Psychological
Technology
Question:-
It is claimed that the Quran is a work in
Psychology and that Islam is a Psychological or Spiritual Science and
Technology. But how does this technology work?
Answer:-
The purpose of Islam is Spiritual development.
It has three inter-dependent aspects: It is at once a Science (a Doctrine about
how things ultimately really are), a Goal (an objective Ethical system based on
it) and a Method (a technology by which to reach the goal). Each of these is
part of the other. That is, the Technology consists of a teaching that is
objective and comprehensive and must be integrated into the psychology of the
people and strengthened by constant reminding and reinforcement. It must
provide goals and purposes that channel psychological energy. And it must
provide a set of practices that are wilfully undertaken to facilitate
psychological development, of which the teaching that modify the mind and
awareness, and the goals that modify motives and conscience are also part.
“(Allah) Who made good everything that He has
created, and He began the creation of man from dust. Then He made his progeny
of an extract, of a fluid held in low esteem. Then He fashioned him and breathed into
him of His spirit, and made for you the faculties of hearing, and sight and
heart; little is it that you give thanks.” 32:7-9
"And the soul and Who fashioned it,
and enlightened it with what is wrong and right for it! He indeed is successful
who causes it to grow (or purifies it)! And he indeed is a failure who corrupts
it!" 91:7-10
"Say: O mankind! There has come to
you the Truth from your Lord, and he who is guided by it, his guidance is only
for his own soul; and he who errs, errs only against it; and I am not a warder
over you." 10:109 and see 17:15
"(Allah) Who created death and life
that He may try you as to which of you is best in conduct; and He is the
Mighty, the Forgiving,." 67:2 and see 18:7
See also: 3:90-91, 4:1, 6:103-104, 754, 10:5, 16:3,
30:8 and 59:24 etc.
The first basic
thing needed by a conscious being is a central fundamental concept that is the
origin of all facts, meanings and values, and creates a framework of reference
within which all experiences can be interpreted in a comprehensive and
self-consistent manner. It is the origin as well as the goal and the guiding
principle. In Islam this is the concept of Allah which refers to the
fundamental self-existing, all-pervasive Reality. The function of this concept
is to facilitate inner psychological integration, adjustment to the external world
and also to social harmony, particularly in a community of people that accepts
the same concept.
The second thing
that conscious self-development requires is the establishment of an appropriate
Self-image. This is done by seeing ourselves as a spiritual being, a soul, a
spark of Allah, one that has consciousness, conscience and will. It is obvious
that for someone who is not conscious nothing can exist, not the world and not
even himself and there is nothing about which it can be said “I
know”, “I will”, “I do”. It is this that can
acquire objective knowledge, motivation and behaviour and this establishes a
new centre of control within the person, called a New or Spiritual Birth in
some systems. All other impulses are then seen as external to that, as
“Not-I” and attributed to Satan in so far as they negate what is
beneficial to the health and development of the soul. There is struggle between
these two entities within the psyche. Like the physical muscles, the growth and
strength of these depend on whether we align ourselves with Allah or Satan and the
appropriateness, amount and quality of the exercises.
The third thing
required is an efficient set of the practices. This depends on the fact that
human beings are part of the Created Universe, consisting of its materials,
forces and processes, dependant on it and with which we are in constant
interaction. These interactions take place through mechanical, gravitational,
electromagnetic, chemical, biological (bacteria, viruses, pollen etc),
psychological forces and also through other more fundamental quantum,
sub-quantum or spiritual forces. The Universe is a network of these factors
such that all things are directly or indirectly connected with each other.
(It should be realised that the Universe as a
whole is no less a complex system of various forces with multiple feed-back
loops as the human brain or organism and that it does undergo computation and
data processing. There is no reason to suppose that consciousness is not
associated with it, though we must not suppose that it is just like that of
human beings and has the same limitations. This should not, however, be
construed as implying that Allah is the Universe. The concept of Allah is not
pantheistic or anthropomorphic. It refers to the self-existing and all
pervasive fundamental Reality, the origin and creator of the Universe and all
things in it, and of all other possible Universes.)
