What makes this event unique compared to other attempts at bringing people together to celebrate our heritages, our cultures, and our languages? For me it is the spirit of the philosophical rationale underpinning the organizers of the event: the Horizon Educational Trust, the Gauteng Provincial Department of Arts, Culture and Recreation of South Africa, the South African-Turkish Business Association, and the Turquoise Harmony Institute. What do they share in common that helps them to run a festival of diversity?

First, the festival is deeply focused on the “the diamonds” of the show: namely, the youth, who are students from a range of Turkish schools across the globe who came to showcase their experiences of dialogue, sharing the riches of their own cultures while embracing the opportunities for self-growth, discovery, and development as they learned to speak a common language of respect and value. Yes, there were the perfunctory speeches from dignitaries and sponsors. Yes, the organizers emphasized the role of Turkey offering not just bilateral South Africa-Turkey relations, but also access into the worlds where Turkish conceptions were sowing seeds across the international community. Yes, there was a nod to providing awards to the Mandela family in recognition of his contribution to world peace. But these speeches did not dominate the program; it was clear that the unexpressed agenda of the organizers was directed not towards scoring political points or grandstanding. The event was an opportunity to learn from others through appreciating difference and viewing “others” not as potential threats, a waging of supremacist ideological battles, or the harmful promotion of political factions. We, as the audience, were spectators of a new world in gestation.

The simplicity and genuineness of the hosts came through on multiple levels, but especially in how they promoted the view that cultural dialogues are easily communicated beyond linguistic specifics. The universal languages of arts, music, and dance speak volumes. The festival program directors marked each individual presentation with an evocative introduction translating the songs they rendered and offering connection with the message of the colors of a rainbow world, enriched by our diversity. Whist they hinted at the countries of origin of the performers, they were careful not to set any one up as “exotic others” against some normative hegemony, or in a competitive ascendancy. Each performance was afforded a dignity in its own right and the young stars rose spectacularly to the occasion with confidence and committed expertise. They exuded that this was a festival, not a competition; a celebration of dialogue of selves, not egoistic performances.

Notably, the program was also consciously planned to bring different performers onto the same stage in simultaneous coupled or multiple-group renditions, showing that it is not uniqueness alone that is to be valued, but one’s ability to stand alongside, and in concert with, other perspectives and points of view. We saw Romanian and Georgian songstresses hold back-to-back performances with South African backing vocals. We were mesmerized by a heartfelt Whitney Houston song, “I Am Nothing Without You” performed by an Australian teenager wearing traditional Islamic dress. We witnessed the choral singing of Turkish and South African songs by enthusiastic students on a full stage. A duo of a lanky African American and a suave South African Durbanite executed a spirited “Stand By Me” performance. An elegant impersonation of Adele’s “Someone Like You” by a Catholic girl from the Philippines sent shivers down one spine and brought tears to most eyes:

I wish nothing but the best for you…

The penetrating, almost operative gusto of “Je t’aime” by a pint-sized French lass celebrated the wonderful potential young people possess. Mozambican sisters, and Netherlander siblings, and Madagascar soloist performers continued to show the spirit of the festival by singing in Portuguese, Dutch, and Turkish. Audience members fervently waved randomly distributed miniature flags from all participating countries. Each member of the audience was randomly assigned arbitrary custodianship of these nationalistic symbols. The “We are the World” popular mantra brought all solo performers alongside the whole starry cast in a memorable display of togetherness. A South African dance group exhibited their pot pourri of traditional Turkish folkdances. Local variations of kwaito music and gumboot dancers culminated in a costumed celebration of all performers: North, South, East, and West in a rousing reinterpretation of the Southern anthem, Shoholoza. A tribute from the whole student group to both Mahatma Gandhi (in Gurathi) and Nelson Mandela (in isiXhosa) demonstrated the lessons of these international icons of harmony and commitment to social justice, through quiet, yet powerful engagement and dialogue. The celebratory pictures of their historical lives, presented in a back-to-back sequence, were a tribute by themselves. What a collage of possibilities peppered with the spice of smiles!

The music genres spanned both traditional and modern forms. It was quite evident that the star performers (ranging in age from early to late teens) were selected as exemplars of exceptional artistry. Each performance was reinforced by graphic slides depicting scenes from the performers’ home countries. Natural fauna and flora, cultural and architectural monuments, and significant people or groups formed the worldwide educational tour via the panoramic backdrop visuals. Some graphics told visual stories of evolving forms and features of the worldwide community. The program saw the presentation of singers performing their own and other cultural languages. They adapted costume styles from different settings outside their home countries. The kaleidoscope that emerged was a festival of variety: where people of different groups exchanged dress styles, languages, and dance choreographs to communicate the possibility for the dialogical space that a new cultural movement can embrace.

South Africans are perhaps skeptical of this kind of multicultural celebration due to apartheid. In such a form of cultural celebration, different cultures are placed alongside each other as enclaved entities, highlighting the “boundaries” of one’s beliefs, a celebration of otherness. Such divergence produced a “multi-cultural” endeavor that promoted a political hierarchy of perspectives which took on racialized proportions with disastrous effects.

In present times however, many proponents of the “new era” of cultural affirmation in post-apartheid South Africa see cultural celebration as an attempt to assert a new regime of hierarchies with one cultural form replacing the previously powerful forms. This is also more often associated with the representations of political power which silence those who differ from the majority perspective, the new master narrative, or dominant worldview. How different is this from multi-cultural apartheid?

By contrast, the Turkish school movement inspired by the international Hizmet philosophy of “service to humanity” is characterized by a worldview that celebrates the interdependent common ground across all cultural expressions. Their outward manifestations may differ, but cultural representations highlight the similitude of our humanity, and our quest for dialogue, love, and tolerance. This is embodied by the writings and teachings of a key founder of the Hizmet Movement: Fethullah Gülen. In this version of “inter-culturalism,” the attempt is to develop individuals who are conscious of their own self and their heritage, but not in service of a protectionist or preservationist agenda. From this firm position of self-strength, one is able to reach out to the world of others. We see in others, too, our agenda for our common quests. Our reaching out is a service to realizing peace and harmony – which is a goal sorely needed in a war-torn, politicized and ideologized world, which often uses religious beliefs as rallying points for promoting hostility, supremacy, and divergence. Sometimes these separatist agendas are disguised econometric plots, too! Cultural affirmation is not a hearkening to a fossilized past, but a recognition that our habits and routines can mutate and extend through dialogue and exchange; our borders can be more inviting and more welcoming.

A third kind of cultural engagement is “juxta-culturalism” which merely tolerates different groups walking alongside each other, never interconnecting. This is sadly the lived experiences of many who pursue only a narcissist nationalistic myopic agenda, seeing only the boundaries of geography and politics as the border of their selfhood. This produces expressions of xenophobia which does not recognize the inherent commonality of all human beings. We are all created equal in the eyes of God. Our nationalist identity is only a man-made demarcation, dividing one set of people from another. It is more commonplace that many individuals in our modern global society, live outside the borders within which their forefathers were born. We may draw our cultural roots from one geographic space, but live in another context altogether.

Human history has been replete with stories of crossing borders, migrations due to the ravages of political, economic, or natural disasters. Not all of these journeys are tales of joy. More likely, the fragile settled communities interpret the visiting migrant culture as undercutting the nationalistic goals of their society. Open hostility is unfortunately sanctioned as the appropriate response to keep the outsiders from penetrating our “safe world.” So, which version of cultural affirmation did the festival of language and culture promote?

I think that a version of “trans-disciplinary culturalism” emerged as the young stars of the show interacted to generate a positive energy of harmony by crossing over to the other side. Their own past matters; they remained rooted on their own river banks. But they were confident enough to swim across to the other side. The young performers were firmly grounded in the here and now of the present 21^st century, with all its influences: technology, media, and new musical and art forms, which they transported across the global village. And they dared us to dream of the possibility of building a new, shared cultural world. Their message was simple: we are simultaneously of the past, in the present, and eager to create the future. This movement across time and space, culture and geography, history and identity, are not threatening but enriching.

One of my lasting impressions was the emotional image of students embracing each other at the end of the show: this was the world in dialogue with each other. They had made a connection with those around them that would live on in their lives for many years. They will become the ambassadors of the new world order. The official festival song reverberates:

I saw a luminous future in my dream one night.
Lights were silent pouring down everywhere.
It was like a harmoniously working clock.
Dark nights had gone away.
A new world!
A new world!
They were building a new world.
Everywhere sparkled like the skies.
They were building a new world.

