Culture is a Bi-polar
Reality (Innately Internal and Innately External)
The bi-polar quality of
culture means it possesses both innately internal and innately external
aspects, just like the bi-polar quality of beauty does. Since conceiving beauty
depends on human psychological and mental characteristics (other living beings
are incapable of it), comprehending culture also has an innately internal
aspect resulted by “The Principle of Protecting Evolutional Essence.”
As beauty has a
virtually external aspect, such as the refreshing appearances of a flower,
moonlight, a river fall, or beautiful handwriting, so does culture, like
observable examples of morals, works of art, and architectural characteristics
representing various external acquisitions and ideals.
The most apparent
evidence for the bi-polar quality of culture is the same as that of beauty,
which is specifically devoting the capability of comprehending beauty to man.
In other words, cultural life is exclusive to human beings. If we consider all
of the given definitions for culture, we find that none are applicable to
animals.
Human perception and
activities are undoubtedly unlimited from an evolutionary point of view. Man's
experiences throughout history obviously prove that although no human being can
innately achieve the essence of greatness, moving on a path towards the highest
virtues is nevertheless a characteristic of mankind which has caused his
immense accomplishments and all well- established encyclopaedias around the
world approve of. Hence, those activities and phenomena not rising from mental
and psychological processes cannot fit in the definition of culture, no matter
how appealingly fantastic they may be. Even if interesting issues play a role
in preventing life from becoming monotonous and fading the boundary between
physical and spiritual affairs, they should nevertheless be excluded from
culture -for the sake of the essence of culture itself -let alone when they are
harmful, e.g. obscene pictures which demolish moral chastity, or some types of
music and drugs. Unfortunately, fallacious paralogism has brought about
deviations in the highly virtual meaning of culture, degrading it to a level
which ranks humans with lowly animals, like gathering many huge snakes
intrigued to bite; as ancient Persian culture states:
“Scorpions do not sting
out of revenge or hate; their nature causes them to do so”
However, some lethally
dangerous “human beings” tend to use all of their valuable capabilities and
talents consciously for their own selfish pleasures and desires, reasoning that
‘pain is terrible, and losing one's wealth and possessions is truly painful’. This
is the natural ego observed in man throughout history. Can brotherhood,
equality, reasonable liberty, graciousness, and human dignity be achieved
through such natural egos so deeply immersed in conflicting disturbance? By no
means, for such a wish would prove only a humiliatingly deceitful
hallucination. Therefore, accomplishing high virtues such as unity, logical
equality and brotherhood in human societies inevitably requires perfect
cultural elements like proper, meritorious morals and the highest qualities,
such as justice, dutifulness, sympathy towards peers, accountability towards other
fellow citizens and conceiving the exquisite glory of the universe by
comprehending its beauty and fine order, all of which guide man along the
quickest possible way to the creator of the rules of equality among men. No
other path would lead to the pure ideal depicted by Universal Human Rights,
man's general culture, morals and human universal nature.
Nowadays, scientists,
experts and anyone with the least basic knowledge can merely refer to any
well-known encyclopaedia to realize the essence of a culture able to save
humanity, which can be defined as:
“The proper quality or
deserved methods used for those of man’s physical or spiritual needs based on
human logical thoughts and emotions arisen from reasonable evolutionary
lifestyles.”
This
is a fundamental part of our discussions on culture. In other words, by
presenting the definitions of culture in various well-known encyclopaedias all over
the world, we prove -at this critical period of time -that the commonalites
between them all are properness, perfection, physical and spiritual
development, graciousness, dignity, integrity, meritorious life, responsible
freedom, and lawful justice.
Now
let us analyze the above mentioned definition [1] that we stated as the most
comprehensive of all. Doing so, we will come to four main principles vital to
achieving the important ends and content of culture.
The Four Principles of Culture
ONE: The concept of culture -as presented in
civilized nations -include “proper-ness” and “deservingness” based upon the logical
thoughts and emotions arisen from people. Thus, although some phenomena in some
societies may be regarded as culture, they cannot even be considered as true
cultural phenomena, let alone if they conflict with reasonable thinking,
emotions, and literature for they do not contain logical thought or perfect
human emotions. This is why no aspect of selfishness (racism, greed for money,
power, fame or pleasure) can fit into the concept of culture, for as we quoted
from the world's most distinguished encyclopaedias:
“Culture is the proper quality or deserved method of the
phenomena in man's life; in other words, culture contains the highest values.”
Thus, those who call greed for fame, money, power, pleasure,
selfishness or mutiny culture, have betrayed the highest of human virtues terribly.
Calling a person or a society cultureless is the worst insult possible.
TWO: Without culture as we defined it, human life
does not deserve to go on, for a life without culture means a life empty of
meaning, thought, logic or perfect human emotions.
THREE: The more the culture of a society depends on
logical principles and high human receptions, the more meritorious and proper
it will be.
FOUR:
Culture is a two-dimensional reality, consisting of absolute and relative aspects.
Clearly,
by “absolute” we do not mean in the philosophical sense, but that it is much
more comprehensive than other relative cultural elements. Such a categorization
brings us to general and special cultures.
Special
cultures, caused by the relative aspect of culture, pertain to certain nations
or peoples of specific thoughts or emotions. A few notable examples are the
cultures of bullfighting in Spain, or the exaggerated amount of courtesy and
bowing in Japan. [2]
General culture pertains
to meritorious qualities appropriate to man's physical or spiritual lifestyle,
phenomena and activities not limited to any specific nation or race, e.g.
cultures like aesthetics, mutual respect among people, justice, knowledge, and
creating heroes.
We may conclude from the
above statements that, since culture means the proper qualities fit for the
physical or spiritual phenomena and activities in man's life, accepting and
reflecting the totally natural compulsory facts or effects of human life - such
as eating and drinking -cannot be regarded as a part of culture; however, their
connection to prayers, which is quite common in Islam and some other religious
societies, fits into the domain of culture. Defending one's life, preparing a
shelter, or accessing scientific or philosophical facts through the senses can
also be considered as a part of culture.
The Connection between the Necessary Cultural Elements and the Merited
It is quite difficult to
make a clear distinction between these two types of cultural elements without
encountering a conflict, for accusing man of ignoring the gloriously perfect
human ideals for providing the necessities of his life, would be denying the
most obvious of fact -all reason and conscience.
Defying human glory and
man's great ideals, and degrading mankind down to being equivalent to
honeybees, means destroying all humanity. Furthermore, isolating cultural
concepts from the vital facts of life -like knowledge, science and other mental
activities that adjust or life -leads to the separation of perfectionist
tendencies from normal life, which in turn causes spiritual dilemma between “natural
and evolutionarily spiritual” life.
Early in the 21st
century, we have seen many pioneer societies on the earth making great effort in
order to implement the most realistic economic, social, legal or moral
ideologies in their communities. Not only did they fail to do so, but they have
even -as we have already seen in the definitions of culture in such countries
as Russia or China -clearly admitted the necessity of a pioneer spiritual
culture regardless of any presumptions of an ideology. Accepting the necessity
of culture is not brought about by one or a few conventional factors, but by
man's human nature, without man would totally lose his humanity -when “man
stepped which out of his prehistoric caves and entered the unfeeling wheels of
a machine.”
Hence, ever since man
came to being, he had culture beside him to provide his life with delicacy and fulfil
his highest spiritual ideals. Man's close connection with culture has given
profound cultural value to morals and arts (in a general sense), true
knowledge, “taboo morals”, customs and even laws. It is quite a simple,
unquestionable fact that without spiritual culture [3] , man would lose his
life.
Solzhentisyn [4] has
thus elaborated on this matter at the International Congress of Philosophy in
Liechtenstein:
"We can generalize
the same moral expectations we consider for man to governments, rulers,
parliaments and political parties. If politics does not have a moral basis,
there will truly be no future for mankind. Russians have been literally
witnessing this since centuries ago. I unfortunately see that my countries’
goals have fallen way behind even the West. After seventy years of unbelievable
pressure and suffocating dictatorship, there is now abundant freedom among the
poor classes, and many people have totally forsaken their conscience; however,
we must not let this problem distribute among other countries. As we approach
the end of the second millennium, this problem continues to threaten all of
mankind.”
The Progress Crisis
He adds:
"We do make
progress -but in what? What kind of advances are the issue here? Progress is
limited to technological civilization, more luxury in life and military
explorations. We are voraciously swallowing the nature that we take for
granted. But among such progress -devoid of any moral development -our physical
needs increase with such extreme rapidity that we are left confused. We
insatiably keep expanding our possessions (in other words, we more and more use
up our resources of human identity) ; however, when it
comes to acquiring higher moral virtues and spiritual goals, we prove to be
futile tools of greedy exploitations. Transportation and communications now
take place at incredible ease; people can travel all around the world with a
mere pressing of a television button.
Yet, in the middle of
such an ocean of superficial information, the human soul is not only failing to
progress, but is actually heading for doom. The more materialistically
luxurious man becomes, the more will his spiritual life fade away. Scientific,
technological, and economic advances are leading us to slavery. Constantly in
seek of new discoveries, we have lost our goals; what indeed, is the end in
life? We failed to escape from our endless responsibilities. Telephones and
television demolished the integrity of our time, and began to impose the
conditions upon us. Communication among humans began to frail. People, particularly
the elderly, found themselves living alone. Unable to put technology to use in
welfare aims or to unite humans, we have become its plaything. Progress
couldn't keep us away from globalizing responsibilities. Furthermore, we are
increasingly unprepared for them. We have lost the rhythm that was always
alongside our virtual and physical well-being; good and evil have become
illusively obscured. Another outcome of our spiritual degradation is the
absence of the relaxed attitude we used to have towards death. However
financially secure one may be, the fear of death starts a cold sweat on any
tycoon's skin. Insatiable, scandalous lifestyles have brought about an immense
horror of death. As man gradually tries to consider himself the center of the
universe, he tends to see the universe as a part of himself, rather than see
himself as a part of the universe.
The presumption
"Everything leads to death” has begun to dominate us like a threatening
weapon. Nuclear threats rule the Twentieth century. Although everything seemed
indifferent afterwards, the threat created a uniting concept in order to impose
itself again on Western societies. Towards the end of the century, internal
ideological decay caused Communism to self-destruct. The demise of
Communism caused the nuclear threat to recede, at an unpredictably rapid rate.
The world, however, still does not feel completely secure.
Communism still lives on
in Some parts of the former Soviet Union, for as brutal capitalism continues to disgustingly
ravage its national resources –to such an extent that even has the West
astonished -Communist slogans on 'equality and justice in poverty , have
appealed to classes unable to withstand the conditions”
[5]
Has the Reality Called
Culture Undergone Evolution throughout Historic Changes?
Progress in several cultural
elements, such as science, cultivating talents and potentials, usually responds
with a positive answer: Yes, culture has evolved throughout history, Of course,
evolutional progress in culture is any perfectionist human being's ideal. But
does history also confirm such progress?
If development means
scientific advances concerning nature and human lifestyles, such culture has
definitely made profound progress. The reason is quite obvious: the vital needs
of life in nature, and also man's greed and ambition for power, has greatly
expanded the necessary phenomena of culture.
We have already noted in
our definition of culture that the necessities and worthy aspects of cultures
do not always necessarily arise from reality, for man has time and again
created artificial demands out of his selfish greed for power, and labelled
them the necessities of life. For instance, exploitations, weakening peoples'
will power and various sexual intrigues have been called art, considered a
meritorious culture.
However, the other
aspect of culture -including man's evolutionary needs for perfection -despite
an ideal to any clear conscience, has not only failed to progress, but even
shrunk due to advances in man's necessities for natural life (i.e., physical
culture), to such an extent that it is sometimes considered as a disturbing
factor. Let us consider the reasons why physical culture has made so much
progress, but evolutionary culture heads for deterioration (of course, we do not
intend to deny any exceptional cases):
1. Inability in finding
a culture that can moderate selfishness and protect and follow evolutionary
virtues.
2. Affections that lead
to positive virtues vanish due to the ignorance of cultures receiving reasonable
and observable beauty.
3. Neglecting cultures
concerning rights, power and how to use power in order to uphold righteousness.
4. Ignoring the culture
of benefiting from outstanding figures and genius among the society.
