A DAZELING BUT EMPTY GLORY,
THE ESSENCE AND THE PERIPHERAL
By M. K. SADIGH
A dazzling but empty glory symbolically is reference to a condition, when
the out most social and individual struggles are focused on the peripheral
aspects of human life, rather than the substance and essence. This condition
if should have any validity for attention, then raises the major question
that, what is the limitation between these two and how we can define the
essence and the peripheral of an individual's life? Furthermore, what
is the relevance of peripheral and essence if there is any? The peripheral
and presentational side of life especially glamorous presentation of human
existence, as the most noted of human identity, usually masks the essence
of his existence. It seems the man is being caught in between two identities,
his solitude identity and a social identity subjected to varieties of
impositions, including the traditions and the paradigms of all kinds,
and of course the desire of furnishing his environment as glamorous and
glorious as he can. This does not mean the consideration of aesthetic
values should be positioned in a lesser level of importance. The reference
implies that appearance should not suppress the innate essence of being.
(2) Glamour also glamour refers to a social position, a tendency of compelling
charm, romance, and have excitement, especially when, having the nature
of a delusion; false: a delusive glamour alluring, to attract with something
desirable; entice: promises of quick profits allure the unwary investor.
To be highly, often subtly attractive. A magic spell; enchantment, some
achievement for some people and they are sprouts of being in glamour job,
This description illustrates a life of fulfillment and comfort, a life
of worry free, a life of success and prosperity. While a great majority
of people are in this kind of positions, but in fact there is a bigger
picture that reflects the manifestation of a more comprehensive reality,
the one that apparently is not admirable, or pleasant to be acknowledged,
revealed or perhaps subjected to preference and prejudice.
Intrinsic and extrinsic world of existence constitute the two components
of the total existence which one present the most visible and tangible,
the other practically concealed from the external world. In most of the
intellectual domain only the manifestation of their concealed world are
identified as their identity. The value of such manifestation does not
amount to a pronounced presentation, in spite of the fact that they are
far more significant for social well-being and true social identity.
From this point we are talking about the essence and the appearance, which
one cannot exist without the other and yet from the totality of the individual's
identity commonly the appearance over shadows the intrinsic entity. The
totality of a person within his uniqueness, his functionality, responsibility,
and freedom of choice brings him to a philosophical view that emphasizes
the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile
or indifferent universe, regards human existence, even though, is unexplainable,
stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of
one's acts.
Let us position such individual within a combative and hostile environment,
where he has to arm himself with every weapon and instruments he can get
his hand on. Definitely he will end up with varieties of (selves) struggle
to sustain his existence, while his choices will be reduced to proposed
impositions. The mere struggle to liberate him from all these imposed
divisions will be a life long effort, which could result to nothing but
strive toward innate preservation. (2) Heidegger Martin. 1889-1976 German
philosophers who maintained that authentic human existence belong, only
to those who react with angst to the inherent emptiness of life. His works,
including Being and Time (1927), greatly influenced Sartre and other existentialists.
His approach to describe the man liberated from all the predisposed obligation
is only the strive of a man who really has the capacity of such privilege.
The greatness of such capacity raises him to an unbounded self to a feeling
of anxiety or apprehension often accompanied by depression, which paves
the direction to a getting away, a disposition of impositions, and, eventually
to detachment or emptiness. This is the being that identify himself not
with the peripheral but rather with the essence of his own existence.
Perhaps surrounded with the glamour, alluring him in an atmosphere of
splendid luxuries and dazzling outlook, but not losing the site of the
emptiness of the world around him. The difference between the conscious
of the emptiness and the empty consciousness is tremendously great. It
is the differences between the existence and nullity. (2) Nil, Nothing,
zero. Latin nil contraction of nihil; See ne in Indo-European Roots. Nil
adj. New. Important derivatives are: naught naughty neither never any
1 no 2 none nor 1 not nothing nay annul nefarious neuter nice null nullify
annihilate non- neglect negligee negotiate negate deny renegade some of
these references imply nothingness, the luck of - but nullify or annihilation
in our discussion imply to a process of, annihilation overshadowing, but
banishing or nullifying.
When we use the extremity of emptiness, indeed, we striping the man from
all the bandages, attachments, impositions, and obedience. We end up with
a creature, which is self-reliance, and utterly liberated from any bounding.