After the ceremony, I chatted with a young 12 year-old Albanian youth to congratulate him on his commanding and welcoming stage performance. He simply smiled broadly.

“No English. Me speak no English.” He smiled and held my hand, clutching his Albanian costume in one hand, his proud flag in another, and his infectious energy pouring out. Despite his lack of English skills, he was able to communicate via his open-hearted spirit.

What a festival of cultures and languages! Not essentialized, but harmonized. It was an expression of joyous humanity.

And there we found our God.

But now I think: was he from Albania or Afghanistan? Why do I not know these countries and their foreign flags? But does it matter?

His heart sparkled.

Reflections on the “13^th International Festival of Languages and Culture”
www.iflc.co.za
“Colours of the world”
18 March 2015
Nelson Mandela Theatre, Braaamfontein, Johannesburg

Michael Anthony Samuel is a professor of education at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, School of Education, Durban, South Africa.

Honey’s historical importance and usage, as well as all its features, have attracted many scientists to research its chemical properties to understand the biochemical mechanism behind its medicinal properties. Earlier research shows that there might be several mechanisms behind honey’s antimicrobial qualities.

These factors can be listed as: its high acidity (pH 3.5-4); its low water content (less than 17% with high sugar content); the presence of hydrogen peroxide; the presence of several organic compounds such as phenolic and methylglyoxal, which may vary according to the floral source.

Recent research by Susan M. Meschwitz of Salve Regina University shows that honey may prevent bacteria from communicating with other bacteria via quorum sensing, a chemical way that bacterial cells coordinate with their neighbors to coordinate certain behaviors, such as biofilm formation, virulence (infecting cells), and antibiotic resistance.

In order to understand how each of these factors is formed, we need to understand how honey is made by bees and what its content is.

Bees collect plant nectar, which is a mix of various different sugars, proteins, and other organic compounds, into a water solution. Of the more than 100 compounds found in honey, many are volatile organic compounds, such as phenolics, that contribute to flavor. Most honey contains the same phenolics, but in different concentrations. Since the composition of nectar that bees collect highly depends on the type of plant, we usually end up having many varieties of honey: There are more than 300 distinct honeys in the U.S. and more than 3,000 worldwide. However, the common and dominant ingredients of all honey are fructose and glucose, which exist mostly as sucrose, also known as table sugar, in plant nectar.

The process between plant nectar and the final product and its properties is highly dependent on the activities of the bees. The first process starts in the honey stomach of worker bees as soon as they collect the nectar from plants. The worker bees break down the sucrose, table sugar, into its component sugars, which are fructose and glucose, using digestive enzymes. This increases the viscosity of the nectar as the break down process continues. Worker bees spit up the processed nectar solution when they arrive at the hive. In the hive, house bees take the processed nectar and continue the process; by using several different enzymes, they further break down molecules and sucrose. At the end of the process, most of the sucrose is turned into fructose and glucose, which makes most of the final honey. Later, glucose is further processed, which results in some of the honey’s medicinal properties.

When the breakdown of the sucrose is achieved at the desired level, the processed nectar is placed in honeycomb to start the second phase of the process: reducing the water content of the nectar, which is another of the contributing factors in its medicinal properties. Nectar as gathered by the worker bees from the plant contains about 70% water and is reduced down to around 17% water as it becomes honey. This gives honey its thick consistency. Bees remove the excess moisture from the nectar by rapidly fanning their wings (their wings beat 200 times per second or 12,000 beats per minute) over the open cells of the honeycomb in the hive. This results in rapid evaporation of the water in the nectar and may take up to three days.

Honey has been used as food for millennia. Not only is it delicious, though, but it’s also a “super” food, renowned for its medicinal and antibacterial qualities

Reducing the water concentration is a critical step in achieving most of honey’s properties. The most important one is that the low water content prevents bacterial and mold growth in honey and this makes it a very good antibacterial agent. In addition, honey has a very low amount of water activity, which also prevents the growth of bacteria, fungi, or mold. Water activity is measured on a scale of 0 to 1, and honey’s water activity is around 0.6 on this scale. However, mold and bacteria require a water activity of 0.75 in order to be able to grow. Honey’s low water activity (it has few free water molecules) and its low water content dehydrate the microbes (resulting their death) and prevent spoiling. The same properties are also effective when honey is applied on an open wound and prevent bacterial growth on and around the wound.

As mentioned before, one of the factors contributing to honey’s antibacterial properties is its high acidity. Honey’s acidity ranges between 3.5 and 4 on the pH scale, which makes it more acidic than apple cider vinegar (pH around 4.5). The acidity of honey is the result of several acidic compounds and therefore highly depends on the plant source. These compounds include formic acid, citric acid, butyric acid, phenolics, and gluconic acid. The major contributor is gluconic acid, which is produced by the action of bee enzymes on some of the glucose molecules in the honey. Bacteria and mold prefer neutral mediums to grow. Therefore, honey’s high acidity, in addition to its low water activity and water content, further enhances its antibacterial properties and provides a harsh condition for microbes.

Hydrogen peroxide is one of the well-known wound cleaning solutions used to kill bacteria. Most of us may not know that honey also includes hydrogen peroxide. Honey’s hydrogen peroxide is produced as a side product during the enzymatic production of gluconic acid from glucose by glucose oxidase.

In addition to all these chemical and medicinal properties mentioned so far, these compounds further impact bacterial and mold growth by disrupting the communication between them, according a recent research. As scientists further research honey and its properties, they may even find new features and molecules, such as peptides or proteins, which could contribute to its antibacterial effectiveness. All these components may vary according to the floral variety of the bee’s environment and the plant nectar which is collected from that environment. They impact the flavor, appearance, and aroma of the honey as well as its medicinal properties. Since honey has multiple features, which all contribute into its antibacterial properties at the same time, one can easily say that honey is one of those miracle foods, just as ancient tribes knew, and it deserves more attention. However, an adulterated honey may not show the same effectiveness as natural honey, as it may lack one or more of the chemicals or properties, even though it may have the same content and flavor.

Further reading

• Rachel Petkewich. Honey. Chemical and Engineering News. 85, 2007, p. 29 (accessed online on 2/21/15, http://cen.acs.org/articles/85/i6/Honey.html)
• Celia Henry Arnaud. Looking Beyond the Sugars In Sweeteners. 92, 2014, pp. 10-13 (accessed online on 2/21/15, http://cen.acs.org/articles/92/i15/ACS-Meeting-News-Looking-Beyond.html)

Empathy can be described as “an ability to put one’s self into the mental shoes of another person to understand their emotions and feelings.” Other explanations of it range from experiencing emotions that match another person’s emotions, to understanding what the other person is thinking or feeling (A comprehensive list of books and scholarly articles about empathy is available at www.empathy.se). Some definitions also delineate empathy as “an affective response that stems from the apprehension or comprehension of another’s emotional state or condition, and that is similar to what the other person is feeling or would be expected to feel” (wikipedia).

Taking it to a further level, Nursi talked about tafani (annihilation in one another), which even blurs the line between self and other. When mentioning true brotherhood, he defined the term as, “oblivious of their own merits and the pride which may arise from them, each person lives with the merits and feelings of their brothers and sisters in their mind.” ¹

Conduits of empathy

Generally, the immediate reaction to the definitions above is, “Well, that sounds great; but how?” One should consider the background, education level, and many other parameters that characterize the “other” in order to reach an empathic state. Empathy begins with an awareness of another person’s feelings and thoughts, which requires the cognitive ability to understand them, and the emotional capacity to actually feel them. Emotionally expressive people readily provide their inner state, as their eyes and faces are constantly letting us know how they are feeling. However, most people do not simply reveal how they feel, which leads us to ask questions, read between the lines, make guesses, or interpret non-verbal cues.²

Empathy is a lot more complex than just being able to look at things from another’s perspective. It is a skill that helps us to understand not only what that person would do in a given situation, but also why they would do so. The following case serves as an example:

I remember our teacher asking for two volunteers in one of her lectures. After I and Jim sat around the same table opposing each other, she requested us to close our eyes for five seconds. When we opened our eyes, there was a white box in the middle of the table. She asked: “Ok guys, are you ready?” We both nodded. “Ok, so here is the question: What color is the object on the table?” Well, was that it? The answer was so obvious, I couldn’t stop smiling. Jim answered first: “It’s black, Ma’am.” Very surprised with his answer, I responded promptly:

“What?! Are you kidding? It is clearly white… Don’t you see?”
“Nope. It is black, and I think you’d better be quite serious here.”
“Come on, Jim. I can’t believe that you’re saying this. Do you have a problem with your vision? It is white as snow!”
“No way! Do not insist. It is black.”
“No. White!”
“OK guys, easy,” Mrs. Smith interrupted. “Would you please exchange seats now?”