It is also necessary to understand that human
beings are also a unity that have a conscious, sub-conscious and unconscious
aspect and that these affect each other. That is, we are able (1) to act
deliberately consciously directly or indirectly, (2) automatically through
habit or impulse, but (3) we are unconscious of most of the process and
interactions that affects us and takes place within us. However, what we do not
only affects the external environment including other people but also modifies
us. Each action makes the next similar one easier and its opposite more
difficult. We can not only act but also inhibit our impulses or divert, channel
and transform various tendencies. Having modified ourselves this leads to a
change in actions which again modifies us and also modifies our environment.
The modified environment now affects us differently.
We are modified (a) by the environment as
well as (b) by our own actions. It is not, however, only a case of direct
affects, but also of (c) differences in capability for perception and action on
(d) how we perceive, interpret and deal with things. Human beings are selective
in what they see according to their various motives, interests and values and
act accordingly. There are choices between different alternatives and some are
more valuable than others in causing beneficial or harmful effects. These
beneficial or harmful affects will change their capacities for perception,
feeling and action. They can also change their environment by alteration and
migration. All these factors can be changed through education and culture based
on ideologies that may be subjective or objective to various degrees. Islam
requires that the ideology should be objective in that it is based on
heightened consciousness of Reality. As there is reciprocal action between a
person and his/her environment and things in it and there are feedback loops,
then what happens to a person depends on the nature and actions of the person
himself. Each person has his own local environment which also contains other
people who also affect the environment to various degrees and in various ways.
The changes in, and effects of the environment are a resultant of all these
different activities. The local environment also interacts with a greater
general environment that contains multiple millions of other people and other
creatures all of which have their effects to various degrees and in various
ways. No individual in isolation is, therefore, responsible for all events, but
they could be regarded as responsible in so far as they have the capacity to
influence the behaviour of others but do not do so.
Interactions are of three kinds:- (1)
Communication, which can be:- (a) verbal, which is indirect through words and
these may mean different things to different people. (b) through gestures and
rituals; (c) unconsciously through general behaviour. (2) Automatic actions
based on habit. (3) Unconscious interactions through the various natural
forces.
Though these interactions are all different,
there is a connection between verbal language, experience and reality. Reality
refers to what exists naturally; in Islamic language to that created by Allah.
But we experience only a small part of it through interaction with that part of
reality that exists in our local environment and this depends on the depth and
width of our consciousness. Experiences refer to sense data as well as feelings
and thought and these differs between people and they are also mixed up with
interpretation done through association and thinking, fantasy and guesswork to
various degrees depending on assumptions based on previous experiences, wishful
thinking, fear and attachments. Verbal description, likewise, refers to parts
of experience and may not correspond to them owing to misunderstanding or
misuse of words.
Words can be used in three ways:-
(1) As slogans or cause mechanical reactions
that have little to do with meanings.
(2) But they can be used with meaning in that
they point to experiences. Words are used not only to transmit information but
also for self-expression, to facilitate social relationships, to facilitate
thinking and reasoning, to influence the thoughts, motives and actions of other
people and to create and propagate all kinds of fantasies and superstitions,
often in support of someone's ideological, political, or commercial interests.
For instance, in the interest of profits, people are persuaded to purchase a
great number of things that they do not need and which may even do them harm,
but for which they have to work long hours for employers when they could have
used their time and energy in much more beneficial ways. The Economic system
which dominates the nation stimulates and harnesses greed, gluttony, vanity,
pride, lust, envy and laziness though these impulses are also known to produce
physical, social, psychological and environmental malfunctions. They cause
wastage of resources, pollution and even destabilise the economic system itself
and lead to social inequality, deprivation, crimes and war. The media of
communication that reflect and control the culture tend to be biased and
selective in the information and its interpretation they provide and deal
mostly in trivialities, gossip, and scandal, making heroes and role models of
persons of low quality and moral conduct who contribute little of objective
value, but causing mass hysterical adulation for them. It is not that (a)
relaxation and entertainment are not important - they are also important. But
they should not be wasteful or destructive but facilitate recovery. Nor should
they replace either (b) mundane, economic activity, or (c) spiritual effort.
