Hierarchy of hematopoietic stem cells

The blood system, also known as hematopoietic system, has enormous regenerative capacity to maintain functional mature blood cells that arise from highly proliferative but short-lived progenitor cells. Those progenitors in turn are generated from very rare blood stem cells called hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). HSCs are one of the most studied stem cells in our body which has greatly shaped our thinking on the features of adult stem cells. These stem cells are kept at the bone marrow in close proximity to bone cells and other supporting cells forming the specialized home known as niche. In several aspects, a niche resembles a cellular stronghold that a queen lives in a safe and protected environment.

The interaction of stem cells with the niche is crucial as this prevents exhaustion of stem cells from uncontrolled cellular divisions and proliferation. While active progenitors account for the generation of mature blood cells, hematopoietic stem cells function as a reserved cell population. Interestingly, we observe the importance of the balance between those two cell populations in the aging process. Although the number of HSCs increases in aged animals, there is a decline in self-renewal of HSCs.

Other protective mechanisms include the low proliferation rates of HSCs in a relatively quiescent state, residing in a low oxygen environment [3], a relatively low degree of metabolism and preferential use of glycolysis as energy source, and additional protection mechanism against oxidative stress.

Low in oxygen but a good place to be!

Stem cells as the cell bank of the body are protected against internal and external insults by a number of mechanisms. Stem cell niche not only provides an environment that they can survive but also poses the lesser degree of internal and external insults. Those possible stresses on cells include, but not limited to, UV exposure, radiation, toxic chemicals, and free oxygen species that cause various damages in the cell including mutations in DNA (Fig. 3). Cells respond to those external and internal issues by various ways such as senescence (loss of stem cell activity), cell death or DNA repair. For example, blood stem cells mainly house in the bone marrow next to osteoblastic lining (blood-forming cells) and endothelial cells where they form the hypoxic (low oxygen tension) endosteal region. This hypoxic niche of HSCs provides lower levels of oxygen so that there are lower levels of free oxygen radicals that mainly arise from electrons leaking from mitochondria during oxidative phosphorylation. In addition, it has been shown that HSC express higher levels of hypoxia inducible factor-1α, a master regulator at low oxygen tension with hundreds of downstream targets regulating various aspects of metabolism including defense against oxidative stress and survival at low oxygen environment. It has also been shown that hypoxia increases self-renewal abilities of HSCs, thus keeps them healthy and functional for longer periods.

Protection from detrimental effects of reactive oxygen species (ROS)

Excess amounts of reactive oxygen species are detrimental to cells. ROS are found to cause hematopoietic stem cell defects as shown in mouse lacking FoxO and Atm genes. In those mutant mice, the hematopoietic defects could be rescued by the use of an antioxidant N-acetyl-cysteine. Anti-oxidants are one of the scavengers that diminish unwanted effects of reactive oxygen species. A number of fruits and vegetables such as beans, blueberry, strawberry, and apple are known with their high content of anti-oxidants. It is amazing to observe anti-oxidants being placed into our sustenance just as much as in some special genes (such as SOD2 and Hypoxia Inducible factor-2α) that provide additional protection for cells. Amazingly, stem cells show high levels of ROS scavenger genes.

Low metabolism provide protection for stem cells

Recent studies demonstrate that hematopoietic stem cells have lower rates metabolism as measured by lower oxygen consumption, lower ATP content and higher lactate production (an end product of cytoplasmic glycolysis) [4]. This means that stem cells produce and consume lesser energy (ATP) compared to more differentiated cells and the by-products of the energy production are kept lower. As higher energy demand brings higher rates of internal insults like production of ROS which is associated with aging and cellular damages, HSCs are granted with another protective mechanism by preferential use of glycolysis (anaerobic) instead of oxidative phosphorylation (aerobic).

Hematopoietic stem cells are quiescent

Another defense mechanism is the quiescence of stem cells which is associated with slow cell-cycle progression. Quiescence of stem cells means that they are kept at a resting, inactive state thus sustaining a self-renewing HSC compartment for life. Because when cell divides, they have to undergo thousands of chemical reactions including making a copy of the three billion letter long DNA, which puts cells at risk to get mutations. Thus, they don’t undergo division unless there is a stimulus. In addition, it has been found that HSCs divide only once every 145 days on average.

There are a number of studies indicating that there are signals in the niche that keeps HSCs in a quiescent state. Tie2/Ang-1 signaling, for instance, has been demonstrated to contribute to the maintenance of HSCs by inducing quiescence. While Ang-1 is expressed in the mesenchymal/stromal cells of niche, its receptor Tie2 is expressed at HSCs. In addition, it has been shown that Ang-1 can inhibit HSC division in culture and promote quiescence of HSCs in the bone marrow [5].

It is also reported that the cell adhesion molecules that allow physical interaction between stem cells and their niche components may participate in regulation of stem cell quiescence through a process called contact dependent inhibition of proliferation. For instance, it has been found that cell adhesion molecules such as N-cadherin, β1-integrin, and osteopontin might be involved in the regulation of cell cycle status of HSCs [6].

One advantage of quiescence of HSC comes from the lower susceptibility of slowly proliferating cells to radiation than other cells due to the expression of cell cycle inhibitors like p21 and anti-apoptotic (controlled cell death) machinery like ATM in HSCs. In addition, studies in p21 (a cell cycle inhibitor gene) knockout mice suggest that maintaining cell cycle quiescence is directly linked to self-renewal of HSCs [7].

Toxics are exported from hematopoietic stem cells

There are other issues concerning external insults against toxics and unwanted chemicals. An HSC population described as side population has been equipped with a number of transporters such as ATP Binding Cassette (ABC) transporters, P-glycoprotein (P-gp/ABCB1) and Breast Cancer Resistance Protein (BCRP/ABCG2) on their membrane providing high efflux ability [8]. They play an important role in the excretion of drugs and endogenous compounds. Those transporters work actively when there is an entrance or excess of such chemicals thus keeping damage minimal.

HSCs are placed in such an environment that even minimum damages by internal and external insults are prevented by different defense mechanisms including residing HSCs in the hypoxic niche, expression of ROS scavenger genes, preferential use of glycolytic metabolism, quiescence nature of HSCs, and removal of toxins by ABC transporters. It is very wise to home such an important cell in a place where it can prosper with a carefully balanced rate of cell division and metabolism. Hypoxic niche seems key to the protection of hematopoietic stem cells by supporting self-renewal and preservation of hematopoietic functions both at the same time. The presence of these protective systems that are graciously placed in our cells with perfect measurements provides an elusive mechanism to ensure healthy life-long reservoir of HSCs.

Ali Fethi Toprak is a PhD candidate at Southwestern Medical Center, Texas University.

Selected References

1. Kobayashi, C.I. and T. Suda, Regulation of reactive oxygen species in stem cells and cancer stem cells. J Cell Physiol, 2012. 227(2): p. 421-30.

2. Li, L. and H. Clevers, Coexistence of quiescent and active adult stem cells in mammals. Science, 2010. 327(5965): p. 542-5.

3. Eliasson, P. and J.I. Jonsson, The hematopoietic stem cell niche: low in oxygen but a nice place to be. J Cell Physiol. 222(1): p. 17-22.

4. Simsek, T., et al., The Distinct Metabolic Profile of Hematopoietic Stem Cells Reflects Their Location in a Hypoxic Niche. Cell Stem Cell, 2010. 7(3): p. 380-390.

5. Arai, F., et al., Tie2/angiopoietin-1 signaling regulates hematopoietic stem cell quiescence in the bone marrow niche. Cell, 2004. 118(2): p. 149-61.

6. Yamashita, Y.M., D.L. Jones, and M.T. Fuller, Orientation of asymmetric stem cell division by the APC tumor suppressor and centrosome. Science, 2003. 301(5639): p. 1547-50.

7. Cheng, T., et al., Hematopoietic stem cell quiescence maintained by p21cip1/waf1. Science, 2000. 287(5459): p. 1804-8.

8. Huls, M., F.G. Russel, and R. Masereeuw, The role of ATP binding cassette transporters in tissue defense and organ regeneration. J Pharmacol Exp Ther, 2009. 328(1): p. 3-9.

9. Antioxidant Riches Found in Unexpected Foods. Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/news/20040617/antioxidants-found-unexpected-foods, January 31, 2012.

In a harsh, corrupt and unforgiving land,
came a mercy and salvation.
Warring tribes and fierce factions,
he united into one nation.
And to the women at the bottom of the tribal castes,
he brought liberation.
He was. The best of creation.
A people so lost in ignorance,
they required a complete transformation.
When they prayed to many gods,
he insisted on unification.
With divine unity at its core,
he built a solid foundation.
He was. The best of creation.
When forced from his home land,
he made patient migration.
But his was a mission of mercy,
there would be no retribution.
What less would you expect? From the best of creation.
While Kings lived vain glory,
he was humility and moderation.
He had no need for worldly goods,
his purpose was to save his nation
Whatever he had he would give away,
yet he was richest in God’s estimation
He was. The best of creation
Now 14 centuries later,
he remains an inspiration.
In a world of darkness and delusion,
his way is illumination.
O God! If you grant me just one wish,
let him know of my adoration.
Your beloved one, the best of creation. 

This is the winning poem in a recent competition organized by ISRA, Islamic Sciences and Research Academy in Sydney, Australia, dedicated to the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him.

In the twentieth century, like other religious communities around the world, Muslims had to come to a resolution regarding the compatibility of their religion with science. Today, at least at the fundamental level, this is not an issue, however, the same pattern of questioning is extended to the use of the products of science: is it permissible to donate one’s organs? Under what conditions is abortion permissible? Can a person perform daily prayers (salaat) while onboard vehicles? etc. Along the same line of thought, psychology is under scrutiny in terms of its use for understanding mechanisms of cognition and behaviors, character education and methods of therapy.

