does not care to be his own internal advisor and conscience, nothing and nobody else will do that for him.”

No one, not even God's prophets, can guide man toward perfection and development unless man himself attempts to progress. Man must have the will to construct and develop himself if he is to move toward evolutionary life.

8- If you know yourself, you will know your God. As the Holy Prophet of Islam Muhammad has said:

من عرف نفسه فقد عرف ربه

“If you discover yourself, you have in fact discovered your Lord.”

Thus, if the human “self” – the human” soul”, in fact – is comprehensively known and discovered, the greatest step toward knowing God has been taken, for:

a) One of the aspects of the “self” is a monotheist nature which puts man in contact with God.

b) The human self can gain complete knowledge of the universe, and see the divine light shining on the universe.

c) Knowledge of the unity of the human disposition, with all its diverse qualities, is a sign of

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the conceptual multiplicity of God's qualities.

d) Abstracting the human soul – the human self – from material aspects and the dominance of such abstraction on the body without making physical contact with it.

e) All the activities of the human disposition without subtracting anything from it or analyzing it.

f) Creating works of art or mathematical operations is a sign of how God works.

g) The imaginations formed in the human mind are examples of creating facts with no physical background about them whatsoever.

9- Always calculate and balance yourself. Self-calculation and self-balance is a fundamental principle on the path to elevating evolutionary life. Some may think that in these days of machine-like life and people's hectic lifestyles, no one has the time to do self-calculations, whereas they would take serious steps toward doing so if educational systems and social leaders made them understand the crucial importance of having an original character. If man analyzes and calculates his own nature and character, life will have a different meaning to him; social leaders and those responsible for education must realize how necessary this is.

10- In evolutionary life, you must not degrade the value and glory of your own self by submitting to profanity and being prolific. Let us quote from Imam Ali:

و اکرم نفسک عن کل دنیه و ان ساقتک الی الرغایب فانک لن تعتاض بما تبذل من نفسک عوضا

“Consider your nature, your disposition, as too great to be traded with lowly, decadent affairs, even though your nature may encourage you toward them, for they

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are quite attractive and satisfying. But you will lose far more than you gain if you fall for them.”

Giving in to lowly affairs and decadence is the greatest barrier on the path to development and perfection. Not all means can guide one to the aim of life. Man should not sell the elixir of his existence for a meager price. If the human ego is lost, nothing can ever replace it. The value of the “self” is higher than anything else. Countless human beings have sacrificed themselves for meager desires and lusts, thinking that they have gained something.

11- One of the most significant effects of evolutionary life is adjusting oneself with regard to others. The correct criterion for the relationship between human beings is a crucially important issue. Here, by relationships between human beings we do not refer merely to social life, for the main factor that makes social life is not making any disturbances in life and providing the grounds for people's talents and potentials to be harmonized and put to better use in order to make social life a reality.

The criterion necessary for the relationship between human beings on the path toward evolutionary intelligible life is far beyond the rules and criteria in social life. That criterion is nothing but the human ego – a purified human ego, of course, that moves on the path toward development and perfection.

12- Supreme effort is the strongest force of evolutionary life. As Imam Ali has said,

قدر الرجل علی قدر همته

“A man's

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value and merit lies in his effort and endeavor.”

Extreme effort has some conditions:

a) Supreme aim and dissatisfaction about what the society imposes upon man.

b) Stepping beyond the waves of mortal desires and evaluating natural pleasures, which keep man busy and prevent him from development and elevation.

c) Logically interpreting the concepts of “possibility” and “impossible.” Some people who have enough power and will to accomplish things mistake the possible with the impossible; they imagine what they aim for is beyond their abilities.

d) Will power has a crucial role in making supreme effort fruitful, for man will accomplish nothing without will power.

With supreme effort, man will achieve:

● Patience: Supreme effort gives man firmness and tranquility against the negative consequences of pleasures and sorrow.

● Revealing the secrets of the soul: Pleasures and sorrows deprive man of the secrets in his soul. With supreme effort, man can put up a resistance against them.

● Social constructivism: Only human beings of supreme effort can construct the society.

● Freedom: Supreme effort can set man free.

● The highest level of freedom increases the heart's capacity for gaining goodwill and perfection.

13- One of the signs of entering evolutionary life is clearing the soul of all hatred and frustrations. If we hate another person intensely, to the extent that hatred fills our souls and affects our other mental activities, it will be a horrendous grudge. Grudges make man lose his ability to see things righteously. Man ignores human values and will continue until he destroys the one he hates.

14-

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You cannot proceed on the path of evolutionary life unless you stop expecting rewards for your good deeds. If man's relationship with others becomes a form of trade, he will never make it to the path of evolutionary life. Some people never seem willing to give anything unless they gain something in return. Trade and reward and punishment are phenomena necessary to the natural ego, but man must step beyond them if he is to achieve development and evolution.

15- Feeling that your purely natural life is insufficient can make you start moving on the path of evolutionary life. If man does not feel eager to become perfect, if he does not suffer from his shortcomings, he will never make any progress on the path to evolutionary life. Alas, many people do not feel the need for reaching perfection, so they take no action toward eliminating their shortcomings.

16- In an evolutionary life, rewards and punishments are based upon intentions. Intention consists of decision and objective action, the merit of which depends on one hand upon the value of man's effort in deciding to do so, and on the other hand upon man's mental motive. If man's decision is based on a negative motive, his character will deteriorate a positive motive will, in contrast, boost his personality. This is why we can say that reward and punishment – rise or fall – depends on our intentions.

17- The basic factor in man's evolutionary life is the fact that God watches man's every single

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word, action and even what goes on deep inside him. If man believes that God is aware of his every move – internally or externally – he will avoid evil. Such a man will not avoid wrongdoing for fear of social punishment, but rather due to his shame toward his creator. Belief that God is at all times observing every aspect of human life can elevate man's evolutionary life, for man now knows that God wishes the best for him, and has provided him with intelligible ways to get there, and the tools he needs to do so; obeying what God wants man to do is the path to perfection.

18- Man's evolutionary life cannot be elevated without activating the human intellect, which in turn cannot serve man without spiritual purification. If intelligence enjoys the advice and directions of a pure conscience and sound nature and disposition, it can guide man toward progress and perfection, for intelligence alone is unable to provide man with evolutionary advance. It should be accompanied with self-purification in order to remove all the inhibiting factors on its path.

19- The human ego requires natural flourish and expansion in order to proceed on the path of evolutionary life.

If the perfection-seeking human soul starts its climb toward supernatural progress without any chances for relaxation or rest, and constantly cuts its ego off from all its natural characteristics, forcing them to obey its furiously accelerating development, the ego will undoubtedly suffer, losing the management of

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its body, which serves as its steed. Thus, moderate dealing with the ego is necessary for elevation toward evolutionary life.

20- In evolutionary life, man's progress should be forward-looking at all times. Sometimes imitating one's predecessors' beliefs and traditions prevents man from logical activity and progress. This is why we must state that on his path toward evolutionary life, man must analyze the culture that dominates his society, and remove any sedimentary elements in it. Imitations are steel dams inhibiting man's advance toward evolution.

There are two kinds of future man must have in mind on the path to evolutionary life:

a) The future of this worldly life, for which thoughts and intelligence are a crucial necessity.

b) The future of man's other life, which if man ignores or defies, interpreting his worldly life will also become impossible.

21- Those who are the most obedient of God also have the best intentions about their own selves. As Imam Ali has said,

عبادالله ان انصح الناس لنفسه اطوعهم لربه و ان اغشهم لنفسه اعصاهم لربه

“O servants of God, those people who are the most obedient are the kindest to themselves, and those who defy God are betraying themselves the worst of all.”

Man, in contact with God, sees Him supervising and dominating his ego. Such a feeling makes man believe that he is always in the realm of God, so he will not fall astray from God's path.

a somewhat animal-like life, people are engaged in a battle for survival. Their sole aim is to fulfill their natural desires, and since their life is totally engulfed by worldly needs, the positive aspects of humanity are entirely forgotten. Man’s infatuation with purely natural ways of life has greatly influenced the history of mankind. Let us take a look at some of its effects:

1- Stupefaction replacing consciousness

2- The destruction of positive forms of love

3- Conflicts between power and righteousness

4- Self-bestrangedness

5- Selfishness and stubbornness

6- Misjudging the human character

7- Human relationships based on personal benefit

8- Various philosophizations tending to vouch for human corruptions

9- Considering oneself as the goal and others as one’s means to achieve it

10- Ruining the environment

11- Man’s conflict with his own self

12- The destruction of man’s highest emotions and unity

13- The waning of human affection and sympathy

14- Sacrificing the goal for its means

15- Aimless deconstructing and weakening original cultures

16- Losing one’s aim in life and falling into nihilism

17- Uncertainty and anxiety about one’s future

18- Self-alienation

19- The aimlessness and uselessness of the arts

20- Increasing suicide

21- Social maladjustment

22- Pitiful incompetence in explaining absolutes and relativities

the most important aspects of this definition:

● A 'Conscious Life': Living an intelligible life, man is quite conscious of his life. His character is independent, and everything he does arises from his original personality, not imitating of others. In an intelligible life, man is totally aware of the principles and values of life, and follows them.

● 'Guiding the compulsory and pseudo-compulsory forces and activities of man’s natural life toward evolutionary goals by means of more freedom of choice': moving on the path of intelligible life, man is well aware of the fatalistic, compulsory causes and factors surrounding him, and tries to make the most of his freedom. For instance, if he wins a better position, he does not allow the factors around him that may lead to pride or arrogance make him fall astray from his progress toward perfection and commitment to great human values. In an intelligible life, man achieves the highest level of free will, and the more he makes use of his freedom in his will, the greater his intelligible life will be.

We should not neglect the critical role of environmental factors and social leaders in making intelligible life possible. In unsuitable social conditions, freedom of will – and subsequently intelligible life – will have no chance to flourish. Therefore, leaders of societies should encourage proper human virtues and values.

● 'Towards evolutionary goals': In an intelligible life, all of man’s actions, words, even his mental activities aim for

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perfection. He never feels that he has finally become perfect; he is constantly trying to raise himself to greater levels of perfection.

● 'Gradually developing the human character'. All of man’s positive potentials and talents flourish in an intelligible life, and he finds a life of happiness and prosperity. His naive, childish feelings fade away, and his petty interests are replaced by greater, more valuable ones. In an intelligible life, the human character uses internal and external realities correctly, for every aspect of his life is undergoing evolutionary metamorphosis.

● 'Being guided towards the highest end of life': Man cannot achieve the highest aims of life by drowning in the compulsory and pseudo-compulsory tendencies of his natural self. If he wants to accomplish the greatest ends in life, his actions must be logical and conscientious, and he should be determined enough to make use of the mental activities needed to interpret the highest aims of life.

wisdom, and considering it dominant over man's life without any divine interference at all. Many rationalists ignore the fact that if man's opportunist, ambitious nature is guided toward divine aspects, it will move on the path to an intelligible life, where man can step out of his “self-orientated” nature and be attracted by his “real ego” to an intelligible life – and this is the only way man can abandon war, bloodshed, atrocity and all other evil, and change “the history of purely natural life” into “the history of mankind”.

path of intelligible life, he feels that all of the necessary elements for perfection exist in him, and are in no conflict with his innate natural self.

Social leaders should try to help their people realize what a conscious life feels like. If leaders of societies make their people understand how necessary a life of consciousness is, they will never protest. If human beings become aware of the glory of justice, honesty and wisdom existing in actions and words and the glorious sense of duty and love for peers, they will easily accept it. By reinforcing and developing man's positive potentials, he can be made aware of the importance of understanding and adopting the necessity of endeavor toward an intelligible life.

This is the same mind that can so delicately gather wealth, fame and defeat his rivals by means of brilliant ideas, and high intelligence throughout his purely natural life; surely, can it not understand that its wisdom and intellect can be employed toward higher goals, such as serving his peers, justice and upholding the right? Can it not realize that it is able to seriously calculate the mysteries of the universe, not merely act like on a stage?

When discussing the feasibility of intelligible life we must keep in mind that the human character can be developed, “built up.” Man can improve himself through calculations made in his intelligence and conscience. The important point is identifying the way to explore reaching intelligible life, and that is not impossible. If man steps beyond

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his “purely natural life,” he can enter “intelligible life,” where he will undergo eleven changes:

● his raw feelings change into elevated emotions;

● his scattered brainwaves turn into “specific thoughts about a certain topic;”

● his raw kindness becomes “intelligible affection;”

● his high expectations change into “motivating hopes;”

● his nominal likes and interests become perfection-creating ones;

● being content with worthless concepts of goodness and perfection give way to effort toward discovering the real truth about them;

● pure imitation and passiveness will disappear, and be replaced by original, direct thought and truth-finding;

● fractional, theoretical chess games in the mind will be replaced by harmony between sound wisdom and realistic conscience;

● elevated freedom will replace desires;

● seeing oneself as exceptional as and higher than others will change into understanding the highest human unity and equality among humans as being the means or the end.

● Being content with the milestones of life in this world as man’s main goal is replaced by always considering oneself as still on the way.

diversity people have in race, appearance or secondary qualities, they still have the same universal harmony. In other words, they can move along the ultimate path of life.

c) In spite of ethnical, social and other differences people have, they feel a kind of value-based unity regarding each other if they are in a well-balanced mental state. Such a feeling is deeply rooted in man's soul, and many of the heroic acts he has shown throughout history depict the unity men have in their common principles and values.

We cannot accept the three above-mentioned principles without believing in intelligible life. In other words, proving the value of human character is a result of accepting intelligible life. This cannot be done unless the “natural self” is overcome. Having stepped beyond his natural self, man can accept the existence of others, understand his basic relationship with them, and regard the human character as valuable.

On the path of intelligible life, man sees great human beings from a vaster, more elevated horizon, as if they are mirrors reflecting divine beauty and glory. Those who obey natural life, on the other hand, are considered worthless, even if they are socially outstanding.

2- Ethics in an intelligible life: In order to understand how important ethics is in intelligible life, we should compare it with ethics in a purely natural life:

a) In purely natural life, ethics consists of accepting principles confirmed by the society, and the reason for obeying

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them is merely to avoid interference between individuals. But ethics in an intelligible life means considering oneself as part of the whole of human life, which has – as the Qur’an states – divinity breathed in it, and accepting the principle that all human beings come from the same origin. In such a system of moral ethics, man does not wish for others what he would not wish for himself. He does not blindly follow a set of socially established norms.

b) The favorable ethics in natural life consists of following emotional desires and whims, whether they are to the benefit of other human beings or not. Thus, each person does as he/she may please, whereas in intelligible life man's emotions are elevated to harmony with fixed human principles. In intelligible life, human emotions are based on justice considering other human beings as valuable.

c) The basis of moral ethics in purely natural life is accepting and obeying rules arising from choosing a lifestyle decreed by the social trends. In such ethics, great human moral virtues are ignored, and the only thing that matters is what desirable in social life; in intelligible life, on the other hand, principles such as free conscience representing goodness, perfection, and motivating human beings toward that are of significance.

d) In natural life, ethics serves as to enforce social laws and prevent crimes in the society. In intelligible life, however, it is not the servant of man's rights in a natural life or a reducer of crime

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– although if correctly used, it will have such results, too. The aim of ethics in intelligible life is to activate man's greatest potentials and elevate the members of the society.