5. Greed for power, fame
and wealth has demolished man's culture of scientific conscience, except for a painfully
meagre minority in which it has been confined inside their pure souls
6. What on earth
happened to the constructive culture that could elevate human
relationships from a hide- and-seek charade to an ocean of pure souls
where waves constantly meet?
Human spirit is a unified
soul, whereas in animals it is but a rigid lump of clay
Their number is as great
as the wind, and flow strongly as waves
His light will never
suffer division for God supports it.
7. After all
these years of endeavour to create civilizations and humanities, and all the
toil and sacrifice put into making fundamentals -like a) meritorious life, b)
human grace and dignity. c) reasonable. responsible freedom and d) total
equality towards laws - a reality, not only puppet rulers today still
unconsciously do obey powerful tyrants totally ignorant of humanity, but
philosophical cultures such as Machiavellian’s doctrines on survival and the
theories of authoritarians like Hobbes or Nitche are even taught at
universities without the least criticism. There are dozens of other examples
verifying evolutionary meritorious cultures being are ignored by the majority
of today's human society.
Among the worst effects
of the decline in meritorious evolutionary cultures on man's life was his
deprivation of acquiring higher virtual truth, which led to committing any kind
of injustice. As a result, their perception of reality has become extremely
limited. Let us consider an example of such intense limitation:
People have lost their
ability to comprehend mental reasonable beauties. Mechanized life culture
prevented man from understanding the beauty lying in the universe and in the
essence of life. In other words, man is now only capable of sensing the beauty
of a flower (an observable beauty) -that is how painfully degraded mechanized
life has made him.
Thus, the beauty of
realities such as justice, righteousness, freedom of conscience, human dignity
and chastity and the essence of life remain buried in books of sermons.
Various greed-driven
crimes defying all morals and conscience, especially in political cultures,
have caused irreversible damage to evolutionary culture.
The changes occurring in
the logics behind human socioeconomic trends -shifting towards increasingly
consumerist societies requiring more and more manufacture -has demolished the
culture of “earn to live”, which leads us to “live to provide the desires of
the greedy” culture:
“In today's technological
circumstances, the motto has become: More Production, Better Economy!”
Do they really not know
-or do they consciously ignore -who is actually responsible for more
production? Are they unaware of those trampled under the pressure of manufacture
increases? They do not seem to realize at all that however plentiful the mines
and resources on earth may be, they will eventually run out.
Racism and regionalism
are other “meritorious evolutionary anti-cultures” that are rapidly
strengthening along with the “development of today's civilizations”. In fact,
unlike many short-living socioeconomic theories and schools of thought, racism
and regionalism are rooting stronger day by day, putting all laws, cultures,
knowledge, economics and universal human power up to ridicule.
Disharmonious Cultural
Elements in Real Facts May Demolish All of Human Culture
We have already
mentioned that since man is directly involved in the formation of culture -it
is man who builds up a culture out of his environment, historical phenomena,
relative and/or absolute ideals and his concept of ideology, and also it is man
who attempts to harmonize permanent laws with temporary events in a period of
time in order to create a culture he could live by, and finally because man has
too many aspects to harmonize -cultural elements usually suffer from
disharmony, and ruling authorities prefer accountable “things” rather than
“people”.
The primary reason for
such disharmony is the authoritarian and power-greedy tendencies that prefer
cultural elements directly or indirectly effective in enhancing domination and
power. Thus, there would be no need for any organized system of social culture.
In other words, it is possible to have a moral culture based on emotions and
still base scientific culture on purely mental anthropology .Like-wise, having
abstract tendencies in ethical artistic cultures, and yet seeing observable
tendencies in its historical culture is also possible. Or maybe a purely
supernatural religious culture beside a totally realistic scientific culture,
e.g. European Christianity during the last two centuries compared to their
scientific realism.
The reason behind the
destructive effect of disharmony of cultural elements upon the entire Islamic
culture lies in the unity of human life, primarily based on “man's evolutionary
virtues.” When basic cultural elements fail, unity vanishes and all of human
culture faces certain doom. The most harmful form of disharmony in cultural
elements is the isolation of spiritual basics and mental human virtues from
physical aspects of culture, which is a result of greed for wealth, power and
purely animal-like desires.
Here is an excerpt from
a paper by Paul G. Bahanan, anthropology professor at the University of
California:
“All cultures undergo
change, some slowly and some rapidly. Since culture consists of various
factors. Changes in one of them would also affect the others. Some sociologists
believe that many social problems are due to disharmonious changes in cultural
elements. Cultural retardation occurs when some parts of a culture tend to
follow others. Many cultural retardation in the history of the United States
have occurred in its non-physical traditions, thoughts and issues. Science and
technology advance so rapidly that they have put spiritual issues way behind. [6]
Reasons for Disharmony
in Social Cultural Elements
The main reasons citable
for disharmony in the cultural elements of a society are:
1. Selfish rulers: No
meritorious reality in the world has survived destructive influences by the
selfish.
When people believe that
“law” is a spider web aimed to entrap the meek, culture will indeed be regarded
as devoid of any worthy qualities of life or compulsory guidelines.
2. Hedonism, which
arises with “the natural self” and strengthens with nihilism, and defies all
laws and principles.
3. Authoritarianism, in
any form or caused by anyone it may be, demolishes all cultural merits, and so
cleverly decorates their remains that it seems to claim, “I have granted you
the most desirable culture you could imagine!" Poor simpletons who never
cease to be deceived time and again by jargon like cultural or civilizational
transfer.
The road is smooth, but
riddled with hidden traps; an abyss of meanings in an ocean of names.
Words and names are like
traps, as pebbles beneath water (our life) passing us by.
Pursuant Culture and Pioneer Culture
“Pursuant culture refers
to physical or non-physical qualities and ways of life based on no
pre-established principle, but seeking approval only through people's desires.”
In other words, such
cultures arise from any need, behaviour or desire people have, regardless of
their compliance with man's non-physical realities.
Thus any of people's
desires opposing religion, morals, dignity or logic can be considered as
culture! Such Fraudulence in the name of culture [7] has greatly spread during
our times, and will undoubtedly lead to the annihilation of humanity.
Although pursuant
culture obviously means obeying human desires, we must keep in mind that it
also provides selfish authoritarians with the chance they need.
In fact, this kind of
culture both satisfies people's purely natural desires, and those of their
rulers, who find the opportunity to not only fulfil their people's wishes, but
also disguise any factors opposing religion, morals or human dignity in the
name of culture.
Pursuant laws could
prove to be much more suitable for people's needs rather than pursuant culture,
for “laws” pertain directly to the context of people's lifelines, which thus
can be constantly modified and adjusted according to people's actual needs;
culture, on the other hand, being based on non-physical beauties and
delicacies, cannot be manipulated -by people's physical needs. However, any
lowly, morality-defying activity or quality is nowadays publicized in the name
of culture.
Considering this theory
proposed by several sociologists, we may come to the conclusion that a
constructive, pioneer culture as the leader of human civilization should be a doctor,
not a waiter:
"Doctors are highly
different from waiters, Waiters in a restaurant provide you with whatever you
desire, whereas a doctor follows his own academic principles; he prescribes
what he believes necessary, regardless of what you think, A pioneer politician
should be like a doctor, not a waiter.”
Whenever Man Has
Followed Pioneer Systems, He Has Successfully Made Progress
Let us present a few
examples to elaborate on this critical point:
a. Is it possible for an
ordinary person to interfere in the most advanced of academic issues merely by
having freedom and pursuant culture?
b. Can the medical
practice allow an uneducated person to examine and cure sick people only on
premises of freedom and pursuant culture?
c. Can we possibly let
anyone enter an operation room and, relying simply on freedom and culture,
begin to cut up people's bodies?
d. Is it possible to
conceive someone stepping into a gun factory and start to comment on
everything, and meddle with any tool he wishes, on the basis that, “I am making
use of freedom and pursuant culture, of course? The times when people were
deprived of freedom and their desired culture are over. Decadence is forbidden
all over the world!”
e. Will there ever be a
day when anyone would comment on any scientific or technological matter he
wished, and if told, “you are not educated in such issues, so you should not
meddle or interfere”, he would retort, “Yes, I am entitled to use my own
culture and freedom, for the age of decadent deceptions and forcing people to
imprison their thoughts are over!”
f. Culture and freedom
are indeed amazing. Consider someone whimsically wearing a decorated military
uniform. If he faces protest, can he claim, “Down with the anti-Liberty! Down
with the anti-culture!”
Obviously, all of the
above-mentioned who carry the book entitled Freedom [8] should be
taken to mental asylums.
Now we can move on to
the main point: whenever man has considered an issue essential to his survival,
he has applied pioneer principles -sciences concerning human relationships,
managing labourers to one's own advantage, social leadership, political
activities and employing cultures for specific purposes, medicine, surgery,
lethal arms and armour and military propaganda -quite successfully, though
man's intrinsic progress calls for the truths about his perfectionist growth.
Hence, all the cries for
freedom, free pursuant culture and free art! And humanity was degraded back to
even before prehistoric ages. The reason why is that cavemen had not confined
their potential for progress to their own selfish desires, and had -consciously
or unconsciously - begun to activate their talents.
Here are a few examples
of the culture of facts demolished in many societies -not because they failed
to resist and satisfy man's evolution, but due to selfish rulers making
illusive brainwashing using terms like freedom, free culture, free arts and
other deceiving magic tricks:
1. Culture as authentic
sympathy for our fellow human beings, not a business tool;
2. authentically moral
consciences guiding our souls towards the highest goals of life, like a precise
compass;
3. culture, the highest
aim in life;
4. culture depicting
honesty and keeping promise only for its moral desirability, not for making a
profit;
5. culture in the form
of responsible freedom and just deeds and thoughts;
6. culture as the sacred
identity for knowledge;
7. culture in the form
of cooperation in making use of various forces, which are blessings;
8. culture as the
generalization of constructive, pioneer arts;
9. culture as referring
to the media, documented propaganda, avoiding lies and misinterpreting the
truth;
10. culture as the
highest of cultures, providing all people with their deserving earnings.
Out statement, “Whenever
man has followed pioneer systems, he has successfully achieved progress” does
not imply that man can evolve progressively by abstracting and adjusting a
group of key issues called laws; we mean to state that throughout history,
whenever man has made and obeyed laws based on well-prepared information
-without the influence of public desires -he has made successful evolution.
Thus, in issues concerning science, technology and any matters benefiting man's
physical needs or selfish desires, we see man successfully using pioneer
culture, whereas in evolving the essence of man -which involves religion and
morals -he has totally ignored pioneer culture, and followed cultural phenomena
in the name of “following free culture.”
Cultures Can Be Categorized into Four Main Groups:
1 . Sedimentary
culture: In this form of culture, fixed laws based on ethic, mental,
geographical and historical factors form totally unchangeable lifestyles and
guidelines which can destroy or adapt other changes to their own advantage. If
non human and non-natural factors cause a sedimentary culture, compulsory
environmental factors or the people's psychological in capabilities to adjust
to positive changes may lead to useless insisting on ‘self’-orientated
activities.
2. “Colourless liquid”
culture refers to deceptions and explanations based on no fundamental,
psychological roots, which are hence constantly variable. Societies possessing
a history, of course, seldom seem “colourlessly liquid”, for as we have already
seen, cultural ism originates from a basically active psychological source.
Any society throughout
history tends naturally to pass its concepts and guidelines in life on to its
next generations, and while this phenomenon -or better said, psychological
factor -remains, the culture will also keep its stability in a number of
activities and effects.
Thus we now come to two
points:
a. As we have already
mentioned in our discussion on Cultural Disharmony and Its Reasons, [9] there
is no logical need for the cultural elements of a society to by harmoniously
related; therefore, some elements may be “liquid,” rootless and highly
change-prone, while others are stable and well-established. In some Arab
societies, for instance, stable moral cultures accompany fervid changes in political
cultures.
b. Despite being a
relatively stable phenomenon, and however constructive a culture may usually
be, when based on Machiavellian rules of social life management, they will fade
away. We also know that despite all of the immense advances man has made, he is
becoming increasingly powerless in distinguishing “means and ends”,
particularly in societies incapable of managing human power; in such societies,
power dominates people, and their essential culture destroys any principle or
culture aiding them to achieve their goals.
3.