Putting Islam and psychology into a perspective

Islam aims at the prosperity of humanity both in this world and in the next. As its prerequisite, Islam requires a conscious and willful submission from its followers. In this brief description, the key words are conscience and will. Without a healthy conscience and free will, human beings can neither be responsible for their actions nor submit to Islam. Therefore, at the fundamental level, Islam calls for action in order to foster the development and exercise of conscience and free will.

Psychology is a discipline that is intended to understand behaviors. It is the study of not only the problematic ones but also the everyday behaviors such as how we remember or forget, learn a language, make selections, or adjust to a society. In this sense, a healthy psychology means a soul in good health that can exercise its free will and associate their actions with their conscience.

The two previous paragraphs imply that essentially psychology is a useful body of knowledge for practicing Islam. With this perspective, there should be no conflicts or compatibility issues between Muslims and psychology. Furthermore, due to their religion that promises to satisfy all faculties of human existence, Muslims should have a completely healthy psychology. Now, let’s think about the Muslim world with this idea in mind.

Journey to ground zero

While reading the cases below, imagine yourself in similar situations. While reading we have to bear in mind that many of these cases are not exclusive to Muslim societies, and their reasons have diverse economic, political, and socio-cultural dimensions (please read footnote 1 for more explanation):

– The near past of the contemporary Muslim world contains wars and sectarian conflicts. There are children in those places whose parents, siblings or friends are dying in the clashes. There are consequences of these traumatic events in the development of their psychology.

– In other places, there are Muslims who feel an obligation to hide their religious practices in order not to be an outcast from the society. The children and the adolescents in such atmospheres are likely to develop a feeling of guilt or inferiority.

– In some parts of the Muslim geography, there are girls who are forced to marry someone that they did not want to, or forced to marry an old man. They struggle for emotional survival, and in the meantime, they try to raise their children. There are many suicidal cases among them, and their yearning for revenge is transmitted to their children.

– There are children who barely hear words of appreciation from their fathers, or have almost no one-on-one time with them. There are children who rarely see their mother being treated respectfully by their father. Such children are likely to establish families in which they use their children as race horses to achieve certain goals in life, and in which the wife is treated very much like a loyal servant.

Due to these unfavorable situations, some Muslims who were victims of these situations face various psychological challenges, which can lead to real problems. These problems are not necessarily acute schizophrenia or paranoia, but more subtle things that penetrate the individual and social life thoroughly, such as excessive self-assertion or self-annihilation, negligence in parenthood, malpractices in the family life, gourmandism, back-biting, obsession and compulsion. In such conditions, people have more difficulty in exercising their free will towards what is taught in Islam; because they develop several psychological immune responses for protection. Hence, their free will is no longer as free as they think.

Atop the ivory tower

One of the premises of science is that the gained knowledge must be objective, i.e. independent of the person. In fact, when we consider the human behavior at a broad level, it is possible to reach some universal rules as well. However, the rise of the social sciences in the past century and the consequent accumulation of knowledge severely challenged the premise of objectivity in the humanities. Innate variations in perceptions of the same phenomenon, diversity in the ideals for humanity, various interpretations of the meaning of life are only a few among many reasons that rendered social sciences rather subjective. Being one of the social sciences, psychology is no exception to this subjectivity. As such, the meaning and applications of psychology in different communities exhibit distinct properties.

Modern psychology as a branch of science has been mainly developed by Western scholars. In doing so, they based their statistical works on their own communities. Thus, the observations and conclusions made by them were reflective of Western societies. At a first glance, one can say that humanity shares a lot in their innate character, and so this knowledge base is useful for everyone. True, but when it comes to building characters, one needs to define an ideal and come up with ways to achieve that ideal, given the conditions of the society. The differences in the definition of an ideal bring an essential subjectivity to the table. Aside from this, the difference of the settings in each society necessitates a special focus and a deeper understanding for each and every group of people.

Richard Nisbett, one of the most cited social psychologists, confesses that as a built-up science over the years, psychology was wrong in assuming human cognition to be the same everywhere. He says that these differences are even scientifically measurable. According to Nisbett’s studies, the world is more complex to Easterners than to Westerners, and everything is considered “in relation to one another in no simple and deterministic way.” Therefore, harmony is almost everything in the East. If something is considered as a breaker of “the harmony,” it tends to be refused even if blind conservatism would be the result. In the West however, self sufficiency is valued over dependency and individuality is preferred over conformity. So, psychological treatments that aim to help people become “their best” and “shine their egos” are misfit to the Eastern social context. This is only one example showing that the studies in the Western world do not entirely represent the Eastern world. Still, the rest of the world is copying what the Western world finds in the psychological studies, even though it is known that the dress does not fit the rest.

Another issue with the modern psychology is the position of faith and religion. To modern psychology, religion is nothing more than statistics that say, “Religious practices can be good for recovering from mental and bodily problems, and an adherence to a faith enhances the protection against certain troubles” or, “religious disciplines may lead to psychological complications.” Along the same lines, God is either a concept that is out of concern or is no more than a product of our brain. The entire body of spiritual development for that matter, e.g. Sufi practices, is nothing more than a beneficial cultural activity. A vast majority of psychologists would diagnose with schizophrenia a person who is experiencing some spiritual perceptual aspects, which are not counted as hallucination in Muslim society. Thus, although modern psychology may respect a patient’s beliefs in God, angels, afterlife, etc., it would not necessarily be able to suggest a cure that can resonate within a Muslim mind.

Focusing on errors

As a consequence of the aforementioned elements of psychology that are not compatible with Muslims, some Muslims make erroneous assumptions about psychology, often triggered by a motive to take pride in their religion.

For example, many Muslims would know Freud only due to his obsession with sexuality as the underlying motive for all human activity. Another erroneous example is towards behaviorism, which establishes deterministic action-reaction patterns of behavior; thus denial of the free will.

A final example to this matter is the emphasis on ego expression and its use in the motivation of the individual. As a daily life application of psychology, self-improvement techniques have been developed and are exported to Muslim societies. These techniques are originating from scientific research mixed with ancient mysticism. One can admit that there is useful information in those sources, but they have been interpreted and organized in such a way as to address the Western individual. And what is more, the picture of ego favored in the resultant teachings is clearly not justifiable with the truths of Islam.

The above examples do not necessarily represent all schools of psychology or the situation of all Muslims or psychologists. However, these are enough materials for the uneducated minds to shun psychology.

Stabilizing on Islam, the middle path

Despite the unfortunate picture drawn above, it is possible that the body of knowledge within psychology can be useful for Muslims. For this, one needs a pragmatic perspective gained through the Qur’an and the practice of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him; the sources uncontaminated by cultural interference.

In the context of Islam and Muslims, something that is not a perfect-fit for the norms of some Muslim communities or contradicts them, can be acceptable in Islam (e.g., coexistence and cooperation of Muslims and non-Muslims). Conversely, something that is accepted and appreciated by some Muslim communities can be unjustifiable in Islam (e.g., status of women in social life). Given that guidance and counseling activities are adjusted according to the cultural norms, such activities unaided by the Qur’an and the practice of the Prophet are only likely to sustain the status-quo, without necessarily improving the state of the people in an Islamic manner. With the help of those two sources however, guidance and counseling activities can step outside the cultural norms and provide an improvement in an Islamic spirit.

For example, take the internal conflicts between different groups in a society. In original Islamic understanding, “unity within multiplicity” is taken as a basis in society. This understanding requires diversity under unity, or discrepancy in a harmonious way. Briefly, unity within multiplicity leads to “both/and” thinking style, instead of “either/or.” Therefore, claiming to be members of the final and universal religion, Muslims must be able to accommodate the variances among people instead of leveling them off completely under the banner of “unity.”

The same view leads to embracing the methods of psychology that agree with or serve Islamic ideals. For example, how many people would know Freud as the person who established a psychoanalytic theory in which the importance of childhood memories is emphasized? More importantly, who would know that he proposed a dynamic understanding for the subconscious? The analysis of childhood memories and tracking how they evolved in the subconscious throughout the life of the individual are things that are not in contradiction with the teachings of Islam. What is more, they can be key concepts for the Muslim world to remove their non-Islamic habits.

Similarly, it is well-known that both the Qur’an and the practice of the Prophet recommend rewarding laudable behavior to strengthen it and punishing evil action to curtail it. Behaviorism, thus gives hope to Muslims to change towards what is right using the right methods when they believe hopelessly that there is no way to become a good person after all wrongdoings. Therefore, conditioning-related phenomena, hence behaviorist methods in this sense, can be of importance within the Islamic educational framework.

Achieving the “perfect human”

Once the issues mentioned in this article are addressed, the psychological methods could be well-suited complements for becoming perfect Muslims. Then, issues like conflict resolution, social justice and poverty are going to be much easier to address. Self-improvement and personality development techniques are going to become a different way of servanthood through reliance on God and destiny. Above all however, for the realization of such goals, Muslims need to be educated about psychology in an Islamic spirit and need to use their free will to change themselves as necessary.

Sumeyra Tosun is a forensic psychologist and graduate student at Texas A&M University. Seth Mette is a postdoctoral fellow at West Virginia University.

While discussions on the education of creation in schools continue, generations grow up with lack of knowledge about the Creator and understanding of His Actions. The current education system in high schools and colleges are giving knowledge about the universe, nature, earth, and life but courses are not directed to understand the Actions of the Creator. How and where can people learn about their Creator? Although there are various means such as the internet, religious groups, and journals, it is not always feasible and enough to understand directly the Creator’s Actions without a good understanding of sciences. Fortunately, every science continuously mentions God with their unique language and speaks of the Creator, but we will need a point of view, windows to see beyond our sight and knowledge, just like we need a microscope to see microorganisms or a telescope to discover depths of the universe. With some attention, everyone can understand what sciences reflect from God’s Actions. That’s why we should listen to what sciences tell us in their own language.

