Village Journals
Resonate your identity with Naseeb journals. Express your opinions, share your thoughts, post your writings and connect with like minded people through the power of expression.
Resonate your identity with Naseeb journals. Express your opinions, share your thoughts, post your writings and connect with like minded people through the power of expression.
Bringing Faith, Meaning and Peace to Life in a Multicultural World-2-
Guidance through intellect ? Third Source of Guidance
Although the physical and perceptible realities of the world are perceived through senses, Quran reminds us that the purpose of life in totality cannot be perceived through the senses alone. There are supra-physical realities that we cannot perceive through the sense of taste, touch, hearing and seeing. Therefore, reliance on senses alone is not adequate to perceive realities which defy physical delimitation. Thus, God has blessed mankind with the third source of guidance, that is, guidance through intellect.
Although man is always primarily guided by his senses, the scope of this source of guidance is rather limited. SAID NURSI reminds us the weakness of this source of guidance in these words;
Life is fundamental, basic; matter is dependent on it, and subsists through it. If you compare a microscopic organism with its five senses, and man?s senses, you will see that however much larger man is than the organism, his senses are inferior to the same degree.
This is the reason that perception acquired through the senses is neither conclusive nor reliable. It is transformed into knowledge through the mediation of intellect. The knowledge acquires a viable form only when the perception is organized by the intellect.
Intellect is the primary source of all scientific activities. It gives rise to all kinds of sciences, whether social or natural, all kinds of philosophies whether religious or secular, and all kinds of speculative systems whether individual or collective. It is the main driving force behind all forms of rational pursuit. It enables man to resolve his social and existential problems and create a better climate of reception for his intellectual flights. It manifests itself in the form of reasoning and generates a self-subsisting universe of knowledge.
Intellect, however, still depends and relies on senses. Whatever is perceived through the human senses is conceived through the human intellect. Perception provides vision. Therefore, in the absence of perception, intellectual conception turns blind. Since the intellect is contingent upon the senses, any sensory flaw becomes an intellectual hazard. Though intellect is an established source of guidance, it is in itself imperfect and inconclusive.
Therefore, mankind searching for the purpose of life needs a source which is free from all possibilities of errors and imperfections which intellect cannot fulfill
Guidance through Intuition ? Fourth Source of Guidance
A number of realities not normally perceived through senses or intellect is sometimes perceived through insight and intuition. This is another evidence of the creator?s infinite blessings on human beings. It is an extreme valuable addition to the variety of sources through which man receives guidance. This source of guidance has a qualitative edge over other sources. It functions like a spark and illuminates what lies folded in the opacity of unawareness. Intuition is not mediated through an indirect route: it comes to grips with the object of its attention directly, is in fact spiritual light and inner clarity which can be achieved by individual through the process of self-purification and spiritual elevation. This source of guidance is activized by constant meditation and a large number of saints in world religions have attained it through their spiritual efforts. This source of guidance is indicated in this Biblical verse;
Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.
Imam al -Gazali states in his autobiography on intuition;
Beyond intellect there is yet another stage. In this another eye is opened, by which he beholds the unseen, what is to be in the future, and other things which are beyond the ken of intellect in the same way as the objects of intellect. are beyond the ken of the faculty of discernment and the objects of discernment are beyond the ken of sense.
The Words / Gleams - p.763
The Holy bible, Proverbs 4:23. (NIV)
The Faith and Practice of Al-Gazali, page 26 Translated by W. Montgomery Watt.
Although the physical and perceptible realities of the world are perceived through senses, Quran reminds us that the purpose of life in totality cannot be perceived through the senses alone. There are supra-physical realities that we cannot perceive through the sense of taste, touch, hearing and seeing. Therefore, reliance on senses alone is not adequate to perceive realities which defy physical delimitation. Thus, God has blessed mankind with the third source of guidance, that is, guidance through intellect.
Although man is always primarily guided by his senses, the scope of this source of guidance is rather limited. SAID NURSI reminds us the weakness of this source of guidance in these words;
Life is fundamental, basic; matter is dependent on it, and subsists through it. If you compare a microscopic organism with its five senses, and man?s senses, you will see that however much larger man is than the organism, his senses are inferior to the same degree.
This is the reason that perception acquired through the senses is neither conclusive nor reliable. It is transformed into knowledge through the mediation of intellect. The knowledge acquires a viable form only when the perception is organized by the intellect.
Intellect is the primary source of all scientific activities. It gives rise to all kinds of sciences, whether social or natural, all kinds of philosophies whether religious or secular, and all kinds of speculative systems whether individual or collective. It is the main driving force behind all forms of rational pursuit. It enables man to resolve his social and existential problems and create a better climate of reception for his intellectual flights. It manifests itself in the form of reasoning and generates a self-subsisting universe of knowledge.
Intellect, however, still depends and relies on senses. Whatever is perceived through the human senses is conceived through the human intellect. Perception provides vision. Therefore, in the absence of perception, intellectual conception turns blind. Since the intellect is contingent upon the senses, any sensory flaw becomes an intellectual hazard. Though intellect is an established source of guidance, it is in itself imperfect and inconclusive.
Therefore, mankind searching for the purpose of life needs a source which is free from all possibilities of errors and imperfections which intellect cannot fulfill
Guidance through Intuition ? Fourth Source of Guidance
A number of realities not normally perceived through senses or intellect is sometimes perceived through insight and intuition. This is another evidence of the creator?s infinite blessings on human beings. It is an extreme valuable addition to the variety of sources through which man receives guidance. This source of guidance has a qualitative edge over other sources. It functions like a spark and illuminates what lies folded in the opacity of unawareness. Intuition is not mediated through an indirect route: it comes to grips with the object of its attention directly, is in fact spiritual light and inner clarity which can be achieved by individual through the process of self-purification and spiritual elevation. This source of guidance is activized by constant meditation and a large number of saints in world religions have attained it through their spiritual efforts. This source of guidance is indicated in this Biblical verse;
Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.
Imam al -Gazali states in his autobiography on intuition;
Beyond intellect there is yet another stage. In this another eye is opened, by which he beholds the unseen, what is to be in the future, and other things which are beyond the ken of intellect in the same way as the objects of intellect. are beyond the ken of the faculty of discernment and the objects of discernment are beyond the ken of sense.
The Words / Gleams - p.763
The Holy bible, Proverbs 4:23. (NIV)
The Faith and Practice of Al-Gazali, page 26 Translated by W. Montgomery Watt.