Self-orientated culture (pursuant self-orientated): In this kind of culture,
activities and effects that interpret cultural facts are essentially the
desired ones, and completely quench cultural ideals. Such “self –orientation”
specifically pertains to 19th and 20th - century scientific,
technological and economic cultures.
“The self-orientated”
inhibits the main identity of culture, which is creativity and developing the
ideals of the “human self” in various aspects of life. The other effect of
“self-orientated” culture -which is by no means less dangerous than the first -
is changing man from the creator of science and technology to a helpless part
of them. We should keep in mind that when one or several aspects of human life
-for example, the art of make-up -turns “self-orientated”, it would become
unable to satisfy other culture-seeking aspects -e.g., the desire for truth.
Therefore, duality in character arises; the ego partly mixed with the effect
(in this case make-up techniques) dissolves in it, for it has turned “self-orientated”,
and the other, seeing the rest of the human culture-seeking aspects fade away,
gradually disappears, and the whole character is engulfed by the original
effect.
Fortunately, observations
show that not many people are obsessed by “self-orientated” influences, so
there are always people conscious enough to condemn other's infatuation by some
qualities in life or the weakening of other human culture-seeking aspects.
Alexis Carrel in 20th century France, Thomas Eliot in England and William James
in America - and also many other scholars from all over the world -have openly
denounced such Internal captivities.
4 . Dynamic,
objective and pioneer culture: The following verses depict the pure source this
kind of culture originates form:
Centuries passed; and a
new one began; the moon is the same, but the water flowing by is not.
Justice and greatness
have not changed, only the centuries and the rulers have.
Many centuries have one
by, O
valued one! Yet, these concepts have remained firm and strong.
Though the water in the stream
has changed repeatedly, “the moon and the stars seen in it are still the same”
(Mowlavi)
Thus, the moon and the
stars are based not in flowing waters, but in the highest of heavens. [10]
This kind of culture is
not affected by activities susceptible to the variables and unstable aspects of
life, for it is caused by permanent natural facts and originally human aspects,
and aims for the relative ideals guiding man towards the highest goal in life.
In fact, this is definitely the human culture that is essential to any human
civilization throughout history. This is the culture that can free itself from
greedy, selfish rulers and continue serving the society.
Its other quality is its
ability to neutralize morals and traditions based on imperfect thoughts,
efforts to fill the realistic gaps of life, and in general, all unstably
regional factors devoid of authentic ideals.
By further studying
creative, objective and pioneer cultures, we understand why many other human
cultures have diminished. The main reason is the sedimentary activities caused
by the deterioration of their creators, or “self-orientated” cultures in which
man imprisons himself instead of any analyzing and explaining his activities.
Therefore, even if the cultural results they cause are able to survive, they
will gradually turn taboo, and disappear from the horizon of the society.
What Causes an Objective
Pioneer Culture?
We must first bring back
to mind the culture-seeking factor cited in the four definitions before
addressing the roots of objective culture.
The general history of
mankind, scientific evidence and philosophical experiences all prove that man
cannot remain satisfied with his compulsory natural and biological qualities
(as bees or ants do), and when his basic physical needs have been provided, he
will strive to know the “hows and whys” of nature, turning his whole
environment upside down to find his answers; and since his sensory, logical and
mental viewpoints are unlimited, after achieving each goal he asks himself,
“Now what?”
Taking such adventurous,
insatiable behaviour towards various situations into close consideration brings
us to a basic reason (or reasons), without which we would never be able to
comprehend the motives behind objective -or even other -cultures. It would be
impossible to find out the factors causing the rise, climax, demise, fall, or
even transfer of cultures between societies without taking the roots of
culture-seeking into consideration. Likewise, we would not be able to achieve a
pioneer, objective culture.
Human culture-seeking
appears to be based on primary and secondary factors:
THE FIRST ROOT is the
active psychological factor arousing man to build and arrange his natural,
physical surroundings and adjust the unchangeable phenomena around him in a way
appropriate to his creative self.
THE SECOND ROOT refers
to internal and external factors belonging to specific countries or peoples
which determines the former root, and explains their modes of life.
Considering the first
-and primary -root of culture- seeking, we may conclude that cultural diversity
is as numerous as those of human aspects aiding man to adjust and change the
world according to his ideals. However, we have already seen that man is not
capable of building a perfect culture that would satisfy all of his various
aspects; he cannot accumulate and organize all different cultural components.
Unfortunately, every civilization throughout history has had to suffer such
failures.
The reason for the
above-mentioned inability is not due to negligence or uncontrollable inhibitions
blocking the culture-makers way, but lack of attention to the active
psychological factor aiming to both build a suitable home out of natural,
unchangeable processes, and cause positive changes. On the other hand, we
should remember that confining a society to -for instance -its ancient
monuments, does not suit today's dynamic trends. Also, how can a bundle of
taboo behaviours established ages ago - with or without good reason -be able to
satisfy today's highly developed man? Indeed, such arts, morals, beliefs and
lifestyles can play an active role in today's culture in two ways:
First : Their
general social and/or psychological impact- if they have caused any.
Second : Historical
application and understanding how lifestyles of the past were colored by those
cultural affects, and also how the society found its definite path, the perfect
“home” its people had made.
In order to have an
authentically original culture; we must relate all of our ideal activities
and/or outcomes to the active psychological factor, which -although stably
creative- can provide them all. It would prove totally infertile, however,
without being saturated with the crystal- clear viewpoint arising from man's
internal, perfect culture for life.
We had better now
elaborate briefly on the clear aspect of culture.
Culture's Clear and
Observable Aspects
The observable aspect of
culture refers to those ideas, ideals and accounts of life materialized by
visible effects in our world, e.g. works of art, moral ethics or technology
supplying our requirements.
The clear aspect of
culture depicts the ideals, emotions, morals and goals chosen for man's life,
which - consciously or unconsciously -account for his individual or social
lifestyle. They are “clear”, which means they have no visibly observable
aspect. For instance, when a French historian writes about Napoleon Bonaparte
from a clearly racist point of view, he would definitely call him the greatest
hero of all time, as an Iranian racist historian would do so with Xerxes in a
clearly racist approach.
Assessing The History
of Gibbon on the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, Whitehead also believes
that:
“Gibbon has produced a
successful account of history, albeit from a totally 19th century
point of view.”
Ever since the
eighteenth century, the scientific aspect of culture has in two ways brought
about the current situation in the West through intensive brainwashing:
First : an
incredible, human reality -the eagerness for discovering facts -that has been a
human ideal ever since the earliest times: science. As it provides men contact
with facts, science is considered a critical virtue of life, thus engulfing all
mental endeavours around the world.
Second : science
gave birth to technology, which caused great luxury in people's lives.
Societies where technology was developing became so fascinated with its
economical and prestigious advantages that, not only did they totally forget
humanity and a deserved human life, they even made science a slave of its own
creation, technology –“scientific bankruptcy”
[11] arose, and logical human
virtues were totally ignored. A clear aspect of “We are the highest race” and
“We are Pioneers of Human Development” was engraved in their minds! It is now
still spreading at full strength.
The unbelievable result
is, the motto “I have technology, so I am the greatest on earth; I own
everything all over the world, which I may use at will!”
This, indeed, is the
culture that is gradually destroying original, worthy cultures of different
peoples, and has clearly turned into an anti-culture.
The great cultural
aspects that have been sacrificed by the clear “We are the greatest” aspect
are: the highest of human emotions, a broad scope of life, the high aim of
life, sympathy, and balancing powers and privileges to man's benefit. It has
revived the fight for survival, which thousands of prophets, wise men,
philosophers and any other human-loving person all around the world tried so
hard to uproot! [12]
Various Clear Aspects of
Culture
The clear, unobservable
aspects of culture -which account for its observable ones -differ widely in
nature, range and activity:
1. The nature
of some clear aspects of culture -which can also explain its visible aspects
-arise from natural human qualities, like selfishness, greed for power, etc,
each of which vary greatly in form and approach. Since they are human-originated
their range is much stronger and greater, or as Thomas Hobbes claims, “Man can
attack man like a wolf.” We must keep in mind, however, that all conscious
individuals or communities aware of humanitarian sacrifices made in benefit of
human justice and emotion throughout history, not only do not admit being
affected by -and accepting -selfish and power-greedy aspects, they even pretend
to be against them.”
2. Racism and
inadvertent patriotism, (in any way, not illogical patriotism) is another clear
aspect of culture that is -consciously or unconsciously - influencing other
aspects”
3. General
ideals all well-balanced humans have agreed on throughout history, such as
science, arts, civilization, health care, etc.
These clear aspects, if
activated without being contaminated by selfishness or ambitiousness, can be
-in their true nature -extremely useful. But unfortunately, as we have already
mentioned, they have caused sidekicks which have totally demolished their
creators' good name.
Saving ourselves from
such clear aspects -which first entice us with their attractive appearances,
and then turn into oceans of selfishness and greed to drown us -is only
possible through determining the greatest of goals in life and adhering to
them.
How to Improve the Clear Aspects of Culture
Although the simplest
and most straightforward, the way to improve the clear aspects of culture is
also in the most exclusive and essential one proposed by wise intellectuals. It
is, however, the longest and most complicated, too.
The
most direct, simplest, and still the longest and most complex way is for man to
return to himself; today's man has fallen greatly astray from his own self.
Clear aspects, of
culture interpreting and explaining all cultural effects and activities are
like glasses with colored lenses, changing man's viewpoint of his life. These
aspects of life can undoubtedly give no pure reflection of man's observable
world, for reflected observable phenomena cannot be more effective than their
real image; purely imagining beauty is never as influential as seeing real,
visible beauty. The imagination is only intrigued when the viewer wants to
possess the beauty, or paint a picture of a beautiful phenomenon.
Likewise,
a mental image of freedom cannot be as intriguing as real freedom; it can only
be effective when it proves its desirability to the imaginer.
Therefore, we must
distinguish clear aspects of culture from pure imagination; in order to do so,
we have to consider the fact that clear aspects have the activating effect
reflections and imaginations are devoid of. Besides, reflections and
imaginations identically reflect what exists in the visible world -like a
mirror -but they ignore their relationships with each other or basic goals
fundamental factors; the clear aspect, however, accounts for all observable
facts along with their connections with logical ends.
Hence, all dimensions of
life -pleasure, pain, knowledge, need, logic, imagination, morality, religious
and ideological tendencies, artistic creativity, etc. are explained by the
clear aspects of culture. If they are confined to facts formed by compulsory,
thoughtless activities, they would in fact only be reflections acting on
naturally- originated factors.
We may conclude that, in
order to provide satisfactory answers to the “hows and whys” of life, the clear
aspects of life should provide man's highest ideals in life. Thus, we can state
that any culture unable to determine the highest aim of life, will also
definitely fail to provide its ideals.
Without activating the
constructive aspects of life, the highest aim of life would not be capable of
being creative or dynamic. Any individual or society requires evolutionary
goal-setting -whatever its cultural effects may be -in order to achieve an objective
freedom which can ensure the survival of an original culture. In such cases,
any cultural effect or activity would prove devoid of any saturation by
idealism or providing a basis, like a heap of compulsory activities. Aimless
works of art, despite being highly attractive and exquisite, can only motivate
us momentarily, but they do not guide us after we are aroused. If we accept the
necessity of objectivity in original cultures, the rigid traditionalism in some
cultures would definitely turn into original, constructive ones.
Cultures
move towards their goals just like souls do. In fact, the culture of a society
depicts its soul, and all of its cultural activities and affects represent the
attitude of its spirit.
Thus, the only way to
create an original, objective culture is to enhance the emotions and thoughts
of the members of the society, and make them so harmonious that each human
being would freely be able to create his/her own desired culture.
As we have already
mentioned, without elevated goals, it is impossible to achieve true freedom of
character, otherwise the society would fall into “free” slovenly cultureless
ness, which would shatter away when compared with other cultures. Now that we
have realized the need for explaining and interpreting the highest reasons and
goals of life, we should find an ideology capable of such interpretations vital
for creating an original, objective culture.
Ever since earliest
times, many ideologies have proposed various ideas on the highest aim of life;
however, by studying them, we come to a universally agreed conclusion: “Any
target is located higher than the one that is aiming at it.” Thus the aim of
life must be much higher than the mortal phenomena and activities of everyday
life in order to provide a satisfactory explanation for the whole fundamentals
of life.
