Uanttime,
the famous French psychologist believes that man’s soul has four dimensions at
the time of birth, i.e. man has the following four capacities at the time of
his coming into this world:
1.THE
SCIENTIFIC AND RATIONAL CAPACITY OR THE FACT –FINDING CAPACITY:
The
advancement of science , the discovery of the secrets of creation, the human
perseverance in finding facts all stem from this dynamic capacity.
2. ETHICAL
CONSCIENCE:
Man
is created in such a way that he enjoys doing good deeds, justice, showing
piety, discipline, self -control, bravery, sacrifice, and truthfulness. On the
other hand he abhors injustice and lies, uncleanliness and debauchery,
untidiness and indecision, meanness and indifference, and the like.
3. LOVE
FOR BEAUTY:
Man
cares for the beauties in nature such as the blue starry sky, magnificent
flowers and sceneries, limpid water with fish swimming in it, beautiful birds,
deer in the desert, pleasant songs, elephant paintings, poems, and
chirographies and gracious statures. This very capacity has made man create art
and enrich life as a whole.
4. THE
CAPACITY FOR WORSHIPING:
Man
believes in God from the bottom of his heart. He has worshiped God throughout
the history and has consecrated this worship. To keep this consecration and
hollowness, he has endured lots of hardships. With regard to the above issues a
good instructor is the one who guides all man’s innate capabilities in the
right direction and does not let these abilities go astray. For instance, man
has sexual drive but he should guide it in the right way. Its suppression does
not solve any problem. Man loves arts and beauty and must make use of them in
the proper way. He should not deprive himself of these assets. Educating and
nourishing man’s skills is in harmony with the innate characteristics of
religion. In this regard the Holy Qur’an says:
Meaning:
“Then set your face upright for religion in the right state-The nature made by
Allah in which He has made men; there is no altering of Allah’s creation that
is the right religion.” (Qur’an 30:30)
ANIMALS
HAVE LIMITED POTENTIALS FOR EDUCATION:
Animals
know their ways of life by instinct. These innate inspirations, which manifest
themselves as instincts, drive them toward a limited state of perfection.
However, some animals such as dogs, horses, elephants, monkeys, dolphins, foxes
and bears possess a higher status of intelligence. They could be trained to
protect the herds, the police, and to purchase commodities, and to perform
circus performances. We have all seen such extraordinary performances in the
films and elsewhere. But, it is to be noted that the sphere of animal
performances is highly restricted because their capabilities are narrower than
those of man. For this reason, however hard we try to train them, they will
never be able to solve mathematical problems, analyze the inside of the atom,
make space-ships to be sent to the Mars or to the Jupiter, to discover medical
relief’s for hard-to-cure diseases, to cure TB and cancer suffers and finally
to carry on surgical operations on hearts, brains and kidneys. This is only man
who can, through right education, discover everywhere and solve problems and
manifest his capabilities and make himself “God’s substitute on the earth”.
EDUCATION
VERSUS TRAINING
As
we saw before animals naturally recognize their good and evil, their food
locations, and their ways of life. In this way, their capabilities manifest
themselves. On the contrary, man knows neither his pains nor their remedies,
neither his friends nor his foes, and possesses neither instruments nor his
defense mechanisms. He has obtained all these through education and experience:
Meaning:
“And Allah has brought you forth from the wombs of your mothers-you did not
know anything-and He gave you hearing and sight and hearts that you may give
thanks.” (Qur’an16:78)In order for man’s skills and capabilities to flourish in
diverse dimensions such as talking, having high morals, walking, living
honestly, and loving justice, he needs instructors. Thus, education helps him
improve his knowledge and culture; whereas training is employed to direct his
innate capabilities and his spiritual dispositions. An educator teaches him the
things he does not know, whereas a trainer guides his innate abilities in the
right direction.
ETHICS
VERSUS EDUCATION
In
the past Education was a branch of ethics. It dealt with the educating children
and bringing forth their skills. In the books written on education the
encouragement for learning science and the ways of learning useful sciences
were emphasized. But because of its significance in the lives of people,
education raised itself from an inferior position to a completely independent
branch of science, now there are numerous valuablebooks and resources written
on it.” Since Imam Ali (s) in his erudite letter has emphasized numerous issues
in education and has provided us with great samples of the advantages and
favors of ethics we have called his article “the first treatise of Ethics and
Islamic Education”.
THE
WRONG-DOER NEEDS AND INNOCENT INSTRUCTOR:
As
we saw above, wisdom of man does the functions of instincts of animals. However
these two are different in many respects:
a) An instinct, works without the consent
of its holder. It does not astray. Bees have always built their hives hexagonal
and ants have always halved the wheat seeds in two halves in order to stop
their growth in their under-ground shelters. But being equipped with free-will,
man does not have to function in accordance with wisdom’s guidelines. Animals
have recognized their development through the guidelines of genesis and have to
go forward without their approval.
Meaning:
“There is no living creature but He holds it by its forelock; surely my Lord is
on the
right
path.” (Qur’an 11:56)
Meaning:
“Surely we have shown him the way: he may be thankful or unthankful.”(Qur’an
76:3)
b) An instinct performs an action without
any error, but the wisdom makes mistakes when arriving at conclusions from the
premises. The environment, lack of sufficient knowledge, wrong education,
out-of-place prejudice, lust and anger, and the like, all have their fatal
consequences on our wisdom. In this way man is prone to commit mistakes. Thus,
he will need an innocent instructor. It is for this reason that God has sent
messengers and Imams to guide people. Imam Musa Ibn Jaafar (s)in his famous
treatise tells Hisham.