3- Law in intelligible life: The purpose of the law is basically to enforce social order and mutual coexistence among members of the society. In intelligible life, it not only does so, but also emphasizes on the rights of human lives. If social laws pay sufficient attention to advancing evolutionary morals and true human love for having a free character, “the natural history of life” would become “the human history.” Human laws can never be effective unless man's natural self is well-balanced and all human beings move on the path of intelligible life.

Intelligible life insists on having rights for human lives alongside the rights of purely natural life. It makes people realize each other's advantages and spiritual greatness, and enables them to use such qualities; this is what changes a normal living being into Abuzar Ghafari, a wanderer into Owais Qarni, a petty poet into Hakim Sanaee, and a criminal into Fuzayl Ayaz.

4- Social relationships in intelligible life: Human relationships in intelligible life is based upon humanity, not seeking advantage of one another. In purely natural life, however, man only considers his own benefit, and his relationships with others are only to serve that purpose. In intelligible life, the way a teacher behaves with his students goes way beyond his salary. The teacher relates to not only their senses

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and thoughts, but indeed to their souls. In intelligible life, therefore, careful attention to the highest aim of life is what makes the link among people and provides human unity.

5- Science in intelligible life: It is vital for man to gain knowledge. Intelligible life and purely natural life agree on this. The difference is whether science makes man's natural self inflate, or control it. In a purely natural life, man may fall into infatuation for science, and consider nature only superficially; in intelligible life, however, man makes use of science as a means to advance toward his evolutionary goals; wisdom and free conscience control human desires, and all of man's physical and spiritual activities are guided by God. Here, man sees science as a divine ray of light –shining on human societies by means of the human senses, brain, nature and laboratories.

6- Ideology in intelligible life: Merely seeing the world outside and the world inside – just “taking photos of it, in fact – is quite different from observing and gaining knowledge about the universe by means of precision tools and determining where man stands as the knower. Man is not a living being who merely reflects the facts about the world inside himself like a big mirror, without any awareness of his own role in discovering them. Man has the capability to know everything about the universe and his knowledge of the world is by no means limited to mere photographic observation.

Such mental effort, dominant knowledge and observation leads

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to a vital result, and that is the fact that there is an extremely high philosophy and wisdom guiding the universe toward a very elevated destination by means of certain laws; every particle in the universe, when considered in relation to other particles, confirms that

قطرهای کز جویباری میرود از پی انجام کاری میرود

(There is a cause behind even a drop of water going by in a stream.)

The ideological principles understood and accepted by means of these basics undoubtedly enter man's deepest levels of psyche, and influence and explain his life. Such a life, accounted for according to the highest destination of the universe is called an intelligible life.

7- Arts in an Intelligible Life: When an artist steps into intelligible life, he does not want art for the sake of art itself anymore; he wants art for the sake of humanity in an intelligible life. Here, the artist pictures facts as they are and as they should be by means of his finely elevated emotions. In an intelligible life, the artist pays careful attention to the aim of life, and attempts to use his art to guide the fatalistic activities of man's natural life toward freedom and development. When a work of art is created, motivated by the cause of making intelligible life come true, it is not only an appealing work relieving man's fatigue of natural life, but also a wave of intelligible life itself, “reinforcing this kind of life in other

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members of the society and letting them get a taste of it, too.” Art in an intelligible life aims to develop man's awareness, freedom and perfection, not his animal-like wishes and natural desires.

8- Politics in an Intelligible Life: Politics is managing people's lives on the path to achieving the highest of physical and spiritual goals. Throughout history, politicians drowned in purely natural life have degraded the life of human beings down to “things.” Machiavelli has written the most possibly logical account based on purely natural life. He did not even for a moment consider intelligible life and the prospect of making it a reality in human societies. Instead of taking man's immense range of potentials into consideration, Machiavelli expressed his own internal thoughts. He believed that managing the purely natural life of people arises from “self-love.” In an intelligible life, however, politics has a goal, and a starting point and a path. The goal of politics in an intelligible life is creating factors of awareness and adjusting the fatalistic forces and activities of natural life by providing the development of freedom. The starting point is relief from self-love, and the path is continual searching by the human character in an effort to reach the highest aim of life.

9- Economy in an Intelligible Life: As far as a purely natural life is concerned, self-love confirms man's freedom in claiming dominance and absolute possession of all creatures. In a purely natural life, man considers all natural and man-made blessings and

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facilities as his own, and thinks his possession of them is unlimited; in an intelligible life, however, man believes that since all human beings have the right to live, the results of human mental and physical endeavor must serve to safeguard and preserve the whole of human life, and be present in the total rhythm of the universe. Such a human being considers goods at the service of life, not life at their service. Man's wishes and desires are harnessed in order to achieve social coexistence in an intelligible life, and economy is also considered to be a factor serving to guarantee man's survival, not inflating his natural self. In brief, man should let others also be provided with the financial blessings he has, and attempt to make their life more comfortable; he should not selfishly want everything for himself, and trample all values and morals in his commercial activities.

10- Education in an Intelligible Life: In an intelligible life, education includes reinforcing and enhancing the factors that influence cognition and understanding the original facts about life, and motivating the children in a society to gradually move from purely natural life to an intelligible life. The primary duty of education in an intelligible life is to dramatically change the mental and spiritual system of the learner by teaching him/her the basic principles of education, so that the learner considers them as vitally necessary as food and water are essential to his/her survival. In an intelligible life, moral virtues like honesty and

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justice are necessary to man's nature, and the educators and teachers of the society should try to activate human virtues.

If education is anything other than what we mentioned above – i.e, if the facts taught as the basics of education are regarded as not a part of the human nature or virtues – not only will the learners be deprived of progress toward development and perfection, but also be influenced by external factors.

giving up an option in order to accomplish perfection.

Both of the above-mentioned levels of freedom are quite distinct from release; with freedom, man’s personality aids him in his actions.

Let us consider how freedom and free will differ:

a) The notion of merit-based selections and aiming for perfection provides the point of distinction between free will and freedom, for freedom is not concerned with the fact whether the action is merit-based or leading to perfection or not.

b) With freedom, doing or not doing something is enjoyable, for the feeling of freedom arises from two side products which are both ideal to man:

● firstly, the absence of any kind of restrictions limiting man’s will, and

● second, the feeling of being able to select ends or means out of infinite possibilities.

Feeling free causes the most delightful of emotional states in man, as the feeling of being alive itself does. With free will, on the other hand, not only does man not seek the enjoyment of being alive, but even makes man perform the hardest of tasks in order to achieve perfection. Nevertheless, carrying out tasks with the aim of reaching perfection refreshes and elevates the soul, which is totally incomparable with natural pleasure.

c) With free will, the human will, decisions and actions fall into the domain of meritorious deeds, whereas actions performed or refused out of pure freedom results in a natural merit incomparable to values.

mentally developing mankind, provided it fulfills these two conditions. Elevated freedom, however, is more effective.

Condition 1 : Freedom, whether purely natural or elevated, should not prevent man from moving towards free will and evolutionary development. In other words, the pleasant feeling of freedom should not block our path toward an intelligible life.

Condition 2 : One’s freedom should in no case disturb that others’ freedom or free will. Man should thoughtfully attempt to develop his freedom and potentials from purely natural to elevated. Even when achieving so, he should not stop, and strive for reaching a level of free will that can be named intelligible freedom on the path toward intelligible life. Freedom and free will are significant enough to be considered human rights, just as important as the right to live.

seldom undergo a change of belief, except in cases of upheavals in their mental and psychological states, which makes them find faith in something else. Of course, if the change of faith lies in divine realities, it can be a sign of man’s spiritual growth.

Aspect Three: what man actually believes in, which can include:

● Facts about the components of the universe, such as the order and harmony in its creation,

● Facts about the universe as a whole, like the aim of the creation of the universe,

● Facts about man, like human anatomy,

● Facts about human existence in general, for example the fact that man is capable of developing himself into divine greatness,

● Facts about human proper virtues and merits, such as man’s elevation through purifying his soul.

Since man cannot exist without some kind of faith, it is not possible to ignore all of the above in the name of freedom of belief, for his life would be inexplicably futile.

2- Freedom of thought: cannot be denied. Hundreds of verses of the Qur’an point out the necessity of thought. If man were not free to think about the realities of humanity and the universe, God would never order him to do so. As freedom of belief should not be so inordinate as to make human life lose all accountability, freedom of thought should also prevent falling into complete negligence toward life, or hinder man’s mental or psychological activities.

Thought should serve the purpose of intelligible

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life, not censoring oneself. Thinking about the world and the natural aspects of humanity is perfectly allowed – provided the fact that it does not lead to damages to mankind. There should be a law on the topics suitable for thought about human identity and his values, virtues and merits, for ideals, taste and also social and cultural conditions influence what man may choose to think about. In order to prevent any disorder in people’s thoughts and their falling into dangerous speculations, we need a rule: the aim is discovering and understanding man’s intelligible life in an objective, intelligible world.

3- The Freedom of Expression: should be intelligible. In the West, this kind of freedom is absolutely unlimited. As Voltaire said:

“I disagree with what you say, but I am willing to sacrifice myself in order to let you say it freely.”

I wonder how much Voltaire valued his own self, or if he would still be willing to sacrifice himself and allow such a volcanic eruption of mental and psychological brainwash affect all of mankind if his objections were to the benefit of the rights of all of mankind – including the right to freedom?

Expressing what is logical and intelligible is quite acceptable, but expressing unintelligible things has these harmful effects:

a) Emphasis on the expression regardless of what the content may be;

b) Useless, irrelevant speeches being sympathetically delivered to people only because the speaker considers them important;

c) A chance for people to use futile speeches for their own personal aggrandizement;

d) Interesting, amazing

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information given without having any effect on the reader.

Expressing realities useful to man – whether physically or spiritually – is not only free, but refusing to express them can be a crime. Freedom of expression faults only when it causes disorder in all true human principles and values and misguides minds. If man were so mentally developed that he would not only tell only the truth, and provide both the speaker and the listener with effective information and sufficient expressions, there would be no problem at all with the absolute freedom of speech – but is it truly so?

Are today's Eastern speakers, listeners, and researchers all as great as Abu-Reihan Biruni, Avicenna and Farabi in philosophy, or Muhammad Mehdi Naraqi and Sheikh Morteza Ansari in human Gnostics and knowledge, who never spoke a word without prior study, research and thought, and did the same with what they heard from others? And are Western speakers, listeners and researchers nowadays like Aristotle, Socrates, Augustine, Descartes, Hegel, Kant, Whitehead, and Saint Hiller, who spoke out of a vast background of study, research and calculation?

After a long and deep research on freedom of speech in the Qur’an, we come to the following conclusions:

a) Those who know certain facts or the truth are obliged to share them with others, for God has made those who know vow to spread their knowledge.

b) Any kind of knowledge which is harmless and useful to man – whether physically or spiritually – should be expressed.

c) Apart from making

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those who know responsible for expressing what they know, God also obliged those who do not know to seek knowledge.

d) Knowledge should not be taught to those who do not deserve it. On the other hand, those who do deserve it should never be deprived of knowledge.

e) Those that spread any kind of knowledge useful to mankind will be rewarded.

f) Those that know but do not share the truth with others will severely be punished on Judgment Day.

All in all, logical freedom of speech should be supported. However, the reasonability does not lie in the freedom itself, for the meaning of freedom conveys being free to commit or reject an action, regardless of its merit or harm.

Any kind of freedom of speech, thought or opinion physically or spiritually harmful to human beings is considered illogical freedom. When not all people are allowed to comment on things lie medicine or medical treatment, which requires much research and study, the humanities, which determine man's fate, is certainly also thus. Anybody who comments on medical issues with no prior knowledge and only based on illogical freedom, is considered a criminal; now if someone attempts to write, speak and repeat his ideas about various aspects of humanity without any previous thought, study or research, and even try to brainwash people with his attractive, deceiving words, will it not be a problem?

Intelligible freedom of speech should be used in accordance with these two principles:

a) As far as physical nature is concerned, there is complete freedom

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of speech, thought and opinion, whether our knowledge is based on concrete evidence, probability, or deduction.

b) In domains of the humanities and general philosophy, which deal with mankind, “what there is,” and “what there should be,” the supervision and expertise of the learned is essential.

When discovering issues dealing with the humanities and ideology, it is necessary to both deeply understand the original fundamentals and principles, and have the required honesty, clarity, purity and eagerness to seek the truth, for this is where one's pre-determined principles and ideals proves actually influential. Therefore, any theory or research done on the above-mentioned topics must be presented to learned, impartial experts who will carefully study them and present the results considering the quality, quantity, clarity of confirmation or rejection, and the needed mental and psychological modifications for the public.

Thus, first of all, researchers on the humanities should have two qualifications: continuous, relentless effort and endeavor to discover the truth, and the sincerity and purity that makes the light of divinity shine upon hearts, clarifying man's knowledge. Secondly, the results of the research must be handed to scholars of the humanities who possess the needed knowledge, expertise and justice, so that they can study them carefully before their release. Some may claim that such a method in anthropology will lead discoveries to stagnancy. All research in other fields also, such as medicine or pharmacology, is thoroughly discussed prior to public release.

The above-mentioned suggestions also replaces selfish rivalries with positive competition, for not only does it

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engage knowledgeable, fair scholars of the humanities responsible for studying novel ideas in the fields of anthropology and ideology in scientific competition, but also invites others experts to discuss them, thus guiding constructive scientific competitions into an intelligible path.

4- Freedom of Behavior:This form of freedom is totally unconditional in the West, and is thus defined: “Do whatever you want, just don't bother anyone.” Such freedom of behavior calls for reconsideration, for human desires and wishes do not always obey wisdom and reality. Thousands of the crimes, betrayals, and atrocities in history have been committed because of man's wishes. The provision about not bothering others is ineffective in confining man's freedom unless his desires and wishes are brought under control. How can one who does not believe himself to have any rights or value be expected to respect others' rights? When corrupted internally, he will never be able to consider others as having the right to live, be great or free, for none of these terms mean anything to him, let alone respecting them.

As we did with freedom of speech, we can also categorize freedom of behavior into two kinds – intelligible and unintelligible. Unintelligible behavior does not follow any law, principle or natural tendency at all; intelligible human behavior, however, is based on certain laws, rules or will-power arising from lawful, natural tendencies. Defining freedom of behavior as “Do whatever you want, just don't bother others” is a result of incorrectly isolating religion, ethics, law and politics from each other.

5-

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Freedom of Slavery in Any Form: Slavery arose thousands of years ago, and intellectuals like Plato and Aristotle considered it as an original social law. It had deep roots throughout history, and fighting it has always been difficult. This is the reason why Islam took a gradual approach to eradicate slavery. Had he decided not to battle it with full force, all the social and economic foundations of the society of his era would have fallen apart. The methods Islam used to gradually fight slavery were:

a) He made no exceptions between slaves and free people in regards to moral virtues and vice.

b) In Islamic societies, slaves found the chance to reach higher positions by showing themselves worthy of it.

c) If a man's bondmaid bore him a child, she would be freed as “mother to the child.”

d) Slaves could work to free themselves; through an agreement with their masters, they worked to earn the money required and freed themselves.

e) In many of his (and also the subsequent Imams') hadith, the Holy Prophet emphasized that freeing slaves is a greatly rewarded deed, which prepared the grounds for more and more slaves to be freed and slavery to slowly fade away.

f) Teaching people that freeing slaves would compensate for many of the sins they had done.

g) Uprooting the main event that included taking people as slaves – wars. The occupation of Mecca resulted in all the slaves being freed.

h) The prisoners the Muslims took in their battles would be freed provided that they

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taught Muslims their knowledge and skills.

i) Many Islamic hadith regard slavery as an unnatural side-effect in man's social life. They emphasize that human freedom is of primary importance in Islam. All human beings are considered in Islam as being born free and entitled to dying free.

j) The Holy Prophet objected to slavery in Africa, Asia and all around the world, stating all humanity to be free people.