Imagine there is a simulation program to analyze a car crash. In this program, let us say you enter different parameters such as velocity, weight, angle of hit, general structure of the car, hardness of the body, and weather information like wind velocity and its direction and so on. After you click on the OK button in this imaginary simulation program, you almost get the same results with real physical crash tests. This obviously shows us a skillful software programmer and his great knowledge in mathematics and physical events. Noticeably, nature is composed of millions and millions of parameters determining final result just like this simulation program. For instance, when you throw a stone to a lake or into water, first of all it falls down with a velocity and then you see a wave of water expanding to its surrounding from the center affected by that velocity. The velocity of this stone at a certain time and place and wave formation on the surface of water can be explained with some physical laws described with mathematical equations. Whoever put these rules for the physical events also created the universe in a perfect mathematical order. From these and the knowledge we get from computer sciences, physics, and mathematics, we can open windows to understand the ruler of the universe as Glorious Creator.

We are at the time of great advancements in gene technology and huge increase in knowledge about molecular biology; even individual structures of biological molecules are known and many more discovered about cellular mechanisms. The more we learn, the more we face complexity and organization in the tiniest compartments of cell. Cell is no longer a small room filled with a gel-like structure in our minds, it is a massive factory that contains all required machinery and it is automatic, well balanced, and continuously renewed. Things are in constant motion; uptake follows release of substances and signal from outside results in a response produced inside. With increase in understanding of how living things are working and necessity to answer how these things originated caused discussions in scientific research. Some scientists like to talk only at scientific platforms or on so-called testable scientific subjects, but this does not change the reality. We wonder about the beginning and we wish to live forever. We are finite but dream of infinity. How can we think of eternal life if we were a product of something that is not eternal?

Imagine there is a high-tech, but small self-working factory producing highways and trucks to carry items, fuel engines for the energy that can be used in many different processes and containing solar energy collectors. There are great photocopy machines for the production of a new factory, feedback systems to control and repair any problems as well. Without any concern, control of all these events and thousands of machines, engines, highways in such a small sized factory without any problem involves a perfect engineer, scientist, architect, and chemist. Similarly, believe it or not, the cell is an excellent composition of around one million molecules, thousands of machines, and energy producing engines. There are highways, trucks, feedback systems and more in an arranged and fine control in such a small size. Mitochondria, for instance, is one of the most essential cellular organelle and produces ATP molecules as carrier of energy obtained from organic molecules for energy requiring cellular processes. In addition, cellular requirements vary by time and vesicles carry required molecules as cargo on molecular motors using microtubule pathways to different places. Those and many other examples we learn from biological sciences point to the Glorious Creator of the Earth.

When you consider a cell coming into existence by causes other than the hands of a Creator with numerous levels of regulation, coordination of subcellular compartments like organelles, information storage in DNA, and use of this information required for their specific function, it means molecules come together under the effect of natural causes and form an artistic cellular structure in a wise-manner. Actually, this reminds us of a very famous experiment by Stanley Miller to make amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, to demonstrate that life on earth has originated by natural causes and chance. Miller, in his experiment, took molecules which were supposed to represent the major components of the early Earth’s atmosphere and put them into a closed system. He used methane (CH4), ammonia (NH3), hydrogen (H2), and water (H2O) in his experiment and ran a continuous electric current to stimulate lightning storms and to drive these unfavorable reactions. He found that three amino acids have been synthesized in these conditions. Later, it was found that this composition was different from the early Earth’s atmosphere and arguments raised to his experiment due to continuous energy input not possible in nature. However, this was exciting at that time and some used headlines like “Miller created life.” On the other hand, what Miller had managed to synthesize was only a few inanimate lifeless molecules.

People who do not believe in God also do not believe in creation. That’s why they tend to conclude that “nothing is created out of nothing, and nothing goes to nothing; there is only composition and decomposition.” But, the All-Powerful One has two ways of creating. The first way is through origination and invention and the second way is through composition and through art. He creates from out of nothing together with everything necessary for, again, nothing. In the second way of creating, He forms beings from materials of universe in order to show his delicate wisdom, perfection, and the manifestations of His Names. “O people! be careful of (your duty to) your Lord, Who created you from a single being and created its mate of the same (kind) and spread from these two, many men and women…” (Quran 4:1)

When we think about the lessons learnt from these examples and natural sciences with their special focus areas, we realize that every science somehow declare the Glorious Creator of this universe. However, there may not be an opportunity in school to discuss and go deep into the understanding of the Actions of the Creator. With the window of what sciences open to us about God, we can uncover the hidden truths.

Ali Fethi Toprak is a PhD candidate at Southwestern Medical Center, Texas University, Dallas.

Fred (not his real name) is 21 years old, living in a university community. Last year, he did a project to “stretch into infinity”, i.e. he attempted suicide. Fortunately, his project failed. After his return to the normal life, he found an alternative way to infinity. I wanted to interview him as soon as I learned about his story, which he accepted.

“I am doing a double major in mathematics and biology. Unlike the regular biology students who are educated to think traditionally and memorize constantly, my way of thinking is rather mathematical and rational.”

I wanted to punch a hole in this super confident young boy’s claims about himself. “So, you never fell in love, but instead, rationally proved some girl to be the one meant for you?”

He chuckled. “I guess, I did fall in love, but suppressed my feelings since they were irrational.”

“Then you must have a strong will. How do you rationally explain the human will? I mean, we are talking about a young man whose hormones are keeping him at the verge of love. And how do you think your will fights against these molecules that pervade your body?”

“My thoughts on this are different now, but at the time, I was trying to express everything in terms of testable, concrete concepts. There is so much research on the effects of genes and the environmental conditions on human behavior. So, my will had to be some proteins synthesized from my DNA.”

“So do you think, or did you think that one day people could use love pills for keeping up their love for their partners, and to have compassion for their children?”

“Why not? Actually, it is not just that. I had many thoughts that engulfed my mind and motivated my actions, including my attempt to suicide. I couldn’t receive rationally satisfactory alternatives to my conclusions.”

Then Fred took me on a tour d’horizon of his view of life and people. There were many elements in his views that you could hear from other people, but this one was unique and noteworthy:

“This is a bit irrelevant, but I can tell you a funny one too. If the speeding tickets are issued not due to an actual harm but due to the increased risk of harm, then people who drink more than a minimal amount should be given drinking tickets. Statistically speaking, the number of crimes linked to speeding is nowhere close to the number of crimes linked to drinking. So, if I am getting a ticket for speeding, although I haven’t harmed anyone, then why isn’t my friend for whom I am the designated driver, getting a ticket for his increased potential to harm someone?”

Speechless, I tried to steer him back to his conclusions that led him to what he did.

“You know, I was never hospitalized for depression. Nobody thought that I was in deep trouble, including me. I was considered to be an intellectual, an extraordinary friend. I don’t know how it goes with other people, but when the idea came, it wasn’t like a freaky idea to entertain myself for a minute. It came as an irrefutable theory. It only made sense. Really.”

The idea of suicide making sense? That didn’t make sense to me! Seeing my blurred gaze at him, he picked up again.

“If motivation is essential to accomplish your ideals, how come things that bring motivation are considered harmful?”

He was talking about drugs.

“If success is all about hard work, then why is it forbidden to pave your way to success rather than leave it to luck?”

That is fortifying hard work through taking drugs.

“If my mental activity is nothing but complex dynamics of molecules in my brain, then shouldn’t I take drugs that are the embodiment of rejuvenating and exhilarating inspirations leading to innovations?”

After a second of pause, he concluded:

“If happiness is all about certain molecules in my body, then what is wrong about getting it directly rather than mining it through the thorny relationships with people?”

How would you answer these questions, knowing that they are asked by an individual in the making who is trying to make sense of life but who is bewildered by the discrepancies of the mature people?

“My line of thought and other people’s line of thought in this matter are similar to the graph of 1/x. We are both aiming for the same point, i.e. zero. But our distinct approaches take us to opposite directions. The two couldn’t be more divergent than this.”

In mathematical elegance, Fred was describing the state that nurtured his suicidal thoughts. He could not establish ties with the rest of us. With an intention to never come back, Fred used drugs to become a zero in our world, and to stretch into unknown infinity. Did he succeed?

“But you know, like a sad love story, 1/x never converges to zero. I failed, too, in that sense. The way I conceived it, death was going to be a culmination of motivation, success, and happiness. I aimed for it head on. According to my conviction, I was supposed to have achieved all of those. When I opened my eyes in the hospital, I realized that I had neither success nor happiness.”

You don’t have to be a sage in order to understand that suicide is not a key to success or happiness. But a brief journey to death made Fred a sage.

“It is possible in this life that one receives death while perfectly healthy. It is also possible that one can survive despite a miserable health. In other words, just like being healthy doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t die, there isn’t a mechanic relationship between being unhealthy and arriving at death. My own failure to die despite what happened to me is a living proof of this.”

I noted in my mind that this was a good example of learning from your failures.

“The moment I realized that death is given, just like life is, my suicide attempt transformed from being a story of failure to a story of success, because that’s when I started believing in the unseen.”

Believing in the unseen was a quality that Fred did not have before, but why and how had it been the elixir that changed his failure into success?

“It is so ironic and controversial. In the beginning, what I was missing was my acceptance of self-deficiency in grasping the existence. In the end, by admitting to be incomplete, I was becoming complete; being completed by God.”

Suicide is one of the most severe sins one can commit according to the monotheistic religions. Yet, this young man found God in the very sin that could throw him light years away from God.

“I don’t define myself anymore as an outstanding, perfect intellectual as my friends used to call me. Instead, I am a story in progress. No matter how severe the calamities or how satisfying the joys are, I don’t come to an end unless my author ends the story.”