We both started to laugh after we swapped our seats, as it turned out that one side of the box was painted in black and the other in white; we had been insisting without even considering this possibility. Both of us were exclusively right from our own viewpoints; but in fact, we were both correct. This lesson still serves as an exceptional reminder for me to listen, value, and try to understand other people’s opinions.

Hence, solely approaching the situation in a, “If I were him or her…” manner does not completely address the problem, unless one is aware of the other party’s mindset and background. Empathy is the ability to experience another person’s emotions, and expressing and responding to them in a heartfelt way.⁴ That’s why we empathize with the full range of the other person’s experience: sensations, emotions, thoughts, desires, joys, and sorrows; and beyond that, we empathize with the other person’s mind and self.

Due to these aspects, empathy emerges as a quality that joins us together, though it is not an agreement or approval. People can still empathize with someone that they wish would act very differently. For instance, even if an actor has the part of a character that he dislikes, he will act more genuinely to the extent that he can empathize; or a composer will express a theme by heart when she fully empathizes with the song writer…³

Empathy is usually linked to sorrow and conflict. This is why it is frequently confused with sympathy and pity. Sympathy is the feeling of compassion or concern for another; a wish to see them better off or happier. Pity is feeling that another is in trouble and in need of help, as they cannot fix their problems themselves; it is often described as “feeling sorry” for someone.² Empathy, unlike sympathy and pity, can also apply to someone’s positive feelings of success, accomplishment, pride, achievement, etc. A “high five,” for example, shared between friends or between a parent and child, can be a sign of empathy in context of success.²

Empathy involves grasping feelings via nonverbal cues, such as facial expressions or vocal tone. It will provide an instant idea of the inner state of the other person. That is why sensitive people are more likely to notice someone else’s feelings. But, even those who are not naturally sensitive can take steps to show more understanding by not belittling, diminishing, rejecting, judging, or ignoring others. Obviously, even just a simple acknowledgment, even without any real empathy, is much better than totally ignoring someone’s feelings.²

Once how the other person feels is figured out, this awareness is expressed by acknowledging the emotion. Usually, this empathy is communicated in some way – for example, by saying, “I can see you are really uncomfortable about this; I know how it feels.” Or you can display a simple sign of affection, such as a hug or a tender touch, or through body language that mirrors the other person’s.² In addition to conveying considerate messages, this acknowledgment will also yield to positive and constructive interactions among society, as most belief systems value empathy.

Empathy is more important than ever in a globalized world. If we make an effort to understand the emotions and motivations of other people, it will help us to bridge ethnic, national, and religious differences.

Innate and acquired empathy

While the ability to imagine oneself as another person is a sophisticated imaginative process, the basic capacity to recognize emotions is probably innate and may work unconsciously. Toddlers are able to comfort others or show concern for them as early as the age of two. They may pretend in an effort to fool others, which requires that the child knows what others believe before he or she can manipulate those beliefs.¹ In general, adolescents show more empathy than toddlers while adults show more empathy than adolescents. In addition, women tend to be more empathic than men.⁴

Yet, apart from this innate tendency, one may also deliberately engage in empathic reasoning. The ability to empathize can be trained, and it can be achieved with various degrees of intensity or accuracy over time. For example, grasping the beliefs and desires of the other party is also essential to empathy, since emotions are more generally characterized by a combination of beliefs and desires.² Therefore, whether using innate tendencies or deliberate engagement in empathic reasoning, a person may simulate the beliefs, desires, character traits, and context of the other and see what emotional feelings this leads to. Or, a person may imitate the emotional feeling and then look around for a suitable reason for this to fit.²

Whether innate or acquired, empathy has some other side benefits as well. Those who are more empathic tend to be happier, whereas people who remain preoccupied with themselves tend to be unhappy.³ Studies show that students who participated in programs that teach them to be more empathic improved on a number of levels. They tended to do better academically, scored better on tests of higher-order reading comprehension, displayed enhanced creative thinking and critical thinking, showed an increase in pro-social behavior (sharing, cooperation, trust, kindness), and experienced a decrease in bullying and aggression.

Feeling felt

The expression of empathy gives the other person the feeling of being felt; this an essential feeling, from infancy onward. The expression of empathy conveys the vital signal in any communication: “Message received.” This alone can often calm the other person, and help them feel better. And even if there is an upsetting topic on the table, you can still get on with the business at hand with a clearer head.³

When we feel empathy for someone, we are getting emotional information about them and their circumstances. As you get to know others on an emotional level, you are more likely to see similarities between your feelings and basic emotional needs and their needs. You learn to identify with them, to relate to them, and to empathize with them. This higher level of empathy will yield higher degrees of understanding, which then lead to higher levels of compassion.²

Johnny was diagnosed with cancer when he was only 17 years old. He became very angry and refused to talk to anyone. In his mind, this simply wasn’t fair.

When family members tried to console him by talking about his problems, he rejected them. Often he yelled at them. Even with the doctor he had no patience. He stayed in his bedroom for days at a time.

After a few weeks, the minister came by to talk with him. Johnny rejected him too. He barked at the minister, “You don’t know what it’s like.” But the minister responded quietly, “Well actually I do; I have cancer myself.”

At this point, Johnny began to cry. It was as if an emotional barrier had burst into pieces. He spent the next couple hours talking with the minister and found himself accepting his illness. He began feeling better than he had since he was first diagnosed. He had been touched by the minister’s empathy, and had found his own.⁴

Reading about a feeling or intellectually knowing about it is very different than actually experiencing it. If, for example, you have never put your hand in a flame, you will not truly know the pain of fire. Therefore a person, who has experienced a variety of feelings may better empathize with many people from diverse walks of life. When someone “can’t relate” to other people, it is possibly because they haven’t experienced such feelings on their own. Once you have felt discriminated against, for example, it is much easier to relate with someone else who has been discriminated against.²

People are more able and willing to empathize with those most similar to themselves, particularly in terms of culture and living conditions. Levenson and Reuf (1997) and Hoffman (2000) suggest that empathy is more likely to occur between individuals whose interactions are more frequent.² Empathy increases with similarities, and, at this point, it is important to note that, all of us share similar emotional needs such as being acknowledged, loved, respected, feeling safe and supported, being treated fairly – and being trusted, understood, and valued. The wide variations among our needs are mostly differences in degree, rather than in type. For example, we all need to feel some degree of freedom, but one person may need more freedom than another.

Understanding vs. evil suspicion

Empathy does not imply one has an ill-opinion of the other:

Two blind friends were enjoying their lunch from the same plate, which had meatballs on it. One asked the other:

“Hey, don’t rush! Why do you take two meatballs at a time?”

“You are blind, too! How did you know I do that?”

“I know from myself.”

Some psychologists argue that people may serve as mirrors to one another in this sense. Since they assess the world through their own filtering lenses, whoever has evil suspicions may merely be reflecting his or her own inner state onto the other person:

A farmer had lost his shovel. He believed that it was the son of his neighbor next door who stole it and began to scrutinize his every step. He observed the boy walking as a thief, noticed a tone in his speech that “revealed” he was a robber, and thought his face clearly confessed his guilt. Every posture and attribute of the kid was “proving” he’d committed the crime.

Yet, the following day, the farmer found his shovel in his barn where he had carefully left it weeks before. When he looked at the boy that day, surprisingly, he no longer looked like a robber; and there was no sign of theft in his face, nor in his words.

Evil suspicion is obviously injurious to the social relationships in a community, and is thus explicitly disallowed by various teachings:

“O you who believe! Avoid much suspicion, for some suspicion is a grave sin; and do not spy (on one another), nor backbite (against one another)… Keep from disobedience to God in reverence for him and piety.” (Qur’an 49:12)

Along the same lines, in 1993, 143 leaders from different faith traditions and spiritual communities proclaimed, “do not treat people in a way you would not wish to be treated yourself,” as a common principle for many religions.⁵

Think, before you judge

“A person who sees the good in things will have good thoughts; and one who has good thoughts will receive pleasure from life,” Nursi stated. Empathy is not a process that is likely to deliver certain judgments about the emotional states of others. It is a skill that is gradually developed throughout life, and which improves as we have more contact with the person with whom we empathize. Accordingly, any knowledge gained or sensed from the other must be revisable in light of newer information.² The following story encourages us not to rush into immediate judgments:

A woman was waiting at an airport one night with several long hours before her flight. She hunted for a book in the airport shop, bought a bag of cookies, and found a place to sit. She was engrossed in her book but happened to see that the man beside her, as bold as could be, grabbed a cookie or two from the bag between them. She tried to ignore this, to avoid causing a scene. She munched cookies and watched the clock as this gutsy cookie thief diminished her stock.