To arrive at this level of maturation, a man should achieve ultimate perfection,
to a level where he does not need any guidance. In another word, such
man reorients his existence according to self-determination, departing
from the mediocrity. The doctrine of self-realization, complete development
or fulfillment of one's own potential, proposes such sovereignty. In fact
understanding the distinction between the essence and peripheral, as two
constituencies of life will cast more light on vast shadow of social diversity.
The complicated and profound diversity, which became part of life and
led to immensely problematic structure of social contradictions. The contradictions
will remain with human as long as the human natural drives for glory and
glamour dominate his consciousness and understanding of his essence, and
willingly and wittingly comprehend the distinction between these two parts
of his existence. Being consumed by the strong impact of peripherals eventually
corrodes the human consciousness and stimulates the human prejudices to
the highest level of devastating ignorance.
For analogy, just assume that you are asked to analyze your knowledge
about your own comprehention of your environment; In reality from the
first steps you will only assess those elements that are visible, tangible,
materialized, and generally could be categorized as the elements which
represent the peripherals. Hardly the hidden parts of existence such as
your knowledge, compassion, fairness, comprehension will come to the focus
of your attention; the reason is the peripheral significantly overshadows
the essence. The essence of your existence will be pushed back, perhaps
suppressed to a great deal to a level that eventually loses its significance.
Why we should raise this issue in the first place? Even if we raise this
issue, when the motivation for paying more attention to peripheral became
the cardinal bases of our mere existence without even considering or counting
our essence, nobody really cares about the issue as long as the life goes
on without attention to the essence as part of our life. The major question
will be our concern about the equilibrium, the balance, The natural and
biological, as well as social balance, which without that we can not maintain
our stability. Just as the equilibrium of a bridge guaranties the stability
of its functionality, the same principals should be applicable to social
structures. The issue is not who is doing what, but rather, to what extend
what ever he is doing is fitting into the materialization of social justice,
and social balance. How much of the energy of each human contributes to
the social equilibrium and how much of human energy satisfy only the fulfillment
of individuals without any contribution to the social equilibrium? The
answer to this question is that if individualism continues to dominate
the universalism, this consideration always will be in the back burner
of social attention. Bypassing the manifestations of life becomes a common
habit. The result will be a social blindness, which cast out the elements
of truth and deliberately diving into a social ignorance.
It is in this deliberate self-destructive mood, we pollute the very essential
means of our own survival. We pollute the air, the water, the foods, the
environments, we devastate the forests that are the lung of the earth
to give us oxygen and life, we push our fellow human beings to the verge
of death and extinction, we cheat, lie, kill, and direct the whole process
of life to banishment. In such confusion the essence and peripheral will
be pushed to divesting chaos.
Marxism proposes the enforcement of a monistic structure, which, supposed
to create such equilibrium. But such reinforcement also creates a great
deal of psychological and social tension. The end result of such psychological
tensions will turn to a battleground between, selves, far more intense
that the class antagonism, in its divided and diverse measures. The clear-cut
approach to such immense problem could not possibly create the social
balance to guarantee the well being of humanity in a justified manner,
the way that ethics presupposes its values and function. We clearly see
that neither the radical presuppositions, nor their adversary's social
enforcement, were capable of establishing the ground roles to satisfy
the necessary bases for justice. It is the extreme bias toward the essence
from one hand, and peripheral from the other that confuses the humanity,
and paralyzes his capacity to balance his life. It could not be the (either
or, neither, nor) issue but both and in a natural equilibrium, an animistic
sustenance consciously and naturally conducted. Not only the aspect of
survival of fittest versus the instinctual balance, but rather self consciousness,
led by absolute function of rationality.
I attended in a seminar which the speaker was talking about the mysticism
and love. His basic issue was the profundity and maturity of human intellectual
growth, which enhances his mental capacity to the level of God. He maintained
that those human beings who are the majority of human under cultural or
educational circumstances will never grow beyond the instinctual subsistence,
therefore, will never be able to see any thing beyond the instinctual
needs. Indeed he was introducing the most fundamental doctrine of the
mystical growth, which in different cultures is practiced in different
manners but all aiming at the complete liberation of man from the attachments
to peripherals and abandoning the essences.
He raised many important issues about the manner of cognitions, and technical
aspects of coherences and practicing the procedures to achieve the intellectual
capacity of superb innovations, expression, and conveyance. He proposed
that, the means of expressions in this level of mental maturity, no longer
will be the mediocrity and ordinary, but rather a none materialistic,
spiritual channel beyond the words and visible communicative manners.