She has conducted research on the psychology of meditation for over 25 years, including investigations on the effects of meditation on heart rate control, general well-being, spirituality, psoriasis and anxiety disorders. Her other (but related) line of research is investigating the role of spirituality in adjustment to serious medical illness. A recently published randomized intervention study documented benefits of a very brief physician-delivered spirituality intervention offered to cancer patients on quality of life, emotional well-being, and satisfaction with care. Current work is investigating how religious and spiritual resources, from the patient’s perspective, may help in adjusting to cancer. Matter&Beyond spoke with her on her research.

Matter&Beyond: Dr. Kristeller, you are doing research on the spirituality of cancer patients. You also developed an intervention technique called OASIS that could benefit the patients who are going through spiritual struggles. What was your starting point for this project?

The OASIS Project stands for Oncology Assisted Spirituality and Intervention Study. In this project, we were exploring how individuals draw on their spiritual and religious resources to deal with having a cancer diagnosis. The other question was how physicians perceived that aspect of their patients’ resources and whether they felt it was appropriate to bring it up in the medical environment. First we went out and actually asked physicians what they thought about the role of patients’ spirituality in dealing with cancer. We actually got back a very positive response. Substantial proportion of the physicians actually felt that it was helpful to their patients; it was something that was valuable to engage within the medical environment.

M&B: Were they able to address the spiritual dimensions of the patients?

What we found out was that they didn’t know how to do that. They were afraid if they brought it up, their patients might get upset with them and they’d be triggering off a reaction perhaps that would require so much time and effort on their part to explore with their patients that it just wasn’t practical. So when we found that out from the physicians we decided that we would systematically look at that from that patient’s side.

What we heard from patients was that they also wished to bring it up in the medical environment but they felt that the physicians wouldn’t want to and that they would bring it up if the physicians asked about it first, and the physicians were saying they’d talk about it if the patients brought it up first. So nobody was bringing it up.

So we moved this onto the next step. What if we taught the physicians a particular approach to bringing up this issue with their patients because we couldn’t sit down and teach the patients how to do it. We decided to take a risk and teach physicians how to bring this up to their patients in a very simple way. And we found a few very brave oncologists who were willing to work with us around this and we designed literally a 5-minute patient centered way of introducing this concept.

M&B: How did you design this approach and what were its characteristics?

In a way, we’re guided by previous research on how physicians can talk to their patients about difficult topics. This is actually research that I had done previously in relation to other difficult topics like smoking and alcohol use. And what we did in those cases was we taught the physician a very neutral, gentle supportive way to introduce those issues with their patients and then we took a look at how we could use that with introducing the questions about spiritual resources. So a physician may say something like “Many patients draw on their spiritual or religious resources to deal with something like finding out they have cancer. As your physician I would like to hear more about whether that is true for you, it may or may not be, how do you feel about that?” And that very gentle open way of introducing it feels very comfortable to the physicians and it feels very comfortable to patients. And what we find again is most of the patients respond very positively to that.

M&B: What if the answer is no and they are not interested in talking about spirituality?

We also taught physicians that if the response they get back from a patient is something like “oh no, I’m not religious or I don’t want to talk about that,” how they should respond to that. They should say something like “really what I’m concerned about is how you’re dealing with this and I’d like to hear more about that. Is that ok?” And that shifts it just a little bit. But for about 90% of the patients, they really open up and they are responsive and they start to talk about it and if they are a little hesitant we then teach the physicians how to draw them out a little bit more. Very simply saying, “Tell me more about that. I’d like to hear more about that. Are there any problems you’re having around that? Who else can you talk to about this?” It’s very important. So being encouraging and thanking them for having the courage to share their feelings with the physician. Asking them a little bit more about how they draw on a sense of inner meaning and peace, because we’ve identified that in research as one of the key elements for moving to a different level of coping with cancer.

To our surprise this actually worked very, very well. What we found was that patients have appreciated it. Over 50% of them actually told us after the fact that they had found that conversation helpful to them in dealing better. And about a month after this very brief exploration, they actually said that they were feeling less depressed and they were coping better in comparison to patients from the very same physicians who didn’t get this, who just go their usual appointment. So we’ve been continuing to work on this line of research to deepen it and to expand it at this point.

M&B: You also discuss that a small number of patients are coping in a negative way with spirituality. How does it happen?

Our research and research from some other groups, for example Harold Koenig’s work at Duke, is systematically coming up with a pattern that shows that individuals who feel angry at God, who feel that they’re being punished by having cancer are not doing very well.

Most people feel that at some point. But what I’m talking about is a sort of enduring ongoing struggle around this. And what we find is individuals who are really caught in that struggle in fact are doing very poorly. They are more depressed, and their relationships are not going as well. We don’t have any evidence at this point to show that it actually affects the course of their disease. That would be a challenging kind of study to take on and we haven’t been able to do that. But certainly it’s affecting their inner struggle and their inner well-being. What we encourage physicians to do if they realize that one of their patients is struggling at that level is to encourage the individual to find somebody else to talk to, maybe a Chaplain for example from the medical environment. We really encourage them to look to that and to try to provide those resources and not take that on themselves.

M&B: Maybe it is difficult to estimate how the constant spiritual struggles affect recovery time, but maybe it is easier to estimate how it affects the quality of life.

The individuals caught up in that struggle have a poorer quality of life in general and the research again is pretty consistent in that. And of course it would be naïve to say that you just turn that off. If somebody is struggling in these deep personal issues, they deserve to be recognized and I think we have to assist the individual to find some way to talk to people in their own personal circle of friends, family, religious community about how to deal with them.

M&B: Regarding spiritual intervention, what is the general opinion of the medical community? Is there a growing interest?

I think we are just shedding some light on this. Given how positively the patients respond to even just 5 minutes, I think that there is a growing awareness that there can be a role for this. Within the care of the whole patient, when you shift into the perspective that the spiritual and religious resources people bring to a medical crisis are actually tremendously valuable, and the more they can bring those to the crisis the better they’re going to be doing then. I feel that that defines within the medical environment in a different way.

One of the issues that often physicians would bring up with us is “I don’t know if I have the same beliefs as my patient does” and “if I don’t have the same beliefs maybe it’s not appropriate to bring this up.” And one of the things we do in our training is to work with them around that. Saying you know it isn’t about the beliefs that you have and whether they match your patients. It’s about listening to your patient; it’s about hearing the underlying feelings and meaning that the patient has.

M&B: In terms of spiritual response to cancer, do you see people going through a spiritual transformation?

Let me give you a little bit of frame on that. We’re funded on the Spiritual Transformation Project. When you think of spiritual transformation you’re actually thinking about a real shift in people’s beliefs and people’s sense of themselves as a religious or spiritual person, their relationship to God, or their sense of relationship to God. We’ve compared our data to data that’s been collected on AIDS patients in Miami. Something like half of the AIDS patients communicated that spiritual transformation happened to them. We had 2 out of 100 cancer patients relate that level of change occurred.

M&B: Fifty percent compared to two percent. That is a huge difference. What is your explanation for that?

A couple of reasons I think, one is that even though cancer is a very frightening disease, it’s nowhere near as frightening as AIDS. The prognosis is much better in truth. The other is that the AIDS patients were really people who were struggling with their lives in general. Most of our cancer patients have really quite well-functioning lives. They’re already members of religious community. They don’t need a transformation. They just need to deepen or engage that religious support more fully or the spiritual side of themselves. So, one of the issues is that transformation isn’t necessary, it isn’t needed for this. Engagement though is what we’re talking about.

M&B: What are the fundamental difficulties in doing research on spirituality?

One of the things that is so challenging about this area is trying to measure, trying to capture very elusive concepts and do it in a way where we can systematically identify them, where we can frankly put some numbers to them. So we can compare individuals, so we can look at the effect, for example, of a stressful life event on something like spirituality. So, one of the other lines of work we’ve been doing here is to develop the framework for measuring what we call religious and spiritual engagement, and it’s very challenging to do that. Within Psychology, there’s a long tradition of trying to capture these psychological processes, something like depression or fear. And we have lots of different measuring tools.

M&B: Is there a widely accepted measure of spirituality and religious participation among the healthcare and medical research community?

When we started working in this area, what we discovered were a couple of hundred different scales to measure what people called religious and spiritual involvement. But most of them had been developed in very small groups of individuals, they hadn’t been put into a larger theoretical model and we knew there were probably not hundreds of different dimensions but we didn’t know whether there were 2 or 4 or 5 or 10 and one of the projects we’ve done here is to identify using a group of these measures that seem to capture different aspects of spiritual and religious involvement like belief, compassion, like sense of growing within oneself. As in mystical experiences, we’ve had several of these projects where we’ve given this set of measures actually over almost a couple of thousand people at this point.

Another dimension is interestingly their willingness to tolerate questions about their beliefs and their spiritual well being. Tolerating those questions seems to be a separate and important element that is linked into doing better, to growing more. Mystical experience is a separate dimension so someone who has a mystical experience may or may not be strong in their belief system. Having that may shift that strength but it’s somewhat separate.

We focused on several dimensions. One of the 5 or 6 dimensions is what we call spiritual struggle and that is a separate dimension and again people might be high or low on their strength of their beliefs. If that dimension is strong or high, you do see a lot of distress not only in that part of the person’s life but often in other areas of their life.

M&B: People often think that hope, love, and compassion are the indicators of spirituality. But you are giving other dimensions as toleration to questions or having a mystical experience etc. Do you choose them because they are easier to analyze?

That’s a very good question. It’s very important to include as a part of someone’s total spiritual well being their ability to feel compassion towards others; their ability to feel hope. One of the challenges now in this area is to understand those dimensions in and of themselves and I see them more as overlapping with spirituality rather than defining it. And I say that partly because there are many people who feel that they are not religious or spiritual perhaps, but they certainly have the ability to feel hope and they have the ability to be compassionate toward other people in their lives. From the perspective of Psychology, we don’t have the answers to this yet but we’re applying tools out of Psychology that we’ve used in other areas of understanding human emotions, personality, and patterns to try to apply them within this arena of understanding something as complex as religion and spirituality.