6- Political Freedom: Two principles concerning political freedom are:

● Every human being has his own free will.

● No one can dominate another human being's free will.

According to the former principle, each human being has free will about his/her own lifestyle, provided that it is not legally prohibited, like bringing harm to himself/herself or to others.

for carrying it out are prepared; results are of no significance to them. The subject is important for them, so as long as there is a possibility to succeed, they will continue. Those who believe that the value of work lies solely in its results, always lose many opportunities, because they regard them as fruitless. This is why it is said that belief in work as a subject shows how alive the individual and the society is, and the least opportunity produces the best results.

defending their rights. Man's culture greatly emphasizes that work is valuable, and cannot be accounted for by means of specific formulae, especially in cases in which workers are forced to work. Pioneer culture believes that the worker should be satisfied, and the real wages for his work should be paid to him, for many workers are too concerned with making the ends meet in their own lives to have time to think about the true value of work.

2- True anthropologists have always preached the importance and value of work. The fact that they have taught man that justice is the basis of social human life shows how important they wanted to show work is.

When discussing the value of work, we must always keep in mind the human aspect of values. If values are only considered as useful things, and man is omitted from their definition, that would not be accurate. The definition should be: Whatever is useful for man, and getting it calls for work or losing something important to man or society, is a value.

In the past, there were various forms of value of work. Feudalism, for instance included three kinds of trade and value of work:

1- Master and employee share the products

2- Receiving goods necessary for life as salary

3- Hard labor for which workers were paid too little

In other trade systems, the employer paid the apprentice in goods or money.

After developments in economics and business, salary and wage became important issues, and the value of work received more

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attention. The question was posed, “What is the value of work?”

Three issues are to be considered before we can answer the question:

a) The scale and unit used for measuring work

b) The scale and unit used for measuring the value of work

c) The scale and unit used for measuring the prices

These units are either physically observable, like work and effects on materials and the prices paid for the work done, or are not, and involve an abstraction which clearly shows its origin.

Work is a phenomenon resulting from man's continual, unrepeatable vital and mental activities. Thus, if we are to have a unit for work, it would be a flow of human life and soul; it cannot be separate from man's life.

Since the phenomenon of life and soul cannot be mathematically measured, neither can work, particularly in the case of mental endeavors, which are extremely more complex than physical work, and can be measured by means of no scientific scale.

In the case of mental endeavor, it is more complicated, for what scientific scale or measurement unit can ever discover what the manager of a large system is guessing about how he can bring about his system's progress? Which scientific measurement scale can be used by a discoverer, an artist or a social pioneer to determine his rout to success? Can we hope to have a scientific measurement someday for the emotional efforts made by man in order to achieve his highest goals? What precision tools can ever determine the measurement units for

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education and create a class which can create both the likes of Einstein and Planck and also savage tyrants? Can we expect to see mathematics, physics, physiology and psychology to join forces one day and determine the scientific measurement system that can measure the activities of a faithful soul, which is full of mental endeavor, or physical work that is filled with hope and character and aim for the highest of social goals and interpretation of the aim of life? Undoubtedly not.

and profiteering tendencies are decreased.

However, some intellectuals interpret the society in a way to pay less attention to the value of man; they see the society as a set of individuals who are absolutely free, and should only be careful not to disturb others. From such a viewpoint, social laws only serve to provide mutual coexistence. These thinkers do not realize that man's selfish, advantage-seeking nature cannot be corrected with mere social laws; the highest of human values and supernatural principles must dominate man's life in order to control his selfishness.

3- The Human-economic Domain: This domain is related to intelligible life – that is, the type of life based on divine principles and values. Man's mental and physical forces are not at the service of the power-greedy and the selfish, who tend to use them as buyers of their cleverly advertised – but in fact harmful and intoxicating – goods and increase their own riches. In this domain, work and economic endeavor does not move toward stupefying people and adding to the wealth of the minority of the selfish. Rather, it serves to fulfill man's real needs and uphold social justice.

as a preliminary for physically observable work: Such mental efforts serve as the preliminary to administer things like designing or engineering activities.

3- Mental work in order to continue with the natural flow of an issue: For example, thoughts on medicine in order to diagnose an illness or cure a disease, or legal mental effort aiming to destroy atrocity and help the oppressed, which may all lead to social justice.

4- Mental work serving to elevate man's individual life and build a desirable social life: Actions taken with educational aims are examples of this category. Such forms of work help human potentials and talents flourish.

5- Artistic mental work: Some forms of artistic work are imitative, and can be regarded as professions. Others, which are innovative, are exploratory, mental activities. Mental artistic work can be categorized into three groups:

a) Artistic work materialized upon useful material which makes the material look beautiful. The artistic work both fulfills the individual's needs and saturates his aesthetic tendencies.

b) Artistic work that motivates man to achieve intelligible life: A beautiful painting or an exquisitely meaningful poem can activate man's feelings to gain an intelligible life.

c) Artistic work that merely shows the artist's brainchild: This form of work depicts the pinnacle of the artist's imagination, like abstract works of art that are irrelevant to reality.

6- Political mental effort: This kind of work involves a series of logical thoughts aiming to make social intelligible life go on.

7- Exploratory mental effort: The six forms mentioned above follow logical rules, but this

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form of work goes far beyond logic. This is why most discoverers are not professional logic scholars. Edison was not an expert on logic, and neither were Mendeleyev or Roentgen. Some forms of mental work may serve merely to satisfy our curiosity, whereas they possess great value to economy and standard of living.

From a humanistic/economic point of view, work is highly significant, for it relates to man's intelligible life.

Physical work: Let us further elaborate physical work by considering it from three aspects:

1- The internal aspect: Any muscular work is accompanied by a series of internal factors, some of which are the causes for the work, some others occur tat he same time as the piece of work is produced, and some others occur after the final product is created. The factors that serve as the cause for the work and begin functioning prior to the work are:

● The necessary information for the work

● The willingness, determination and will power to do the work

● The will power to receive and understand parts of the work

In kinds of work that are created by free will, the dominance of the character upon positive and negative poles and the quality and characteristics are also important, for they manage the internal factors.

The factors mentioned above are related to these four issues:

a) The information and experience about the work

b) The eagerness, reluctance, force or emergency to do the work

c) The quality of managing the factors and internal phenomena concerning the work

d) The ideological

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viewpoints concerning the work

Many kinds of work – mental and physical – have been carried out by means of ideological motives throughout history.

The internal factors that are simultaneous with the work are using mental and muscular energy, continuous awareness about doing the work and readiness to prevent inhibiting factors.

Some of the mental and spiritual phenomena that occur subsequent to the work are: new experiences, the joy of having completed the work, or the feeling of sadness or frustration of having done something we are forced to do, or we do reluctantly.

2- The external aspect: Man's muscular movement in order to carry out the work.

3- The aspect of picturing work in the material: Here, by picturing we mean the various shapes and qualities that materialize upon the materials used as a result of the work, and a product is made.

issues related to work, especially man's own life, which has the most fundamental relationship with work. Work, in return, is the most significant factor in man's development. Throughout various stages of human life, man uses up his energy on mental or physical work.

goods that serve only to fulfill man's desires and wishes.

2- Exchange value involves the price paid in return for work or goods received. This form of value is created with regard to factors such as demand, production, competition among producers, financial issues and other social matters, all of which cause fluctuations in the values of work and goods.

3- Innately justifying values: This form of value pertains to work people do in order to account for and justify themselves on their paths to achieve their individual or social goals. These values can be categorized into two groups:

a) Mental values – whether scientific, philosophical, artistic or ideological – that are necessary for adjusting the goals and ideals of the society, or cause evolutionary progress in the society.

b) Values justifying or accounting for compulsory affairs, such as education, group management or social activities.

4- Ultra-exchange value such as the value of mental work and activities done in order to make great human ideals and goals a reality. These values cannot be assessed with money. Many great endeavors have been made throughout history with the aim of making human values come true, without the people making the effort expecting any money in return .

do as he pleases with his belongings. Two factors, however, limit man's authority in defining his authority. First, natural forbiddances, and second, legal limitations, like man is not allowed to use weapons in order to destroy others.

Ownership is one of the phenomena that is not confined to fulfill man's needs. In other words, man does not regard it as merely a requirement-fulfilling phenomenon; it is one that can cast doubt and disorder in many principles. Sometimes ownership makes man's authority and free will regarding an object become absolute, and even eliminate others' authority and free will. Such affairs occur by means of the law. Nowadays, legal powers take some people's authority away and exploit them.

man possesses can be transferred to others, whereas the human character cannot be transacted or traded.

The thing in common between man's possession over himself and over things is that since both take place due to God's will, God has set certain instructions for making use of things and ourselves. For example, with regard to his possession over himself, man must adjust his own character and avoid ruining it. Man must not oppose his own or others' characters; he must not disturb others' personalities. About possession of things, man has been ordered not to become enslaved by the things he possesses.

3- Purely natural roots: Some believe that man has to gain certain things and materials and use them in order to survive. He cannot use natural materials without making effort, and when he uses his physical or mental strength to do so, he feels he owns the materials.

4- The necessity for realizing and identifying situations: If man does not have ownership over things, his relationship with them will wither, and no individual's standing in the society can be strengthened.

Possession is an instinctive issue, and by instinct here we mean man's tendency toward gaining authority and freedom in order to achieve an intelligible life. Man innately feels that he has to make effort and endeavor in order to survive and go on with his life. Thus, the first and third of the reasons mentioned above are in fact the same, and the fourth is nullified.

In fact, the tendency to gain

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power and authority and the freedom to use it is deeply rooted in man. Many thinkers have also emphasized on this point; however, they have not realized that such a tendency is two-sided – there is no certain, clear-cut factor in man that can create the same effect in all circumstances. In fact, this tendency pertains to man himself. In other words, the effects this tendency can make are related to the two contradictory selves (egos) in man – the natural and the ideal.

If a desired life is regarded as solely being accounted for according to the “natural self,” the above mentioned tendency will be moving toward gaining better possessions for the purely natural life. Not only possession, but even thought, reasoning and all of man's external and internal activities will be at the service of the natural ego.

When making use of power and authority in regard to natural life, man faces two kinds of activities:

a) activities that pertain only to man – personal activities. One may use his power and free will to become a good poet, for example. He will drown in his own thoughts and imaginations, and his poetry will only serve to satisfy his natural ego.

b) kind of activities pertains to others; they may even endanger the life or freedom of other people, like using power and authority in order to dominate others.

If man's life becomes gaining possession of everything – in other words, if the ideal of his natural self is set as expanding his

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belongings – he will endanger others' lives and freedom. If man has an ideal self (ego), however, all of his external or internal activities will become the means instead of being the end; for such a man, ownership will only serve as the means to gain his requirements in life. Those who focus upon ownership as the goal are not owners; in fact, they are enslaved by what they possess.

destruction, whether regarding work or goods; this again shows that possession is limited.

و لا تبخسوا الناس اشیائهم

“Do not decrease the value people's work really has.” (11:85, 7:85, 26:83)

who help others relieve their pains and suffering feel. They can also motivate people toward taking steps toward elevating each other by showing the relation between actions and reactions in their works. As Jalal-addin Muhammad Molawi (Rumi) says:

این جهان کوه است و فعل ما ندا سوی ما آید نداها را صدا

(This world is like a mountain, and our actions like the shouting toward that mountain; they are echoed back to us.)

Not even a single step can be taken toward making people realize the necessity of unity among people – and then creating that unity – unless the anti-human thoughts of figures like Machiavelli, Hobbes, Nietzsche and Freud are disregarded and nullified.

in attracting people toward unity. For example, ethnic unity has been able to bring people from the same ethnic background closer to each other, sometimes even making them ready to fight other races for their lives.

Most of such forms of unity are abused, and they are often put to use destructively.

3- Self-preservation: Sometimes people unite in order to save their own lives or get rid of disturbances. This form of harmony is merely due to fear of harm, and is thus unstable. It has no innate value, for this harmony lies in the need to escape harm and gain advantage, like when conquerors attack.

4- The Factor that Saturates Emotions: Some people see the origin of unity lying in seeing the pains of others, and feeling sympathy for them. Such a feeling, if raw and undeveloped, will wane when we see the atrocities some other people commit; if the feeling arises out of supreme understanding and pure reason and intelligence, however, it will prove extremely valuable.

5- The Law of Actions and Reactions: The fact that any action leads to a reaction can be a factor helping to arouse unity among human beings. Many Iranian poets have put this concept under emphasis in their works. As Nasser Khusro says:

عیسی به رهی دید یکی کشته فتاده حیران شد و بگرفت به دندان سر انگشت

گفتا که که را کشتی؟ تا کشته شدی زار تا باز کجا کشته

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شود آن که تو را کشت

انگشت مکن رنجه به درکوفتن کس تا کس نکند رنجه به درکوفتنت مشت

(One day, Jesus saw a dead man lying on the ground. Shocked, Jesus bit his finger and said, 'who did you kill that made someone else kill you, and now I wonder how your killer will be killed. Indeed, never raise a finger to hurt someone, or someone else will raise his fist to hurt you in return.')

Sa'adi, on the lives of all the pure-hearted, that this worldly life is not worth you hurting others.)

4- Religion: When following religion, man has the attraction toward divine evolution, and has an extreme feeling of unity for his fellow human beings. With religion, man's inside is purified of all immoral, so he can understand other human beings' joys and sorrows, and achieve greater human unity. As religion sees it, there are twelve different forms of unity among people that can help build up extreme unity among them. They are:

a) Unity and equality in relationship with the Creator: All human beings have been created by one God.(The Greeks, 30:40)

b) Unity in God's will which created man to worship Him. (The Scatterers, 51:56)

c) Unity and equality among people in the fact that they all deserve to have divinity breathed into them. (Muhammad, 32:9)

d) Unity in the material man is created of: all human beings are created out of earth. (El-Hijr, 15:26)

e) Unity in the origin of creation: All human beings come from the same ancestors. (Women, 4:1)

f) Unity in innate greatness and dignity: God has created human beings in a way that they all have innate dignity. (The Night Journey, 17:70)

g) Unity among people in gaining merit-based dignity: All human beings are capable of gaining great dignity by means of piety.(The Apartments, 49:13)

h) Unity in human characteristics and qualities: All of mankind has reason, intelligence, conscience, etc. (The Resurrection, 75:2)

i) Unity in natural aims and goals: The goals people have in

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their lives either pertain to their natural lives or their desired ones; the axis to both is self-preservation.

j) Unity in the basics of divine religions: All divine religions are based upon man's innate tendency and disposition toward God, and have many points in common.

k) Unity in having the seeds of knowledge and mysticism inside. (The Cow, 2:31)

l) Unity in setting natural, descriptive or any other laws needed for adjusting man's natural or mental life. If man is to achieve unity, he must consider the grounds that can make unity a reality. The principles and facts common between man and the universe mentioned above are of the most important of the grounds needed.