Unfortunately, unnecessary strenuous and stressful economic activity also leads
to the need for exaggerated amounts of extreme leisure activity including much
perversion and depravity. Politicians like to honour trained professional
killers for their "self-sacrifice" so that they can be sent out and
sacrificed to invade, destroy, injure and kill, in the interest of those who
have the power, people who have been verbally demonised by them, whereas the
defence of a nation is the concern of all citizens. These conflicts are, of
course, caused by greed and envy and lead to much destruction, wastage of
attention, effort, time and resources. It distorts thought, motive and action,
channelling them in psychologically, socially and physically destructive
directions. Those who indulge in this kind of perverse use of language damage
their own psyche and that of others. This tendency needs urgently to be negated
and reversed through self-discipline.
(3) Words can also be used in a
transcendental way to induce direct awareness of realities in those capable of
this kind of receptivity and by those in whom such a direct translation can
take place. Such persons are regarded as "messengers of Reality".
This kind of awareness needs to be cultivated.
Each person,
community and generation is modified and modifies, for good, evil or
wastefully, constructively, destructively or by alteration, both itself and the
environment and things in it. The succeeding generation is formed these
modifications in three ways:- (a) through the experiences; (b) through the mutagenic effects and (c) in
the way the genes are expressed or suppressed. It is not the case that human
beings are governed wholly by their genetic inheritance or experiences in the
environment as so people would have us believe. But our efforts also count and
we select or modify our environment and interpret t and the genes that
constitute us are not wholly derived from our parents, but also from mutations
and sometimes from other environmental sources. Their expression is modified by
the kind of efforts we make.
But apart from
changes within the individual and the community, at a transcendental level of
Wholeness of which an individual is a cell, where Time is a dimension and does
not pass, but we pass through it, the changes can be regarded as permanent and
each can be described by its history.
It is evident that human beings differ in
their nature and capabilities inherently but also owing to differences in
circumstances and due to the results of their efforts. It is known that they
function at less than their inherent capabilities, but have the capacity for
improvement. That is why educational and training systems exist. It cannot be
denied that humanity is in a sorry state with much suffering and an increasing
number of psychological, social, moral, physical, economic, political, cultural
and environmental problems that are threatening their existence.
It is obvious that the happiness,
self-fulfilment and development of the individual depends on adjustment to
reality - to Allah in Islamic terminology, from whom all Truth, Goodness and
Usefulness flows. It is necessary; therefore, that (1) the verbal doctrine
should be correctly understood and that (2) the correct motives should be
developed and reinforced through culture and education and that (3) those
practices should be correctly undertaken that produce the correct experiences
that conform to Reality. All this requires deliberate and sustained attention
and self-discipline. It requires insight into oneself - one's thought
processes, motives and behaviour and the willingness to replace automatisms
with consciously accepted ones.
Rituals are efficacious because actions are
connected with emotions and thought, and, therefore, with awareness and
motives, which they invoke and reinforce. However, ritualism, which is non-conscious
behaviour based on habit and automatism is probably wholly useless. Adherence
to moral principles that govern motives is important, otherwise the mind tends
to justify itself by inventing fantasies and excuses or it indulges in
projection of blame or deliberate diverting of attention and suppression of
consciousness. Wrong motives lead to wrong action as well as wrong perception
and interpretation because they determine the selectivity of attention. Prayer
though verbal ought to connect with experience that is connected with reality.
Though it is a deliberate conscious act, (or ought to be so) it should affect
the sub-conscious and the unconscious mind, and it will certainly affect real
interactions to various degrees according the proportion and relative strengths
of the instinctive, habitual or deliberate actions. Prayer is concerned with
conscience, feeling and motive. It is a reminder, a renewal and reinforcement
of intention and purpose. It is best connected with meditation that concerns
expansion and deepening of consciousness and with appropriate physical postures
that refer to concentration of will. Techniques such as charitable works,
fasting, study, pursuit of knowledge, defence and propagation of the faith are
designed to enhance the spiritual faculties of consciousness, conscience and
will by the exercise of empathy, concentration of attention, motive and effort.
