THE JOURNEY OF THE SELF
(Excerpts Only)

By: Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri

Chapter 4
Treatment, Cure and Fulfillment

In this chapter we shall examine the symptoms and conditions of the self and discuss their treatment, remedy and cure. We shall also discuss the meaning of virtues, examine the major vices of the self along with their root causes, and discuss their treatment and remedies.

In some Islamic teachings, the self is portrayed as essentially unchangeable. One cannot rid oneself completely of a certain natural disposition. Other teachings, however, analyze convincingly that people are inherently ingrained to accept the higher qualities and virtues, some more slowly than others.

The individual's basic natural self-tendencies are apparent from childhood, and generally these tendencies become established unless overcome by self-discipline. Their hold over the child prevails until such time as it begins to learn and apply corrective measures. The existence of these basic patterns or tendencies early on, and the subsequent task of gradually overcoming and disciplining them is part of the natural development of wisdom in humankind.

When the power of attraction to what is agreeable becomes developed in the child, its desires and its appetites become evident. Similarly, the power of repulsion of what is repugnant grows, and the child begins to resist and struggle against anything that it dislikes or anything which may obstruct the attainment of its desires.

As the power of discrimination grows in the child, intelligence and reasoning come into prominence. Soon self-discipline will begin to regulate behavior such as appetite and irascibility. Such regulation will assist with the development of the higher intellect.

Discipline proceeds from the human desire and will to enlist the participation and assistance of the powers of attraction, repulsion and discrimination in its service. Nature is thus in the position of a master and teacher in that it gives us the opportunity of learning what is of a virtuous nature and what is of a harmful nature by allowing us to experience it.

Virtue is primarily a matter of discipline as no one is created with a ready-made, developed understanding of virtue. We are born, however, with the seed of discrimination and of understanding virtues and vices. Virtue is the offspring of discipline.

We now turn to the importance of virtues to the self and examine the major virtues in greater detail.

The Virtues and the Self

The importance of virtues to self-development can be seen after defining what is meant by virtue. We define virtue as behavior occurring at the center of two extremes, both of which are unvirtuous. The virtuous value which is at the center is not affected by unvirtuous values around it unless it moves towards one or the other extreme, away from the center. When that happens, the virtue takes on the color of that particular vice. For example, the virtue of generosity is the midpoint between two vices – meanness at one extreme, and indiscriminate giving, or wastefulness, at the other extreme.

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The Virtues and the Self according to al-Miskawayh

According to al-Miskawayh,⁽¹⁾ the self in its relationship to virtue can be defined as possessing four facets or aspects. He describes these four aspects as follows:

One is the bestial self, which is motivated by the power of attraction. <snipped>

The second aspect is the predatory self, which is motivated by the power of repulsion. <snipped>

The third aspect is the rational self. If the movement of the rational self is towards its highest virtue, it will attain wisdom. <snipped>

The fourth aspect is the combined virtues. <snipped>

We will now examine the major virtues arising from the four aspects of the self in greater detail.

The Bestial Self

When the bestial self reaches its highest evolvement, it achieves modesty or temperance. Modesty is self-restraint in conduct and expression. It is a virtue that manifest when one conforms to sound discrimination so that one is not led by passions and is thus not enslaved to them.

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A complete list of the virtues of modesty and those which follow from it can be found in the chart of virtues according to Miskawayh (see Table 1). A list of a number of the vices which relate to these virtues is included in the chart, and where these are not included, the reader can recognize them for himself. If the exact or appropriate name for all of these is not found, it would not be difficult at least to understand their meanings.

The Predatory Self

The predatory self's highest virtue is that of courage. When the power of repulsion (anger) and its characteristics (the 'lion tendency' in us) is refined, stabilized and tempered, courage emerges. Courage is at the center of two vices – cowardice and recklessness. The following virtues stem from courage:

First, greatness of spirit, which is being prepared for significant or important affairs and yet minimizing them in one's own eyes. It is also defined as nobility of spirit.

The second virtue is intrepidity. This is defined as confidence in the face of fearful events, to the extent that no despair can ever overwhelm one.

Third is composure, defined as the means by which one can calmly endure happiness, sorrow and other afflictions, even the moment of death itself.

Then comes fortitude which is defined as the strength of the self to bear pain and to resist it, especially in dangerous situations.