Furthermore, three other significant points must also be kept in mind:

● We must increase people's knowledge to such an extent that they understand what supreme unity means. Unfortunately, only the most elementary of steps have been taken so far in order to achieve supreme unity among human souls.

● People must be taught that although man has the potential to make this unity come true deep in his innate, activating and flourishing it calls for freeing oneself from the natural self and entering intelligible life, which is feasible through gaining divine manners and morals.

● Arts contribute to making this come true. Poetry can motivate people. If responsible artists make endeavors toward motivating unity, not only will art itself become more valuable, but also social and political evolution will occur.

into two main groups:

1- Natural differences and disagreements

2- Artificial differences and disagreements

There are three kinds of natural differences and disagreements:

a) Natural differences between people in understanding and realizing realities: For example, people may make errors in using their senses and misunderstand realities. Such disagreements lie in differences in their sensory and mental structures. Hereditary factors can also lead to such differences.

b) Differences and disagreements due to environmental conditions and man's approach to them.

c) Differences and disagreements due to scientific knowledge: People differ in their acquisition of knowledge and experiences.

The three forms of differences and disagreements mentioned above are natural and necessary, cause no disturbance for man's individual or social life. If considered in a logical and calculated fashion, they can help human evolution and development; otherwise, however, they will lead to thoughts like those of Epicurus, Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes and Nietzsche, which conflict with intelligible human life.

Artificial differences and disagreements can be categorized as:

a) Differences and disagreements due to lack of control on self-opportunism and advantage-seeking: Although advantage-seeking has natural roots, it can endanger human life if it gets out of hand. If people do not harness and control their desires and wishes, there will be a harmful, artificial difference or disagreement.

b) Differences and disagreements due to social classifications: Ethnic and national differences among peoples are examples of this. Social leaders can make use of these differences in the most atrocious of ways, or in the best and most educating fashion, too.

If man succeeds in correctly developing and educating

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his own mind and soul, he will see disputes as owing to merely seeing different colors and shapes instead of seeing the real truth. Some thinkers, including Jalal-addin Muhammad Molawi believe that all disputes and disagreements are due to man's own stubbornness and spiritual deviation from the right path:

در معانی اختلاف و در صور روز و شب بین خار و گل سنگ و گهر

تا ز زهر و از شکر درنگذری کی تو از گلزار وحدت بو بری

وحدت اندر وحدت است این مثنوی از سمک رو تا سماک ای معنوی

(Differences occur both in meanings and in appearances. For instance, consider the how day differs from night, or how worthless pebbles are different from gems and diamonds. You will never be able to appreciate the unity existent in the universe unless you step beyond apparent things like bitter and sweet… the Mathnavi you see is filled with unity and harmony – it bonds truths – O mystic man, with this book you can rise from the earth and reach the heavens.)

We cannot not agree with Jalal-addin Muhammad Molawi here, for on one hand, the sense of unity-seeking is one of the most important ideals of human life; it is this sense that has led to the birth of many philosophical schools of thought, and many philosophers have

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claimed to have considered unity of thought in their spiritual basics.

On the other hand, there is a great difference between the two facts “all disputes among human beings are baseless and there is unity above all schools of thought” and “from natural opposites we can extract a greater unit.”

On the whole, there are two forms of differences and disagreements that must be taken into consideration;

1- Differences on thoughts and ideas: If logically used, these disputes can prove quite useful.

2- Differences arising from one's interpretation of the truth about the universe: This is where various schools of thought and scholars differ.

who do not think the same about all issues.

2- The universe has numerous evolving creatures, and each human being can only reach a certain level of the truth about them.

3- No human being can achieve absolute knowledge of man and the universe. The universe always spreads a compound scene of light and dark before man's mind.

4- What develops human societies is the open path of identification and knowledge, which is feasible through great minds.

If everything were understandable immediately for all human beings, human life would be destroyed in its very early stages, for there would be no more contradicting ideas that could lead to human effort, and activate man's development. As Jalal-addin Muhammad Molawi says,

قبله جان را چو پنهان کردهاند هر کسی رو جانبی آوردهاند

(Since the main path and direction toward the truth – God – is hidden, people have taken various paths.)

5- And if the 'focus of life,' i.e. the absolute goal, were revealed to all, or if everyone had unified knowledge in order to choose their tools and means of reaching the goal, there would be no effort or endeavor toward the goal at all.

6- Nature is related with the supernatural. If we are to discover the former, we should unveil the latter. Only few can truly know nature, for its total discovery needs supernatural understanding.

Dispute among experts is one of the most common issues in knowledge. Diverse ideas and beliefs have always existed, and have even led to the development

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and evolution of thoughts. As far as such disputes do not cause any harm to the “basic common principles of belief,” they are quite necessary. The interpretation of some of the main and minor principles of the religion has in most cases added to the profundity of Islamic philosophical and scholastic studies. Generally, these disputes can be categorized into two groups:

1- Intelligible disputes: These disputes originate from the information relevant to various subjects, potentials and different perceptions, like disagreements in perceiving facts about the universe, which leads to various scientific and philosophical viewpoints. This is why great scholars of Islam, both Shiite and Sunnites, have produced treatises and criticisms of each other’s' works. Mulla Ali Qushji, for instance, has added side notes to Khajeh Nasir's book Tajreed-ol-e'teqad, and Mulla Mohsen Fayz has done the same for Qazali's Ehya-ol-uloomIntelligible disputes can help develop both theoretical and practical domains.

2- Unintelligible disputes: These disputes arise out of deviational, illegal factors, like disputes owing to desires and lusts. Throughout history, some people pretending to be advocates of freedom of thought – who were, in fact, greedy for fame or power – have presented ideas that have led to unintelligible disputes. Unintelligible disputes are passive and superficial, for they are based upon desires for fame or power.

unity is impossible. The disputes thinkers have in their ideas and information on various issues, and also their differences in intelligence, memory and comprehension contradict the concept of absolute unity.

2- Unity caused by external elements: This form of unity is a result of factors other than the truth and context of religion. Usually, when destructive, dangerous factors arise, the contradictions and disputes between various sects and religions are ignored, and unity somewhat forms between them. Such a unity is caused by compulsory factors other than religion, which if removed, the unity will also vanish.

3- Intelligible unity: Considering the freedom of thought and reasoning in implementing and choosing the reasons for the elements of religion, this form of unity is acceptable. It can be defined as: placing the general context of Abraham's religion for all societies to believe in, and removing personal, theoretical beliefs, local cultures and the characteristics and theories about the components of the religion which relate to reasoning and individual or group brainstorming.

This is the kind of unity great scholars of both groups of religious scholars have emphasized, not the one caused by external elements, which is quite baseless. In order to achieve intelligible unity, it is essential to make the viewpoints of Islamic thinkers vaster, and free them of the framework of illogical prejudices. Great thinkers like Farabi, Avicenna, Ibn Rushd, Ibn Muskuyeh, Ibn Heisam, Zachariah Razi, Jalal-addin Muhammad Molawi (Rumi), Mirdamad and Mollasadra have had such vastness of point of views, and that is why they

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never fell for destructive disturbances and contradictions.

of the community.

من اصبح و لم یهتم بامور المسلمین فلیس بمسلم

“He who wakes up in the morning without caring about the lives of other Muslims is not a Muslim.”

Moral ethics are another basic factor in social harmony and participation. Moral ethics makes people observe social law and order for the sake of human values rather than force. If these two points are taken into consideration, moral virtues will be regarded as pillars of social harmony:

1- Knowledge of how great man is, and how valuable it is to help solve people's problems.

2- The will and determination to do proper deeds that the conscience also approves of.

If people's cooperation and participation does not aim to make social benefits come true, eliminate factors disturbing social life which is based upon religion and divine conscience, it will not be different from the cooperation seen in ants and bees.

Without making effort toward cooperation and physically and mentally endeavoring to adjust a social life based upon religion and divine conscience, it will not be considered valuable, even if it does produce outstanding results in providing advantages and benefits for the society; bees and ants also cooperate and work hard together, but that arises out of their specifically compulsory animal instinct, and has no value.

development, the sense of responsibility and social laws. Anything that causes corruption or destruction, on the other hand, is the opposite of righteousness. Each right has two poles:

1- The obvious, clear pole: Realities that are necessary and useful to man. They really exist, regardless of how man makes contact with them, like the realities and facts about the universe. The obvious, clear pole includes all the laws and properness man needs for an intelligible life.

2- The innate pole: By “innate” here we mean man's existence against inhuman realities; in other words, we are referring to the human side of righteousness. This pole must always accompany the former one.

Studying the verses in the Qur’an can guide us to these conclusions on righteousness:

● The foundation of the universe is right. Righteousness depends upon God's will, which no one can ever destroy. If man, in a balanced, sound state of mind, understands the meaning of righteousness, he will have respect for it.

● Rights are stable and sustainable; evil and wrong, however, fade away like foam on water.

● Righteousness is the cornerstone of the universe, and using it calls for human effort; man must reach evolution based upon righteous principles. By means of intelligence and reason, conscience, prophets and men of wisdom, God shows us what the right is.

● Tendency toward righteousness and acting thus requires upbringing and education. Righteousness cannot be provided to people automatically; human beings should consciously, voluntarily aim to follow righteousness as their evolutionary goal.

●

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Man should not rush for achieving righteousness. They should not imagine that the right is at all times achievable.

● Man must realize that any kind of effort aiming to uphold and bring about righteousness is a part of the right, and the greater the effort made is, the more man makes progress in the direction of righteousness.

● Man needs to make serious effort if he is to reach righteousness and perform actions based on what is right; he must realize that the right-based realities of the universe do not obey we human beings' lusts and desires. Righteousness, the factor that promotes human evolution, needs action and effort on man's behalf.

● God's will tends toward the wrong and evil being destroyed and the right prevailing successfully. The lust-infatuated cannot defeat righteousness.

Power: Power is the factor causing motion and change in various forms. Power is one of the realities of the universe which influences man and the universe both, for power is the natural changer and acting factor effecting man and the universe in various forms. Thus, power is an example of righteousness.

Now the question comes up: power or righteousness – which is the dominant conqueror? There are two theories in response:

1- Some people believe that righteousness will always succeed, and the powerful will never be able to defeat it. They believe that man's intelligible life has appropriate and valuable elements that are righteous. Responsibility, freedom and moderating selfishness are real, and they are right.

2- Some others believe that

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power is the winner; righteousness, they believe, is a mental ideal that cannot withstand power. History also provides many cases in which power overcomes righteousness.

Righteousness never confronts power at all. Power is itself one of the rights that motivate the universe and mankind. The question whether power will overcome or righteousness is a trivial, illogical one. Righteousness shows how false, improper and worthless the wrong is rather than conflict with power which is right itself. When man gains power, he can change it into a constructive factor or abuse it and use it destructively. Men's deviation from righteousness makes power – a factor necessary for development and construction – be misused.

Power is the unconscious reality that is – from the aspect that it is the basic cause for all changes and movements – an example of righteousness; thus, it neither wins nor loses, for when power unconsciously destroys the resistance of a creature, it does not feel joy by hearing the creature fall and break. It does not regard this as a victory. It is man, however, who abuses power; man even treats his own mere existence as a plaything, too.

The most lethal factor endangering power is the feeling of absolute, independent power. Accompanied with imagination and induction, this feeling prevents power from gaining a logical, accurate calculation, and eventually brings about the powerful person's demise. Absolute power leads to inflatedness and rebelling against realities. This is why it is the feeling of absolute power and all its imaginations that

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the Qur’an condemns, not power itself. ( 96:6)

The power-greedy, who lust for controlling people's lives, had better realize that they are in fact drinking a cup of poison. Those who become playthings in the hands of the powerful and oppress the weak are no different, either. Losing one's right to live at the hands of the powerful has been, however, one of the most painful phenomena history has witnessed. The powerful have always tended to create such a corrupt state of minds in those they have crushed that these poor downtrodden souls regard them as saviors.

In fact, those people who surrender to the powerful have downtrodden their own character; no power can defeat man unless he himself breaks his own character first. The human character is a forbidden zone into which only God and man himself can find a way into; no one else is able to enter it.

As we have already mentioned, righteousness is far superior to success or failure. Power is a reality that may fall in the hands of righteousness or selfish people. Now let us see what will happen in either case:

the character of the power-greedy person inside his aimless, ignorant nature, and every change he undergoes will be merely going though one fatalistic phase into another.

3- The power-greedy defy others in order to establish their own existence.

4- The power-greedy attempt to make everyone else their slaves in order to saturate their authoritarian desires; if they do not find anyone to do so, they will feel despair.

5- When the power-greedy face each other, they neutralize their potentials and add to the darkness of their beings instead of becoming aware of their hidden potentials and being guided to the path of intelligible life.

6- The power-greedy are too selfish to take unexpected, uncalculated events into consideration, and that is why they are destroyed, just like Napoleon was destroyed by a black cloud at Waterloo.

7- The greed for power is not sweet enough to compensate for the bitterness of its demise. When one drowns into the attraction of power, all of his logical calculations disappear, so the power he acquires will be no more than an inflated natural self. The joys of the power-greedy are not original or pure; when power gradually falls, a tremendous bitterness will engulf him.

When power arises, it pours baseless hallucinations and illusions into the personality of the power-greedy person, and inflates it; when power goes, all the elements of his character are awaken, and they make him see how futile power was. This is why we can say that there is no fall as painful in

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this world as the fall of the powerful. The mental suffering they undergo when their power disappears is truly unimaginable.

8- The power-greedy consider power – an unconscious picture of unconscious phenomena and facts – as the authentic image of awareness, freedom and law. They see the criteria for any good or evil in power.

9- The power-greedy ignore the relativity of power. They do not realize that power may be influenced by time or unexpected events.

10- The power-greedy are slaves of power; thus, they always think that they can preserve their power with awareness and will.

to create harmony, order and an intelligible life. He knows well that power is not so absolute as to keep him safe from fall or doom.

6- If such a man loses his power, he will not feel sorry or upset at all.

predict what were to happen to it. Likewise the destiny of man is an entirely open system, where he is affected by various factors.

Since man is gifted with intelligence, authority and many other characteristics, he can never be confined in a closed system, and his fate will thus be certainly unpredictable. No intellectual has ever been able to accurately foresee his own or his society’s futures by means of concretely scientific information, for there are so many unpredictable events in man’s life that any foreseeing is impossible. We must keep in mind, however, that though man’s existence is quite open, and his being influenced by various factors should not contradict with his absolute domination over himself and the world he lives in.