She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by, thinking, “If I wasn’t so nice, I’d blacken his eye.” With each cookie she took, he took one, too. And when only one was left, she wondered what he’d do. With a smile on his face and a nervous laugh, he took the last cookie and broke it in half.

He offered her half as he ate the other. She snatched it from him and thought, “I can’t believe this! This guy has some nerve – and he’s also rude! Why didn’t he even show any gratitude?”

She couldn’t remember the last time she was so galled and sighed with relief when her flight was called. She gathered her belongings and headed for the gate, refusing to look back at the thieving ingrate. She boarded the plane and sank in her seat. Then she sought her book, which was almost complete. As she reached in her baggage, she gasped with surprise: there was her bag of cookies. “If mine are here,” she moaned with despair, “then the others were his and he tried to share.”

Too late to apologize, she realized with grief, “that she was the rude one, the ungrateful, the thief.”

At times, people can be overconfident, which limits objective recognition. This confidence can be so great that they do not even consider the possibility they might be at fault. Imagine explaining the story from the angle of the man whose cookies were eaten. Had he not possessed some empathy, the situation could have been a lot different. Although many people are inclined to blame others for the problems they complain about, they may well have their own share in the problems; one should question their own errors before going after anyone else’s. The later the reality is realized, the more likely we are to miss the chance for potential healing.

To wrap up, empathy helps us connect with one another at a deep level. It is an essential skill to understand the needs and expectations of our friends and neighbors – and even our enemies. It helps us to become more social.⁴ Furthermore, empathy is crucial for diverse social environments in all its forms – in character and values as well as in ethnicity, religion, class, and so on.³ For instance, the management of a diverse business/education/community setting can address the needs of the people involved better by employing an empathic approach. Or, an interfaith dialogue effort will be more fruitful when parties utilize empathy in their interactions, rather than solely gathering theoretical knowledge about other faith traditions and their members.

Empathy in the sense of mutual understanding, as suggested by various teachings, is a key social remedy. It is an important trait that is worth cultivating. It is at the root of kindness, compassion, understanding, and respect – qualities that we all appreciate being shown, whoever we are, whatever we think, and wherever we come from. Despite all of us having our unique life experiences, and although it is impossible to be another person, imagining what would cause other to suffer or be happy should not be difficult. Wouldn’t you agree?

Notes

¹ Nursi, Said. The Gleams (The Twenty-first Gleam), NJ: The Light, Inc. p. 229.

² http://eqi.org/empathy.htm

³ http://www.rickhanson.net/wp-content/files/Empathy.pdf

⁴ http://www.upperbay.org/articles/empathy.pdf

⁵ Some examples to this principle in different faith traditions are listed at http://www.unification.net/ws/theme015.htm

Different tasks are assigned to the egg and sperm. In recent years researchers have focused on the type of mechanisms that are utilized by a single sperm, which is in a race with millions of others to reach and enter the egg to fertilize it. Fertilization is not an event that happens by itself. It occurs depending on the interactions of sperm and egg in a very systematic way. It has been studied intensely how the molecules on the surfaces of the egg and sperm behave so selectively like orchestra conductors during fertilization. They fit together like a matching lock and key.

The proteins on the outer membrane of the egg

Mammalian sperm cells resemble a chubby arrow with a long tail. However, egg cells are found in different shapes and sizes. Millions of sperm in mammals compete with each other to be the first to reach the egg through the reproductive canal. The human egg is kept in a jelly like covering and a strong, protective membrane (or coat) called the Zona pellucida lies underneath this covering. It wraps the outer perimeter of the cell. Glycoproteins (ZP1, ZP2, ZP3, and ZP4) that function as the locks in the key-lock model are located at this protective layer. Sialyl-LewisX is a special type of tetrasaccharide carbohydrate (sugar) that binds to the proteins and lipids on this membrane. This carbohydrate is assigned with the task of making the egg’s surface sticky and this helps with the facilitation of sperm attachment to the outer receptors of the egg. In 2011, it was proved that this sugar molecule plays a critical role during fertilization.

Only a few of the sperm among the millions that joined the contest can make it to this layer. A lower sperm count as well as a sperm’s failure to cross this barrier can play a role in unsuccessful unions with the egg.

During the union of sperm and egg, the sperm becomes very active and its outer proteins are rearranged, thus getting recognized by the proteins of the outer layer of the egg (Zona pellucida). The ZP3 glycoprotein, working like a terminal gate, assists with the entry of the mammalian sperm into the egg. There is no chance for a sperm to cross the membrane once it has failed to bind to this receptor. The chemical changes initiated inside the sperm when bound to this protein trigger the secretion of acrosomal enzymes. Upon the release of enzymes, the Zona pellucida is broken down and the entry of sperm is permitted.

There are two distinct sections, called the ZP3-N and the ZP3-C, of the ZP3 molecule which is composed of 424 amino acids. The ZP3-N section of the ZP3 protein is conserved strictly as it is in the outer membranes of eggs of all animals, from fish to amphibians, birds, and mammalians. This suggests of a critical function for this protein. New birth control pills can be developed if small molecules that can attach to the ZP3 binding regions of the sperm can be discovered.

The second receptor required for the fertilization of the egg is the glycoprotein called ZP2. Certain sections of the ZP2 are responsible for sperm recognition and enabling the union. During experiments with mice, eggs were found to secrete an enzyme called ovastacin right after fertilization, destroying the binding protein (ZP2) which works outside the egg like a lock, thus disabling the egg’s ability to take up another sperm. Without this enzyme, sperms will continue to bind to the egg, even after divisions, leading to multiple fertilizations and eventually killing the embryo.

The process of fertilization is wondrous, a perfect meeting of time and circumstance. New research is revealing just how refined reproduction systems really are as they are found in nature.

How does an egg find the right sperm?

After an investigation regarding 1,880 protein encoding genes and proteins involved in reproduction, regions prone to mutation have been discovered on these genes. Mutations are found to occur frequently in ZP2 and ZP3 proteins that are directly involved with the egg and sperm interaction, along with proteins required for acrosomal reactions. There are various hypotheses being developed to unveil the causes behind the rapid mutation rate of proteins taking part in the reproduction system. These speculations range from gender dependent selection, to the development of traits by males that will be more attractive to females, and the avoidance of diseases. Reproduction is not collaboration; it is a race between millions of sperm, and only one can fertilize the egg.

At the molecular level, sperms try to accelerate this process and complete it as soon as possible, whereas the egg tries to slow it down. Therefore the needs of egg and sperm differ during fertilization: sperms fight to reach the egg and be selected, whereas the task of the egg is to be selective. The egg needs time to pick the most suitable sperm. After this selection, it must ensure the entry for the selected sperm and block access for the rest of them. Therefore, one way to achieve this successfully is via small mutations that lead to selective surface variations occurring in the structures of receptor proteins in charge of sperm recognition located on the egg membrane.

There are interesting results obtained with experiments performed on the eggs of Strongylocentrotus franciscanus, the red sea urchin. Sea urchins free their eggs into open sea for fertilization. The wisdom behind this is to ensure the fertilization of different eggs by different males. Being released into open water gives the eggs many options and puts pressure on the sperms. Variations are observed in the egg recognition proteins (Bindin) of each sperm; these proteins work like a key on the outer surface to attach, punch, and cross the egg membrane. Sea urchin eggs are also equipped with molecular blocking mechanisms to prevent the simultaneous entry of two sperms. Sperms thus go through mutations regarding egg recognition proteins and new keys are developed. The mutations occurring in the genes that encode the proteins, both on the egg and sperm membranes, result in slightly different matches that do not fully conform to one another. This situation causes a delay in the entry process. This meaningful delay is to grant the egg the necessary time to close the molecular gates to block access to a second or third sperm.

The studies carried out over sea urchin populations confirmed that such events take place in nature. The mutations are accelerated in genes that encode egg-recognition proteins and variants of such proteins are produced on the surface of sperms that exist in waters with high population density. In parallel to this, mutations also take place on receptor proteins of sea urchin eggs; these act like a lock. Studies confirmed that there are sperms that both lock perfectly and just shy of perfectly with these eggs. In cases of lower sperm density, it has been revealed that conforming and easily matching variants of the egg-recognition proteins of sperms are synthesized to facilitate fertilization. And in cases of higher sperm counts, a different form of receptor protein is found to be synthesized. This adaptation is interpreted as cautionary, as it prevents the entry of multiple regular-form sperms into the egg. In other words, a mutation regarding the sperm binding receptors can develop in females, thus establishing a prevention system against fertilization. Therefore, the role of the egg in reproduction is too critical to neglect.

