Science as a Gateway to Understanding International Workshop Proceedings, Tehran, Iran (2008) / Chapter Skim
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4 Wisdom: the Best Gateway to Understanding--Mostafa Mohagheh Damad
4 Wisdom: the Best Gateway to Understanding--Mostafa Mohagheh Damad
Pages 25-32
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From page 25... ...
Hikma appears more than 20 times in the Holy Koran, where it is of eminent significance. It is repeatedly emphasized that the Prophet Muhammad teaches people "the Book and the Wisdom," and on one occasion it is said, "He [God]
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From page 26... ...
The excessive belief in the sciences, or put differently, a dry and petrified scientific attitude devoid of any spiritual background, an interpretation of the world from the narrow angle of the natural sciences, is the main reason for the destruction and corruption of mankind's natural environment. This is the most conspicuous result of the industrial developments of the last few centuries.
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From page 27... ...
Toward the end of his life, he had enjoyed the taste of love, and on the basis of his philosophical convictions he founded the Religion de l'Humanitéand he built a temple to hold prayers.1 Comte identified humanity as le Grand Etre and he called himself le Grand Pretre, noting of course that in his religion, worship did not have the usual meaning of glorifying, but of caring and attending (Foroughi, 1989)
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From page 28... ...
Man view of nature has narrowed to such an extent that he has literally made breathing difficult for himself. Science, which had set out to help and to attend mankind, became its deadly enemy, quite according to what Sheik Saadi, an outstanding Iranian poet of the thirteenth century said: "A servant went out to fetch some water, but the water rose and swept the servant away." Present-day science has made nature a tool and a meaningless object at the hand of modern city dwellers.
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From page 29... ...
No longer does modern man aspire to the spiritual experience of ascending to the divine kingdom, as we find in the story of Christ, in Dante's Divine Comedy, or in the Prophet Muhammad's nightly ascension to the skies. Man has become arrogant by ascending mountains, flying spaceships, and wandering between the planets.
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From page 30... ...
Mehdi Bahadori: Why don't you use the word ethics instead of wisdom? Damad: Wisdom encompasses ethics.
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From page 31... ...
Wisdom could be a gateway to understanding, but wisdom comes through experience in life, and the most important means of gaining this experience nowadays is science. The examples that you gave from Auguste Comte or from the earlier philosophers belong to the past.
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