As we have already seen, some scholars believe man to be entirely imprisoned by the fatalistic factors of history, and consider human beings totally incapable of freeing themselves from the chains of laws controlling their existence. Let us consider how they are mistaken from two points of view:

a) Seeing history as a series of events, in which a large number of people are affected by natural factors and other people, is just like considering them as completely helpless. Sometimes powerful tyrants make such slaves out of the meek, drowning them in pain, that it seems as if true freedom and independent character is a luxury only the elite can enjoy.

b) Incorrect generalizations can bring about errors in the philosophy of history,

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for some intellectuals interpret all aspects of human life on the basis of one or a few of their selected factors. For example, a group of researchers have concluded from studying the history of various societies that the fundamentals of social life in some communities are compatible with racism. They not only associate these societies with racism, but also try to expand it for all societies of the world. Those who tend to interpret history by forcing one or a few factors do not realize that you need not know the cause in order to know its effect, but if one knows everything about a cause, knowing its effect will follow.

there is no conflict between history being consisted of parts and fragments and at the same time having orderly, systematic components.

delicate – point in understanding the philosophy of history is distinguishing the sequence of events and the cause and effect relationship between them. If and event follows another, it does not necessarily imply that the former caused the latter to happen. Many historical events have occurred one after another without any making the next one take place.

motivating reason for history does not contradict the laws governing history, just as accepting that certain laws govern the universe does not conflict with the divinely nominative role. Or the fact that the laws governing the material aspects of the human body are not at odds with the laws governing man's mental and psychological aspects.

However, the movement of the human body organs follows physical and physiological laws, but does at the same time originate from man's will and decision, which does not fit into the laws of physical muscular movement. This is why we say when an intellectual accepts the fact that history follows laws, it is the same as accepting that history has a spirit, a soul, different from historical changes and events themselves. Some intellectuals have elegantly used the term “the conscience of history” instead of the “spirit of history” – the ultimate of an issue, quite different from a person.

single truth, it is unlikely for these human beings who can act with awareness and foresee its future completely. However, as a being living in history itself, man can predict the future to a limited, conditional extent.

Basically, in order to find out whether history is motivated by only one reason or more, we must take into consideration the identity of history – is the identity of history a single reality that we should designate a motivating reason for, or does the variety of historical events and changes prevent us from reaching a sole reality for it? In fact, by considering the following components as the identity of history, we will see that it cannot be regarded a single reality.

1- Man's effort toward providing himself with a suitable life,

2- man's endeavors to discover the world he lives in,

3- the love and affection man uses to justify his own life,

4- building the tools he needs to survive,

5- making laws and rights that make social life possible,

6- the influence of outstanding figures in history,

7- devastating wars,

8- cruel rivalries,

9- inventions and discoveries,

10- the resistance great men show against the selfish,

11- the rise and fall of cultures,

12- the rise and fall of civilizations,

13- the effect of natural disasters upon human life,

14- the conflicts and confrontation among human beings,

The above-mentioned factors affecting history are in so much contrast with each other that it is impossible to find something in common between them and reach the single reality that can be the reason of historical components and

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elements.

life. If man's ideal ego likes wealth and money, he will see everyone and everything from that point of view. A beautiful work of art will be valuable to him only because it costs a lot of money. Or if someone loves power, he will see everyone as something he should dominate.

● The factor determining the quality of man's social life differs from his individual life. This factor is so important that it can be the most effective way to identify the determining factors underlying historical events.

● There are two distinct qualities in social life:

a) The primary quality, which includes the necessary elements of life.

b) The secondary quality, which includes the human relationships, social relationships, cultures, ways of thinking, ideals, lifestyles and various values.

The basic factor in the primary factor of social life is the necessity of harmonizing and moderating people's wills. There are two types of will harmony:

a) Forced moderation, which results in forced harmony, has unfortunately existed in most societies throughout history.

b) Natural moderation, which causes natural harmony among people.

The factors that can bring about natural harmony among people are:

1- Sharing duties and jobs is a necessity in social life, and can harmonize people's wills.

2- The only kind of ownership possible is social life is limited ownership, for unlimited ownership can cause disturbance and trouble among the people.

3- Two phenomena that have roots in man's self-loving quality, and are important to natural human life are the attraction to pleasure and escaping pain. They also influence controlling

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wills. These two phenomena motivate the most important of man's activities, and history cannot be interpreted without considering them. The principle of protecting oneself (self-love, in other words) has guided man toward gaining benefits and avoiding pain throughout all of history.

4- Social laws can also moderate human selfishness, especially when they are compatible with man's true nature.

5- Attention toward the divine tradition according to which cruelty is mortal.

The above items must be considered when discussing historical events.

influence on other natural phenomena. The elements of history, from man to the pyramids of Egypt, carved stones, transcribed tablets, every one of man's physical or mental accomplishments which inform us about the past, are all created by God.

On the other hand, all thoughts, wills, decisions, discoveries, achievements, great leaps forward and the activation of potentials – which make up history – refer to God. Even man's chosen activities and theirs observable effects – may it be, at times, disabilities – also originate from God.

This piece of poetry by the Iranian poet Anvari shows a very clear historical trend:

اگر محوّل حال جهانیان نه قضاست چرا مجاری احوال بر خلاف رضاست

بلی قضاست به هر نیک و بد عنان کش خلق بدآن دلیل که تدبیرهای جمله خطاست

هزار نقش برآرد زمانه و نبود یکی چنانکه در آیینه تصور ماست

(If the events and developments of the world are not based on destiny, how come they are not always to our satisfaction? Indeed, it is fate that controls the good or evil; all speculations about it are false. Time goes a thousand ups and downs, but not even one of them can we predict.)

2- Man: Ever since history began, there have been human beings – whether rulers or outstanding figures – who have influenced their own and others' fate. Man's mental and physical power and achievements has shown throughout history how significantly

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his role has been. If man were truly imprisoned in his natural or social surroundings, he would never be able to step out of his caves and explore the oceans or outer space. Those who ignore the role of human thought and will in history are unintentionally ridiculing man; although man does affect history, it cannot be exactly evaluated qualitatively or quantitatively.

Since human life – whether individual or social – and even the society and nature are open systems, the fate of their components cannot be accurately qualitatively or quantitatively determined. This is the reason why significant historical events, like the rise and fall of cultures and civilizations, are always expressed with a range of probability.

Man's will power and thought has been able to recognize his real ideals, ends and tools in any period of history, and take action to acquire them, and he has been successful at times and unsuccessful at other times. The important point in man's role in shaping history is that God has enabled him to dominate history, and understand and cooperate in harmony with his fellow beings.

3- What Is Useful to Man: What remains in history is what is useful to man. However, what is useful to man must also be in accordance with the fundamentals of human life.

انزل من السماء ماء فسالت اودیه بقدرها فاحتمل السیل زبدا رابیا و مما یوقدون علیه فی النار ابتغاء حلیه او متاع زبد مثله کذلک یضرب الله الحق و الباطل فاما الزبد فیذهب جفاء و اما ما ینفع

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الناس فیمکث فی الارض کذلک یضرب الله الامثال

“God sends down water from the sky, and the rivers flow each according to its vastness; and the flood causes foam on the surface of the rivers; it is like the foam of ore when it melts in the furnace to make ornaments or utensils therewith. Thus God compares truth with falsehood; then as for the foam it passes away as scum upon the banks of the river but as for that which is of use to mankind (like water or ore) it remains on the earth. Thus does God set forth parables to explain the divine words of revelation.” (13:17)

Man always seeks what is to his benefit, some of which is for him to continue living – his self-love. Man's ambition for his own benefit must be controlled enough not to deviate from the right direction.

The factors suggested by scholars as being motivating in history have sometimes been so, albeit not absolutely. For instance, sedimentary social trends, like fears and hopes, speculations and tendencies and stagnant cultural elements are, although not totally ineffective, not considered as absolute factors motivating history. Cleopatra's beauty did affect the position Anthony, the Roman general had, and Auguste Comte's love for Clotilde did mellow his thoughts and make him support positivism.

domination on history has increased extremely, has made some think that history is advancing on an evolutionary path. But can we insist on evolution when human virtues and values are diminishing?

The fact that man still does not grieve over others' sorrow, that he attempts to destroy other human beings, that he still cannot control his own desires and moderate his selfishness, conveys the demise of history, not evolution. These factors cause history to suffer from retardation rather than evolve:

1- Lack of human awareness and consciousness

2- The lack of constructive love

3- Dignified, noble emotions fading away

4- The conflict between power and righteousness

5- Lack of self-recognition

6- Lack of psychological balance

7- Lack of self-control

8- Neglecting outstanding figures

9- Inability to live without weapons

10- Infatuated passion for scientific issues instead of realistically studying them

11- Human relations being dominated by greed

12- Greed and profiteering becoming the factor of survival

13- Hedonism

14- Sacrificing human values

15- Seeing oneself as the end and others as the means

16- Avoiding a great loss by means of a smaller loss

17- Disorders in the functions of living organisms

18- Ruining one's environment

19- Genocide

20- Issues about men and women remain unsolved

21- Man in conflict and opposition with himself

22- The disappearance of emotion and unity in life and personality.

23- The gradual transformation of independent characters into unoriginal ones

24- The extinction of tender human emotions

25- The waning of motherly emotions

26- Lack of appreciation towards beauties

27- Genetic deterioration

28- The popularity of nihilism

29- Fear and worry about the future of mankind

30- Unawareness toward the reason for creation

31- Inadvertent emphasis

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on “tomorrow”

32- Man's alienation from himself

33- People's alienation toward each other

34- Bargaining and haggling rules almost everything

35- Incapability of social leaders in fulfilling their vows

36- The place of arts is unknown

37- The problem of relative and absolute, and also constant and variable remain unsolved

38- Imitation in issues concerning life

39- The problem of children's education

40- Neglect toward man's will and free will

41- Suicide increases

42- Ignorance towards the blessings God has lent us

43- Lack of a logical relationship between the self and other than the self

44- The problem of the relationship between the individual and the society remains unsolved

45- The human brain is incomplete

46- Ignorance toward the value of human lives

47- War and crime

48- Neglect toward seeking perfection and emancipation

49- Ignorance toward God and the supernatural

50- People disturbing and hurting each other

51- Neglecting lying and other sins

52- Deceit and hoodwinking.

with other rival communities can also lead to the birth of new cultures and civilizations. The two factors we have mentioned are significant, but not sufficient.

Man studies civilizations not to get to know their people and their life, but because civilizations and cultures are created by human endeavor, so studying them can reveal man’s primary and secondary needs, and the quality, quantity and strength of his physical and spiritual ideals. Thus, the more we know about man and the various aspects of his existence, the deeper our knowledge of civilizations will be.

words, its stagnancy does not cause it to fade away.

3- Various cultures have risen throughout history; we have as many cultures as there are nations and peoples, some of which have disappeared. There have been, however, only 21 civilizations.

Some points civilizations have in common are:

a) Rights based on justice, which provide man's social life with order and harmony. These rights are among the true ideals of life, and can be generalized for all societies.

b) Discovering the best way to fight factors harmful to nature and mutinous men is one of the ideal elements of civilization in all human societies.

c) Another ideal element in every civilization is logical political management which can bring order and discipline among the members of the society, and help them develop in all aspects.

d) Discovering and using the technology necessary for fulfilling man's needs in life, and making use of the human mind and natural resources in order to provide people with comfort is also among the highest of civilizational principles.

e) Intelligible interpretation and justification of human mental and physical deeds is the outcome of man's vital energy. This element should not be considered solely from a “purely natural efficiency” aspect.

On the other hand, culture has activities and effects exclusive to a certain society and its people only. If the culture of a society originates from the true factors of human life and provides them with a dynamically flourishing life, it can be called a “civilization-making” culture.

Civilization can be studied from two different points of view:

1-

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The man-oriented point of view, in which civilization is an organization ofhuman beings, in which all individuals and social groups have fine relationships and participate in advancing the physical and mental goals in order to achieve an intelligible life, where all human potentials and capabilities are activated.

This definition both includes the goals and ideals of societies, and shows the relationships between them.

2- The power-oriented point of view, which believes civilization to activate every potential and employing all forms of power, in order to advance the goals of ordinary, natural life.

This point of view ignores human development and the unity of mankind, and is totally focused on gaining power and the desire for it. In such a civilization, there is no interest in man or his values and virtues. Man's goal is believed to be reaching advanced science and technology which can provide man with luxury and the ability to do as he pleases.

of tests of faith or difficulties,

19- Agreement on ideals and tendencies,

20- Balance in desires,

21- Penetrating visions.

is cruelty to the society.

11- Destroying an advantage or benefit that can solve people's problems or sooth their pains is itself the worst kind of cruelty to mankind, let alone using the benefit as a weapon against man.

would be infallible.

Skyscrapers and advanced technology do not make an ideal civilization. Neither does high-speed transportation, sophisticated inventions or saturating selfish desires, which make us forget all about the philosophy of life. Such advances are valuable when they serve to activate man's talents and great human virtues.

In brief, it is the moderation of self-love that makes an ideal civilization, which moves on the road of intelligible life.

will not only be deprived of freedom, but also fall into self-bestrangedness. If social and individual activities do not originate from one's own conscience and freedom, it will be impossible to achieve a civilization truly human-oriented.

We must keep in mind that the significant factor in recognizing the value of a civilization is “the developed freedom called free will” rather than pure freedom itself. Many sociologists take account of freedom in their evaluations of civilizations, but consider freedom as allowing man to do as he wishes. Such a freedom would conflict with conscience and common sense, and make man ignore all of the existing internal and external principles.

Freedom is in fact a path to achieve perfection. Freedom must turn into free will if an ideal civilization is desired, for free will means, using freedom with the purpose of gaining what is good and elevating.

When the human character reaches the level of free will, it always heads for goodness and perfection. Inside such a human being there is constant effort to do good, or act on good intentions. This is the free will founders of a real civilization need in order to achieve a human-oriented civilization.

survive throughout history that rely on dynamic, self-sustained factors.

and the fact that an effect can occur with no cause. Since human activities are influenced by both internal and external factors, discussing the law of causality in human activities also should be done through considering these factors.

3- There are two ways to lead, justify and account for human will:

a) A fatalistic approach to the human will in an attempt to reach what the leaders of the society want, like moderating will powers to achieve a predetermined, outlined life.

b) Free will power heading for greatness and perfection. The grounds are readied for people to both moderate their desires and to develop themselves.

4- There are many forms of human activities, and sometimes several of them influence an effect. Consider observing many just behaviors from the people when studying a civilization. Does such behavior imply satisfactory law enforcement, or vice versa? Or maybe none, and external forces may have caused the moderations? Or perhaps an extremely elevated set of beliefs? Has fear also been influential, or the love for justice? All the above factors are possible and determining which requires in-depth investigation.

5- When studying human societies and civilizations, it is important to distinguish two kinds of reasons:

- The reason that creates the effect, and

- The reason that allows the effect to continue its existence.

If we are to study civilizations, we should keep in mind that sometimes a factor makes a civilization arise, but for the survival of the civilization other factors are needed.

Now we can resolve one of the most complicated criticisms

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on the law of causality in civilizations and societies. For example, when looking for the existence of a set of intelligible beliefs and proper rights in a civilized society, we should not jump to the conclusion that since the cause for the arising of these beliefs and rights is present, they can exist forever. When we realize that they have not, we should not conclude that causality has no influence on societies and civilizations!

Now that we have categorized causes into two groups – those that create and those that make existence continue – such a misunderstanding should be eliminated. In order for intelligible beliefs and proper rights to survive, the willingness of the people and other social and geographical factors are important, not the causes that created them.

should be in a way that people's selfishness can be moderated without the fatalistic influence of punishment or trapping people in the chains of a mechanically rigid life.

2- The unconditional principle of economy also should be accompanied by principles that uproot poverty in the society. In fact the absolute dominance of the economy – a general, unconditional principle – must be moderated in order to fulfill the financial needs of all members of the society; as a conditional principle that can guarantee the survival of a civilization.