These findings contain significant messages for human reproductive science. For instance, these new models can explain the role of the egg in certain infertility situations. It is possible that numerous variations have developed over time for human egg and sperm proteins. Mismatches in the key-lock system (protein-protein binding) may increase with these variations, and this would inhibit fertilization. This can eventually result in a failure to reproduce. Consequently, the know-how of the egg-sperm recognition systems awaits researchers as a new field of research. The most interesting development of this research is that eggs and sperms that are far away from each other still develop key and lock mechanisms, as if they are equipped with high level intelligence, willpower, and knowledge.

In summary, fertilization depends on suitable alterations and the necessary overlap of these changes in both sperms and eggs. It does not mean that all nonconforming matches are resulting from low quality eggs. In some cases, one reason for the mismatch is due to the defense mechanism of the egg against fertilization by male members of different species.that the egg is preventing itself from a bad match. The fact that the egg is equipped with a protective system at the molecular level simply shows that nothing is left to chance in nature.

Further reading

Gaidos, Susan. 2012. “As Told by the Egg: The story of fertilization from the female point of view.” Science News Prime. December 10, 2012. www.sciencenews.org

A week later, they had an exam and his teacher noticed from his writing that he had difficulties in grammar, syntax, and vocabulary. The teacher decided to talk with his parents about the problem. His mother said the following:

“When he was very young, I noticed that he was not able to speak like the other children; however, I thought he was going to speak sooner or later. What was the importance of speaking earlier or later for children? There will not be any difference between children after they all learn to talk.
Also, I know that his father spoke very late when he was a child, so I thought that my child would also speak later. But I did not know that it would bring such difficulties for his future.”

As we can understand from this situation, it is very dangerous to ignore children who have speech and language delays. Let’s think about a machine (e.g. a car) that is not working properly. Would we delay its restoration and say, “I should wait and see whether or not it will be fine in a week”? The answer is absolutely not!

However, when it comes to our own children, most people say: 

“Let’s see, whether or not he or she will be able to speak once they turn three; if not, then we should go to a language therapist or child psychologist.”

How do we know that this child will be able to speak after they turn three? Even if they might speak after this age, it could be too late to overcome self-confidence and psychological problems. Research shows that speech and language delays are the most common developmental disorders for kids and they affect at least one out of ten children (1).

When considering the importance of language development for children, it can be said that language is a tool that enables people to socialize and express themselves without any extra effort. So, children who have language delays could show aggressive behavior towards other people or they could damage themselves due to their frustration at being unable to express themselves. Over the long term, such difficulties could negatively affect their academic life (2), social-emotional development, and self-confidence (3), as exemplified earlier.

In order to overcome the available negative factors and also to decrease possible future disadvantages, the backgrounds and causes of the problem should be thoroughly examined. There are a variety of factors that can cause speech and language delays and each of these factors should be addressed separately by professionals so as to apply the most appropriate method of treatment.

* Problems that are classified as external could be the cause of a language delay. It should be examined whether or not children have problems in their mouth, tongue, and hearing system. For example, if a child has some degree of hearing loss, it would directly affect his speaking, communication abilities, and social life. Also, in the long term, it could affect his writing skills and academic life. Research shows that early diagnosis of hearing issues and early intervention programs can minimize the disadvantages of language delay. Children experiencing such problems should be seen by a professional. Then, in accordance with their level of hearing issues, the most appropriate intervention should be applied by a speech and language therapist.

* If a child only has a speech delay but does not have any another developmental impairment in their social, motor, or cognitive development, the delay could be due to neurological problems. In this case, it is important to consult a neurologist and then a child psychologist.

* There are also a variety of different factors that could affect children’s language development:

Parent’s behavior: Some parents can be over-protective and this might not allow their child to develop independence. This can be the case if the child refuses to speak and only uses body language to show what they want. This may lead the child to express himself with body language instead of learning verbal language. Parents should encourage their children to express themselves verbally.

Parent-child interaction: It is very important to spend sufficient time with a child via playing games and interacting with them every day. If parents only buy some useful materials for their child’s development, such as books, puzzles, and toys, and then leave them alone, the child will not benefit from these materials. According to Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development theory, children may need assistance from an experienced person when they are trying to do or learn something. Though unable to complete such tasks alone, with help, they can be successful. Because children are learning about the outside word with the aid of games and imitation, both their mother and father should play and interact with them in the flow of daily life. Thus, instead of children looking at a storybook on their own, parents could read it by using vocabulary that is suitable to the child’s age.

Electronic devices and television: It is not recommended that children under two watch television since it directly affects their language and speech development (4). Also, after two years old, children can be introduced to educational programs, but it is very important to restrict their television time and arrange it according to their age.

Poverty: Research shows that there is a significant relationship between poverty and language delay (5). It was found that there is a link between socio economic factors and parental stress which could negatively affect their behavior towards a child. Also, it was found that parents living in poverty are less likely to have a high education level, so they might have a limited vocabulary when interacting with children. As a result, their child’s word count is affected by this situation. Instead of expecting something parents cannot provide, social organizations should take responsibility and detect such at-risk children and provide them with the appropriate materials. Also, parents who have financial problems can use libraries to borrow books for their children and also apply to voluntary institutions for financial support.

Additionally, it is important to consider bilingual children who are learning two languages at the same time. Bilingual children might start to speak a little bit late when comparing them with monolingual children. However, this delay should not be long. Their language should be delayed only several weeks or perhaps months. Importantly, if these children do not use any words, although they are 18 months old, this could be a sign of a serious problem. It may also be seen that bilinguals might confuse two languages and use both languages’ vocabularies when they are speaking. They will usually speak both languages competently when they turn five years old (4).

In the light of our story, if the parents had contacted a professional earlier and had started to solve their child’s problem before he began primary school, this child might not have faced speaking, reading, and academic issues. At the very least, the effects of language delay might have been minimized through the appropriate interventions. Parents who are in similar situations should not ignore their child’s disability and make excuses. Instead, they should accept it, because research shows that accepting a disorder helps all involved to address the problem and produce a solution as quickly as possible. Furthermore, there is no difference found between professionals and parents in terms of applying a method of intervention. Parents can be trained by professionals and learn suitable intervention methods.

Let’s think about what would happen if the same child’s language problem had been noticed earlier and the parents would have decided to contact a professional to learn what the background of the problem was and how they could solve it:

“It was just an ordinary day for him. His teacher asked him to read a text from our book and he started to read the book; while initially his voice was shaky, he took a deep breath and tried to be confident. Finally, he read the text confidently and fluently like his other peers. Then the bell rang and he went out to play games with the other children.”

Fatma Canan is a Child Psychologist and PhD Candidate in the UK.

References

1. http://www.answers.com/library/Children%27s+Health+Encyclopedia-cid-4643111
2. Bickford‐Smith, A., Wijayatilake, L., & Woods, G. (2005). Evaluating the effectiveness of an early years language intervention. Educational Psychology in practice, 21(3), 161-173.
3. Law, J., Garrett, Z., & Nye, C. (2003). Speech and language therapy interventions for children with primary speech and language delay or disorder. Campbell Collaboration.
4. Kayiran, S. M., Şahin, S. A., & Cure, S. (2012). Pediatri Perspektifinden Çocuklarda Konuşma ve Dil Gecikmesine Yaklaşım. Marmara Medical Journal,25(1).
5. Hoff, E., & Tian, C. (2005). Socioeconomic status and cultural influences on language. Journal of Communication Disorders, 38(4), 271-278.

Cats are born with their eyes closed and no sense of hearing, but they improve their abilities over time. Their sense of vision develops every day and babies require approximately five months to be able match the visual capabilities of an adult cat. To augment their abilities, kittens have incredible senses of smell.

This can be witnessed when kittens are fed by their mother. A mother cat designates a nipple for each baby. When kittens that seem to be fighting each other during nursing are observed carefully, one can see that each newborn is trying to reach their own designated nipple. They find it through their incredible sense of smell.