M&B: You are using tools from both religion and psychology. Are psychologists generally interested in spiritual experiences?

Well. William James who is considered one of the founders of Contemporary Psychology in the 1800s wrote the Varieties of Religious Experience. And he wrote that from a very sophisticated perspective where he said we really do need to look at some of the universal aspects of religious or spiritual experience. At the time he didn’t really have the tools to do that but he introduced the discourse around the value of doing that, the value of understanding those very human experiences from a psychological perspective. And it began with a respect for those experiences rather than discounting them. And I think that that is a very important distinction.

In contrast, when some of the thinking that came out of the Psychoanalytic Schools and particularly Freudian theory tended to pathologize those experiences considering them as an anomaly or like a sickness. In fact one of the differences between Freudian thinking and Jungian thinking was the discounting of those experiences as regressive and pathological. It is an aspect of human experience that could tremendously contribute to the best in human nature. And if understood and cultivated in appropriate ways, this could tremendously increase people’s ability to engage with their fellow human beings to act ethically.

The brief history of character education

Character education remains a contentious form of education in America. The debate among ethical theorists over moral and character education dates back to colonial America (Glanzer & Milson, 2006). Once considered as part of religious teachings, this concept was altered as states began passing laws in the early 1800s, separating issues of church and state. As a result of this separation, the educational system developed non-sectarian public school policies (Glanzer & Milson, 2006), and character education was adopted by public schools in Massachusetts with the purpose of increasing literacy among children.

The Bible was used as part of the curriculum throughout 17th and 18th centuries, and was then preceded by texts written by William McGuffey. These texts were used to teach children to develop virtues such as honesty, courage, and kindness. During the 20th century however, there was a decline in the use of these texts in public schools in America due to pluralism and the philosophy of moral relativism. Over the past few years, American educators have been examining character education in schools and grants are being awarded to facilitate research in this field (Vardin A. Patricia Montessori Life, spring 2003). This study will illustrate some definitions of character education and its benefits as an intervention.

The definitions of character education

Character education is an umbrella term that has historically included a wide range of components such as traditional character education, the caring approach, and the developmental approach. The goal of character education is to teach children to consider and behave in ethical ways. Firstly, traditional character education has emphasized virtues and the magnitude of ethical issues. Secondly, the caring approach underscores the significance of identifying and improving caring relationships and infusing caring, relational, and social-emotional themes into school curricula (Howard, Berkowitz, & Schaeffer, 2004). Third, the developmental approach stresses that decision-making and social action are important; theorists who ascribe to this approach strongly advocate the power of student participation in creating a moral classroom and a larger moral community (Cohen, 2006). Ontario’s Premier, Dalton McGuinty, defines character education as “the deliberate effort to develop virtues that are good for the individual and good for society” (McGuinty, 2003, p. 15). Character eduction is sometimes defined as an approach that is comprehensive in fostering the moral development of students (Berkowitz, Marvin, & Bier, 2005). For decades, character education was inclined to focus on the importance of good character and values such as honesty, respect, friendship, and caring (Cohen, 2006). Thomas Likona (1991), a developmental psychologist, defined the goal of character education as knowing the good, desiring the good, and doing the good.

What is meant by school violence?

In terms of lawful responsibility, school violence is the violence that occurs on school grounds, on school-supported transportation, and at school-sponsored events. Nevertheless, violence committed on school grounds often derives from conflicts reflected in society. This finding indicates that the lines are blurred between school and community violence and suggests that school staff should be cognizant of the community and its issues in which a school is positioned. It is also suggested that members of society should become involved in school-based violence prevention initiatives. It is more complicated and multidimensional to define what school violence is (Furlong & Morrison, 2000).

The proposals for reducing school violence

By 1997, over two-thirds of secondary schools had either implemented some form of violence prevention program or were preparing to do so (Price & Everett, 1997). These methods have included punishment, health education and random weapons searches (Farrington, 1996). Handheld metal detectors are increasingly used to carry out random or targeted weapons searches in major public school systems. In some places in America, it seemed that there had been a significant reduction in weapons related events; however, it was later discovered that students had learned the routine days when the metal detectors would not be used (Muir 1992).

One of the most significant educational programs is character education. For example, The California Department of Education supports incorporating character education into a standards-based educational system in a variety of ways such as providing resources to build and develop character in youth; supports the core values of trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship. The California Department of Education underscores that character education is a trait of effective schools. Effective schools seek to develop and reinforce character traits such as caring, citizenship, fairness, respect, responsibility, and trustworthiness through a systematic approach that includes adult modeling, curriculum integration, a positive school climate, and access to comprehensive guidance and counseling services (Elementary Makes the Grade! CDE, 1999).

The affects of character education on academic achievement

Studies have also found that character education helps increase academic achievement (Elias, Zins, Weissberg et al., 1997). Studies have acknowledged many social and academic attitudes associated with enhanced student success (Benninga, Berkowitz, Kuehn, & Smith, 2003). Academic achievement is bond to critical thinking skills (Esquith, 2003), and according to Brooks (2002), skills such as endurance, decision-making, problem solving, and critical thinking are fundamental principles entrenched in character education. Character education asserts that non-test related academic improvements are also made due to performance of a character education program. Students attending schools exerting the Child Development Program were known to have more motivation to learn and possessed closer ties to their school compared to students who attended schools not implementing the Child Development Program (Benninga, et al., 2003). Students attending Character Counts elementary schools were shown to complete their assignments more often with increased academic sincerity than students who did not attend such schools (Benninga, et al., 2003).

In order to understand character education it is imperative to understand the characteristics of the students. The schools that are strong academically and sturdy in building accomplished students are characterized by five main characteristics indentified by Elias, Zins, Weissberg et al., (1997):

1. They have a school climate articulating specific themes, character elements, and/or values.
2. They have explicit instruction in social-emotional skills.
3. They have explicit instruction in health promotion and problem prevention skills.
4. They have systems to enhance coping skills and social support for transitions, crises, and resolving conflicts.
5. They have widespread, systematic opportunities for positive, contributory service.

After considering these traits one can conclude that students attending schools performing character education programs feel respected and valued which results in reduced non-attendance (Colgan, 2003). Reduced absenteeism, produced by the increased desire to attend school, could be translated into achievement gains (Colgan, 2003). These factors together make available more classroom instructional time and an enhanced learning occasion.

Tremendous progress has been made over the past two decades in establishing effective school-based violence prevention programs. Nevertheless, programs designed to decrease violence in schools have largely focused on reducing student-to-student aggressive behavior through school-based curricular programs (SBCPs), essentially ignoring interpersonal relationships between students and adults in schools, student bonding to schools, disproportionalities in the application of student discipline, and related organizational factors that comprise the school climate.

After considering several vantage points, it is the conclusion of this study that character education is a stellar attempt to reduce school violence and for increasing academic achievement. Educators should emphasize character development, as it is a culmination of a strong union of streams of evidence about factors influencing learning. According to Nucci and Narvaez (2008), moral and character education should be considered by educators as being congruent with learning individual values and identity formation.

Character education has several positive outcomes that address the various needs of schools and communities. For example, it includes values such as tolerance, humility, modesty, and trustworthiness. Moreover, it is emphasized that cheating is a negative characteristic for every student. That is, every student should not enterprise cheating, even when they hear about it, they should not condone it. Thus, it is stressed that academic learning and performance is linked to social-emotional skill and character development, such as in recent studies aiming to understanding the functioning of the brain and its role in learning. These studies have only provided further evidence of the role of social and emotional factors in academic accomplishments (Kusche & Greenberg, 2006). These studies support the notion that every educator should take character education into account.

How could character education be applied toward prevention?

Character education may incorporate some local and state programs to help students increase achievement by developing their behaviors not just in schools, but also in contexts outside of schools. One program called “Your Environment Education Program,” is mentioned by Starr (1999). According to this program, each week, a word is chosen such as tolerance and honesty, to be discussed in the class. At least 10-15 minutes are allocated for these discussions. These discussions are meant to facilitate the comprehension of the meaning of the value by illustrating real life implications, motivational quotes, and recommending some beneficial assignments for students to complete. All of these elements enhance students’ deep understanding of the word. This program also encourages parents to help their children by providing some books containing the word for that week. Parents are also encouraged to stress the meaning of the word at home by incorporating it into daily activities that families do together. Starr (1999) states that the community in Pittsburg also promotes Your Environment Education through program media outlets, local business sponsorships as well as the mayor’s office to promote the importance of character education.

There are negative implications for not employing character education in schools when the opposite methods are considered. The evidence indicates that punishment or incarcerating large numbers of young people for prolonged periods is ineffective and counterproductive (Wilson, 1994). A major problem with using targeted weapons searches in schools is that they implicitly stigmatize those students who are screened as potentially dangerous. The sudden and unexpected arrival of security personnel with metal detectors is also intimidating, anxiety provoking, and disruptive to learning. Serious conflicts also have a tendency to erupt suddenly and to go up out of control before mediation efforts can be initiated, therefore, as long as guns and other weapons can be brought freely into schools, educational approaches alone cannot be expected to solve the problem.

Recommendations

Recommendations based on the information outlined in the study include: providing teachers, administrators and school psychologists with extensive and effective training about development; while character education program is implemented teachers should be aware of their expression toward students. For example, teachers should not give commands to students for preventing a mistake, instead it should be posed to the student as a question of morality such as why they should not engage in a certain behavior and what the consequences might be and whether or not they are willing to accept these consequences. A model should be embraced for serving students that focuses on early interventions and offers access to character education. The environment and society should be informed about character education in order to foster a place, where the students can develop their pro-social skills and improve academic quality. Last, character education curriculum should be supported with media so that while behaving, students can be easily reminded of their objectives, for example, cartoons could be used as an impactful reminder.