3- Freedom is an extremely important phenomenon without which no man-oriented civilization can become true. Unlimited, un-moderated freedom will lead to the end of mankind, so freedom should turn into free will to supervise man's deeds. Freedom-seeking, therefore, is a general, unconditional principle that should be conditioned by righteousness and perfectionism.

4- The principle that claims stagnancy can bring about the fall of a civilization becomes true when its people and also social leaders lose their sense of perfectionism; despite internal and external pressures, civilizations do not fall unless their fundamentals fade away. If a civilization enjoys doubtless, internally dynamic bases – in other words, if it is man-oriented and its people actively preserve it – the civilization would never disappear. External factors cannot cause anything further than temporary stagnancy.

5- The fifth unconditional principle, the law of causality, can become unconditional by means of the knowledge and needs of the people making the civilization. Man's awareness, power and wishes concerning the problems of a civilization

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greatly influence its survival or fall.

achieve an intelligible life – the main goal of a civilization – it would never be an original civilization, no matter how luxurious its people may be.

In a man-oriented civilization, man is sacrificed to the benefit of the tools and devices he himself has built. An obvious example is the Western civilization, made by man but alas heading for the destruction of mankind. The West has presented thirty Articles on the Human Rights, but it has presented nothing on how to be human and what an intelligible life includes.

Now that we have proved that physical effects of progress in human relationship with nature and the unfolding of various human aspects in a purely natural environment are different from man-oriented civilizations, we can conclude that even if human civilizations influence each other, this cannot be true in the case of man-oriented civilizations, for no civilization can command another to be man-oriented.

Without thought, freedom and determination to achieve intelligible life, becoming man-oriented is impossible. Relationships among civilizations are similar to the relationship between two people – one at the peak of human development and perfection, the other the contrary. If the person spiritually developed intends to have a positive influence on the other one, mere relationship would not be enough; the deprived person should intelligently and freely determine to make progress.

The Holy Qur’an has also pointed this out in various ways, for example:

تلک امه قد خلت لها ما کسبت و لکم ما کسبتم

“That is a nation that has passed away; there

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awaits them what they have earned, and there awaits you what you have earned.” (2:134)

In brief, civilizations can have mutual influence to physical extent, but cannot imitate each other from a man-oriented point of view. A man-oriented civilization can present its positive experiences, principles and laws, such as fair behavior toward each other, intelligible freedom, sound economy, dominant human virtues and morals, etc.

is when questions like these are posed:

● Can women bear dire straits as well as men can?

● Do women have genius, the power to discover or invent?

● Are women equal to men in pure intellect?

● Aren't men stronger than women when life comes to a dead-end?

● Don't men have more baseless pride than women?

Before we can respond to such questions – which are posed by those influenced by specific character and immature emotions and the answers too are affected by social factors – we must realize the fact that both sexes are subject to a great deal of diversity in mental activity. Not all men are equal. Can Imam Ali's humanitarian feelings and Hajaj ibn Yousef's hideous atrocities be compared? Are all men as intelligent as Avicenna was? Can we consider a woman who regards herself as part of her man's personality as equal to a woman who spends a life of hatred and disgust toward her husband? Therefore, we can point out two forms of differences between men and women.

1- Differences that are not related to men or women’s specific identity, but rather the differences existing among men as a whole, and among women as a whole. Such differences should not be regarded as differences between men and women.If nature granted some men and women's wish to be absolutely equal, or allowed women to drown in the games the purely theoretical intelligence plays, indulging in the momentary pleasures of life, like reproduction, or if

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nature granted men with the deep emotions women have, and a taste of real life and submitting one's body and soul to the highest call of nature instead of a real knowledge of the flow of life, would such equality not degrade man down to the level of extinct animals?

2- Differences due to the diversities of identities among men and women. As Islam asserts, these differences are doubtlessly not related to the human nature or disposition.

men and women arise not from their character, but from secondary reasons. Some people believe, for instance, that women, unlike men, are incapable of changing their character. Men are believed to have the ability to gain the elements needed to change their character due to their frequent contact with various people and high awareness. However, there have been great women like Rabe'a Aduya Basri who had a clear picture of themselves, and reached the highest of mystical levels.

Some others believe that “women are not tolerant to loneliness. They cannot be alone or keep to themselves. A woman with no man feels more imperfect than a man with no woman.” This also seems inaccurate, for we must first see what we mean by loneliness. If it means ignorance and isolation due to failure, that is neither imperfection nor an advantage for a man, and if one isolates oneself to study one's own character, that is true perfection – few men indeed have been able to do that.

Some people believe that women like their men to be muscular, and prefer men of physical strength to the average men.

That is not correct, for women actually prefer their men to be strong and firm in response to the problems and events of life. They like their husbands to be able to battle the ups and downs of life. It is also said that men pay more attention to women's beauty. Men do not have such an identity. men like their wives to be able

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to manage the family.

loves a man, she is ready to sacrifice her life for him, but when a man loves a woman, he will not do such a sacrifice, no matter how great his love for her may be. That is where women are greater than men. Women are deeper in the context of life; on the other hand, men have stronger purely theoretical wisdom. That is not a human value. Abstract activities do not convey a value.

family can be managed through group brainstorming and consultation accompanied by the supervision and management of the man. This seems to be the most logical form. This is possible, however, provided that all family members act on piety and justice. The decisions made through consultation are undertaken by the man to carry out.

In the following verse of the Qur’an, the word “qavvam” refers to the fourth possibility mentioned above:

الرجال قوامون علی النساء بما فضل الله بعضهم علی بعض و بما انفقوا من اموالهم فالصالحات قائنات حافظات للغیب بما حفظ الله

“Men are overseers and maintainers of women because God has made one of them excel to the other, and because the husbands provide the living. Therefore, righteous women are obedient and guard in their husband's absence what God orders them to guard.” (4:34)

Let us consider several points in order to interpret of this verse:

a) Here, “qavvam” does not mean “having custody and responsibility” in its legal or jurisprudential concept, which refers to someone who is liable for another person’s life and belongings, like having custody of a child, or an insane person. Thus, men do not have custody of women, for women are free from all economic, moral and religious aspects of their lives, and even socially, provided that they do not violate men’s rights. Women must be responsible and accountable about the duties they have toward men. Likewise, men must also observe and fulfill the duties he has in regard to women.

b) “Qavvam,” considering the great deal of verses conveying

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the equality of men and women, means management and carrying out what is to the benefit of the family. The fact that the man must manage the family is due to man's resistance against the ups and downs of life and disturbing factors. If a woman rules a family and the man is completely marginalized, the man's potentials are downtrodden; this leads to serious disorders that will cause profound mental problems in the children.

Absolute dictatorship on the man's behalf also disables the potentials the woman and the other family members have. If the family is managed through consultation and group thinking, however, in which man has the executive responsibility, no rights will be violated; the man will see himself as part of the woman's character, and vice versa.

c) The word “fazl” in this verse does not convey that men are superior to women; it means that men are stronger built, and are more resistant against problems.

d) The verse points out women's human values. It points out that proper women are in constant contact with God, and safeguard God's commands in the absence of the man. They do not tarnish the man's character. Such women are guardians of the institution of the family. It is an experienced principle that if the woman in a family is a complete human being of reason and piety, all family members will almost definitely be happy, prosperous people, from the adult to the child. If the woman ignores human values, piety and good decision-making,

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however, the man will have little effect on the family, no matter how great a human being he may be.

The verse then discusses cases in which women show disobedience and what should be done about it:

و اللاتی تخافون نشوزهن فغظوهن و اهجروهن فی المضاجع و اضربوهن فان اطعنکم فلا تبغوا علیهن سبیلا

“And of those women you fear may be rebellious admonish; [if that does not work] banish them to their couches, [and if that proves also ineffective] warn them [and beat them very lightly]. And when they obey you, look not for any other way against them.”( 4:34)

There are several kinds of actions to be taken when women commit disobedience:

1- Disobedience in sexual relationships due to the woman's physical problems. In this case, the only solution is seeking medical help.

2- Seeking revenge and crushing the man's character during sexual relationship. Such disobedience can be divided into two types:

a) Those that can be solved and moderated personally: here, the man can use logical and affectionate understanding, conscientious advice in bed and maybe even a very slight beating – that would lead to the least physical trouble for the woman – to eliminate the woman's obedience and bring peace and happiness back to their relationship.

How do we interpret by “beating” in the above verse? It refers to a very slight beating, like with a toothbrush. Imam Baqer also has a hadith on this, and no jurisprudential scholar has advised beyond that. In fact, it is not a beating at all; it is

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merely a warning reminding the woman to fulfill her duty.

What is the beating for? It serves the benefits of the man and the woman both, rather than providing revenge or quenching grudges. As Shahid-e-thani, the great jurisprudential scholar has said, “Beating a woman is religiously forbidden if it only serves to avenge grudges or satiate selfishness, and has no benefit for the couple's relationship.”

If the man's beating harms or injures the woman physically or mentally, the man has committed a crime. As all Islamic jurisprudential scholars have emphasized, “the beating should lead to absolutely no bleeding or suffering for the woman.”

b) Those unable to be solved and moderated personally: in such cases, the man must not use force; instead, he is to seek legal help from a judge, who will decide based upon the couple's mental situation and what is best for their relationship. Sometimes the judge may advise proper, logical solutions to which both the man and the woman should adhere, for the three different ways the above verse provides to solve problems are only to be used when it really helps the couple; they should not rush to a judge as soon as a small, personal problem arises – instead, they should try to solve it through intriguing affections, providing the possible guidance and slight warnings, which as the above verse and jurisprudential interpretations depict,

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refers to very light beating.

The woman's disobedience from her legal responsibilities: Again, maybe the couple can solve the problem here by means of mutual understanding, affection and logic; this is where the guidance, warning against wrongdoing and advising to do good, a must in Islamic rules, comes in.

implying imperfection in values. As we know, intellectual activity consists of correctly thinking about choosing the means for reaching the desired goals. Thus, all human beings have intellect and reason in common. They differ in how familiar they are with the units and theorems used for reaching their goals. Mental and intellectual activities are highly diverse. They include abstraction, generalization, and combining issues. Theoretical wisdom functions with logic. It has nothing to do with values; it only adjusts the preliminaries and arrangement of the means.

Purely theoretical wisdom is a tool for arranging and adjusting units regarded as correct in order to reach desired goals. It is not the absolute ruler of the facts and values of human knowledge of nature and what is proper for man.

Men and women differ in theoretical wisdom, though this difference does not mean that one sex has more value than the other, either. In practical wisdom, however, men and women are the same. Practical wisdom conveys what is proper, and how to achieve it. Some thinkers, like Kant, have considered practical wisdom as higher and more elegant than theoretical wisdom. What men are stronger in – theoretical wisdom – has no value alone; it can go no further than forming and arranging units and theorems. What really causes superiority is practical wisdom, which is equal in both sexes.

If women gain complete educational and developmental factors, we can claim that the development of the human character is as feasible in women as it is in men,

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for women have a crucial role in creation, they get a taste of real life and have the supreme emotions and the possibility to elevate their raw emotions to supreme ones; women are better at that than men.

justifiable. Imam Ali has referred to superficial differences between men and women; he does not consider them to be truly different in character.

has always been attracted by “gods.” Even after Abraham, “gods” were still very popular and were given specific duties. Some writers seem to have imagined that these gods were really worshiped instead of the one God.

There are several reasons proving that the word god has been used referring to particularly sacred or respected things and people.

a) As Abu -Reihan Biruni quotes from Galen, “Great men who have achieved extreme mastery and skill in industries or medicine deserve to be included among 'gods.' “

b) Abu -Reihan Biruni believes that the fact that the public are more interested in what they can sense rather than the rational is the reason why sculptures have been so popular in nations all over the world.

c) Plato, a monotheist philosopher, believed that human spirits were made by secondary gods. Plato used the term “gods” referring to abstract and adducent objects.

d) Some ignorant Arabs, although believing in God, called God at first and then their idol while performing the Haj pilgrimage.

e) The Holy Qur’an has also pointed out that Arabs thought idols would provide them with intercession with God:

و یقولون هولاء شفعانا عندالله

“They say´ These are our intercessors with God. “ (10:18)

exists cannot logically prove that God does not exist. If one is to defy the existence of God, independent reasons that God does not exist are required.

Those who defy God mainly refer to the evil and discomfort in the world. If there really is a God, they say, why is there so much pain and suffering in the world?

Such criticism will obviously never lead to the defiance of God, for the most we are able to conclude from it is that the order and harmony in the universe is not what we might expect or imagine. In fact, those who refer to evil in the world are concerned with divine justice rather than the actual existence of God itself.

As Voltaire says, those who attempt to defy the existence of God by referring to the evil and suffering in the world are like someone who enters a highly sophisticated mansion full of exquisite architecture, paintings and woodwork. Although the extremely skillful works he sees can only lead to the fact that a master must have built them, he says that since he found drops of blood and broken arms and legs on the stairs or in the hall, such a mansion cannot have a maker! This is clearly a baseless argument, for asking about the maker of a mansion is quite irrelevant to violations in the laws and rules that govern it.

both qualitatively and quantitatively, for most scientists and great thinkers throughout history have believed in God.

2- The Indifferent: These people do not seem to have any belief in God, nor do they believe in the existence of any absolute being as God, either.

This group includes anyone who has no inclination, tendency or actions based on belief – anyone who doubts the existence of God, those who defy God in imitation of others, and those who may realize deep inside that there must be some kind of extreme origin or force, but fail to associate it with God.

These people have not turned indifferent about God in spite of their research, awareness or knowledge, for if they are provided with suitable instructions and guidance, they abandon their defiance and doubts.

3- Those who have turned against God: Some people lose their belief in God, and claim that they scientifically or philosophically doubt that God exists. Based on why they turn away from God, these people can be categorized as:

a) Personal: These people turn away from God because they fail to achieve the goals or ideals they set for themselves. For example, those who attempt to gain wealth, fame, or power, sulkily abandon their faith when they are unable to get what they aim for; in fact, they suffer from a multi-personality syndrome.

b) Ideological: Some people claim that the reasons theists have for the existence of God are baseless, because we cannot see or feel

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God or evil and suffering has filled the world.

Despite the philosophical and/or scientific justification these people have for their criticism, an intellectual will never accept them as reasons that can prove that there is no God; even if the theists' reasoning is baseless or the world is full of evil and suffering, it cannot mean God does not exist. How can such people claim that they have studies the universe carefully and found no God? If their criterion is feeling that God exists, why do they not observe their own thoughts, which is the base of all their activities?

Each human being knows that he/she has a “self,” an ego. In spite of this, the human body becomes ill, and suffers a lot at times. Does that mean that man has no ego, no “self,” for if he did, he would never suffer? Although man's ego adjusts his actions and behavior, it also warns him about things that might harm him physically or mentally. The ego's functions are not limited to man's physical, worldly life; yet, it is not comparable to God's role in the universe, for God influences everything about man infinitely, even things far beyond man's control. Thus, even the slightest attention to the human “self” will never lead to defiance of the existence of God.

categorize the inhibiting factors as:

1- Those arising from practical deviations, like drowning in sins and lusts, which make man both fail to recognize God and communicate with Him, and darken the most obvious reasons supporting God's existence, changing them into a bunch of meaningless, ineffective words. There are many thinkers and intellectuals who are highly proficient in divine philosophy and have mastered the reasons that clearly prove that God exists, but still do not believe in God. Such people are empty of any supreme human-divine sense of responsibility. Their points of view have been blinded by both scientific factors and practical deviations.