As mentioned above, though cats are friendly, they will occasionally misbehave. This naughtiness hints that their predatory instincts are still intact. The development of their hunting ability is honed through games and aided by the fact that kittens do not have feelings of fear before they are six weeks old. During this short time, they are required to obtain sufficient experience to survive. When they are one year old, a cat will have all their adult characteristics.

One defining trait of cats is their flexibility. Cats have 40 more bones than humans and this enables them with such flexibility. Most of these bones are located in the spine and tail sections. The advanced flexibility of the lumbar bones provides cats with agility. The disks positioned in between vertebrae are tighter than the disks of human vertebra. This feature naturally enables cats to move uniquely and flex their body up to 11%.

This also means that when a cat encounters prey, it can estimate the distance at a glance and can jump 1.5 meters without needing any speed. The human equivalent would be jumping 8.5 meters without a running start. Another aspect of this flexibility is that cats can go through any opening that their heads fit through because they lack a clavicle. They also have powerful legs and their paws are created in a way to contract within a fraction of a second upon landing. Their retractable claw acts as a hook when protruded completely and permits them to climb and grasp vertical surfaces.

We often overlook cats. They’re pets and companions. But in truth, they’re so much more. Blessed with some incredible traits, cats are actually marvels of creation.

Animals with nine lives!

When falling, cats open their legs sideways to generate a parachute effect. By doing this, they control their speed to prepare for a soft landing and land on their feet with remarkable reflexes. A fluid in their inner ear moves when they are not in balance and they develop a reflex to help them land on their paws. There is one problem: they cannot relax their muscles completely when falling from places that are not high enough, disabling the parachute effect. The risk of injury for cats is lower if they fall from the thirty-second floor (100 m) than if they fall from the seventh floor, experiments have shown.

Sensing earthquakes

Cats have many senses that are significantly stronger than human senses. Sight and hearing, which are required for hunting and survival, are the two basic senses more advanced than the rest. Every sound they hear feels very powerful. For instance, the tic-tac sounds of a clock are four times stronger to cats than to humans. Cats are granted the skill to distinguish high frequency sounds that humans and even dogs cannot notice. This skill enables them to separate between the voices of people. In addition, there are more than 20 muscles in a cat’s ear. This enables the independent movement and control of each ear. Thus they can determine the source of sound with speed and precision, and detect the exact location of prey from just a small movement in one-sixteenth of a second.

These cute animals are skilled at feeling the weakest vibrations. With this skill, cats are considered to have the ability to feel earthquakes a couple of days in advance, like some other animals, though it is not exactly understood how this occurs. It is possible that these animals can even sense vibrations too small to be captured by measuring systems. Despite all the efforts of scientists, they struggle to forecast the timing of earthquakes even with modern technological devices. However, many animal species display abnormal behaviors hours and even days before an earthquake. This remains a mystery how animals react in such a way. Therefore, data acquired with detailed studies performed on animals will surely provide many benefits in terms of accurate prediction of earthquakes.

A cat’s eye

Cat’s eyes are also created in a fashion to let them focus on their prey. Sharp vision is as important as the sense of hearing for a night hunter. During hunting, the target is in focus and everything else is blurry. Cat’s eyes, when compared to human eyes, contain many extra cells in charge of sensing light, including a crystal layer behind the retina that absorbs all available but unused light. Like other nocturnal animals, cats have the layer called “tapetum lucidum” in their eyes. This layer reflects light like a mirror, and for this reason, cat’s eyes shine in darkness. This reflection effect even permits cats to utilize the lowest level of light possible. The iris can adjust its width depending on the light’s strength, just like the diaphragm of a camera; this allows cats to distinguish their surroundings in the dark. Another feature of Tapetum lucidum is that when light strikes a cat’s eye from an angle, it causes the eye to shine, even in dim light.

There are limits to cat’s night vision powers – and they make up for this with their whiskers. A cat’s whiskers enable them to sense the slightest changes in the air. These facial hairs work like a radar system, helping them to identify the outline of objects that they barely see.

Sensing fear

The one sense cat’s lack when compared to humans is their sense of taste. Cat tongues have 25% less papillae (taste buds) than human tongues; they do not enjoy sugary foods. The pleasure these animals get from eating is related to another sense granted to them in addition to smell and taste. Cats have an organ located at the frontal section of their palate which is lacking in humans. It’s called the Jacobson organ. Chemical signals enter the mouth and end up in a small capsule after passing through the opening in between two palates located behind the front teeth. These chemical cues are stored here. This means that they can taste chemical signals. Even though it is not possible for cats to compete with dogs in terms of olfactory senses, this ability is fourteen times more powerful than human’s sense of smell. This skill is used for social communication. It’s likely that cats recognize people through their scents. While a human nose houses only 5 million olfactory cells, there are around 200 million sensory cells placed in the small noses of cats. A significant portion of their brain is ready to sense, assess, and respond properly to chemical signals.

Tidy animals

Cats dedicate a major portion of their time to cleaning. These animals truly enjoy their cleaning sessions. It takes a long time to fix their tangled fur. In addition, their fur must be bright and well cleaned in order to protect their body against exposure to external elements like cold air and rain. Cats lick their paws to use them like gloves to clean their faces. Their tongue is long and there are small projections found in the rear section. This section, rich in buds, acts like a brush and enables them to better clean their fur. The tongue triggers the oil glands at the base of each hair. A fluid is secreted that makes a cat’s fur waterproof.

Despite their fur, cats do not get heat exhaustion. The hairs not only prevent them from feeling intense heat, but also keep them warm by insulating them from the surrounding environment. These animals also display strong resistance to pain. This results from their high levels of endorphin, the hormone for pain reduction.

Sleeping beauties

Cats spend 2/3 of their lives sleeping. Therefore they are often used as experimental animals for sleep-related research. It is possible to say that we owe most of the information regarding sleep mechanisms and the effects of sleep to cats.

Natural navigation

Cats are created with the perfect tool for navigation. Experiments have shown that they can cover miles of road to return back to their home. It is thought that these animals find their way by employing the sun and the Earth’s magnetic field. What is hard to explain is how they happen to find a new house when their owners move. It is still unknown whether this skill originates from a certain sensory mechanism or whether cats are provided with even sharper senses than we think they have. Whatever the answers may be for these questions, we can simply conclude that cats are animals which have been truly blessed in a way that allows them to adapt to their environments.

Another approach to mannerliness is dealing with it under the categories of “mannerliness in Sharia,” “mannerliness in tariqa (the spiritual order),” “mannerliness in knowledge of God,” and “mannerliness in the final truth (attained at the end of the spiritual journeying).” The first means practicing the Sunna (the way) of God’s Messenger, upon him he peace and blessings, in all his acts, sayings, and approvals. The second means, together with utter submission to and perfect love of him, serving the spiritual guide, attending his discourses, and refraining from objection to him. The third consists in preserving the balance between nearness to God and self-possession, between fear and hope or expectation, and awareness of self-poverty and impotence in the lace of the Divine favors coming directly from God. As for the fourth, it is perfect attachment to God in complete detachment from everything other than Him, without any material or spiritual expectation and anxieties worldly or other-worldly.

In one respect, Sufism consists in “mannerliness;” it consists in having or being adorned with the good manners proper to each occasion, each spiritual state, and each rank or station. However, only if believers have been able to realize all of these good manners in their own inner world, they can really be well-mannered in their attitudes and ways of behaviour. Apparent and superficial manners, such as have not been ingrained in their self and become an essential part of their nature, will mean no more than an outward show and cannot become permanent as habits. Nor are they worth anything in the sight of God, Who judges a person by his or her inner world. With his expressive style, Mawlana Jalalu’d-Din Rumi describes mannerliness with its true and artificial aspects as follows:

For the people of the heart,
mannerliness originates in a person’s inner world,
for they are aware of secrets.
As for the people of the flesh,
they see mannerliness in the apparent behavior of people;
for God has hidden the secrets from them.
We always ask God to enable us to be mannerly,
because one who is unmannerly is deprived of Divine favors.

According to Abu Nasr at-Tusi, mannerliness could he summarized in the following three paragraphs:

• The mannerliness of literary men who seek beauty and virtue in writing and speech, which is regarded as “gossip” by the Sufis for it does not originate in the heart.
• The mannerliness of those who represent the religion of Islam at the level of a pure spiritual life, which is regarded as consisting in refining the soul through disciplines, and the feelings through love and fear of God, and in meticulously following the religious commandments.
• The mannerliness of those who through continuous self-control and introspection maintain the purity of heart at the level of neither imagining nor conceiving of anything contrary to the awareness of always being in the presence of God and overseen by Him.