Tendencies to move
towards higher goals will certainly prove incompatible with the rise or fall of
some cultural effects and/or activities; furthermore, the cause-and-effect rule
puts culture -the “effect” -into the right evolutionary course. Of course,
there is great debate over what the great aim should be, and we do not tend to
go into its complicated details.
With the exception of
hedonists and nihilists, all schools of thought -as we have already mentioned
-agree that “the target is always higher than one aiming at it.” Thus, no
school of thought can present phenomenon or activities as the highest goal to
make an original culture -or as Mowlana Jalaluddin calls them, the “shadows of
life”:
“The pleasure of eating honey and milk arises from the soul,
all pleasures arise from the identity of human soul.
Thus, the heart is the true essence, and the world but an
effect, How can the shadow of one's soul become its cause?
The most valuable and
greatest quality of objective culture seeking an objective life is its logical
organization of cultural elements -the highest human ideal. Objectiveness leads
to cultural organization, as having an aim for one's soul causes mental order
and discipline.
It should not be so
surprising to us that cultural elements suffer from so great disorder in most
human societies today, for philosophers and intellectuals have also for some
time claimed to be unable to determine the true aim of life. After all, when
the human spirit is mutilated by economists, lawyers, psychologists, expert
sociologists and greedy technologists, how can we expect a culture with
logically organized elements?!
All
in all, we are left with no choice but to first solve the puzzle of the aim of
life, and then move on to organizing the fundamentals and rules of a culture.
Culture- maker today are apparently obliged to consider the highest aim of
life; otherwise, the way today's mechanical lifestyles and uncalculated
civilizations are going on, they will undoubtedly face nihilism.
The Highest Aim of Life Makes Original, Objective Cultures
No aim can suitably
explain a certain period of human life -his lifetime -including all regional
and social, factors depending on historical knowledge and human capabilities
without addressing these four questions: Who am I? Who am I with? Where am I
going to? Why am I here?
By
such questions, man undoubtedly intents to find out how he depends on his
world. Now matter how his ideology may be, it is enough for man to have a world
to be born in, get familiar with, develop a passion for, and finally die.
Without love to explain
our relationships with the world we live in, there would never be any of the
vast, fascinating cultures that have formed throughout history, nor any of the
arts originating from man's far-reaching ambitions. Perfectionist, ambitious
man, always reaching for higher positions -however highly accomplished his
activities may be -can only be saturated by divine attractions -to which the
only way of entrance is the human soul -unless, however, a cultural activity or
effect is exaggerated and disguised so greatly that it would satisfy man's
insatiable spirit. Such cultures would prove alive, colourless, sedimentary and
self-orientated.
Considering our above
discussions, we come to the conclusion that it is impossible to achieve a
dynamic culture without religious and ideological factors caused by objective
life.
By “ideological factors”
we do not mean a heap of illogical, unverifiable beliefs, but man's spiritual
awareness moving on the path of evolution towards divine attraction. As Iqbal Lahouri
says:
What is religion? Rising
from the earth, to achieve self- awareness of the soul
Along such a path, the
world has been resembled to man's precious body, full of both cultural results
and
activities to “decorate”
the home. In fact, the precious “home” is the world inside the “self”, which
will stay with us forever; it is not a place to stay for some time and then
leave.
The Culture Established by Islam [13]
The culture established
by Islam is an aimed life that strongly activates human aspects of aesthetism,
desire for knowledge, logic, and idealism, and organizes all cultural elements.
It does not isolate scientific culture from high human morals, does not
separate artistic culture from the culture of economic guidance, and finally,
considers the unity of culture as a dependant upon unity in human souls, thus
preventing its destruction. The elements of Islamic culture -referred to as
“culture of the mind”, “qualities”, “science”, “morals” (literally) and “the
best form of all affairs” in major references -all belong to a high concept:
wisdom and philosophy.
This wisdom includes any
kind of activity able to enhance objective lifestyles for each individual or
society. The first founder and promoter of this culture is God, who granted man
the means to write, talent, power to express himself, taste, and the constant
desire for seeking perfection and stable basics in the ever flowing stream of
events.
As a result of this
culture:
“Three centuries after
the Holy Prophet (s) died the city of Qartaba. with a population of one
million, had eighty academic schools and a library including
600,000 books:
Arabic had become the
main language of science. During this era, knowledge resumed spreading around
the world. Zachariah Razi (251-313 AH) did a thorough study on smallpox, and
his colleague Abul-Qassem Khalaf bin-Abbas Zahravi (d 404 AH) did the same for brain
and spinal bone diseases.
Avicenna (370-428 AH),
named "the prince of science”, had upgraded medicine in the Islamic
society to such an extent that when one of the kings of Castill caught
smallpox, he asked his enemies in Qartaba for help.
Mohammad ibn-Jaber-ibn Senan
Battani (d 317 AH} has brought much honour to his country
through his famous works. A noble aristocrat, Battani had great respect for
Ptolemy, although he himself exceeded Ptolemy in accurately studying the
equinox calendar, and was the first to use the sinus instead of the hypotenuse,
which led to today’s trigonometry. [14]
Literary culture as a
whole -the voice of any cultural ideal -became such a mighty creative factor in
Islamic societies that by presenting Jalaluddin Mowlavi and his like, it
influenced all other constructive cultures around the world, and any literary
school of thought today recognizes Mowlavi as one of its constituents.
However, other ordinary
cultures do not enjoy such systematic establishment.
Let us take the
statement “Literary and artistic modernity inhibits scientific advances” [15]
into more careful consideration. By comparing it with the article “Scientific
Bankruptcy Announced” [16] , what may we conclude. ..?!
On the other hand, had
the need for organizing and saturating all of man's psychic aspects been taken
into
consideration while
constructing and continuing cultural changes, certainly no advance in one
cultural affect would inhibit the others; in other words, literary and artistic
modernism would not prevent science from developing and inappropriate
expectations of observation, experience, or ignorance towards ideological
culture and scientific bankruptcy would never happen.
As we have already
stated:
“The culture established
by Islam is an aimed life that strongly activates human aspects of aesthetism,
desire for knowledge, logic and idealism, and organizes all cultural elements”
Artistic constructions
in Spain, India, Iran and Syria - about the highly exquisite qualities of which
all scholars on art agree -depict how strongly Islam enhances aesthetic
aspects.
The Koran has pointed
out God-made beauty on seven occasions, for instance:
"We have adorned
the lower heaven with the adornment of the stars .” [17]
"We have set in
heaven constellations, adorned them out to beholders.” [18]
"Say: Who has
forbidden the ornament of God which he brought forth for His servants, and the
good things of his providing?” [19]
In the above verses, “ornament”
and “adorning” refer to beauty, both in its general and special meanings. The
first two verses show its special meaning, and the third refers generally to
any attractive, useful phenomenon.
The plentiful Koranic
verses encouraging thought had such a profound mental effect on Muslims that
very soon Islam became the focal point of science and knowledge. During the
dark Medieval era, when all countries were deprived of any knowledge, Muslims
successfully kept the flame of science burning. Other cultural elements, such
as moral ethics and idealism, also highly flourished. All of these organized
advances were due to their being based on the original principle of the
objectiveness of life. If the basis is destroyed, all effects arising in the
name of culture will also be of compulsory origin, showing fake liveliness like
a water-sprinkled flower cut from its stem.
Can a Society Have
Various Cultures?
Before we answer this
question, we must determine what is meant by “various” cultures. Let us
consider some different kinds of culture:
First : cultures
able to coexist in harmony due to their original commonalities, e.g. the
cultures of holy religions (Islam, the Jews, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and
any other religion able to verify its holy origin).
The best reason for the
potential for harmony among the above-mentioned cultures is the vast amount of
various vital qualities that have made all divine religions ever since Abraham
(a), uniting people from many religious bases.
We clearly see how
Islam, by providing freedom of belief and culture for the religiously
intellectual, made harmony possible between them and Muslims, and all were able
to endeavour in fields of science, ideology, industry, and culture throughout
various eras of history; it seems the Islamic civilization has belonged to them
all.
Can history ever deny
the intimate, sincere co- operations various religions have made in medicine,
in hospitals and research centres around the world since many years ago? [20]
The real commonalities
between various religions causing their harmony are original realities such as:
1. The source of the
universe (God);
2. God's wisdom and will
in order to emancipate and perfect man (by giving them logical thought,
conscience, and great prophets);
3. the realness of
eternity;
4. the fact that God
Almighty is truly the greatest and wisest;
5. all divine religions
agree on the fact that man deserves a meritorious life, and is definitely
entitled to dignity, graciousness, chastity, responsible freedom, education in
all spiritual and/or physical matters.
Of course, all religions
agree on the basic rights in Abraham's religion; therefore, they should also be
in agreement on any cultural element based on these rights
Second : cultures
harmoniously common in fundamental ideologies and basics of natural life, and
also cultures having the same ideas about the optimum, logical life -though
their common points may not be religious
Examples are
celebrations after victory over a common enemy threatening all people's lives;
also, commonalities in creating arts that depict man-made advances towards a
better life in this world
Third : cultures
that conflict in their ideas and concepts of the universe, particularly in
their interpretation of life and its primary end
Even if such cultures do
not neutralize each other, obviously their differences would in time make them
all ‘colourless’ cultures in coexistence; however, since their ‘colourlessness’
is due to disturbing conflicts, they would never be capable of harmony.
There are numerous
examples of these cultures, like the contrast between Iran's national culture
and its religious culture -Islam Of course, their ‘contrast’ does not imply
that they cannot harmoniously coexist; contrarily, as we see, the elements of
national culture based on the real issues of physical and spiritual life -that
can play a useful role to mentally prepare people to accept factors leading to
prosperity, are also accepted in the religious culture, like artistic poetry
which is a highly popular art in Iran.
Provided being applied
in accordance with facts serving man's prosperity, this cultural element is not
only undoubtedly accepted by Islam, but even strongly encouraged by some
religious references to be used to develop descriptions of realities about the
world and man as they should be.
The criterion for
cultural harmony lies in those affairs useful for man's physical and spiritual
life. Such high cooperation and harmony between national and religious cultures
caused Iranians to begin the greatest of scientific, philosophical, artistic,
industrial, legal and moral services in the framework of Islamic culture, thus
raising Iran to its pinnacle of flourish. Let us now briefly address national,
religious and western cultures and their compatibility with Iranian culture.
Those who claim Iran is capable
of having three different cultures, should first consider the fact that, when
added to a land, ‘nation’ is not just a word anymore; Iran's history goes way
back in time, and our country has seen various cultures in different eras.
These scholars should be asked, therefore, which one of Iran's culture they
mean.
Iranian culture has gone
through various periods; the Arian invasion; the Medes era; the Achmanid era;
the Arsacides; the Parthians; the Keyan dynasty; the Sasanids; and many other
ears after the rise of Islam. Are the commonalities among all of these eras
meant here? [21]
Is Islamic Culture
Compatible with Western Culture?
If by “culture” here we
refer to phenomena making man's logical mode of life understanding, objective
and mentally enlightening, it is not only certainly compatible with Islamic
culture, but also even encouraged and promoted by it. The criterion is,
however, whether Western culture is capable of basing itself upon an objective
man in an objective world or not.
During the last decade
of the twentieth century, hedonism and utilitarianism dominated man's life
goals in the West. Of course, we do not mean to deny the unquestionable figures
and goodwill intentions occurring in Western countries. But the dominant trends
are, as we mentioned above, mixed with various forms of opportunist
authoritarianism.
In brief, Islamic
culture is based upon a “logical mode of life”, which originates from the
commonalities among divine religions (actually, all from Abraham's religion);
undoubtedly, any culture -Western or Eastern -able to adjust itself to these
common basics can have a profound role alongside Islamic cultures in reviving
the prosperity of human societies.
Therefore, those who opinionate
on the possibility of three harmonious cultures (national, religious and
Western) coexisting in Iran, are either not thoroughly aware about them, or
have been lured to express such ideas.
Now let us consider the
basics of today's culture in the West, and see whether they are acceptable in
Islamic culture or not.
First, we should keep in
mind that the fundamentals of Western culture do not account for all of its people's
thoughts and interest -the definitions given in dictionaries and encyclopaedias
verify this, too -and are merely facts consisting the foundation of their
culture, or may be imposed by authoritative force.