2- Some scientific perceptions about the universe have also hindered true belief in God. As we know, there are many aspects to the universe, and man has made contact with it with specific aims and viewpoints. Sometimes our discoveries make us associate one characteristic of one component of the universe with all its other components. For example, when we observe the dominance of quantity, we may regard it as an absolute fact that dominates all aspects of the universe.

The less man's mental development, the more natural occurrences and appearances penetrate into his mind, which he uses to evaluate all facts about the universe.

The inhibitions caused by incorrect scientific receptions are due to mental and spiritual weaknesses of individuals themselves, for they are incapable of freeing their intelligence of the superficial occurrences and issues of nature. The most significant of “scientific veils” is absolutist perceptions of the law of causality,

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which the normal mind saturates with absolute concepts and destroys his sense of absolutism toward discovering the basic principles of the universe. Inaccurate comprehension of the law of causality changes it into a thick barrier.

As we know, there is some definite information at hand on the law of causality. Some of these facts are:

● Every effect has a cause.

● A cause cannot transfer something it does not have to its effect.

● The principle of “same kinds” between the cause and its effect.

The problem with causality in regard to God starts when we extract the causes of things from nature, and suppose there is no room left for God as the creator of the whole world of nature. Thus, we put God aside from nature, considering Him as the cause of all causes among the chain of nature's components. In other words, God is regarded as the creator of the first natural reason, the manager of the whole of nature, and nature is considered to be the one controlling itself directly.

We see in the Holy Qur’an that every event and motion in the universe is directly related to God. All of nature is an act of God:

The big mistake is that we – consciously or unconsciously – derive the main operative cause out of material and superficial causes, concluding their independence of the direct creator, and putting God at the very beginning of the creation chain. Interestingly, we even call God the primary cause – the cause of

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all causes.

That, indeed, is the real point. We must realize that God, though being the primary reason and the cause of all causes, is in fact the actual creator of the whole universe.”

Jalal-addin Muhammad Molawi (Rumi) says that as long as we human beings are imprisoned in our natural senses and theoretical intelligence, all of our receptions will be confined to natural appearances; only if we can step far beyond these superficial causes may we find God, the direct truth behind all events:

بی سبب بیند چو دیده شد گذار تو که در حبسی، سبب را گوش دار

با سببها از مسبّب غافلی سوی این روپوشها زآن مایلی

هین ز سایه شخص را میکن طلب در مسبب رو گذر کن از سبب

(Those who have made great effort in life and succeeded in ignoring the pleasures of natural life, stepping beyond their natural self, achieve the level in which the causes and reasons of the world are revealed to them. Their penetrative eyes can now see the underlying foundation of the universe which is independent upon the cause-and-effect relationships. But you, drowning in your mortal lusts and animal-like desires! You, who have sold the gem called 'your life' for meager selfishness!

Now that you are indeed imprisoned in this ring of senses and superficialities, keep struggling in the fatal whirlpool of causalities, and just go on desperately grabbing for something to cling to. You are so absorbed in

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causes and effects that you are ignoring the creator of them all; all you see is superficial effects. From these shadows you see (in fact, man's existence), you can find the shadow-maker; indeed, these apparent causes can lead you to the Master of All Causes.)

Our theoretical intelligence sometimes pays attention only to superficial reasons, failing to penetrate deep into the mysterious ways the universe works.

این سبب را محرم آمد عقل ما و آن سببها راست محرم انبیا

وآن سببها کانبیا را رهبر است آن سببها زین سببها برتر است

(It is indeed the very hidden causes that guide prophets on their mission. By contact with these causes, they can perform miracles in this world. The hidden causes are much greater than their natural counterparts in this world. We can only realize these natural causes, whereas prophets of God can use those supreme causes and reasons.)

Jalal-addin Muhammad Molawi (Rumi)

that is not what we believe. Here, we have proved that the opposite of what we want to prove is wrong; since God cannot be non-existent, He must exist. Thus, the basics of this reasoning are:

1- We imagine God as the greatest or most perfect existence of all.

2- What we imagine must exist, for if it does not, we have not imagined the most perfect being.

3- Thus, God, as the most perfect, complete being, must exist.

The biggest problem with this reasoning is the mixing of the first, natural concept and the secondary, popular one. Anslem has mixed up primary, natural being with consequential creation. God being existent and perfect as the primary nature is fine, but the latter is inaccurate. Merely imagining the most perfect being does not lead to the external occurrence of the most perfect. We can, for instance, consider a partner for the primary nature that must exist – God – as the first, natural idea, but that will not make such a partner for God exist externally, too.

All in all, if a concept is in nature perfect, but when actually existent is not, this does not create a contradiction for us to use this form of reasoning for.

This reasoning is called the essentiality reasoning, also called the perfection reasoning. Here, existence arises from essentiality. This reasoning has roots in Islamic prayers and hadith. As the Sabah prayer by Imam Ali reads:

یا من دلّ علی ذاته بذاته

“O God, the God Whose nature is itself a reason for

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the existence of His nature.”

And let us quote from Imam Zain-ul-abedin in the Abu Hamzeh Thumali prayer:

بک عرفتک و انت دللتنی علیک ... و لو لا انت ما ادر ما انت

“I discovered You through You Yourself; You reasoned me toward Yourself. If not for You, how could I ever know You?”

Now let us describe this reasoning:

1- All human beings of sound mind and soul pay attention to the concept of God. Even those who defy God must pay attention to the concept of God's existence at first. If one says that God exists, he has undoubtedly understood that God is a concept that can exist. One who says that God doesn't exist also understands that God is a concept that cannot exist. In fact, the concept of God has been distinguished from the imagination of God, because the concept of God can be paid attention to, but it cannot be imagined. We realize that we are enjoying something, but we cannot imagine it.

2- The concept of God in developed minds is, “the most perfect truth, the richest existence and the most powerful,” for even the slightest imperfection would tarnish the concept of being God.

The god some thinkers have cast doubt on has characteristics that are not compatible with the real God, so their doubt is not justifiable. Bertrand Russell, for instance, who is doubtful about God, has failed to understand God correctly; the god Russell has recognized does not exist at all.

Having recognized God as the most complete, perfect being,

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we must say that God needs no other being – even Himself – and if someone claims that he can understand the highest of beings in a way that it also needs something, he has not recognized the highest of beings at all.

3- God, as the most perfect, complete being, exists. In other words, recognizing God as the greatest, most perfect, is a necessity for His reality, just like confirming the fact that a triangle has three sides when we see it. Merely recognizing God as the highest, most complete being is a sign that God exists, and if one claims that such recognition cannot prove God's existence – as Anslem was criticized – we can consider his claim as due to three factors:

a) The impossibility of God's existence

b) The absence of reasons

c) Inhibiting barriers

Firstly, as we have said before, no reason can defy that God exists. Secondly, this concept needs no reason. Thirdly, even if it had inhibiting barriers, it would not be recognized as the most perfect being at all. In other words, being the absolutely perfect contradicts with having reasons (causes) and also with having barriers inhibiting its existence.

Actually, the difference between these statements and Anslem's reasoning is that Anslem insists on the image of God, whereas we emphasize recognizing and understanding God. In other words, natural recognition is significant here.

In brief, this deduction consists of making man understand his own disposition, rather than having a reality outside the human mind reflected upon it. Man can understand

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and recognize what he has in himself my means of this deduction.

As we said about Anslem's reasoning, merely imagining something is not a sign that it really exists externally; we can imagine many things without them having any external existence.

Considering normal knowledge, such an objection is correct and logical, but we should not forget the fact that no imagination leads to its subject actually existing in the real world; thus, the existence of a fact always needs a cause. Just imagining does not imply its existence. Concerning our topic, however, our supposition is that our mind has been able to recognize a being that needs no cause.

Of course, the mere imagining of a being that needs no cause does not make us accept its reality, unless we intuitively recognize it; gained imagination is not enough. And intuitive recognition is nothing more than man's God-seeking disposition.

Some may claim that imagining such a being is hallucination. In other words, the human mind can have a wrong image of God, a God that is scared and coward, just like other cases when the human mind can imagine an effect without imagining its cause.

In response, we must say that the issue of God cannot be imagination or hallucination, for if one believes in God, he either knows that his belief is a hallucination or he does not. If he knows that he has imagined something unreal and wrong, why has he made so much effort toward proving it or defying it? If the imagination

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were in fact unreal, man should never have worshipped God so much throughout history. And if he does not know, there is no argument at all.

When studying this reasoning, we should keep in mind whether deep inside us we can recognize the most complete being or not. This is why merely recognizing the most perfect being brings about belief that He exists, just as simply as one accepts that 2×2=4. There is no need for a medium state here. In other words, the substance for its reasoning is included in itself.

need for faith are in fact referring to animal life.

But if life means paying attention to all human potentials and talents, man cannot definitely do without faith.

If man has faith, all his thoughts and deeds will be in accordance with the law. Such a man will do things out of eagerness and enthusiasm, not reluctance that will later make him feel guilty.

There are three points of misunderstanding about faith nowadays:

1- Evil persons pretending to have faith. Machiavellians have no stronger tool for misleading others than pretending to have faith.

2- Mental errors concerning faith. Some people think that any kind of faith arises out of pure worship. In other words, the believer considers his every action or thought to be based upon worship.

3- Verbal manipulation. Instead of having faith in God and His prophets and considering the ultimate goal of the universe and obeying God's orders, some people confine faith to a series of concepts.

Nowadays, concepts like humanism or advocating science or freedom have become playthings in the hands of the selfish, who have deprived man of a series of realities, because they themselves have no faith in these concepts at all.

We must remember, however, that the three above-mentioned orientations cannot defy the necessity of faith for a human being who tends to live an interpretable life in this world.

The consequences of having faith are:

● Faith makes people be trusted by their fellow beings.

● Faith corrects man's thoughts.

● It makes man interpret and account for his life.

● It

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makes man morally dependent.

● Faith has man abandon personal desires and turn to serving people socially.

● It provides man with internal, constant liveliness.

● Man finds innate dignity and elegance through faith.

● Faith makes man himself carry the heavy load of his life instead of imposing it upon others.

● With faith, man is freed of mental anxieties and worries.

● Faith helps man accomplish great achievements.

● It makes man feel greatness in the universe, and observe moral principles.

If man's faith in God makes him constantly pay attention to God, he will always admit that God is watching him, and if man accepts God's continual supervision of what he does, the results will be:

1- Man will spend every moment of his life seeing God before him.

2- Man will act upon devotion and commitment, for he has realized without doubt that only God – and nothing else – can deserve to be man's goal in his deeds.

3- Man will make savings for his eternity in this world.

4- Man will avoid forbidden actions – even if they are not sins, like unsuitable actions or deeds based upon imagination or hallucinations.

5- Man will not waste his life.

6- It is only through recognizing God's constant supervision that man can harness his lusts and desires.

7- Such a man will realize that every action of his in this world leads to reactions.

این جهان کوه است و فعل ما ندا سوی ما آید نداها را صدا

(This world is like a mountain,

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and our actions are shouts; their reactions come back to us.)

Jalal-addin Muhammad Molawi (Rumi)

8- Man will give up his far-reaching wishes, and will not allow baseless illusions replace facts and realities.

9- God's supervision makes man be patient and tolerant toward events.

10- Man will regard piety as the tool to pass the bridge of death.

11- Man tries to keep moving on the right path amidst all the dangerous cliffs and deviating ways full of thorns during his life.

12- Man considers every moment and aspect of his life as precious and valuable, and will not let apparently-fatalistic events disturb his life.

Such a man will adjust his life in a way that it seems he is on the verge of death:

said, for example, that Imam Ali writhed like a snake when he worshipped God in the dark night.

When man pays attention to God's qualities of greatness and beauty, he will be in a state of hope; if man considers qualities of God's power and anger, he will feel fear of God. The reasons for fear of God can be:

1- Fear of the results and consequences of the sins man has committed; sins make the soul deteriorate and become evil, and developed man cannot remain insensitive about that.

2- Fear of the fact that man may not have put the blessings and potentials God has given him to correct use.

3- Fear of the significance and glory of the meaning of the universe and man's existence in it.

4- Fear of God, i.e. realizing God's immense glory and His absolute dominance over the universe; such a realization can fill man with awe and intimidation.

5- Fear of God's great, divine position, which makes man realize how absolutely dependent he is upon God – the originator of the universe – and this makes man terrified of disobeying God.

Since man has extremely numerous and diverse aspects, and God's qualities are also endless, man can thus make contact with a divine quality with each of his mental aspects, and each contact will lead to a different mental phenomenon. For example, if man feels God's absolute dominance as the Creator of the universe, he will realize the glory of God. And since

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God is constantly dominant over the whole universe, man will always feel that God, the extreme witness and supervisor, watches his every move and behavior.

Such a feeling is itself a special mental phenomenon, and realizing the fact that God is the absolute just and has accurately calculated every single detail about the universe and all of man's deeds and words, man will acquire a feeling of how just and fair God is. Furthermore, when man realizes that God has created man to bestow him with kindness, and is affectionate and merciful toward man, and when man realizes God's brilliant beauty by means of intuition, he will have a feeling of high joy.

questions: Who am I? Where have I come from? Who am I with? Where have I come to? Where do I go from here? Why am I here? It is only religion that can provide him with the answers.

Those thinkers and intellectuals, who separate religion from man's life and try to confine it to something personal, are in fact throwing man into countless aspects of nervous and spiritual retardation; such people would only think about God on Saturdays or Sundays, never taking God into consideration in any other parts of their lives.

worshipping God.

in all aspects of his life with devotion to God, he will enjoy both the individual and social benefits of justice and its divine aspect, too.

in life, man must make great effort to choose a reality as his goal that is really worth being devoted to.

8- Devotion is a bipolar mental development – it has innately external and innately internal poles. Its internal pole consists of man's tendency toward a reality that is considered as innately desirable. Its external pole consists of the reality that is innately desirable to man. Such a reality should be able to activate all of man's potentials and aspects.

9- In value-based devotion man deals with everything logically.

One of the most fundamental characteristics of value-based devotion reveals itself when the desired reality shows its true face and attracts the soul; it's not that it cannot hear the disagreeing sounds or cannot see the protestors, or that it does not confront those who conflict with the reality. If it can, it defeats the protestors and destroys those who fight reality and righteousness; if it fails to do so, it continues on its way without the least attention or influence from them.

10- Having devotion in one's thoughts, deeds and speech purifies man's inside. Devotion in thoughts makes realities able to be received by man intuitively, and prevents the facts from being contaminated by hallucinations and illusions. Pure and devoted speech also keeps man away from deceitful words. Devoted deeds are the soul of deeds, and builds up man's existence on the path of intelligible life.

God makes one always have God in mind. When one has faith in God, he sees nothing in the whole universe worth remembering and calling but God. When God infiltrates man's heart, there will be no more room for anything else at all.

2- Remembering God creates a special spiritual state in man which safeguards him from falling for worldly and materialistic affairs. This spiritual state makes man's life become meaningful and logical, his purely natural life will be replaced by intelligible life.

3- Remembering God makes man fresh, and keeps him safe from the sorrow of the disorders that occur in purely natural life. Likewise, it does not allow the relative joys of purely natural life spoil the secret of human character.