Those who have been able to attain to the truth have attached much importance to all kinds of mannerliness and tried their hardest to make it an essential, ingrained part of their human nature. They have many wise sayings uttered in this respect, of which they have themselves striven to be the embodiments in utmost sincerity. To cite a few examples:

Everything has an aspect of beauty and ornament,
the beauty of people lies in mannerliness.
There are those who, albeit of ignoble descent,
are most noble due to their mannerliness.

The following is a jewel-like saying quoted from Imam ‘Ali, the fourth Caliph and cousin of the Prophet, may God be pleased with him:

Nowadays misfortunes are common, which is not to be wondered at.
What is to be wondered at is how one could remain upright
and maintain one’s integrity among so many misfortunes.
Beauty is not that which the garment one wears adds to him.
Rather, it is the beauty of knowledge and mannerliness.

The following is from ‘Awarifu’l-Ma‘arif by Shihabu’d-Din as-Suhrawardi[1]:

Belief requires absolute affirmation of Divine Unity, without which a person is not regarded as having a sound belief. This affirmation requires mannerliness without which one cannot be pious. Truly, one without good manners cannot be pious.

Suhrawardi is totally right, because “the Prophets travelled their ways through mannerliness, and became each an elect in the Court of God.”

In addition to what we have already said concerning the practical aspect of mannerliness or being well-mannered in behaviour, the following reflections are worth recalling:

It is mannerliness which a person should always wear:
without good manners, one is as if naked.
….
Mannerliness is to be found in the people of knowledge.
A student without good manners cannot be a learned one.
….
The order of the world is through mannerliness;
Again, through mannerliness is human perfection.

Expressive of purity in thought, uprightness in the heart, and a deep relationship with God, mannerliness in speech has been stressed for centuries in all schools which concern themselves with moral and religious education or with spiritual training. Wahbi says:

Do not open your mouth for idle talk,
be well-mannered in your speech.
Take care of what you may say so that
afterwards you do not become uneasy.

Another voices his thought about mannerliness as follows:

Mannerliness is a crown from the light of God:
wear that crown and be safe from every misfortune.

The words of Mawlana Jalalu’d-Din Rumi in praise of mannerliness are beyond compare:

Know that the soul in a person’s body is mannerliness; the light of a person’s heart and eyes is mannerliness. Adam is from an elevated world, not from a low one. This dome (meaning the world) rotates on the axis of mannerliness, which is also its beauty and adornment. If you want to put your foot on the head of Satan, know that it is mannerliness which will kill Satan. One who is deprived of good manners is not truly human, for the difference between humans and animals lies in mannerliness. Open your eyes and see that the Qur’an, the Word of God, consists in mannerliness. I asked the intellect what belief was. It whispered to the ear of the heart that it was mannerliness.

Mannerliness with respect to good morals described as words and behaviour approved by Islam, and as expressed in the words, actions, and acts of approval of the Holy Prophet, upon him he peace and blessings, is beyond the scope of the present answer.

O God! Guide us to what You love and are pleased with, and bestow, O God, blessings on our master Muhammad and on his Family and his Companions, all of them.

[1] Shihabu’d-Din Abu Hafs ‘Umar ibn ‘Abdullah as-Suhrawardi (1145-1234) was a Sufi theologian. ‘Awarifu’l-Ma‘arif is about the Sufi way. He also criticized the philosophers following the ancient Greek philosophy.

Figure 1 A page of a copy circa 1503 of Divan-i Kabir.

Divan-i Kabir also contains Arabic and mixed Greek/Persian poems [2].

In this article, we will discuss a lesser known side of Rumi. In particular, we will show that, in his poetry, Rumi (knowingly or not) pointed to an astronomical observation called “gravitational lensing.” We leave it to the reader whether this is only a pure coincidence or not.

We begin by investigating the following poem which illustrates unity and a love of humanity [1]. Originally, this poem comes from Divan-i Kabir. We would especially like to draw attention to the capitalized sentence below. In order to preserve the context and better understand how to interpret this sentence in relation to gravitational lensing, we included most of the neighboring parts of the poem.

Come, come, get closer.
Till when is this banditry going to continue?
Since you are I and I am you, what is this “us” and “them”?
We are God’s holy light; we are God’s mirror.
…
But why are we squint-eyed?
Although we are limbs of the same body,
why do the rich look down on the poor?
…
BUT WE HAVE SEEN ONE AS TWO
BECAUSE OF THE CURVATURE OF THE HEAVENS.
Come, liberate yourself from this selfishness
and reconcile with everybody and be nice to people.
As long as you are in you, you are a grain, a particle.
But when you mix and unite with others, then you become an ocean, a mine.
Every human being carries the same soul,
but the bodies are in hundreds of thousands.
Similarly, there are countless almonds in the world,
but there is the same oil in each of them.
There are many tongues and dialects in this world,
but the meaning of all of them is the same.
Waters put in different containers unite
when the containers are broken
and start to flow together as one stream.

Rumi makes several metaphors in the above poem. He, for example, compares the essence of all humans to individual mirrors serving one truth – that is, the reflection of God’s attributes in them. This truth makes our goals one and the same. We were all created with one thought, one mind, which is to exhibit the manifestations of His Names and Attributes on Earth. Therefore, Rumi says we should act like the limbs of the same body and not look down on the poor. We should give away selfishness and unite around the same goal, so that everyone gains one greater meaning. The reason why we have seen one meaning as two or more lies in the Divine Wisdom of God and the reflections of His Wisdom on subtle details of creation, such as the “curvatures of the heavens.” Despite these curvatures, everything – different bodies, countless almonds, and many tongues and dialects – has but one origin.

One of the Divine Wisdoms behind the diversity in creation is described in Al-Hujurat 13, in the Quran [3]:

“O humankind! Surely We have created you from a single (pair of) male and female, and made you into tribes and families so that you may know one another (and so build mutuality and co-operative relationships, not so that you may take pride in your differences of race and social rank, and breed enmities). Surely, the noblest, most honorable of you in God’s sight is the one best in piety, righteousness, and reverence for God. Surely God is All-Knowing, All-Aware.” [4]

If there would be only one tribe with identical members, skills, and roles, there would be limited motivation to know each other. This would significantly hamper progress on Earth. Imagine a world with one big family with a million members and no other families to compete with, such as the primitive tribes of the Amazon. Imagine another world with a thousand families with ten members in each such as the modern multi-national world. In the latter, it is more likely people will be motivated to know each other, to build mutuality and co-operative relationships, to compete and progress. Thus, it is more likely to manifest the reflections of God’s attributes on Earth through piety, righteousness, and reverence for Him.

“Curvature” in astronomy

Having discussed the poem, now let’s turn our attention to astronomy. In particular, we will point out the relation of “curvature of the heavens” with astronomy. In the original poem, this phrase is given as [5]. The first word, “felek” can be translated as “heavens” and the second word, “munhany,” is Arabic, which can be translated as “curve” or “curved.” An old man with a bent body is also called “munhany.” Although this is an Arabic word, it is used in Persian, too.

In astronomy, every galaxy (or any other mass) deflects light, at least to some extent, coming from a distant light source in space such as a supernova explosion or another galaxy. Due to this deflection of light, if astronomers are lucky enough in terms of their position in space with respect to the deflecting galaxy, they can view two, or even more, images of the same galaxy by pointing their telescope in different directions. This is the result of the gravitational lens in astronomy [6] (see Figure 2).

Figure 2 Gravitational lensing. Light coming from a distant quasar behind a massive galaxy is deflected due to gravity. This results in the observation of multiple images from Earth. Credit: NASA/GSFC

A gravitational lens works pretty much the same way as optical lenses (see Figure 3), but uses gravity for refraction (or deflection) of light instead of an optically dense medium such as glass.

Figure 3 An image of the Golden Gate Bridge is refracted and bent by many different drops of water acting as lenses on glass. Credit: Brocken Inaglory

According to general relativity, light follows the curvature of space-time formed by massive objects (see Figure 4) [7]. Therefore, when light travels around a massive object, such as in gravitational lensing, it is bent.

Figure 4 Schematic of the curvature of space-time around a massive object. Credit: Johnstone

In Figure 5, taken by the Hubble telescope, multiple images of a single galaxy are shown [8]. The five blue circles show a unique, gravitationally-lensed quasar. This image is the first-ever picture of such an object. The red circles mark three remarkably different images of the same background galaxy. The galaxy is 12 billion light years away (corresponding to only 1.8 billion years after the Big Bang). The yellow circle marks a supernova that was found by comparing this image to a picture of the cluster obtained by Hubble earlier. It is interesting to note that not only is the Golden Gate Bridge in the background in Figure 3 analogous to the background quasar and the galaxy in Figure 5, but they both resemble the manifestations of the attributes of one God in various forms as metaphorically described by Rumi.