References

• Benninga, J., Berkowitz, M., Kuehn, P., & Smith, K. (2003). The relationship of character education implementation and academic achievement in elementary schools. Retrieved May 9, 2006, from the ProQuest database.
• Berkowitz, Marvin W. and Bier M.C. (2005). Character education Parents as Parents. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 64-69.
• Berkowitz, Marvin W. and Hoppe, Mary Anne (2009). Character education and gifted children. High Ability Studies, 20(2), 131-142
• Brooks, B. (2002). Increasing test scores and character education: The natural connection. Retrieved May 2, 2006, from http://www.youngpeoplespress.com/Testpaper.pdf.
• Cohen, J (2006). Social, Emotional, Ethical, and Academic Education: Creating a Climate for Learning, Participation in Democracy, and Well-Being. Harvard Educational Review, 76(2), 201-237
• Colorado State Department of Education, Denver. (2000). Shaping the future through character education: Colorado state conference on character education. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED468627).
• Clayton , C, Ballif-Spanvill, B. L., & Hunsaker M. D. (2001). Preventing violence and teaching peace : A review of promising and effective antiviolence, conflict-resolution, and peace programs for elementary school children. Birmingham Young University, Women’s Research Institute
• Durant, R. H., Kahn, J., Beckford, P. H., & Woods, E. R. (1997). The Association of Weapon Carrying and Fighting on School Property and Other Health Risk and Problem Behaviors among High School Students. Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, 151, p. 360–366.
• Elementary Makes the Grade! CDE, 1999, http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/gs/em/emgsummary.asp
• Elias, M. J., Zins, J. E., Weissberg, R. P., Frey, K. S., Greenberg, M. T., Haynes, N. M., Kessler, R., Schwab-Stone, M. E., & Shriver, T. P. (1997). Promoting social and emotional learning: Guidelines for educators. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
• Elliott, D. S., B. A. Hamburg, and K. R. Williams, eds.(1998). Violence in American Schools: A New Perspective. New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Esquith, R. (2003). There are no shortcuts. New York: Pantheon Books.
• Farrington, D. P. (1996). Understanding and Preventing Juvenile Youth Crime. York, U.K.: York Publishing
• Furlong, M., & Morrison, G. (2000). The school in school violence: Definitions and facts. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders. 812, p. 71-82
• Glanzer, P. L., & Milson, A. J. (2006). Legislating the good: A survey and evaluation of character education laws in the United States. Educational Policy, 20(3), p. 525.
• Howard, R, W., Berkowitz, M. W., & Schaeffer, E. F. (2004). Politics of character education. Educational Policy, 18(1), p. 188-215.
• Kusche, C., & Greenberg, M. (2006). Brain development and social-emotional learning: An introduction for educators, In M. J. Elias & H. A. Arnold (Eds.), The educator’s guide to emotional intelligence and academic achievement: Social-emotional learning in the classroom. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press
• McGuinty, D. (2003). “Character education: A key part of the Ontario Liberal Plan.” Orbit, 33(2), p. 15.
• Miller,T.W., Kraus, R. F., and Veltkamp, L. J., (2008) Character Education as a Prevention Strategy for school-related Violence, T. W. Miller(ed.) In School Violence and Primary Prevention, p. 377-390.
• Muir, E. (1992). School Staff Victimization: Monitoring the Trends. School Safety (fall), p. 4-6.
• Nucci, L., & Narvaez, D. (Eds.). (2008). Handbook of moral and character education, New York: Taylor & Francis
• Price, J. H., and S. A. Everett. (1997). A National Assessment of Secondary School Principals Perceptions of Violence in Schools. Health Education & Behavior, 24, p. 218–229.
• Samples, F., and L. Aber. (1998). Evaluations of School-Based Violence Prevention Programs, In D. S. Elliot, B. A. Hamburg, & K. R. Williams (Eds.), Violence in American Schools: A New Perspective, New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Starr L. (1999). Is character education the answer? Retrieved August 1, 2008 from http://www.education-world.com/a_issues/issues047.shtml.
• Vardin A Patricia Montessori Life, (Spring 2003). Character education in America. ProQuest Education Journals, 15(2), p. 32
• Wilson, J. Q. (1994). Just Take Away the Guns. New York Times Magazine, 20 March, p. 46-47.

Prompted by that visit, it seemed useful to explore what Rumi had written about the subject of faith and reason because of the importance of the topic in the Catholic religious tradition which has always recognized a potential for tension about the role of reason in one’s faith. This tension has usually been resolved in the insight that the expression of faith in God cannot diminish the importance of human reason in providing a conceptual framework by which that faith can be expressed and shared with others. However, the more one delves into Rumi’s life and his mystical poetry it becomes clear that for him, the issue of faith and reason is incomplete unless one includes the central theme of love.

Rumi’s poetry and parables are not a product of academic theological reflection but emerge from a deeply felt experience of God’s presence and God’s love in his life. I was curious to know what role human reason might play in Rumi’s thought and writings and whether he thought purely rational reflection and discourse about God is valuable. I propose to show in this essay that for Rumi, human reason is valuable in the search for God. Reason cannot be ignored, but it has only an instrumental value in one’s faith and relationship with God. The starting point for my argument is Rumi’s view of human knowledge.

Knowledge in general: Two perspectives

A. The need for knowledge:

According to Rumi, the human person cannot reach the final goal of human existence, which is union with God, without adequate knowledge. Perfect union with God however will be fully achieved only in the afterlife when knowledge will recede in importance. According to the biographer Cihan Okuyucu, for Rumi, the mind is like a torch and knowledge is its light. But he adds that for Rumi there is an even stronger light for the mind and that is love. (Okuyucu, 2007, p. 79)

B. Autonomy:

Regarding the use of one’s mind, Rumi has great respect for the autonomy of the individual’s mind. Rumi urges each of us to pursue our own insights and not to depend simply on what others have said. He explains by using this metaphor: Does a mountain produce any sound on its own? The answer is no. Whatever sounds we hear in the mountains are echoes of voices made by others. So too the person who does not set out to learn and understand on his own is simply an echo chamber. But “…if your words begin to flow from a source within, only then you will fly with your own wings” (Masnawi 6: 175 quoted in Okuyucu 2007, p. 84).

Knowledge ultimately is only an instrumental value. It is one of the necessary means for attaining full human “maturity,” not the sole necessary means.

Further, not all knowledge is equally valuable. It depends in great part on the character of the person who claims to have knowledge. Rumi illustrates this by recounting the story of an arrogant scholar and an uneducated sailor on board a ship. The scholar berated the sailor for what he had done with his life, for essentially wasting it because the sailor was unlettered. Later a fierce storm arose and the ship began to founder. The sailor asked the anxious scholar if he knew how to swim. The latter replied no. “Too bad” commented the sailor, “it looks like you may lose your life despite all your knowledge” (Masnawi 1:112 quoted in Okuyucu 2007, p. 79). The story illustrates that knowledge must be tempered with humility if one is to reach full maturity. This is profound advice for anyone who studies philosophy or theology or any academic discipline for that matter. Knowledge therefore can be a mixed blessing, but it can also be a fine instrument in assisting the individual to become what God wants that person to be. With this understanding of the role of knowledge in general, the next focus is the role of reason in gaining knowledge.

An important practical role for reason

Reason has an important practical or regulatory role for Rumi. One of its primary functions is to serve as master of “carnal” desires. It is disputed, but I believe that Rumi offers a dualistic vision of the human person which is not unlike that of Plato’s body and soul. According to Rumi, the rational side of human nature must conquer and control the carnal. Rumi says that there is an opposition between body and spirit, a kind of warfare in which the body prevails in most people. But in Prophets and saints, reason triumphs. He urges his followers to let reason gain the upper hand. (Chittick, 1983, p. 34) The following lines express the struggle between reason and the carnal self:

The (carnal) nature desires to take revenge on its adversary: reason is an iron chain upon the flesh.
It comes and prevents it (the flesh) and restrains it: reason is like a police-inspector controlling its good and evil (actions).
Reason that is allied to Faith is like a just police-inspector; it is the guardian and magistrate of the city of the heart. (Masnawi: 2181 quoted in Can, 2005, p. 182)

Rumi’s vision is that a person who uses reason wisely, that is in its regulatory role, will discover the true path to human fulfillment in God. (Can, 2005 p. 182) The words of the poem The Sunrise Ruby, illustrate this theme:

The Sunrise Ruby
In the early morning hour,
just before dawn, lover and beloved wake
and take a drink of water.
She asks, “Do you love me or yourself more?
Really, tell the absolute truth.”
He says, “There’s nothing left of me.
I’m like a ruby held up to the sunrise.
Is it still a stone, or a world
made of redness? It has no resistance
to sunlight.”
This is how Hallaj said, I am God,
and told the truth!
The ruby and the sunrise are one.
Be courageous and discipline yourself.
Completely become hearing and ear,
and wear this sun-ruby as an earring.
Work. Keep digging your well.
Don’t think about getting off from work.
Water is there somewhere.
Submit to a daily practice.
Your loyalty to that
is a ring on the door.
Keep knocking, and the joy inside
will eventually open a window
and look out to see who’s there.
(Rumi, The Essential Rumi Coleman Barks retrieved from http://www.khamush.com/sufism/hallaj.html)

The limits of reason and the existence of God

Rumi is sometimes puzzling in his views on the value of reason in grappling with the existence of God. He seems satisfied that human reason can know God’s existence (yet reason cannot reveal the nature of God) but he doesn’t engage in any rigorous defense of that position. (Okuyucu, 2007, pp. 93-94). Instead, he proposes parables as guides for his readers’ own reflection, creating a convergence of probabilities, to use the happy phrase of John Henry Newman. In one such parable, he recounts the story of an atheistic philosopher (the choice of a philosopher as atheist is revealing) and a doctor. The philosopher was feeling ill and so consulted a doctor for help. The doctor asked what the philosopher wanted and the latter replied that he sought health. To that the doctor replied: “Tell me what it is and I’ll get it for you.” The philosopher was perplexed and admitted that he could not tell the doctor what health was (Okuyucu, 2007, p. 93).