Therefore, persons or
phenomena exist in their life-styles which contradict the basics of their
culture. A few of today's fundamentals of Western culture are:
1. Worldly
life: man's “last” stop. Stated in most Western works, it makes up for the majority
of Western scientific culture. Unfortunately, the authoritative power of
science -sometimes even more forceful and inhuman than Medieval infidelity -is
at times used for verifying this basic of their culture; scientific appearance,
obviously, is sometimes much more harmful than scientific outcomes.
Thus, with all of the
evidence given by human conscience and pure logic that the world cannot be the
end of man, relying on science in order to deny this fact will not only make
science seem worthless, but even stupefying.
2. Absolute freedom
for any individual or group, provided that they do not disturb others' legal
rights Thus, individuals must have no legal confinement in life at all; one can
commit the filthiest of actions, and nobody can stop him/her.
Let us remind those who
“expertly” tend to mix Western culture with Islamic culture about quotations
made by the US Attorney of State:
"For an American, law
and religion cannot conflict more. Western countries, even those that do not
insist on the boundary between religion and politics, consider the law as just
a worldly issue highly influenced by current affairs....which legislators and
law courts are to carry out. The government should control it totally, not
churches or religion. Thus, the law we have in America cleverly by-passes
religion, and only breezes past moral dutifulness. In other words, an American
can be law-abiding and still morally deteriorated.” [22]
Can a culture only
considering man's coexistence and legal rights towards other people ever be
compatible with a culture that takes account of all human aspects, guiding them
in a law-supported “logical” path?
3. The essence
of power: although the essence of -power is generally not a main component of
Western culture -it is even still rejected in some Western literary and more
works -but alas, its influence shows in every aspect of today's political and
social culture in the West -particularly the practical aspects. Even
cooperation, teamwork, appreciation for one's peers and their decisions is
considered a device for achieving power; thus, the current trend in Western
culture is not “Death is the natural destination for the weak; no powerful dies
before weakening”, but the strong trying hard to weaken people in their own
physical aspects, leaving them to struggle towards their “natural destination”:
death!
4. The essence
of pleasure: Not only does-Western culture encourages pleasure in life, it even
uses scientific jargon to justify it: “Depriving oneself of pleasures leads to
complexes and other psychological abnormalities!”
Although these
passionate lovers of fame admit that leaving pleasures causes mental activities
to weaken:
Sexual pleasure his
entire world, his filthy thoughts would take him to the bottom of hell. (Mowlavi)
they did not expand the
concept to the pleasures of science, mystic knowledge, helping others, justice
and piety.
5. The essence
of profit-making and opportunism: Utilitarianism is so obviously established in
the West that there seems no need to prove its dominance through reasoning,
explanations and surveys. This part of Western culture claims man to be constantly
seeking his own benefits: “No one can stop me from achieving what is to my
advantage; I am entitled to take as my own anything I consider advantageous to
me, even though it may harm others.” Is this correct, or had we not better say,
“Nobody has the right to harm or damage what I have?”
From logical, moral,
legal, philosophical and religious points of view, definitely the latter is
correct. It is totally immoral to let people appropriate anything they consider
to their advantage! This can he claimed only when all people have the right to
deflect harm coming to them.
6 .
Machiavellian trends in political culture: This method weakens all human rules
and principles to the benefit of politicians’ goals - who are definitely
unaware of man’s various needs thus making everything unimportant in their
viewpoint
It is true to state that
ever since Machiavellian methods stepped into human management, the essence and
formality of mankind has suffered irrevocably We shall address another point on
this matter in the next item
7 . Spreading
pragmatism without correctly interpreting it: If it were interpreted so that it
claimed abstract, unreal concepts useless and inapplicable for find out the
truth about the universe - since they are neither receivable nor practically
usable - we could regard it as logical and acceptable, but the actual case is, the
only criterion used to judge issues is clearly observable, outer actions.
However, man’s critical mental, spiritual and physical needs cannot be
considered as acts; hope, goodwill, recognition of observable, logical beauty,
justice and spiritual persistence and dutifulness are highly superior to
utilitarianism and are the highest ideals and pillars of morality of most great
religions', for they pertain to man’s spiritual grandeur.
When a culture considers
the observable actions as the criterion, it has in fact ignored the most fundamentally
important element of evolution: man's spiritual development.
8 . Limiting
scientific knowledge: Limiting knowledge to what can be observed merely by
physical senses and human-made laboratories, confines the primary factor in
man's development -religion, morals, wisdom, mystic knowledge and other
originally mental realities of man's soul, the omission of which led to “The
Bankruptcy of Science”, and human survival in the 21st century was
put into great danger.
[23]
9. Presenting
irrelevant issues in the name of philosophy and ideology: It is an undeniable
fact that for many years, not only has the West failed to come up with an
organized, systematic philosophical ideology, but even ignored the need to
define some deeply meaningful concepts. Man, on the other hand cannot freely
interpret and explain life without understanding the general basics of the four
connections (man-himself, man-God, man-the universe, and man-other people).
10 . Prosaic arts:
It is quite surprising how “arts” can be combined with the “prosaic”, which
refers to anything low and destroying high human morals. The prosaic, referring
to all of the immoral, cannot exist alongside art, which arises out of
perfection.
Today's Western art -if
it can be called art -merely aims to astonish its viewers. The more amazed they
become, the more artistic a work can be considered!
On the other hand, any
prosy, root-drying, meaningless phenomenon can be presented to the unaware in a
highly attractive form, and still cause the same amount of amazement. But can
such spectacles reveal any of the realities concerning man's objective path of
life? What kind of persons will the outcomes of these kinds of art be? Neither
these arts, not their creators have able to answer such questions so far.
As a whole, cultural
triteness and employing culture to serve physical desires, utilitarianism and
authoritarianism, is enough to destroy any culture, for when man falls into
banality and unlimited physical desires, he has no identity left to provide a
culture with.
Moral Corruption is the
Main Reason for the Deterioration of Western Culture
Let us now quote from
Mr. Robert G. Ringer’s statements, which are of the most alerting cries of the
human soul in Western societies -drowning in mechanized infidelity, insensibility
due to superficial, limited desires - depicting the fall of original, human
cultures:
“What has caused the
conditions of life in the West to change so much? Why have all of the good
qualities vanished?
In my opinion, the
answer lies in the cleverly- laid conditions of ‘Abiding by Gradually-Imposed
principles'. A highly effective technique, abiding by gradually- imposed
principles becomes even stronger when man has some dependencies. Let us go into
greater detail. Studies have shown that man does not respond positively to
sudden changes; in fact, he goes into defence and puts up a strong resistance.
However, there is also much evidence that shows man cannot resist gradual
changes, a fact well- understood by the enemies of individual liberty. They are
clever enough to realize that they must act patiently. History clearly shows
than that the world cannot be changed in two weeks. However, by moving step by
step towards their goals, no one would ever notice their evil plans infiltrate
people's lives. Thus, people give in to gradual changes, considering it
their destiny.
Some generations may
consider a particular lifestyle as slavery, whereas other generations may think
of it as freedom, for each generation knows only its own lifestyle. Thus, the
deterioration of Western societies is the strongest evidence for the influence
of these gradually imposing methods.
People have grown
accustomed to the crisis around them; they have accepted the decadence,
corruption and chaos that fill their surroundings. Only hope keeps them going;
all they think of is when the demise may happen. Few people, however, believe
it would ever take place, for such falls are mostly based on momentary actions.
The demise of the West fills quite a fluctuating diagram. America has
deteriorated much faster during the years 1913 to 1963 than the previous 137
years. Among those fifty years, the last two decades prove to be more intense.
However, there is no concrete evidence that deterioration accelerates every
year, or that the Western civilization is nearing its demise; but it is definite
that the present conditions will not be able to carry on easily. Although man
has always faced problems, we now have many more problems than our
predecessors, anyone over thirty years of age -by just looking carefully around
him -will definitely agree on this. Unfortunately, however, most people do not
even want to realize the danger threatening them. Their way of reasoning is
quite amazing. They believe that if one neglects the problems and dangers
(‘whatever will be, will be’), everything will look normal to him; his worries
will fade away.” [24]
Mr. Ringer thus accounts
for the rise of human rights at the time morals are disappearing in the West:
"When all moral
ethics in the West were about to fall, Human Rights arose like a sacred belief-
or, better said; a major law (or right) -and gradually turned into a strong
bond of unity among people. Whatever we name it -republic, mass, population
...is irrelevant! In a democracy, human rights mean safeguarding the borders of
the country, which is the best way to satisfy the people. But the crucially
important point is, many consider it in its lowest meaning: violating others'
rights in the name of the 'majority's rights’ ; in other words, the
stronger is always right! Such concepts are obviously in no way compatible with
justice or morality. [25]
When asked, “Is it too
late?” Mr. Ringer says:
“I am
frequently asked whether it is too late to save Western civilization or not. I
believe the question is incomplete. Keep in mind that moral revolution has come
to an end, for those social laws giving the rights and authority to desires -based
on the idea that 'Man is Entitled to His Desires’ thus making chaos a sacred
law -have reached their peak. So the more appropriate question will be: Can we
rediscover and recover our former moral qualities? Can we ever make those moral
values again the base of our civilization?
If we can, there should
be no worry whether it may be too late; there is no reason to believe we are
incapable of providing people in the West with a new life. In my opinion, the
only hope is to rediscover Western civilization by means of correct moral
values. Therefore, we should be brave, wise, and consciously try to find what
destroyed these moral values, and then rebuild them. [26]
Mr. Ringer should keep
only one thing in mind: If he used “human civilization” instead of “Western
civilization”, both the East and the West could be saved; ignoring the East and
solely focusing on the West would prove aimless, for the two are strongly
related. Is only considering the West not racist favouritism?
This, indeed, is the
destructive factor which originates from selfishness, and is the root of all
problems in our times -especially in the West.
Now let us consider the
views of the renowned scholar, Erich Fromm, on the effect of cultural
deterioration on the humanities in particular:
“Man is the only being
that kills its kind without any biological reason”.
“Modern psychology
is quite lifeless, for it easily cuts a human into different parts, ignoring a
whole, living human being. In other words, it considers man as a set of certain
qualities put together -like a machine -and totally overlooks him as being
alive”.
“Nowadays, man
is considered as a tool still without a machine to be used in. A complete human
sees himself / herself as an active piece of goods (in other words, an
independent item of merchandise); hence, he is lonely and miserable. However,
he tries to save himself from his misery. He is searching for happiness, but is
fighting a losing battle.
“In today's
societies, man has become a zero, a part of a machine; as long as a society
sees profit-making and production as man's highest end, this is inevitable. I
believe today's social establishment has destructive roots, for it produces
tendencies for destruction. The greater the tendency for destruction, the more
miserable man will be, and in turn less positive towards life.” [27]
Factors Stabilizing
Cultures throughout History
Some cultures or
cultural elements certainly seem more stable than others. Various theories have
been proposed accounting for their stability, and it is quite useful to study
them. First, we should keep in mind that some cultures have not at all remained
firm due to their elements being general human virtual facts -in fact, they
should be regarded as man's virtual elements “as they are.”
Studying these cultures
may make their scholars and followers put serious effort into finding the
natural reason brought about by their geographical, economic, social, political
and historic aspect; thus, through realistic assessment of their cultures, they
may refine and advance human ideals and come to dynamic, objective cultures.
For instance, slavery
was a culture that even great scholars like Aristotle approved of; although it
covered all human qualities in its own framework of slavery, it was still a
totally incorrect culture that dominated most ancient lands. However, this
culture cunningly rules out one of the most vital virtues of man -responsible
freedom -thus upsetting man's developed thoughts into a state of confusion and
disorder. Islam, on the other hand, considered slavery a phenomenon totally
irrelevant to man's “actual” virtues, and set out to demolish it.
Thus, the reason for the
stability and deep influence of a culture cannot abstractly lie in its human
virtual reality. In order to recognize if a culture is truly useful and stable,
therefore, we need not the period of time of its duration, but its basic
factors. A few of the basic factors that stabilize cultures are:
Factor One: the positive
relationship between a culture - or some of its components -and the needs or
luxuries of the members of a society. For example, the unique culture
concerning living beings in India is based on regional factors or beliefs about
living this only see in that area; likewise, the traditions of Nourooz (the new
year celebrations) in Iran are due to Iran's climate, and have been established
for many years.