Such achievement should be an ultimate intellectual resonance of perfection.
The level of distinction will put these distinguished intellectuals in
the lever of Newtonian Stars in the black whole, a level of rare and extraordinary
excellence.
Moving away from the mediocrity to superb is a process, along with a manner
and method of purification and cleansing yourself from the ignorance,
from the conformity, reaching the zenith of ultimate capacity and creativity.
In this level of maturity human no longer defined with a being alive and
exist trough his senses, but rather trough his own creative puissance,
a power only attributed to Gods. The level of such achievement, therefore,
is where Sa-di, Hafiz, Molawi, and all the great-distinguished man of
human culture are and became the shining universes, which will enlighten
the humanity with their insights forever.
Here we reached to the core away from peripheral, deep down to the essence.
The pure entity of a domain, not being guided by any paradigms, standards,
or demands, but rather by the command of the true power, a power which
is not attributed to, Me, Mine, or Us, but, Tue, This is a level of ultimate
perfection, which is undividable, and unconquerable domain of creation
and creativity. Such achievement in fact diminishes the human poverty
which only defined in the realm of material absence and enriches the man
beyond the material subsistence.
Poverty was a central philosophical issue considered by many thinkers,
idealists as well as materialist. Obviously poverty in different views
had different interpretations. Some religious view defines it as immaturity,
imperfection, and disvalue of the people especially the illiterate ordinary
individuals that apparently were born to be pour because, their educational,
even genetic structure and of course economical status does not allow
them to be counted for, as eligible human being. Some mystical tendency
view prosperity as a definite value and necessary for every human being
who also wants to be spiritual. They believe a man cannot pray and believe
in an idea, if his stomach is empty. If a person has a thorn in his foot,
he cannot walk to his destination and reach his goal unless he gets rid
of that thorn first. The mysticism believes human has two lives, mystical
life, which distances the man from dependence on prosperity as the central
attention of the human and dismisses other innate values. In another aspects
countering the material attachments as a shell, which should be shed,
and open the way for essence to be identified as the most important pillar
of human existence.
Obviously there is a marked contradiction between the mysticism as a purifier
of human sole which claim that they are guiding the humanity for liberating
themselves from greed, and the lust for powers, political or economical,
and the mysticism hidden under the reputation of spiritual maturity of
the most prominent cultural authorities, introducing themselves under
the banner of Islam, which realistically present a religious avocation
and reintroduce the Islam.
I have a great deal of problem with those, who deliberately departing
of self from the spiritual entity to peripheral entity. When they pass
trough this channel of growth, and get to the destination of divinity
as they assume, then they destroy the vehicle that took them there in
the first place. Completely dismissing the validity of peripheral, which
comprised of the material and biological boundary this is, as if, denouncing
the existence of the gravity that centralize the material beings as the
only materialistic force, the bases for spiritual dynamic, the ''will''.
Composition of the matters and spirit would not be realized in singularity.
It is the driving force which animate these two that Schopenhauer calls
it ''will'', a puissance that drives the totality of an existence to sustain.
To go on maintain, develop, and grow, and the moment that puissance is
not there, the animation will be terminated. A living creature, if is
created by supreme power, is the manifestation of his supremacy, and must
continue its existence. For some reason if an individual loses that natural
will, he is getting ready to die.
(2) Schopenhauer 1788-1860 German philosopher, believed that will to live
is the fundamental reality and that will, being a constant striving, is
insatiable, Impossible to satiate or satisfy, and ultimately yields only
suffering. ''Will'' is not the spirit or soul that most of the judo-christen,
or Semitic religions attribute it to the supreme power and divine, but
in the contrary is attributed to the individual power which become a determinant
puissance, suppressing other powers and dominate them. The diverse approach
to the essence as an entity of divinity, related to supreme power of nature,
and peripheral presented and identified by tangibles. The orientation
of a capable self-independent of confusion and disillusion of abstraction
of ideal is absolutely impossible. The only preoccupation that can possibly
enables the man to liberate him from the influences of two opposed poles
would be ultimate self consciousness.
M. K. SADIGH
New York, April, 19- 2001
Sources and references;
1. The Encyclopedia Britannica Multi media
2. The American Heritage Talking Dictionary