Rumi is saying that like the philosopher, we can know that health exists, but we struggle to understand what it is. So too with God’s existence. We can know that God exists, but we will never understand the nature of God. Moreover, knowing that God exists through rational proof will not sustain a lasting faith or faithful union. Reason can bring a person only so far and then that person has to move beyond the limits of reason and simply abandon themselves to God. Rumi uses the example of going to a tailor shop for new clothes. Your mind can get you to the threshold of the shop, but once there, you need to let the tailor do his work (Furuzanfar 168, quoted in Okuyucu, 2007, p. 94). There comes a time when reason is of no further use, even though it helps control the carnal self, raises us above the animals to the level of humanity, and provides a path to faith.

Rejection of reason

Having lauded reason’s role in achieving human enrichment and fulfillment, Rumi startles the reader by advising us to abandon reason as a mischief maker. “Sell reason and mind and buy excitement,” he says. What you call reason and intellect are a guess and an illusion but excitement is insight. Sacrifice reason in the presence of Mustafa (the Prophet of Islam) and say “God is enough for me” (Masnawi 1408 quoted in Can, 2005, pp.184-185).

In a wonderfully descriptive phrase reminiscent of how Nietzsche can startle his reader, Rumi writes in the Divan: “I grabbed reason by its ear and said: ‘O reason! Get out. Today I am saved from you. O reason, take your hand off me. Today I attained insanity, and held on to it” (Divan-i Kabir no. 1185 quoted in Can, 2005, p. 186). Ultimately, the ability to reason which we have been discussing shows itself to be only a faculty of a material mind. Rumi had indeed praised this material mind, which provides us with many benefits, and distinguishes us from the animals. But to finally attain God, we have to follow another path, the path of love. The poem Secret Places illustrates this point:

Secret Places

Lovers find secret places
inside this violent world
where they make transactions
with beauty.
Reason says, Nonsense.
I have walked and measured the walls here.
There are no places like that.
Love says, There are.
Reason sets up a market
and begins doing business.
Love has more hidden work.
Hallaj steps away from the pulpit
And climbs the stairs of the gallows.
Lovers fell a truth inside themselves
That rational people keep denying.
It is reasonable to say, Surrender
Is just an idea that keeps people
From leading their lives.
Love responds, No. This thinking
Is what is dangerous.
Using language obscures
What Shams came to give.
Every day the sun rises
Out of low word-clouds
Into burning silence.
(Rumi, 2007, p. 48)

The right path

There is another path, not the one illuminated by reason, which we must follow in order to attain union with God, who is the purpose of human existence. There is a “spiritual reason” superior to “material reason” (Ibid., p. 187). In fact, calling this faculty reason is really only a metaphor for a mystical love and understanding of God. There is an even stronger light for the mind than material reason and that is love (Okuyucu op. cit., p. 79). Elsewhere Rumi says, “May the people with reason be far from the lovers of God… If someone with reason comes to our assembly, do not let him in, but if a lover of God comes, welcome him and say, ‘Welcome’… Love shies away from the light of reason. It is a very bad thing to become old at a young age” (Divan-i Kabir 172 quoted in Can, op. cit., p. 186).

What does Rumi mean by Love?

Since my religious tradition maintains that we are truth seekers by nature, it behooved me to ask what Rumi means by “love”. There are several ways to understand the term. It is something that has to be experienced to be understood (Chittick op. cit., p. 194). The experience to which Rumi refers however is that of a Sufi mystic in ecstasy, and thus love ultimately is ineffable, it proves to be beyond words. Despite this caution, we can try to frame some meaning for the term.

First, God is love but that does not exhaust who God is. God is the source of all love, just as He is the source of everything. Second, love is the divine creative force which permeates the universe (rather like the role of the Holy Spirit in Christian theology). Rumi says:

Love is an infinite ocean whose skies are a bubble of foam.
Know that it is the waves of Love which make the wheel of the
Heavens turn; without Love the world would be inanimate.
How is an inorganic thing transformed into a plant?
How are the plants sacrificed to become gifted with spirit?
How is the spirit sacrificed for the Breath, of which only a
Whiff was enough to impregnate Mary?
Each atom is intoxicated with this Perfection and hastens
Toward it … Their haste says implicitly: “Glory be to God.”
(Masnawi, V 3843 quoted in de Vitray-Meyerovitch, 1987, p. 102)

Third, love also is understood as that force which is strong enough to forge the union of two individuals, whether that “one” is the union of God and a creature or the union of two human creatures. The unitive power of love between friends is illustrated in the following verse:

Your soul is so close to mine
That what you dream, I know. …
I know everything you think of: your heart is so close to mine!
(Divan–i Kabir quoted in de Vitray-Meyerovitch, 1987, p. 106)

The ultimate goal of the union of friends is to achieve union or oneness with the ultimate being, God. “Love is that flame which when it rises, burns everything, only God remains” (de Vitray-Meyerovitch 1987, p. 101). “Love is the attribute of God, who has no need of anyone. To be in love with other than Him is metaphorical love” (Can 2005, p. 150). Thus we come to understand that the love of friendship is transient and must open the way to the unitive love with God that is eternal. Union with the ultimate beloved, God, is every person’s goal, their “maturity.” We all share the same “spark of the divine.”

In the 11th century, St. Anselm’s coined the phrase fides quaerens intellectum, (faith seeking understanding) which means that it is natural for a person of faith to continue to seek understanding of that faith through reason. If we were to use a similar Latin phrase about Rumi, it would be amor donans intellectum (Love providing understanding). By that we mean that in the last analysis, only love can create and give the faithful one true understanding. For Rumi, the simple faithful love of God trumps all efforts of reason to understand God or to articulate the elements of one’s faith. The final path to God is not through the mind but through the heart. It is a very challenging lesson for anyone of faith to contemplate.

Donald Casey is an associate professor at the departments of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Felician College

References

• Can, Sefik. 2005. Fundamentals of Rumi’s Thought, New Jersey: The Light.
• Chittick, William C. 2005. The Sufi Doctrine of Rumi, Bloomington: World Wisdom.
• Chittick, William C. 1983. The Sufi Path of Love, Albany: State University of New York Press.
• de Vitray-Meyerovitch, Eva. 1987. Rumi and Sufism, Sausalito: The Post Apollo Press.
• Gülen, M. Fethullah. 2006. Love and Tolerance, New Jersey: The Light.
• Okuyucu, Cihan. 2007. Rumi, Biography and Message, New Jersey: The Light.
• Rumi. 2007. Bridge to the Soul, trans. Coleman Barks, New York: Harper One.
• Rumi, The Essential Rumi, trans. Coleman Barks. Retrieved from http://www.khamush.com/sufism/hallaj.html
• Rumi. The Mathnawî-yé Ma`nawî, Rhymed Couplets of Deep Spiritual Meaning of Jalaluddin Rumi. trans. Ibrahim Gamard. Retrieved from http://www.dar-al-masnavi.org/n-I-0109.html
• Rumi. 2002. The Soul of Rumi, trans. Coleman Barks, New York: Harper One.
• Schimmel, Annemarie. 1992. Islam: An Introduction, Albany: State University of New York Press.

Africa has many fresh water sources such as Lake Tanganyika, Lake Victoria, the Zambezi, Nile, and Juba Rivers. Theoretically, Africans should be able to at least, adequately sustain healthy life with this amount of water (Whiteford & Whiteford, 2005). On the other hand, several issues affect the water sources making them either inaccessible, or dangerous to use. Diseases form and spread all through Africa, deteriorating life due to deficient amounts of clean water (Whiteford & Whiteford, 2005).

The reason for the water problems majorly involves dams and deforestation, along with pollution. Firstly, dams provide irrigation and hydropower, but hidden underneath these benefits are the massive and long-term detriments of destroying the well-known system of flood-plain agriculture and deforestation due to incomplete dam projects. Flood-plain agriculture is the classic system of agriculture that was mainly used along the Nile River as well as several other rivers in Africa. These traditional systems of agriculture depend on the annual floods in order to fertilize and water their crops. Water, as well as the silt that once functioned as fertilizer, are now built up behind the dams and are unusable. Secondly, deforestation dries up the land even more because interception and transpiration from trees stop, causing more forest fires and destruction of habitats. Deforested land becomes a dried up desert absolutely unusable by all habitats, especially humans (Jobin, 1999). Thirdly, pollution caused by poor sanitation techniques, in addition to industrial and chemical pollution are major reasons for the decline of life in Africa. Poor sanitation techniques lead to human and animal feces infest water, leading to increase in diseases related to water. The industrialization and urbanization in some parts of Africa leads to high levels of modern environmental health hazards. This results in other severe health problems indirectly related to water. For example, in the Nairobi River Basin in Kenya, there were effluent concentrations of elements such as nickel, copper, and lead, which were 60, 600, and 120 times higher than recommended (Nweke and Sanders, 2009). Another major cause of chemical pollution all across Africa is the use of pesticides in agriculture which have been detected in streams and rivers in different regions. These pesticides contaminate soil, water, air, and food sources, posing serious health threats to Africa’s populations. Endosulfans, as well as more dangerous organochlorines, such as DDE and DDT have recurrently been detected at water sources near agricultural areas in South Africa. This contamination has been confirmed to regularly exceed the “European drinking water standard of 0.1 g/L” (Nweke & Sanders, 2009). This contamination not only poisons potential sources of food, but it also destroys habitats which all have a chain reaction pertaining to the sustainability in Africa. In summary, these factors influence the water quantity and quality in Africa. It also negatively affects people’s habits regarding water usage. If people realize they have little water, they ration it ineffectively. For instance, they will take up water usage reducing habits such as not washing hands, clothes, food products, dishes, themselves, etc. leading to less hygiene and increasing the likelihood of getting disease. If there is plenty of water but it is contaminated, the pollutants in the water source will cause diseases. Therefore, due to poor water management in Africa, diseases related to water have been severely affected.