Factor Two: is time; the
more aged cultural elements become, the higher their value will be. It is
impossible to account for this factor, but we can say that firmness during a
long time can be sign of stability in cultural elements; however, it is not
enough to prove it. Selfishness has existed throughout the whole history of
mankind; very few cases can be found in which man has succeeded in keeping his
virtues aligned with true logic and used them correctly -the majority have
fallen astray in assessing “themselves”, and instead of having the proper
“self'”(safeguarding their innate virtues up to perfection), they fall into
ill-mannered selfishness. Such examples bring us to the conclusion that the
stability of a culture in human lives does not necessarily imply its
righteousness, although anything advantageous to man can prove original, and
will remain firm for a long time.
Factor Three: the
formation of the culture of traditions, customs and beliefs plays a crucial
role in giving a society a special nationality, and causes the people to be
focused and organized. Soon these cultural elements will turn into the identity
of the society, which it will defend to the last breath; of course, this is due
to the fact that as time goes by, there is more communication among cultures,
which in turn enhances cultural studies and research, and modifications would
prove necessary .
Factor Four: the
compatibility of cultures with facts and realities is verifiable. The stronger
and deeper their compatibility, the better the stability of the cultural
elements.
Apart from the second
factor -which considers cultural stability as due to time and duration -the
other above-mentioned factors do not do so. In case of the first factor, the
reasons and necessities leading to the beliefs of the society require concern,
if they are based on the psychological rules of the peoples; time will
undoubtedly be unable to influence it. And if it depends on the personal
beliefs of the intellectual figures in the society, two factors will determine
its survival.
a . the
qualitative and quantitative influence of the outstanding figures in the
society;
b . their
qualitative and quantitative background logically supporting their culture's
stability.
If the supporting factor
is their cultural crystallization -directing the people as a truly original
establishment -the culture will be deeply engraved in people's souls, and can
strongly unite them. This is why time will not be able to influence it, for it
enjoys logical backing. [28]
Blind Imitation of Past
Beliefs and Cultures Inhibits Logical Thought and Wisdom
We have already accepted
that the firm establishment of culture among people does not necessarily imply
that it enjoys originality or is compatible with reality. Although a culture
well-engraved in people's lives and souls does become a viewpoint to man and
the world, many cultures past and present lose all of their composure when it
comes to logical analysis; therefore man must analysis the dominant culture of
his society and eliminate any sedimentary, baseless elements in it if he wants to
take positive steps towards “elevating evolutionary life.” But alas, sometimes
imitation dominates great minds so much that all of man's thoughts are blocked.
It seems we deny the fact that:
Imitation destroyed
people; a thousand damns be upon imitation!
(Mowlavi)
How can an imitator also
be a researcher? How can a wise one be the same as a fool?
Centuries come and go,
but society leaders still do not understand how destructively inhibiting
imitation is. Maybe they are afraid that without imitation in people's
individual and social life, they would not need management anymore……have they
not ever thought that the power- greedy must first change from “person” to
“thing” -in other words, from “researcher” to “imitator” -before they can
change people, take advantage of them, and imprison them in a cage of illogical
imitation?
In brief, depriving
people of sin, recognizing true life and its rules is a greatly unforgivable
and deserves no less than being banned from God's kind blessings.
Blindly following the
beliefs and traditions of the predecessors ruins one's mind; likewise following
those drowning in their animal desires, those who have totally put aside human
morals or dignity in the name of freedom, modernity, progress, culture and so
on, using such deceiving jargon to destroy all logic, consciousness or
conscience. This is not an Eastern theory or religious prejudice, for we can
see even more intense reflection, of such hatred for Western leader, by Western
scholar, themselves in an interview with Spiegel, one of
them had said, “Shame is fading away, and the urge to kill no longer know, any
bounds. The mass media -television and radio stations the most -have brazenly
begun to use force and impudence in order to attract more customers for the
general industry. Cultural critics are complaining about inadvertent violence,
and have announced a moral disaster condition Sociologists, psychologists and politicians
are angry with the sexual corruption presented in all cultural area, -TV and
the film industry in particular. The confusion caused by insolence and
violation is so great that even the Liberal Church of the Bible cries out about
it in its publications.
“The women in Bayer have
signed petitions demanding laws against sexual misconduct and violence
Sociologists discuss subject like ‘violence in arts’ or ‘tendencies towards new
terror’. The daily Frankfutter Alegmaina Seitung has spoken of unprecedentedly
high violence in the community, claiming a state of moral disaster which has
engulfed the whole urban area, A, violence and harassment changes from a
forbidden crime to a hobby, unprotected, confused humanity tries to condemn the
increasing pressure and oppression upon foreigners, violence in street stadium,
and public transport vehicles.
Freud's mysterious
statement comes to mind:
"The lack of shame
is a sign of mental weakness. The conscience does not function anymore.”
Spiegel: Mr. Duerr [29] ,
violence and violations are increasing day by day. What is wrong with this
society?
Duerr: In my opinion,
the basic problem is the destruction of social relationships, which leads to
what man calls emotional death -in other words, the “end of warmth.”
The mass media also
accelerate it by spreading it so much. Although our modern, free society has
brought us happiness, there is one problem with this freedom -it took away from
us the warmth that used to exist among families, and dominated man's social
conduct.
Spiegel: How is the demise
of family attachment related to the lack of shame?
Duerr: They are
definitely related. For instance, physical shame means limiting the signs of
sexual behaviour in order to keep a personal relationship chaste.
Nowadays, people have no
respect for selected friendships. Therefore, privatizing sexual attraction is
meaningless.
Spiegel: What if
brazenness grows? If physical shame- as you have stated -arises from man's
nature - how can we witness impudence increase every day?
Duerr: The Pope and the
high priests are still in deep discussion on the nature of man. Sociologists,
on the other hand, also stubbornly resist. What I'm trying to say is that,
however people's social life may have formed, physical shame plays a critical
role in it, for it can reduce social frustrations, and strengthen the
relationships between married couples; that is why with shame fading away,
adultery has increased to such an extent.
Spiegel: But this
freedom is highly publicized, contrary to your theory.
Duerr: There certainly has
been no society yet in which personal relationships are really so intensely
publicized. This behaviour has also led to violence. It seems to be
unprecedented throughout history.
Spiegel: Freud spoke of
a lack of shame that weakens the wisdom of mind.
Duerr: That is true;
there comes a time when man realizes that his own incompetence has led to a
great lack of culture and civilization. Progress-orientated theorists have
always claimed that primitive societies enjoyed much more zeal, endeavour,
desire and uncontrollable instincts that we do in our well-established society
today.” [30]
It is needless to
mention how strongly Islamic culture and other divine religions have repeatedly
warned man about the role of lust and undisciplined life in weakening thoughts.
“Manhood lies in
effort and endeavour, not indulging in sexual pleasures. No matter how sophisticated
he may get, his indulge will degrade him: His cries may go high, but he himself
will fall.” (Mowlavi)
Faith, the highest
outcome of logical thought and elevated emotions, is destroyed by
shamelessness.
Imam Ali (a) has said:
"One, who has no
modesty, has no faith.”
Although Freud states
that, “The lack of modesty is a sign of mental weakness", how can he -with
all of his emphasis on the necessity of saturating sexual instincts in any way
possible -consider the lack of modesty as a sign of a weak mind?
Culture Adoption and Its
Causes
Cultural adoption has
become quite popular these days. As religion-opposed, immoral activities and phenomena
are infiltrating religious societies, [31] the nobly dignified ones become more
and more terrified.
We shall address culture
adoption by considering a few points:
One : From an
absolute point of view, is culture adoption wrong or right? What is included in
the cultural concepts and elements being accepted?
Obviously, the third
part of this question is correct, and it must be determined what kind of
culture is being accepted. If it is “the suitable methods or meritorious
qualities for those of man's physical or mental activities based on logical
reasoning in sensible life”, such a culture would undoubtedly be accepted, as
it has been throughout history -man's perfectionist potential would seek it
under any circumstances.
The most evident example
possible for this is the Muslims' fantastic endeavours throughout the 2nd
through 5th centuries (Hijra) which innately aimed to establish culture,
civilization and adopt the meritorious, suitable aspects from other countries. From
the Caspian shores to the Atlantic waters, they prevented their original,
evolutional culture from demise. Such pioneers of culture and civilization
indeed discarded any filthy, immoral phenomena that opposed religion in the
name of culture, and only considered those realities which were advantageous to
man's physical and spiritual life as culture.
Two : Adopting
dynamic, objective (evolutionary) cultures, although quite vital, does not mean
imitation without studying, examining and refining.
Imitation ruined people,
a thousand damns be upon imitation!
(Mowlavi)
Imitation is
destructively wrong, no matter whether something good or bad is imitated; in
any case, the copycat is totally unaware of what he is doing. The only
difference is, if a meritorious reality is being imitated, it will lead to good
effects, despite without the role of the imitator. Literary culture quite
clearly elaborates on this:
“One who calls God is
much different from one who knows God; as different as men are from animals.
Thus, the God-knowers to God-seekers are like mystic knowledge to science.
The shining sun is not
the same as the shining moon; each shining differs from the other.
How can a researcher be considered equal to a copycat?
How can the knowing be the same as the ignorant?
If only the laws
forbidding copying were seriously followed, there would be no more fluctuation
in scientific theories, philosophy and other cultural elements. Recently,
‘scientific’ theories have infiltrated Islamic societies from the West, and have
been imitatively accepted by the unaware as scientific discoveries. If they
were told that such issues lack a soundly scientific basis and are merely
subjective deductions or assumptions, they would abruptly disagree, “No! you
are decadent! You are opposing science! The time for using imagination has come
to an end.
This is science, the
only thing that can bring about our progress. “These ignorant -and, at times
spiteful -people forced others to follow such theories, abusing universally
accepted principles such as “Scientific rules cannot be disagreed with.” Since
their obedience was merely imitation, even when the theories were
scientifically proved wrong and rejected in the West, the copycats insisted on
their beliefs- as if the clear blue sky were still pouring rain on their
houses! [32]
Three: There are
various forms of culture transferring to other societies. Let us now study:
Culture Transfer
1. Culture transfer is
best in its useful, productive form, which includes realities concerning meritorious
methods for man's ‘reasonable life.’ Such cultural elements -like science,
industries, religious qualities and elements based only upon man's pure virtues
- are not only suitable enough for everyone to cooperate in their transfer, but
also Islam has considered it a religious duty.
Many Islamic references
have emphasized on such cooperation. The Holy Koran says:
“Help one another to
piety and good fearing; do not help each other to sin and enmity. There is no
piety or good deed in this world higher than spreading elevating cultures that
can save man from ignorance, poverty, anxiety, and various needs. And fear God,
for surely he is terrible in retribution. [33]
The Holy Prophet (s) has also said:
“All people are related
to God; those who are more useful for others, are the most favoured by God”
There remains no doubt
that only life-saving cultures are the most vital and the most advantageous to
man.
In all major references
on history and civilization - written whether by Western or Eastern researchers
-it is agreed that when Muslims were free of their selfish, tyrant rules during
the 3rd through 5th centuries (Hijra), they had the chance to adopt cultural
elements from other nations of that time, expand their culture and
civilization, and pass on their own useful cultural elements alongside the
elements adopted, adjusted and refined; some historians have stated this era as
being crucial to the protection of science and culture in the Medieval times.
2 .
Transferring useful cultural elements, in order to gain economic or political
advantages. In other words, the society intends to spread useful cultural
elements to other societies in order to profit economically politically, or
even dominate them; the purpose is not to follow ideal human goals or expanding
helpful cultures. In these cases, the communities or nations conceding the
cultures must take into careful consideration what they are adopting;
otherwise, they would end up with a load of nonsense called ‘culture’, which
would eventually ruin them.
As the renowned Iranian
poet Nezami Ganjavi writes:
“What are they
endeavouring for” one asked He was told, “They buy sorrow at the expense their
lives.
3. Transferring
culture in order to present the society as a leading pioneer to other
societies.
Although such meagre
intention may seem unimportant at first, they can lead to destructive
aftermaths, for they all originate from selfishness; furthermore, they may even
humiliate the society receiving their culture, and demand a reward for
elevating their culture. “Indeed, our brain tissue is quite different from
yours; we are much more complete, and as you know, the principle of evolution
states that the superior can consider themselves as the goal, and others the
means to achieve it!”
