RENAISSANCE APRIL 2020

30 Monthly Renaissance April 2020 Reflections Thinking Style of a Wise Person Ḥ am ī d al-D ī n Far ā h ī Wisdom is the marvel and purpose of the soul: this is why it is its beginning and its end. The fields of knowledge which one acquires prior to attaining wisdom are just one of the means towards achieving it. Just as when an individual obtains understanding of the basic components, deduces knowledge of the whole and then examines the previous knowledge of the components in light of the whole, the weaknesses and positive points of these components become clear. Similarly, when, after a person has attained wisdom, he assesses the aspects of knowledge that had provided the basics of the overall understanding, he realizes that many things had been misinterpreted and many issues had been confused with others. After complete insight, understanding and research, many matters that are based on opinion and conjecture can be corrected. Several such matters that were foggy earlier become clear. A person feels as if earlier thinkers were viewing those matters with the eyes of animals. When a wise man approaches them, he sees these with the eyes of a human for the first time. In other words, things remain devoid of meaning and context until a person approaches, understands and opens them up and clarifies them. Hence, a person cannot benefit from fields of knowledge that were created for the purpose of attaining wisdom until he has achieved divine knowledge. Taking benefit from them prior to understanding the divine is not the right approach to benefitting from them. Similarly, this form of knowledge too is not real. It is merely awareness of diverse matters and misconstrued feelings and emotions. When a wise person casts his eye upon the universe, he observes maturity, cohesion and unity in all matters. He understands that this universe has been created for a specific purpose. Hence, it is