Certain important psychological characteristic need to be cultivated such as
truth, justice, compassion, mercy, gratitude, patience, endurance,
perseverance, tolerance, impartiality, forgiveness, control of anger, keeping
ones promises, straight talking, stability, equanimity, selflessness,
frugality, moderation, detachment etc.
There are numerous other spiritual or psychological
techniques with various amounts of efficiency and appropriate for different
types of people that exist or can be developed through research.
Psychologically constructive behaviour in thought, motives and action are those
that lead to inner psychological expansion and integration, and therefore also
facilitate overall harmony and self-fulfilment, social unity and adjustment to
reality. Psychologically Destructive thought, motive and action are those that
lead to inner contradiction and, therefore to inner and outer conflicts,
disintegration and suffering. Inner conflicts and suffering cause guilt
feelings that lead to self-punishment in the form of accident proneness,
disablement and depression. It also leads to social conflicts because contradiction
and suffering constitute a problem which activates the fight/defence/flight
mechanism designed to seek solutions. Solutions can be real ones in that a
reconciling factor is found and applied. But it can also be an imaginary one or
a perverse one which projects the problem outwards by finding scapegoats.
Conflicts also take place when the balance
between resources, needs and abilities is disturbed. This can happen either
because there is a shortage of resources or because needs have increased owing
to greed or there is a discrepancy of ability to utilise resources or control
desires. Peace may be kept even if the greed of one group causes deprivation in
another group if there is a big difference of ability between the groups owing
to military, organisational or intellectual power. Human intelligence, however,
ought to be able to solve these problems unless disabled by psychological
factors. In general, there are levels of urgency in the needs that concern the
natural urges, in order, of self-preservation, socio-sexuality and
self-extension which is in reverse order of their value. The lower needs must
be satisfied to a certain degree before the next can be considered. But the
development of individuals and communities can get arrested at a lower level owing
to fixations or attachment through a kind of hypnosis or mental enslavement.
This condition requires reversal by means of suitable techniques.
Righteous behaviour is defined as that which
is attended by an awareness of Allah, who is omnipresent, omniscient,
omnipotent and the ultimate unity and objectivity. The fundamental technique in
Islam is to surrender to Allah (to adopt Islam) and that is best done by
constant remembering of Allah, the creator of all. (2:152, 200, 7:205, 13:28,
18:29, 24:37, 29:45, 33:41, 40:60, 57:16), That is because those who forget
Allah have forgotten their own souls and cannot work for its benefits.(59:19)
"O you who believe! Be mindful of
your duty to Allah, and seek a way of approach unto Him, and strive in His way
in order that you may succeed." 5:35
"(Righteosness) means that you should
worship Allah as though you saw Him, for though you see Him not, He sees
you" Hadith
"So set your purpose for religion, as
a man by nature upright - the nature in which Allah has created man. There is
no altering the laws of Allah's creation. That is the right religion, but most
men know not.." 30:30
"Be mindful of your duty to Allah and
(1) do righteous works; and again: (2) be mindful of your duty and believe; and
once again: (3) be mindful of your duty and do good. Allah loves the
good." 5:93
Surrender, Islam, implies:-
1, To give up something. In this case it
means to give up ones ego, attachments, prejudices, self-will and
self-opinions, pride, rationalisation, lusts and desires - one's subjectivity.
This state can be called "worldly death". There can be no
resurrection without death.
2, To accept the authority or dominion of
something. Here it means to accept objectivity in thought, motivation and
action. - to accept Allah in place of the ego. This involves accepting:- (a)
objective truth, reality, things, people, events as they are, including
oneself. (b) objective meanings - that we interpret all things in terms of the
correct context or framework of reference. (c) objective values. This can be
called coming into existence, regeneration or resurrection.
3, To return something which one has been
given, to repay a debt. Here it implies that we have been given a life with
which we do as we like, but this puts us under obligation to Him who has given
it to us. We must repay this debt. This also includes the fact that our life
depends on the environment and the benefits we get from the society, from the
work of many other people who supply our needs.