4. Transferring
spiritually or physically corruptive and harmful factors to others in the name
of culture may possibly be the most vexed of human actions towards their peers.
Creating and presenting sexually arousing devices on a large scale -though
seemingly scientifically-based phenomena or depicting beauty - actually aims to
destroy mankind.
5. The
production of stories, paintings or other forms of ‘art’ implying nihilistic
goals, however exquisite they may be, is equal to destroying human beings.
6 . Creating
any works of art -no matter how attractive or fascinating -that humiliates and
ridicules human character is equal to murder.
7 . Efforts
towards establishing ignorance about social problems and neglecting the poor;
cultural affects clearly show this.
8. Any efforts
towards depriving people of their responsible freedom grace, dignity and the
life they deserve is equivalent to destroying their souls, no matter what or
how the cultural activities may be.
9 . Any
seemingly-cultural efforts towards distracting human beings from eternity and
the origin and end of life, is not different from trying to annihilate man's
goal - seeking spirit.
Now we indeed realize
what a massacre goes on among human communities, or as Jibran Khalil Jibran
puts it, “Not only are the murderers of human souls ignorantly enjoying
themselves, but they are even publicly announced guilty of murder, and ,till
the dead souls around them do not touch them.”
"The justice that is now on
earth brings demons to tears, and makes the dead laugh all its sight.”
"Prisons and death
is for the smaller, weaker criminals; the strong criminal, enjoy glory and honour.”
"If one steals a
flower, he is condemned and humiliated; if one steals the whole field, he is
considered a significant hero.”
"Murderers of
bodies are punished, but killers of human spirits walk about freely.”
[34]
Current Cultural Changes
In an article, Paul J. Bahanan writes:
“Ever since the
mid-1800s, cultural changes accelerated at a higher rate, which was due to vast
technological and industrial advances; cultural exchange has also sped up.
Inventions like airplanes, cinema, radio, television, and so forth, make it
possible for customs, traditions or cultures all around the world to be in
constant touch. Anywhere you are, you can enjoy American jazz, English football
or Japanese kimonos at the same time.
Apparently, the
expansion of cultural exchange is preparing the grounds for a global culture,
and the differences among various peoples fading away. Some fear that this trend
will cause man to be deprived of his long-established traditions. Others
believe that the development of global cultures would lead to more variety and
enrich cultures all around the world.” [35]
There are a few points to consider here:
First: Science and
technology have been separated from culture; this is quite considerable, since
they naturally provide a purely scientific viewpoint, and establish a
profit-orientated basis. The meritorious aspects of science and technology have
unfortunately been contaminated by profiteering trends.
Second : Advances in
culture development and exchange devices are highly crucial and unprecedented.
If the cultural relationships and exchanges are not carefully calculated,
social problems are very likely, for what is nowadays induced into people's
minds as culture is not always originated from purely human emotions. If a
general law -like the Human Rights -were written so that not only the study,
adjustment and refining of cultures for being put into use for man's evolution,
but also preventing filthy, commonplace phenomena entering other societies in
the name of culture could be taken care of, original, dignified human cultures
would find much more hope for survival; otherwise, they end of .humanity would
be inevitable.
Third : “Apparently,
the expansion of cultural exchange is preparing the grounds for a global
culture, and the differences among various peoples seem to be fading away.”
This is not as easy as
it may seem to be. By carefully studying today's cultural issues, social
management trends and various systems of authority and power, we cannot come to
deny the role of mighty leaders in imposing powerful society cultures. On the
other hand, original, productive cultures which take account of man's highest
emotions and spirits have fallen way behind technology and its characteristics
nowadays. Let us return to Professor Bahanan’s article, where he clearly
elaborates on this fact:
"Some sociologists
believe most social problems are due to the fact that some cultural elements
progress more slowly than others. Most retardation in the history of the United
States have been in non-physical aspects, e.g. thoughts and traditions. Science
and technology advance at such great speed that they leave non-physical
cultural issues way behind.”
How Cultural Aspects Can
Be Transferred from One Society to Another
1 . The
almighty God has provided the truth -seeking with the facts about the universe,
and -due to His divine, extreme kindness, concretely confirmed in Islamic
references -leaves no positively aimed efforts without fruitful result. The
Koran has on several occasions emphasized on the necessity of fruitful outcomes
due to efforts:
"No soul laden
bears the load of another and a man shall have to his account only as he has laboured.”
[36]
"And who so does an
atom's weight of good shall see it and who so does an atoms weight of evil
shall see it.”
[37]
Thus, every human
being is potentially ready to receive realities by means of efforts; according
to this divine-human principle, man's success in discovering truths depends on
his amount of effort This divine-human principle provides all peoples and
nations with useful cultural elements, as is verified in this hadith by
the Holy Prophet (s)
"Seek knowledge
even if it may mean going all the way to China.”
It was due to this
belief that Muslims made great efforts ever since the rise of Islam towards
acquiring the perfect cultural elements of other nations, and not only did they
discover plenty of cultural and ideological realities about other cultures
during the 3rd an 4th centuries (Hijra), but also
fertilized them and got quite significant results with highly elevated their
findings.
Thus, Islam not only
never prevents adopting positive foreign cultural elements -the most apparent
example to name of is science, a means of achieving the truth -but even
strongly recommends it. Islam, therefore, accepts any cultural elements that
can effectively discover or adopt true facts.
It is of great importance
that anthropologists distinguish real scientific issues -which are proved
through concrete scientific evidence -from potentially right or wrong theories
and deductions; in other words, although such theories aim to account for
certain phenomena, they have not yet been definitely approved of. Studying
them in anthropological fields as the mere theories or deductions they are, is
quite appropriate. It would be highly useful to bring them into a society
seeking development and perfection, in order to expand the humanities.
2. The current
Western knowledge of the nature of man has led to a vast amount of
anthropological explanations, concepts and issues so popular that they have
become the source of many interpretations about various human aspects, e.g. ‘strong
tendencies towards essential pleasures and enjoyment,’ which following Freud's
approval, began to look like a matter of scientific significance. Apart from a
very few number of wise, truth-seeking ones, most people in the West account
for human issues on the basis of the highly popular hedonistic viewpoints. It
is the unquestionable duty of a developing, perfectionist society to carefully
seek reasons for all human aspects, and to take into serious consideration the
fact whether man is naturally hedonistically orientated or not, and if he is,
are the pleasures concerned with only natural, purely physical ones? Should
spiritual, mental pleasures not be included? Is a society where no pleasures
are based on the pains and inconveniences of others possible? In fact, such
people have -using mental, social, regional and political factors -put so much
emphasis on a human aspect that does not even innately exist in him that it now
seems to be an essential part of human nature in the eyes of the simple-minded.
Thus the establishment of Western culture nowadays is not comprehendible
without taking hedonistic principles into consideration.
[38]
3 . Some
certain cultural elements originate from ethical and regional features
exclusive to some nations or peoples, and thus lack a universally human quality
like taboo behaviours of tribal customs and particular interpretations of minor
aspects of life. According to Islam's definition of culture (as an objective,
creative culture), such elements are not only definitely unusable in
anthropological issues, but even cannot be considered as ideal cultural
phenomena.
4 . There are
other cultural elements that are compatible with reasonable human ideals. For
instance, by studying religious cultures in various nations, we find that some
cultural elements maybe considered unimportant in others -or maybe even
illogical. A logical reasoning brings us to the conclusion that all of them
originate from an extremely reasonable human ideal which has been degraded
through time to a worthless phenomenon due to regional points of view and
mental manipulations. We face such phenomena in various forms of worship for
God. The Koran has also pointed it out.
[39]
One of the commonest of
human ideals that is degraded to lowly phenomena is justice -which, in its
general form, is universally approved of. Since law has existed throughout the
history of man, there is no exception to the fact that justice is accepted by
everyone; when law exists among fellow men, every aspect of their life either
obeys the law or defies it. (Let us suppose the latter is the case.) If they
obey the law, justice exists; if not, there will be cruelty and deviation.
However, we know that justice, in the hands of the selfish, power-greedy and
ignorant people, is degraded down to a cruelly unjust phenomenon. When such
cultural adjustments are transferred to anthropological domains, they will
bring about nothing but obsessing people.
How Can Man -Who Accepts
Culture and Cultural Activities Due to His Perfection-seeking Virtues - Openly
Accept Destructive, Corrupt Cultures?
Let us first mention
again that the reason why man accepts culture is his intense tendency for
perfection, which is undoubtedly mighty; individual and social advances in
various fields such as science and technology clearly prove it.
Now we must see why
perfection-seeking human accepts destructive, corrupt factors so easily?
The most important
reason for corruption is the vacuum-like gap of the realities of evolutionary
culture among the society. In such an abyss, man's innate desire for perfection
will either fade away, or may remain. If the former is true, lust and animal
desire will dominate man's internal existence, and make any kind of corruption
seem like enjoyment or even a necessity, and become the highest aim of his
life. In such cases, all fundamentals like religion, ethics, law, economics,
and politics will be manipulated by corruption, and lead the society for
eventual demise. [40]
In the second case, if
the innate desire for perfection still exists deep inside man, it can again be
activated provided the necessary conditions, and attain original, positive
cultural elements once more. If society leaders can safeguard it against
corruption in fields like religion, politics, law, morality and education, and
provide the grounds for its activation, the gap will obviously be filled with
original, evolutionary culture. In any case, therefore, the leaders of the
societies should protect their people against destruction.
The third case, which is
the most dangerous form of anti-cultural invasion, is when the
perfection-seeking eagerness is dominated by the ‘animal-like natural self.’
Thus, man turns into the most dangerous being, who would willingly destroy
everything for just a moment of is own enjoyment.
Generally, the desire
for perfection may be activated in positive or negative poles:
The positive pole pertains
to the proper, worthy activities all Prophets, Imams (a) and other leaders of
evolutionary human movements have done in order to keep humanity from poverty
or infidelity. For instance:
1. How does the
Holy Prophet Abraham (a) use this force? He stands firmly against all of his
friends and the people of his time in order to make faith in the only God,
honesty, sincerity and other moral virtues a reality. The desire for perfection
makes him carry out the task sacrificing his own child. It would be impossible
to perform such a bitter task without the endless desire for perfection. With
all the force Abraham had, even if he had lived for centuries, he would have
done the same time and time again.
2. The Holy
Prophet Moses (a) faces the atrocities of the Pharaoh for many long years,
never suffers the least pain. He could have kept on his resistance for years
and years without wavering or fatigue.
3. The history
of the efforts and pains of the Prophet Jesus (a) needs no further explanation.
4. The Holy
Prophet of Islam, Muhammad (s) said,
"No other prophet
went through as much pain and trouble as I did.”
However, he accepted the
pain and trouble so eagerly as if he actually enjoyed it. Imam Ali (a) also showed
gloriously profound efforts through both pure worship and sincere services for
people in order to enhance their prosperity. [41]
The negative pole desires
unlimited “self-power”; indeed, degradation into lowly values knows no bounds.
As Nero once said: “If
only all of mankind had only one head, I could cut it off with one stroke!”
Ghengis Khan be slaved
many societies of his time, and still could not get enough.
Tamerlane made pillars
out of the heads he cut, obsessed by the advance of his unlimited power. Those
who live only for their lusts and desires consider people as their highest aim
in life, even if it may lead to the end of all of mankind. They not only
consider their philosophy as the best for their own society, but also regard
all of history as a mirror to interpret it by.
Thus, both positive and
negative poles of "self"-enhancement lead to an immortal panacea; as Mowlavi
states:
These tyrants are truly venomous,
painful vipers contrary, however, to men of piety.
Deculturalization
Instead of Cultural Generalization
Unfortunately, culture
is falling apart instead of enhancing its common cultural elements during the
late 20th century; the turning point here are industrial societies, and only
the power greedy, selfish authoritarians know what will eventually happen. If
the curve of culture continues to fall into a nosedive, we would be quite lucky
if it just degrades us back to our cave days. The ‘new’ culture it advertises
deploys every scientific or artistic effort in order to establish animal
instincts, and take people far away from highly moral virtues.
We had better call it
the ‘anti-culture’, or ‘deculturalization’ of human societies. It tends to deliver
the final blow to humanity: first demolish human realities and fundamental
values, destroy the sacred foundation called ‘family’, and eventually call the
whole earth a useless part of the solar system, and ruin it.