Water-related diseases differ from waterborne diseases in that the disease is not directly caused by the water consumed. Instead, the vector of the disease uses water as a breeding ground from which the vector then emerges. Common water-related diseases include malaria, yellow fever, schistosomiasis or bilharzia, and onchocerciasis or river blindness (Whiteford & Whiteford, 2005).

Schistosomiasis, also known as bilharzia, is a disease that is highly prevalent along the Nile River as well as all other fresh water resources throughout Africa caused by parasitic worms and snails (Jobin, 1999). The most common parasitic worms that cause bilharzia in humans are Schistosoma mansoni, D. haematobium, and S. japonicium (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010). Infection occurs when the larval stage of schistosomes search for a human host while swimming in the water. After parasitizing the human circulatory system by penetrating the skin of an individual in contaminated water, they reproduce in the human gut or bladder by laying their eggs there (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010; Jobin, 1999). These eggs pass out of the body by means of human waste and reach aquatic habitats of snails (Jobin, 1999). After the eggs hatch, they develop into larvae which penetrate the snail, developing further and “multiplying by astronomical factors” (Jobin, 1999, p. 66). The parasite larvae then leave the snail continuing the reproduction cycle. As written by Jobin (1999), “bilharzia is a debilitating disease which can cause early death of persons parasitized by large numbers of worms” (p. 68).

Symptoms of bilharzia include developing a rash or itchy skin within days of infection. Within 1-2 months of the infection, symptoms such as fever, chills, cough, and muscle aches may also appear, but people tend to have no symptoms at this early phase. The eggs that travel in the body can also cause inflammation and scarring. As reported by CDC (2010), infected children may “develop anemia, malnutrition, and learning difficulties.” All of these symptoms are reactions of the body to the eggs produced, and not by the worms themselves. Treating schistosomiasis is essentially effortless; you must take a pill 1-2 days (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010).

Since the health care systems in some African countries are shoddy, and the majority of these populations cannot afford treatment or drugs, prevention is the most efficient technique to fight disease throughout the continent (Falola & Heaton, 2007). Bilharzia can easily be prevented in Africa by avoiding swimming in fresh water sources, health education, drugs, focal application of biocides to kill snails, and improved water supply and sanitation are also required to stop the spread of the infection. Using feces and urine contaminated water is a major cause of spread of the disease due to the nature of the parasite’s reproductive system, but another equally important issue is intensifying agriculture. Increased agriculture results in runoff with high concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorous, which act as a fertilizer (Peace, 2006). These compounds trigger an increase in aquatic weeds, the ideal habitat for snails, which causes increased bilharzia transmission. In addition, since people wanted to clean the water sources from the weeds, they would manually try to clean the water supply, without taking any precautions. This exacerbated the situation by exposing themselves to the disease (Jobin, 1999).

An example of the relationship between agriculture along with irrigation, and bilharzia as well as malaria transmission can be seen in the Gezira-Managil Irrigation System in Sudan. In 1925, when the irrigation system was first constructed, the overall agricultural intensity increased by 300%, this was because the natural system had been altered with. Naturally, the water should have dried out by April-May, but instead it ran 100% of the time. The Gezira-Managil Irrigation system became the main source of income in Sudan, producing 3/4 of the gross national cotton production. By 1970, the proliferation of agricultural pests, aquatic weeds, snails, mosquitoes and silt in the canal lead to the decline of the agricultural system. As a result, cotton was infested by the white-fly, pathogenic viruses and bacteria multiplied in the water making it unusable. Malaria mosquito populations increased, attacking at night and increasing transmission of disease, since there were no longer dry seasons to destroy their habitat. Similarly, bilharzia snails increased since the unnatural, man-made system had constructed an exceptionally ideal habitat for them, attacking during the day as people waded in the waters, and intensified the transmission of the disease. People who worked on the fields and near the irrigation system got infected, not being able to work on the nearly non-existent cotton fields. The country’s gross income changed from approximately US $228 million to US $76 million by 1981. There was no longer any money, which meant no more facilities for community water supplies and sanitation, increasing disease and unemployment, resulting in even less money in a seemingly endless cycle (Jobin, 1999).

There are many factors that act as obstacles in the way of African well-being. The most prevalent type of disease in Africa is waterborne and water-related. Sheik-Mohamed & Velema (1999) report that “major causes of mortality and morbidity seem to be preventable infectious diseases.” Govender et al. (2011) similarly state that “diarrheal diseases are an important cause of morbidity and mortality in low- and middle-income countries” and that these diarrheal diseases can be prevented simply through improved water quality. Every 8 seconds a child dies from a disease related to having either unclean or not enough water. Diseases linked to water kill more 5 million people each year – ten times the amount of people killed in wars (Whiteford & Whiteford, 2005). These statistics are outrageous. Every human should have the right to have clean water. Every human should have the right to live in a healthy environment and be in good health.

References

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2010, November 2).
• Schistosomiasis: General Information. Retrieved October 2011, from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/schistosomiasis/gen_info/faqs.html
• Falola, T., & Heaton, M. M. (Eds.). (2007). HIV/AIDS, Illness, and African Well-Being. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press.
• Govender, T., Barnes, J. M., & Pieper, C. H. (2011). Contribution of water pollution from inadequate sanitation and housing quality to diarrheal disease in low-cost housing settlements of Cape Town, South Africa. American Journal of Public Health , 101 (7), e4-e9.
• Jobin, W. (1999). Dams and Disease. London, UK: E & FN Spon.
• Nweke, O. C., & Sanders, W. H. (2009). Modern environmental health hazards: a public health issue of increasing significance in Africa. Environmental Health Perspectives , 117 (6), 863-870.
• Sheik-Mohamed, A., & Velema, J. P. (1999). Where health care has no access: the nomadic population of sub-Saharan Africa. Tropical Medicine and International Health , 4 (10), 695-707.
• Whiteford, L., & Whiteford, S. (2005). Globalization, Water and Health. Santa Fe, New Mexico: School of American Reasearch Press.

The heart is the home of God, clean it of others than Him,
So that the All-Merciful may descend into His home at night.

The couplet above, recorded by Ibrahim Haqqi of Erzurum in his Ma’rifetname (Book of Knowledge), expresses the intention of obtaining true love and His pleasure, and tells how to realize it. It concisely describes the way between decision and resolution and from resolution to destination. The only way to obtain peace of mind and be at rest without going to extremes and being exposed to spiritual trouble and pain is to seek the love and pleasure of God, and then order one’s life around this aim. Rumi says:

A heart devoid of the Friend and seeking Him cannot be freed from trouble and pain. [As for] a head in which there is no love of the Friend, do not attempt to find any meaning and value in it, for it consists of bones and skin.

Those who have set their hearts on Him and have decided to reach Him never neglect to follow a way toward Him and to meet the necessities of traveling on it. [1] Even if they turn their eyes from Him for a single moment to look to others, they sigh for a whole lifetime. How unfortunate is the one who lives unaware of a way leading to Him. What a great loss, impossible to compensate, it is to fall and get stuck on the way after taking it.

Decision first appears and develops in the heart, grows firmer and stronger as a feeling, and then becomes a very powerful drive directing one toward his or her destination. In this context, decision signifies an intention and resembles a seed sown in the heart’s soil. If the one who has this intention or seed in his or her heart receives help from God Almighty, the seed germinates and grows into an elaborate, fruitful tree. After a few steps traveled in decision, one finds resolution, which is defined as being determined to do something, steadfast in one’s pursuit, and consciously fulfilling all responsibilities undertaken. Resolution is the first step toward the “heavens” of reliance and surrender. The Qur’an describes this step and the final point to be reached: When you are resolved, rely on (or put your trust in) God (3:159). If this first step can be taken through reliance on and submission to God, then the road becomes level and easy to walk on, and one travels it as if flying through the air.

Decision and resolution are two important dimensions or functions of willpower. Every traveler who intends to make a long journey must stop at the station of decision and resolution to receive the permit or visa, given by God, in order to progress to higher stations. Only after this does the journey truly begin. One who has taken the wings of decision and resolution feels attracted toward the goal and, no longer advancing by his or her own power, is taken to it. A friend of God says: Whoever overflows with the desire to meet with God, despite his inability to fulfill the requirements of the way leading to his goal, God Himself comes to him. God then becomes his or her eyes with which to see, ears with which to hear, and tongue with which to speak.

For the traveler who flies along on the wings of decision and resolution, meeting with God means finding subsistence in or through annihilation. For those with whom God wills and desires to meet, it means subsistence within subsistence, [2] and they suffer no trouble or pain in the “virtuous circle,” [3] where they encounter good after good. In this circle pain changes into pleasure, and wrath or chastisement are manifested as favors. One who has reached this point always utters in pleasure: Whatever comes from You, whether it be a favor or punishment, is good. With a cup of resignation in one’s hand, he or she sips whatever comes from God, the Truth, as if it were the water of Paradise.

Notes

1. There is more than one way to God. It is said that there are as many ways or paths to God as there are breaths of people. Such a statement is said to express the differences in people’s temperaments and moods. In addition, spiritual orders use different rituals to help their initiates make progress on the spiritual path.
2. This phrase denotes the concept of compound subsistence, defined as a “firmer subsistence” and as “being well-versed or grounded in subsistence.”
3. This is the opposite of the “vicious circle” that so many people encounter in their daily lives.