4- Remembering God removes all temptations, imaginations and mental illusions, safeguarding the human mind and soul from being baselessly exhausted and used up.

5- Remembering God adjusts man's mental and psychic activities, and his existence will illuminate. The tranquility that remembering God creates in man will balance his entire existence. As Jalal-addin Muhammad Molawi (Rumi) says:

این قدر گفتیم، باقی فکر کن فکر گر راکد بود، رو ذکر کن

ذکر آرد فکر را در اهتزاز ذکر را خورشید این افسرده ساز

(Now go and think about the rest, and if your thoughts lead nowhere, remember God and call out for him, for that will elevate your thoughts. It will be like a sun you’re your thoughts are down and

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depressed.)

6- Remembering God prevents man's character from being decomposed into the scattered components of this world; instead, by means of realizing the rules governing the universe and gaining complete knowledge of it, man will find a certain tranquility, and feel that he is always close to God.

7- Remembering God makes God's will start to purify and illuminate man internally, and man's positive internal potentials will flourish.

8- Remembering God frees man from all his imagining and hallucinating, and makes him speak of things that he will really act upon. Remembering God leads to living and speaking realistically.

9- Remembering God is a path to reach the truth and benefit from man's internal treasures. Remembering God makes God reveal some realities and secrets to man as a reward for remembering Him.

10- Remembering God leads to the knowledge of God's glorious blessings. Deep thought about God's blessings guides man toward constant remembrance of and calling out for God.

11- Remembering God makes man never weaken in the battle on the boundary of life and death. Those who remember God in a battlefield never forget God's rules and Godly values.

Remembering God is the strongest builder of human nature. Calling God's name is a comprehensive book including all the chapters of mental and spiritual development and training, a divine trainer and teacher that accompanies man day and night.

The Conditions for Calling and Remembering God

Of course, this does not mean merely utterances from the mouth; saying the word without

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considering what it means is worthless. In other words, attention to the meaning is the essential preliminary. Remembering God in one's heart also needs the attention of the soul.

● Man must remember God when his soul is eager to do so, not when he is forced to externally. And when an action becomes like a habit, it will be something compulsory, with little interference on behalf of man's free will. We must keep in mind that the habit of remembering and calling God should not be in a way that makes it deft man's free will and awareness.

● Man should act and behave in accordance with his remembering God. If someone says “God is great,” he must not drown in selfishness, greed for power or wealth.

● Remembering God must be considered as the factor that activates man's heavenly soul, not a tool for self-conceit. Man should not remember God in order to remove his frustrations over a monotonous life. It should not be the means for performing extraordinary acts either, like what ascetics do.

alive, and have a “self” (an ego) of their own, and second, creatures that are not alive, and submit to the flow of nature.

3- Order and harmony, where divine justice manifests itself, is different in the two mentioned groups of creatures. Something that applies to a living creature as a law may not be applicable to a non-living one. For instance, reproduction and avoiding unsuitable habitats is a law for living creatures, but for lifeless creatures it can be a violation of law and order.

4- Justice is equal to order and harmony for creatures that have a 'self.' When we come to harmony, law and orderliness for the universe (that has a 'self'), we are in fact speaking of justice.

5- When the human mind sees the universe, it sees the order and harmony it includes, but when it comes to creatures in the world, the concept of order and harmony fades, and concepts like joy and sorrow and justice and atrocity arise. Likewise, when discussing the issue of man and human relationships, we come to concepts such as right and wrong, good and evil, and justice and atrocity become deeper and clearer to us.

The more developed, deeper and more diluted the “self' (the ego) is, the more accurate and profound its imagination of justice and atrocity will be. A well-developed self will expect a higher level of justice from himself and others, and – at the highest level – from God, and if man were to picture justice himself and

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make it come true, it would be justice at its supreme level.

6- Each human being defines justice based on his/her own knowledge and tendencies. As Tolstoy says, “When a child is stung by a bee, it might think that bees live only to sting people; a beehive keeper, on the other hand, believes that bees live to gather honey, and to a poet, who enjoys watching bees on flowers, will see bees' mission as extracting nectar from flowers, and a botanist will call it fertilizing flowers. This example shows how diverse viewpoints can be. Man may look upon justice from various points of view, and reach diverse interpretations.

7- Normal people associate justice with natural tendencies, but developed human beings see the root of justice in ideal tendencies. People like Napoleon and Tamberlaine see divine order and justice in there being nothing inhibiting their triumph and victory; however, developed human beings interpret justice not in regard to their own desires; they believe that the universe is based on order and harmony, and does not proceed in accordance with man's wishes. Thus, we must say that the more developed man is, and the deeper and more accurate his observations are, the more his view of justice will shine.

8- If man had abstract perception and had no sense of joy or sorrow, he would never think about justice, for then his mind would be like a mirror, reflecting everything equally; a human being's painful suffering would sound like the exquisitely beautiful bird singing.

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It is the feeling of pain and joy, the pleasure of joy and inconvenience of pain and sorrow that makes man see true justice in the fact that “everything, throughout all of life, be pleasant and good,” and the utmost pain and atrocity be regarded as suffering from pain at one point of the life of living things.

9- Since joy and pain depends on a variety of changeable factors dominating the world of creatures, man assumes an average level of justice to use as his criterion for assessing justice and interpreting it. Such a viewpoint makes some people consider death – even after a lifetime of 10,000 years – as contradictory to divine justice. They expect all people to be as handsome as Joseph and as fair and just as Imam Ali, and be able to conquer like Napoleon and travel around the globe like Alexander. Such a state of mind shows how intensely playful the human mind is.

10- If man takes a clear look at the universe, he will see the order and harmony in it, but if he attempts to interpret the universe from merely a natural point of view, he will fail to see any divine justice in the universe. Thus, we should be true observers, and eliminate all of our natural tendencies. In other words, we must change our natural tendencies into ideal ones. If that happens, the bitternesses and inconveniences we suffer will not make us protest to divine justice.

This is why the great

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men of history have tolerated cruelty and torture, and never had the least doubt in God's justice. If Imam Ali had a natural viewpoint as his spiritual guidelines, even a thousandth of the amount of cruelty and torture he bore was enough to make him skeptical about the whole universe and all of mankind, and defy divine justice.

11- Man's big mistake is losing ideal tendency, which makes him fail to fulfill his duty entirely and eventually fall into doubt about divine justice. When man achieves the supreme 'self,' attaining development and perfection, he can find with internal intuition that divine laws call for him to relieve others from pain and suffering. When man is at the level of natural tendencies, however, he does not think of the relief of others; all he thinks about is himself. Thus, being content with what there is, and watching God's geometry – in which human lives play the most important part of its illustration – being deformed is in fact fighting against divine justice.

12- Man's endeavors and actions can be divided into two basic groups:

a) Things man does out of his free will.

b) Non-voluntary actions that occur without the supervision and dominance of the human character. These actions are like the actions and movements seen in animals and other living creatures. All of the voluntary or non-voluntary actions of man and other living creatures affect the universe. In other words, the general destiny or interpretation of the universe is the product of various

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actions and fixed and changeable affairs.

13- Elaborating on physical and mental inconveniences and defections: we should first discuss two important issues:

a) Imperfect life: The handicaps and disabilities seen in some people and the pain and suffering they undergo is regarded as imperfect life.

b) The flame of life going out: When some living creatures, or even human beings, are destroyed in the fight for survival, it is a sign of the fire of life being put out.

There are several points we must mention concerning the relationship these issues have with divine justice:

a) The source and origin of the universe has no need for favoritism or unfairness. So the inconveniences seen in the creatures in the universe cannot be due to that.

b) It cannot be imagined that God acts cruelly. “Because cruelty happens when the object cruelty is done upon is somehow beyond the ability of the oppressor to conquer; there must be some issue or law absent in the cruel one to make it commit the cruelty. On the other hand, we know that all creatures are absolutely under control and possession of God, with all their laws and affairs.”

c) The base and foundation of life gives the same importance to the minimum level of life as it does to the highest level.

Serious defense of life indicates that the important thing is true life itself, not its time length. The absence of some of the characteristics or means of life does not make it bad. All creatures endeavor to make their

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life flourish and go on, and prevent any factor that tends to inhibit that. Wishing for death or tending toward suicide does not arise out of the origins of true life; it is despair and social problems that cause them. The flame of life being put out does not conflict with divine justice, for both the cruel and the oppressed ones' free will also has a part.

14- Feelings of evil, imperfection, and disorder in creation is due to man's limited thoughts and viewpoints; when discussing such imperfections we must always keep these three points in mind:

a) There is a difference between the universe and discovering the universe.

b) The order, harmony and discipline that governs the universe has not been established in accordance with man's wishes.

c) God's position is too great for us to be able to know about it completely.

The life-oriented viewpoint means that man's only criterion in determining the rules of the universe is considered his own wishes and desires; however, many of man's wishes and desires can never be fulfilled. In other words, when studying the imperfections of the universe, we use standards that pertain to our own observations and desires, and practical reasons can never confirm them.

Handicapped or disabled people – though having become disabled or handicapped due to natural reasons and causes – never feel hatred for life, for life is the incredible phenomenon that man will always want to continue, unless a mental or spiritual blow is delivered onto it.

I once visited a nursing home

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for deaf and mute people in Isfehan, Iran, in order to study their handicaps and disabilities. I arranged with the officials of the nursing home, who were dear friends of mine, that I watch and observe the children and young people there alone for a while, so that I could have a better chance of seeing how their mental and spiritual state was considering the handicap they also had.

The result was quite near to what I had expected – they did not feel any suffering or defection due to their deafness or muteness, and their behavior clearly showed that they were not dissatisfied with their lives. There was no indication of feeling disabled or imperfect in how they played, treated each other or even others. I also studied young people who were paralyzed or crippled. I was amazed to see that they had no sadness or depression when they were alone, or were playing. They looked exactly like other, normal young people. So, it is obvious that life is the astonishing, incredible reality that will go on trying to survive, even if it means mere existence – unless, of course, man's own soul delivers it a crippling blow.

has set a perfect existence for man, and wants man to reach it.

3- Man is not perfect when he is born.

4- Man cannot achieve the desired perfection that is considered as his aim without endeavor.

5- Not all kinds of endeavor can guide man to perfection; the endeavor that is based upon conscience and reason, and is supported by divine sermons given by prophets can do that.

6- The above-mentioned principles can flow through two kinds of affairs:

a) Non-voluntary affairs: Affairs that influence man's fate although he can do nothing to change them, like being born, having certain instincts, having wisdom and conscience, hereditary backgrounds, social and geographical conditions, etc. These non-voluntary affairs are related to God's justice, for if we suppose that the aim of creating man (evolution and improving and developing the human character) is related to these non-voluntary affairs, there is no way except God's justice to adjust them.

b) Voluntary affairs: These affairs also influence man's fate. Non-voluntary affairs are related to God's justice, but these affairs are up to man himself.

7- Now we can present a definition of kindness: Kindness consists of a certain effect of God's justice that motivates man in the boundaries of lack of clarity, and can be voluntary or non-voluntary.

fulfilled if the human character is to develop.

3- The necessity to appoint leaders arises from the rule of kind favors.

4- The acceptance of the overall opinion of jurisprudential scholars, which is one of the sources of jurisprudence, is also based upon the rule of kind favors, for the rule of kindness says God prevents the leaders of a school of thoughts from falling into error – when the scholars confer, there is either disagreement or agreement, and the leader is in one of these two groups.

is hidden in him, like the eye of the reflection. You are the eye of the reflection, and He is the light of the eyes; who has ever seen that true light with his/her eyes? Indeed, man becomes the universe, and the universe becomes man can it be worded any better than that.)

The universe being a picture of God in the mirror of oblivion is merely a metaphor, for oblivion is not a thing to be able to reflect the truth. Can infinity ever be reflected within finite components?

The relation we use in order to discover the relationship between God and the universe – the cause-and-effect relation – is not accurate. The law of causality is derived from things in this world, associating things with one another, but God cannot be compared to things found in nature. Normally, causes consist of a subject cause and also a material cause, whereas God, a subject cause, needs no material cause.

Things in this world occupy space and time in regard to one another, but God does not; His position is high above others. Thus, the concepts we conclude from the phenomena and effects in nature cannot be used to interpret God's relationship with the universe.

Man can see the relationship between God and nature by referring to his own self, his own nature, for though the human soul and body interact, they are not at all one of a kind. Likewise, although God created this world, He had no need for materiality. The

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human soul can invent imaginations that are not comparable with it at all.

and then left them on their own, whereas God is always protective of the universe and everything in it.

ان ربی علی کل شی حفیظ

“Verily, my Creator and Nurturer is the Protector over all things.” (11:57)

“I believe God is the protector and keeper of laws,” Einstein has said.

As we know, laws have no observable reality in the world; there is order and harmony in the external world, and from that laws are abstracted. It is God's will that makes events continue in a fixed, orderly fashion.

7- Creation and Nurture: Over 1000 verses in the Qur’an emphasize this form of relationship.

و هو رب کل شی

“And He is the Creator-Nurturer of everything.” (6:64)

According to this relationship, the creator – or nurturer – constantly dominates and takes care of its creations.

8- Worship: Everything worships God.

ان کل من فی السموات و الارض الا اتی الرحمن عبدا

“Nothing is there in the heavens and earth but it comes to the All-merciful as a servant. “ (19:93)

Here, worship means complete submission of all creatures to God's will.

9- Divinity: God is the absolute dominant upon all levels and basics of the universe.

فسبحان الذی بیده ملکوت کل شی و الیه ترجعون

“So glory be to Him, in whose hand is the dominion of everything, and unto whom you shall be returned.” (36:83)

Here, “malakoot” in this verse refers to the supernatural picture of all things, for the human “ego” has two faces:

a) The observable, created face

b) The supernatural face

This face of the universe describes the relationship between divine absolute ownership and the

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supernatural face, nullifying the thoughts of some philosophers who believe that God has no control or dominance over the fundamentals of the universe.

10- Light: As the Holy Qur’an says:

الله نور السموات و الارض

“God is the light of the heavens and the earth.”( 24:35)

This verse explains both the existence of God and God's dominance and control over the whole universe. God exists in the universe, illuminating it without becoming connected or united with it, just like light which penetrates into transparent things without becoming part of them.

concerning land and agriculture.

3- Variable internal factors are phenomena created by the human soul without needing any action or contact with any outside factors. Thoughts, speculations, and imagination are examples of these factors, which play a significant role in man’s spiritual affairs.

4- Constant internal factors: include the positive and negative points of talents, intelligence, memory, will power, decision, instincts, curiosity, and feelings like hunger, thirst and fatigue.

In general, we consider these three factors to be effective in man’s moves:

a) His affection for his own “self”,

b) Attracting joy and repelling grief, which derive from man’s interest in himself,

c) The four above-mentioned factors.

The point fatalists claim here is that all of man’s affairs derive from his love for his own self and its results, and this cannot be possible unless these factors are considered absolutely necessary. Some, including Hume and supporters of new physics have denied the law of causation in attempt to justify free will. We must say that the principle of causality does not conflict with man's free will.

The cause and the effect are not always alike in type – this is why physicists have mistakenly thought the principle of causality is thus defied. However, accepting the principle of causality does not imply that all phenomena are of the same type, especially the intrinsic actions of nature. Thus, there should be a distinction between applying the principle of causality in the internal world and the external world.