May God save mankind
once again from those who destroy human values and deculturalize humanity, and
grant us deliverance by enhancing our logic, reason and conscience. [42]
A global culture depends
directly on the globalization of the four fundamental realities:
1. global human economy,
2. global human power,
3. global human rights, and
4. global human politics.
Let us elaborate further by addressing:
Global Culture
1. The idea of
achieving a global culture for people of all nations and societies is a great
human ideal that anyone aware of man's nature, physical and spiritual needs and
commonalities would warmly approve of. The strongest reason for the universal
agreement on this matter is the generality of the humanities and literary
culture that covers all nations and peoples, and is the same for Asians,
Africans or Europeans.
2 . By ‘global
culture’ we do not refer to all elements and phenomena, for any society
innately has certain characteristics in regard to religion, the universe and
fellow men that are exclusive to its own historical, geographical and social
factors.
What we mean by global
culture are the general realities of culture, such as fundamental moral virtues
(love for fellowmen, sacrificing for human ideals), accepting a worthy,
meritorious life for mankind, accepting reasonable (responsible) freedom for
all, and accepting to try hard to advance man's highest goals.
If the four
above-mentioned fundamentals (global human economy, global human power, global
human rights, and global human politics) are logically established, global
culture is obviously achievable. We realize that all divine religions
-originating from Abraham's -based upon man's pure, innate virtues (especially
Islam, which covers all of their basics) would warmly accept such a culture. If
all human societies do not possess the four fundamentals, this culture will
never be able to exist.
The reason why is quite
clear. Considering the definition for culture (the proper, worthy or
meritorious qualities for man's physical or spiritual life phenomena or
activities based on logic and emotions originating from reasonable life,
[43] no society can enjoy a dynamic, objective evolutionary culture by
means of an imperfect economy, lack of establishment for people's physical or
spiritual enhancement or a legal system truly addressing social requirements
and realities, for throughout the history of politics and power, when
Machiavellians have taken control, humanity and its values have unfortunately
been victimized. If powerful politicians are the end and people are the means”
is the key motto to achieve political control, there will be no room for values
like religion, morals, law, socioeconomics, politics or even culture -the ideas
of Ghengis Khans and Neros proves this.
Footnotes:
[1]-
That makes it 164 + 1 definitions of culture altogether.
[2] Such inordinate
cultures -like other special cultural elements and phenomena -are heading for
demise, except for principle-based cultural aspects.
[3] Spiritual culture
includes a) high moral virtues, b) art, as an indication of man's deepest
emotions concerning “what should be done”, c) freedom -in the sense of having
the power of choice, which arises in actively powerful qualities during
evolution, and d) religion, addressing questions such as: “Who am I? Where have
I come from? Why am I here? Where will I end up?”
[4] Russian writer, who
greatly criticized the Soviet Union from a mystical- religious point of view.
[5] The Kayhan. Wednesday
Mehr 14, 1372. (1994)
[6] The World Book
Encyclopaedia.
[7] At times, these
selfish impostors even have their intellectual-looking directors add the term
“free” to culture in order to optimize its deceiving affects: ‘free culture!’
[8] A book by the
English philosopher John Stuart Mill, concerning freedom of speech, thought,
deed and writing -though without adequate logical care. Although it includes
interesting points, sensible freedom and addressing immoral behaviours which
allow people to do whatever they desire in the name of freedom have been
ignored.
[9] See p. 112. (p. 43
of the document)
[10] Mowlavi is implying
by “the highest of heavens” in fact the fundamentals of the creation of the
universe which is linked to the human soul:
Indeed it was you who
bonded the circle of the universe
[11]
Jean-Pierre Rosseau, The History of Science.
[12] You may have
heard Ernest Renan's idea, “The West is the employer race, and the East the
employee. That is why nature produces a larger amount of labour force!” See how
this so-called “intellectual” ruthlessly insults nature. Mr. Renan apparently
knows nothing about Eastern civilizations, the true creators of science and
technology. He adds, “The Western mind is industrial, official and civilizational,
whereas that of the Eastern is emotional mediocre, and 1acking for today's high
thoughts!” It is quite surprising how such a “scholar” can be so ignorant of
Eastern civilization history, and that the human brain has not changed in any
race for at least 40,000 years. Most astonishing of all, he didn't even try to
reason inductively that most inventions have also been achieved by accident,
not accurate calculations.
[13]
See Appendix
[14]
Jean-Pierre Rosseau, The History of Science.
[15]
Ibid.
[16] Ibid.
[17] The Rangers (37):
6.
[18] The Rock (15): 16.
[19] The Elevated Places
(7):32.
[20] Especially during
late 2nd to late 5th centuries Hijra.
[21] For further study
on the differences among various cultural eras in the history of Iran, see Hassan
Pirnia, The Ancient History of Iran. Vol 1; and also Will Durant,
The History of Civilization, Vol. 1 (The East, the Cradle of Civilization)
[22] Herbert J. Lisbani,
Law in Islam.
[23] Mohammad Taqi Jafari,
The Message of Mind; from the lecture "Survival in
the 21st Century”, UNESCO Symposium on 21st Century
Culture and Science, Vancouver, Canada, September 1989.
[24] Robert G. Ringer, The
Fall of Western Civilization.
[25] Ibid.
[26] Ibid.
[27] Bild der Wissenschaft,
Vol. 10, 1976.
[28] We read in ancient
Egyptian law books -dating 3000 years back in time that the first thing the
accused should be asked is. “Does your conscience approve of what you tell the
judge?. Such agreement between conscience and speech in ancient Egyptian legal
culture can still be regarded as a solemn truth
[29] From an interview with
German anthropologist Hans Peter Duerr, in the Spiegel, No.2, 1993.
[30] These theorists do
not prefer ‘unlimited’ lifestyles in order to enjoy civilized excitement or
desire, for civilized people act on their elevated spiritual talents; thus,
bringing instincts under control -in particular insatiable hedonism, which is
the strongest -is of crucial necessity.
[31] We do not mean
completely religious or highly moral societies, but those not yet engulfed by
immoral and lack of religion.
[32] For instance,
a) when the essence of sexual instincts and their priority over all other
aspects had become popular in the past, some people in the East presented it as
a scientific rule. After a while, a few psychologists like Adler and lung
discarded the theory. The writer has even heard from the late scholar Dr. Mirsepasi
-who was a close friend of Freud -that his theory was more like a force, rather
than a scientific issue. Later, some psychological experts claimed that the
essence of safeguarding one's virtues and personality was the deepest, most
active of the instincts, and took Freud's theory under more intense criticism.
However, some of our
academic institutions still consider it a scientific issue! Such mental
deviation is a result of copying scientific culture, which destroys all
truth-seeking spirits in man. b) As we all know, the theory of animal evolution
to higher species was proposed by Lamarke and Darwin in the 19th century. Their
accounts were no more than a novel theory. However, it infiltrated our society
like a scientific law of concrete proof. But as time went by and more research
was made, it was shown to lack evidence, and soon fell into dark obscurity. For
further study, please see Pierre Rosseau, The History of Industry and
Inventions.
[33] The Table (5): 2.
[34] Jibran Khalil Jibran,
Al-mavakeb
[35] The World Book of
Encyclopaedia, Paul J. Bahanan.
[36] The Star (53): 39,
40
[37] The Earthquake (99):
7, 8.
[38] For further
elaboration on this point, we must mention a highly dramatic change that has
occurred nowadays, and the results it has brought about:
When the West broke down
all walls confining freedom and its glorious values, liberty -a vital
phenomenon which is the best path to perfect virtues- turned into an
undisciplined beloved which became so popular that it had the last two
centuries named after it (actually, of course, named after immorality). It had
better be called the century of ‘self- strangeness.’ Is this not a
cause-and-effect outcome? Indeed, for unlimited freedom first victimizes human
character. It became so sacredly worshipped that even philosophers and humanity
scholars glorified undisciplined freedom to the very highest aim of life. Books
like About Freedom by John Stuart Mill are examples of such infatuation.
Due to a small mistake
between the end and the means, anyone - even the least educated -spurred by
internal desires or limited knowledge, took the advantage of the necessity of
freedom of speech, and expressed such exclusive, definite opinions as if they
were the sole creator, of man, and possessed every knowledge or experience in
creation! The opinions were as greatly numerous as their so-called scholars.
They were only whimsical brainwaves of philosophy and anthropology majors. On
the other hand, they never thought about who should accept their ideas. Is
everyone intelligent enough like Avicenna, Razi, Abu-Rehyan Biruni, Mowlavi,
Bacon, Descarte, Kant or Hegel to be able to correctly evaluate such opinions?
Or are most of them simple people who are prone to drown in the swamp of wrong
ideas. Still, contradicting theories poured in the field of anthropology and
human knowledge, which made all existing ideas doubted, and people lost most of
their interest in such researches.
Some conscientious scholars
could have suggested that in order to save man from such anthropological
vertigo, all theories must first be analyzed alongside other fields and issues,
and discussed with sincerely serious anthropologists in order to achieve a
final, combined fact; when the theory showed reality, it can be publicly
presented.
Even if someone in the
West has come up with this suggestion - which we have not heard anything about
yet -it has unfortunately been overruled.
All in all, having a
society able to move towards the truth in complete independence is crucially
necessary.
[39] Luqman (31):
25: “If they are asked, 'Who created the heavens and the earth? They will say,
“God”.’
[40] The history of
Spain on many occasions states that despite Islam - the highest of divine
religions -various disruptive factors deviated people from Islamic realities
and emptied them from any religion, logic or conscience. If social leaders
around the world do not take action against corruptive factors in the name of
‘culture’, their people also will definitely undergo what happened in Spain.
[41] Mikhail Naima, the
renowned contemporary Christian scholar thus describes Imam Ali (a) in his
preface to George Gordac's Ali (a), The Voice of Human Justice:
“The lives of great human beings over flows with experiences, lessons,
faith and hope. They are high peaks that we are eagerly attracted to. As
shining minarets, they light up the darkness along our way. They always remove
any doubts about life, its aims and prosperity in us. Without such outstanding
figures, despair would drown us; we would have raised the white flags in
surrender ages ago: “O death! We are your prisoners. O death! We are your
slaves. Annihilate us anyway you wish.” But we never lost hope, and never will.
Thus, we will triumph, as the triumphant predecessors confirm it. One of them
is Abu-Talib's son. Such glorious figures are always beside us (in other words,
we live with them) although distantly in time and space. However, neither have
time gaps made us unable to hear them, nor has spatial distance made them slip
from our minds.”
The book mentioned above
is the best proof to what we have stated. It includes the life story of one of
the greatest human beings ever born to the Arab world, although he was never
deservingly used. Islam did activate his capabilities, but he did not belong to
Islam alone; if he did, how could his great spirit enflame the heart of a
Christian writer in Lebanon in 1956, making him carefully study the Imam's
life, and create a ballad-like biography of him?
Imam Ali's (A.S.)
heroism was not confined to wars. He was also a champion of chastity,
intelligence and indescribable beauty, deep humanity, flaming faith, grace and
generosity, helping the poor, modesty and worshipping God.
[42] It is not from a
solely metaphysical point of view that we pray that God may save all of mankind
from the selfish and powerful. Consider the following story, which I have cited
in several of my works due to its high significance. In 1949, Einstein thus
described a discussion he had with a high American official: “Recently, I was
speaking to one of America's more intellectual, good-willing figures. I warned
him about the new war that was threatening mankind, and that it could destroy
the whole of humanity, and only super-national organizations could stop it. But
he amazingly replied, “Why do you so strongly disagree with the end of
mankind?!” Einstein adds, “Such a straightforward, abrupt answer implies the
intense, internal suffering the world today has led to. Such answer can only
come from somebody who has put much effort into balancing his character, but
has failed, and even lost hope. It depicts the painful, innate isolation all
humans are suffering from.” See Philip Frank, The Life of Einstein.
[43] A life which guides
the compulsory forces and activities of man's natural life towards evolutionary
goals by means of more freedom of choice, thus, the human character is
gradually developed and guided towards the highest end of life having found the
answer to six fundamental questions (Who am I? Where have I come from? Who am I
with? Where am I? Why have I come here? Where will I go from here?)
-contributing to the harmony of the whole universe, dependant upon divine
greatness.