Despite all the efforts that have been made to discover the secrets contained in the existence of the human of the human being (who is only one small entity among the countless and varied beings found in the scheme of the universe), and despite all the researches carried out by scientific associations having at their disposal precise and complex instruments-despite all this, who can doubt that there are numerous unconquered peaks in the spiritual being and inner world of the human being that we have not even glimpsed? It is possible that a person may know many scientific technical facts but be completely ignorant of one topic-namely, the limits and nature of his own being. The knowledge he has acquired is next to zero when compared to this ignorance. Ignorance of the limited nature of one’s ability to perceive and understand gives rise to many other forms of ignorance; it causes the human being to turn his back on many truths and avert his gaze from many realities. If all obscure points concerning the corporeal aspect of the human being had been clarified, the scientific researches carried out throughout the world the world by millions of scientists would still be in vain. A French scholar says: “However much we try, we cannot render these mechanisms comprehensible to our minds. All we know is that the regularity of the parts of our body is greater and more precise than that of a thousand great machines operated by the most highly specialized engineers.
“If you do not regard our opinion as a kind of belittlement or insult, all doctors and specialists who exert themselves in their field are convinced that the knowledge we have acquired until now is paltry and insignificant when compared to what we need to know in the future. The truth is that the human being is a complex, obscure and indivisible whole that cannot easily be known. We still lack the methods that would enable us to know him in all of his different parts and, as a whole, as well as in his relations with his environment. Numerous techniques and precise science would be needed for such an undertaking, and each science would be able to study only one part of the complex system that is the human being, yielding only a partial result. We advance on this path only so far as technological progress permits us, and the totality of the abstract concepts we acquire does not furnish us a perception of the reality of the human being, for there are numerous significant and valuable points that remain unclarified. Anatomy, physiology, chemistry, education, history, economics, together with all their branches, cannot reach the ground of the human being’s essence.”
With respect to the astonishing activities of his soul, human being is without doubt a deep and limitless ocean, and our worldly knowledge concerning him is inevitably slight and insignificant. Who can claim to have discovered all the capacities and minutiae contained within this mysterious being, or to be aware of all his capacities and the degrees of perfection that are open to him? Thus we conclude that we have but a drop of insignificant knowledge, shot through with doubt and hesitation, compared to an ocean of ignorance and unknowing. Science today is then confronted with the problem of the limitation of human powers, on the one hand, and the expanse and infiniteness of the world and of the human being, on the other; this problem has induced both bewilderment and humility in science. In fact, science itself has aided us in understanding that the knowledge of the human being can illumine only a small and insignificant part of this expansive world. Now let us see whether science and intellect alone can assume the mission of impelling the human being to perfection. A world that cannot provide a precise knowledge of being, that does not know what the human being is, from the point of view of either body or soul, that is ignorant of the mysterious social relationships that arise from his spiritual and bodily properties-does such a world have the capacity to lay down laws for the human being that will reflect intelligence and wisdom, and be formed in accordance with the knowledge of the human being’s true needs in their various dimensions? Laws that will ensure his true happiness, answer the totality of his needs, and enable him to walk on the path that benefits him?
As long as we do not know what we wish to make, and for what purpose and for whose sake, how can we even speak of laying down a plan and a program? Those schools of thought which claim to be able to make the human being’s capacities blossom do so without first knowing what the human being is. How can they succeed in turning him into a being that would deserve all those efforts? The human being’s basic problem today is not simply the acquisition of power but rather which of the various roads laid out before him he should travel. Many scientific topics and principles were accepted unanimously by thinkers of the past, but with the passage of time and the advancement of knowledge it has become apparent that their views were erroneous and invalid. If we look at the history of legislation among the nations of the world, we will see that many laws which were the product of careful reflection and lengthy study on the part of outstanding experts and were drawn up with recourse to considerable scientific and intellectual resources, were proved mistaken and inadequate by the passage of time and by the emergence of more accurate research. That the social utility of which was yesterday regarded as proven is seen today as palpably inappropriate and even harmful. The place of such laws is then taken by a new set of laws which will, in turn, be amended and revised in accordance with the advancement of science and thought. Naturally this does not mean that all the regulations and ordinances that originate in the human mind are useless and incorrect. The point is that because of such errors and their lack of inerrancy, man-made legal systems are incapable of providing for the different needs of the human beings and of leading society. It is entirely true that some scholars have expressed valuable views on the subject of legislation, but their ideas and works have been influenced, directly and indirectly, by the teachings of the Prophets. We can clearly see that deficiency and inadequacy are the hallmark of all those systems in the world that derive from man-made laws. Moral and material inadequacy, forms of corruption that kill the personality of the human being and drag him down to decline-all these are caused by regulations and laws that derive from human thought. The insufficiency and fallibility of human laws is sufficient proof of this. Even if they acquire knowledge of the principles of human development, science and human thought are unable to assume alone the responsibility for the human being’s ascent. Such a mission presupposes freedom from arbitrary and capricious desire and from the desire for advantage, for these are factors which prevent the human being from realizing his knowledge of self. The human being’s love of the self and his devotion to its interests, as well as to whatever stands in relationship to him, is so profound that on a broad scale, whether consciously or unconsciously, he looks at all things from the point of view of his own interests, self-love deprives him of true realism. When taken to the extreme, the pursuit of self-interest becomes a powerful and destructive factor that does away with the human being’s honor. A condition appears in the human being such that every instant he is planning the violation of ethical norms and transgression against the rights of others, in order to draw to himself all conceivable benefits and gains. There is thus no guarantee that the human being can analyze affairs with true impartiality and establish just laws.
Are those who have studied the human being and then whether individually or collectively-established legal system, really aware of the problem and its solution? Have they avoided the trap of egoism, and are their thoughts and reflections immune from self-interest, discrimination and error? Are they truly aware of the problems of groups and classes other than their own, scattered across the world, and the solutions those problems call for? Are they fully protected from the arbitrary whims and desires, the threats and the tricks, of the wielders of power and influence, of biased and evil-hearted the human beings?
To be continued