A Muslim Critic:-
To make it plain, Islam's core methodology of belief is Reason as
the Quran, many times, emphasizes:
"We explain our signs clearly for
those who use reason." [Quran 30:28]. Reason is nothing but an
interconnected thought process of logically making sense of action, things and/or
ideas. It's like fitting pieces of a jigsaw puzzle together. The process of
reason or reasoning is based on the natural law, or in other words, God's law,
of cause and effect as this universe is based on cause and effect.
Comment:-
This idea, the emphasis on “Reason”, though probably
sincere, is based on a common modern prejudice.
The quotation from verse 30:28 is better understood as
"..Thus do We make
the revelation clear for a people who understand"
Unfortunately, logic and reason are used by all those who enter
into all kinds of controversies whether it be in politics, philosophy or
religion. It is used by atheists and those who attack or support religion.
The reason for this is that “reason” is driven by
motives and motives lead to selection of data in order to reach the conclusions
one wishes to reach. It is a good method, when correctly done, of reaching a
pre-selected goal and it has its uses in Islam. But that is also its weakness
when the goal is wrong - it misleads.
Apart from this each person has a limited amount of experience
which differs from those of others and this produces a limited amount of the
data on which reasoning depends and even this is interpreted differently by
different people. That is they connect and arrange the data in different ways.
A correct reading of the Quran shows that it is much more
concerned with observation, understanding, insight, faith, the purification of
motives, and with correct action which lead to experiences. That is it is
concerned with adjustment to Reality, with surrender to Allah, and with the
growth of the soul and its capacity for consciousness, conscience and will.
Faith does not mean "blind belief". It means confidence in something
such that a person bases his life and behaviour, his thoughts, motives and
action on it.
See just in two chapters of the Quran:- 2:44, 2:73, 2:76, 2:165, 171, 179,198,242,269, 3:7, 65,
118, 190
"And follow (or
pursue) not that of which you have no knowledge; verily, the hearing, the
sight, and the heart, of all of these it shall be asked (to give an account).
And walk not on the earth proudly (insolently); verily, you can not rend the
earth asunder, nor can you stretch to the height of the mountains."
17:36-37
"Nay, but it (the
Quran) is a clear revelation in the heart of those who are endowed with
knowledge, and none deny Our revelations save the wrongdoers (or unjust)."
29:49
"Exalted then be
Allah, the King, the Truth! Hasten not the Quran before its inspiration is
completed for you; but say: O Lord! Increase me in knowledge." 20:14
"But most of them
follow naught but conjecture (suspicion, fancy, guesswork, speculation);
verily, conjecture can by no means take the place of (or avail against) truth.
Verily, Allah is Aware of what they do." 10:37
"And in the earth
there are signs for those who have sure faith, and also in your own souls; will
you not then see? " 51:20-21
"Have they not
travelled through the land? And have they not heart wherewith to feel
(understand), and ears wherewith to hear? For, indeed, it is not their eyes
that are blind, but it is the hearts which are within their breasts that grow
blind." 22:46
"The dwellers of the
desert say: We believe. Say: You believe not, but rather say: 'We submit'; for
faith has not yet entered into your heart; and if you obey Allah and His
Messenger, He will not diminish aught of your deeds; surely Allah is Forgiving,
Merciful. Only they are the believers who believe in Allah and His Messenger,
then afterwards they doubt not and struggle hard with their wealth and their
lives in the way of Allah; they are the truthful (sincere or righteous)
ones." 49:14-15
"And the soul and Who
fashioned it, and enlightened it with what is wrong and right for it! He indeed
is successful who causes it to grow (or purifies it)! And he indeed is a failure
who corrupts it!" 91:7-10
"Then set your
purpose for religion as a man upright by nature - the nature made by Allah in
which He has made men; there is no altering (the laws of) Allah's creation;
that is the right religion, but most people do not know - turning to Him only,
and be careful of your duty to Him and keep up prayer and be not of those who
ascribe partners to Him." 30:30-31
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