The next virtue is forbearance, and is defined as the ability to remain tranquil and keep from being angered easily or quickly.

Next is self-containment or self-control, and it is the ability to restrain movement or action at moments of serious consequence.

Next is what is called manliness, which is defined as the aspiration to perform great deeds in expectation of a goodly outcome.

Then comes endurance which is defined as the ability or capacity to use the faculties of the body in a consistent manner for what is good, through discipline and good habits (see Table 2).

The Rational Self

The evolvement of the rational self occurs when it follows the prescribed path of divine guidance and avoids the pitfalls of the lower self.

The ultimate virtue of one's obedience and acceptance of divine reality is wisdom and knowledge. Wisdom is the knowledge of things divine and human, which gives discrimination concerning which of several possible actions should be performed, and which should be avoided. It is the midpoint between stupidity on the one hand and impudence, or the deliberate suppression of wisdom, on the other. From wisdom come the following virtues:

Intelligence, the quick grasp of concepts and the self's ready understanding of them, is the virtue at midpoint between cunning at one extreme and dullness at the other.

Retention is the persistence of the images of what is derived by the mind or imagination, and is the virtue between attentiveness (to what should not be remembered) and forgetfulness (or neglect of what should be remembered).

Rationality, the conformity of a sound investigation of objects to what they are, is the median between frivolity (or going too far in the consideration of an object until one is led beyond what it actually is), and imbecility (or the failure to consider an object sufficiently for what it is).

Next is clarity of understanding, which is the readiness of the self to deduce what is required. It is the median between quick flashes of ideas that prevent deducing what is necessary, and slowness of deduction.

Excellence and strength of understanding mean the ability to contemplate what follows from the antecedent. It is the virtue between excessive contemplation, which leads away from it to something else, and deficient contemplation which falls short of the necessary consequence.

The next virtue is the capacity for learning, which is a strength of the mind and a sharpness of understanding by which theoretical matters are apprehended. It is the virtue at midpoint between the ability to learn with such ease that it is not retained by the mind, and finding learning too difficult, or impossible (see Table 3).

The Combined Virtues

When the three virtues of wisdom, courage and modesty are combined in the self, the outcome that results is the highest virtue of all, justice (see Table 4).

Justice is a virtue which causes one to be fair to oneself and to others, by refraining from giving a greater portion of that which is useful to oneself and less to others, and less of that which is harmful to oneself and more to others. The just man applies equality, which is a proportionate relation between things, and it is from this meaning that the virtue of justice is derived. Justice is the midpoint between the extremes of doing injustice to others, and suffering injustice from others or from oneself.

The virtues which derive from justice are friendship, harmony, family fellowship, recompense, fair play, honest dealing, amicability and devotion.

We note that all of man's experiences of vice and virtue have been created to help him to evolve along the path of higher virtues, by avoiding the extreme vices on either side and remaining in the center, where one virtue leads to a higher virtue. Through this dynamic unfolding, one comes to recognize the ways in which to avoid damage or harm and to achieve well-being and stable happiness.

The Tree of Virtues

A similar system of classifying virtues can be illustrated by drawing the tree of virtues. We read the tree of virtues as follows: the ultimate and highest fruit of each branch is to be found at the trunk of the tree, near its root. [See The Tree of Virtues]

For example, if we examine the power of repulsion, we find the highest and most important virtue that the power of repulsion can ultimately bring about is courage. So courage is to be found at the trunk, because it is the potentially highest fruit of repulsion.

The ultimate potential present at the root is the source, and that potential leads to other virtues that the mature adult will develop as he or she evolves towards the ultimate virtue of real courage. All the virtues, however, interact in order to produce courage.

Further Comments on Virtues

A special distinction is to be made here between true human virtues and other attributes that only resemble virtues, according to the ethical philosopher Tusi.⁽²⁾

For example, Tusi speaks of the courage of the lion, the elephant and other animals. Although their behavior resembles human courage, it is not the same. The lion is innately confident in its own strength and superiority, and readily imagines its own victory. Moreover, in many cases, his quarry is quite devoid of any instrument of real resistance. In relation to its prey, the lion may be compared to a fully armed warrior attacking an unarmed weakling. These are not conditions in which we consider behavior to be virtuous of praiseworthy.

The truly courageous man is a person whose wariness of committing anything foul or abominable exceeds any fear of threat or danger to his life, for which reason he prefers a just death to a reprehensible life.

The Islamic heritage presents us with a beautiful description of the true meaning of courage. The Arabic word jihad is derived from the root which means to endeavor, strive, expend energy or resist. Jihad is to fight against evil for the sake of truth. It implies an act of support of reality against falsehood.

The person who does not carry out his duty of expressed courage (jihad) under these circumstances will thereafter live out an oppressed and distasteful life. The days won from death are miserable and troubled. He passes the days in contempt and humiliation, hostility and reproach. Hence, the truly virtuous man would rather expedite death with courage than extend life with dishonor, tribulation and shame.

Tusi distinguishes between courage, recklessness and indiscrimination, and warns against people who have no fear of losing honor, or bringing shame to modesty, or who are unafraid of perilous situations, of violent earthquakes, thunderbolts, or chronic diseases or painful ailments, or the loss of companions, family or friends, or catastrophes and the like. These people who have no fear are closer to madness and impudence than they are to courage.

There are incidents which appear courageous but are not. There are people, for example, basically in situations of safety and leisure who cast themselves into dangerous situations, like jumping from a high cliff or over a great waterfall, deliberately exposing themselves to danger. These people are merely seeking sensation, excitement and stimulation. They are not courageous in the true sense. Their actions are more closely related to vainglory and folly.

Tusi does not consider suicide (which is forbidden in Islam) under any condition to be an act of courage. Rather, it is an act of cowardice. It is the ultimate flight from things undesirable.

Vengeance is often held to be a virtue, but it is only so if undertaken in accordance with the definition of courage.

Tusi notes that not every continent or courageous man is wise; but every wise man is both continent and courageous.

Further Comments on Justice

Tusi also expounds upon the virtue of justice. Among the virtues, as we have already seen, none is more perfect than that of justice. The final balance and point of equilibrium is justice, and all else is peripheral to it.

In most of our material transactions, we find the just arbitrator or mediator in the exchange balance is currency. So if an exchange between two parties does not or cannot come about through the justice of money alone (money being the silent arbitration element), then a rationally just person is sought, as mediator who can establish the proper order and arrange an exchange.

The preservation of justice among men cannot be upheld without three things: divine commandment (divinely revealed laws and knowledge), human arbitration (the just, rational and impartial being) and a medium of exchange (such as money).

Money or its equivalent is required for the reason that without it, negotiation in various transactions would be exceedingly difficult. (How many eggs for example, would equal a new roof?)

Aristotle said that justice is not a part of virtue but is all virtues in their entirety, while tyranny or oppression, the opposite of justice, is not a part of vice but all vices in their entirety.

Man-made laws try to curtail human greed and other lower tendencies and vices in a limited and artificial manner, whereas divinely revealed laws allow for these lower tendencies and vices to find an expression (and a cure) within acceptable limits.

According to Tusi, justice in a broad sense is due in three aspects: towards reality – which a person must perform in respect of what is due to his Creator; towards humanity – which a person must perform in respect of the rights of his fellow men; and, finally, exercising the proper courtesy towards oneself.

In the final analysis, justice cannot be performed unless the faculty of reasoning controls and directs the senses. An angry person, or one who is given to excessive appetites or quarrelsomeness, acts by whims and fancies without consulting reason. Such a person only brings about disruption and chaos, and cannot dispense justice.

In conclusion, Tusi states that it is incumbent upon the rational individual to apply justice within one's own self by the proper utilization of one's own faculties and in the development of proper habits. If he does not do this, then appetite or desire will move him to something consonant with its own nature – such as indulgence and anger – both of which are opposed to just behavior. When that happens we seek all manner of appetitive gratification in all kinds of sudden impulses. The result of the ensuing upheaval is always harmful as well as unjust, to oneself and others.

We now turn to a discussion on the treatment and cure of the self. [Next Page]

Notes

⁽¹⁾Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Miskawayh, tenth-century Persian ethical philosopher. [Up]

⁽²⁾Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, thirteenth-century Persian philosopher.  [Up]

The Tree of Virtues [Up]

The Power of Attraction (Desire) [Up]

Table 1

The Power of Repulsion (Anger) [Up]

Table 2

The Rational Self [Up]

Table 3

The Combined Virtues [Up]

Table 4