Figure 5 Gravitational lens may result in the observation of multiple images of the same object in space. Credits: ESA, NASA, Keren Sharon (Tel-Aviv University) and Eran Ofek (CalTech).

It is clear from this image that gravitational lens may mislead us into seeing one as two or more. Therefore we find the “curvature of the heavens” phrase in the poem quite striking. Astonishingly, Rumi somehow makes an analogy between the unity of humanity and the unity of a heavenly body that appears more than once to the astronomer due to the gravitational illusion produced by the curvature of the heavens, or perhaps space-time.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Zeki Saritoprak and Mustafa Kaya for their contribution to exploring the original edition of Divan-i Kabir. This article is produced either in part or as a whole at MERGEOUS (mergeous.com), an online article and project development service for authors and publishers dedicated to the advancement of technologies in the merging realm of science and religion.

References

1. Can, Sefik. 2004. Fundamentals of Rumi’s Thought, NJ: 2004.

2. Diwan-e Shams-e Tabrizi, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diwan-e_Shams-e_Tabrizi

3. Hucurat 13, Kutub-u Sitte 1.5, Gold Soft, Akcag.

4. Unal, Ali. 2012. The Qur’an with Annotated Interpretation in Modern English, NJ: Tughra Books.

5. Foruzanfar, Badi’ ul-Zaman (ed.). 1984. Divan-e Kabir, Tehran: Daneshgah-e Tehran, 3rd reprint, vol. 6, pp. 243-44.

6. Schultz, Bernard F. 2003. Gravity from the Ground Up, Cambridge University Press.

7. Gravitational Lens, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_lens

8. The European Homepage for the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, “http://www.spacetelescope.org/copyright.html”

A visit to a mosque and a simple gesture of kindness remind the author that, despite what the news might report, people of different faiths have far more similarities than differences.
Be kind, for wherever kindness becomes a part of something, it beautifies it; wherever it is taken from something, it leaves it tarnished. (Bukhari, Hadith of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh))

As part of a course on the Religions of Abraham that I teach at St. Joseph’s College, I regularly require students to visit a mosque. This past fall we visited Masjid Umar Bin Khattaab in Shirley, NY, which is in close proximity to our Patchogue campus. The students were welcomed by Imam Mehdad Islam, a friend and also a student at St. Joseph’s. We all sat in a circle on the masjid floor for an informal question and answer session. As we did so, a gentleman was praying alone in a corner of the mosque. After he finished praying, he joined the circle and then proceeded to ask if anyone in the group wanted some tea. It was a cold and rainy November afternoon, and although tea would have been welcomed by many, no one wanted to ask. Finally, not wanting to offend the kind gentleman, I said yes. Immediately several other students also said they would love some. We all thought that there was a kitchen in the back where he would prepare the tea. Much to our surprise, he said that he was going across the street to a local 7-11 and that he would be back shortly. Ten minutes later, he returned soaking wet with eight cups of hot tea! While students gained a lot of valuable information from their conversation with the imam, by far the greatest lesson they learned that day was from the kind deed of this unnamed man. It left a lasting impression of kindness, simply through serving us tea.

This experience has stayed with me, especially as the media’s constant bombardment has made us all too familiar with the examples of hatred and cruelty that human beings are capable of perpetrating against one another, often in the name of religion. Such actions support the negative stereotypes of religion held by many. The religion of Islam in particular is often maligned by many of these negative stereotypes. Sadly, the many examples of goodness and kindness extended by Muslims in the name of their faith often go untold. In this article, I would like to share the story of four examples of genuine kindness among everyday Muslims who are true examples of the “beautiful souls” written about by Eyal Press in his book of the same title. I offer them as four cups of tea that are reminders of the many deeds of kindness and courage that often go unnoticed in the daily barrage of negative publicity we are all exposed to.

The practice of kindness and generosity is central to Islam and goes back to the hadith and sunnah of the Prophet (reports of his traditions, sayings, and things that he approved). One little known example is the so called “Ashtiname of Muhammad.” High atop Mt. Sinai in the Sinai desert there stands, as it has for centuries, the Monastery of St. Catherine. It was built on the site where Christians believe God gave the tablets of the law to the Prophet Moses (pbuh). In a gesture of true kindness and brotherhood Muhammad (pbuh) is believed to have issued a decree that the monks of this monastery would enjoy the protection of Muslims for all time. The decree, known as the Ashtiname, reads in part:

If any monk or pilgrim entrench himself in mountain, valley, cave, township, level, sand or church, I shall be behind them defending them from any that shall envy them, by myself, my helpers, my people, my sect, and my followers, inasmuch as they are my subjects and the people of my covenant.^[1]

To this day, visitors to the monastery can read firsthand what is believed to be the original decree.^[2] It is powerful reminder of the kindness of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) to the monks of the monastery and the surrounding region.

More recently, the kindness of many “righteous Muslims,” has been recognized by the Israeli government at the Holocaust Memorial of Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. It is a little known fact that among the 20,000 men and women who have been recognized by the Israeli government as “Righteous Among the Nations” because of their heroic deeds of kindness in helping Jews during the Holocaust, 70 are Muslims. Their names are preserved along The Avenue of the Righteous at Yad Vashem. Echoing the words of the Qur’an, 5:32 – “and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the whole humanity” – there is a verse from the Jewish mishnah inscribed at Yad Vashem that states, “Whosoever saves a single life, saves an entire universe.” (Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5, found on the Yad Vashem website. The stories of many of these courageous men and women can be found at the Yad Vashem website and also in Robert Saloff’s book, Among the Righteous: Lost Stories From the Holocaust’s Long Reach into Arab Lands.)

Another remarkable and little known act of kindness and understanding can be found in the work of Khaled Kasab Mahameed, who in 2005 built a Holocaust museum in the city of Nazareth on the West Bank. Mahameed’s story was reported by Tim McGirk in a Time Magazine story on July 8, 2008. The article tells of an Israeli-Arab lawyer named Khaled Kasab Mahameed, who in an effort to try and explain the Israeli wall along the borders of the West Bank by taking his children, took them to the Yad Vashem memorial. He explained that he did this because he realized that his children were not taught about the Holocaust in their history books. In his view, Palestinians can only be successful in achieving their goals if they are able to understand the reality of the Holocaust and the “place that it holds in the Israeli psyche.” To fill this gap in his fellow Arabs’ understanding of the horrors of the Holocaust, Mahameed set up the Arab Institute for Holocaust Research and Education in his hometown of Nazareth. Strongly influenced by the teaching of Mohandas Gandhi, Mahmeed has dedicated his life, often in the face of criticism from his detractors, to achieving peace through the understanding fostered by education.

One final “cup of tea” comes again from a little known incident that occurred in Egypt on January 11, 2011, when a group of Muslims formed a human chain around a Coptic Church as Christians gathered to celebrate Midnight Mass. According to the story, as reported in Egypt’s Al Ahram newspaper, thousands of Muslims gathered to protect the church on Christmas Eve to avoid an attack by extremists on Christians who were attending Mass. They gathered to offer their bodies as “human shields,” and to prevent further atrocities. Such actions are not isolated, but have been emulated on other occasions and in other countries. For example on October 8, 2013, The Huffington Post, as well as other media outlets, reported that on Oct. 6, 200-300 Pakistani Muslims formed a human chain outside a Catholic Church in Lahore to show their solidarity with the victims of a church attack by extremists two weeks earlier.

All of these stories bear an amazing resemblance to the Ashtiname of the Prophet Muhammad fourteen hundred years earlier where he pledged protection to the monks of the Monastery of St. Catherine. They demonstrate in a very powerful and convincing way the lesson my students learned on a rainy November afternoon while visiting a local mosque. The practice of kindness, as simple as sharing a cup of tea, or as dangerous as risking one’s life to protect another, is central to the practice of Islam. As Hamid Vesili, one of the Righteous Muslims honored at Yad Vashem, said in describing the motive for his heroic and courageous action in protecting Jews in Albania: “Our parents were devout Muslims and believed, as we do, that ‘every knock on the door is a blessing from God.’ We never took any money from our Jewish guests. All persons are from God.” Tea anyone?

^[1] This translation by D.S. Margoliouth has been quoted from “The Covenant of the Prophet Muhammad with the Monks of Mount Sinai: Issues of Historicity, Authenticity and Reliability” by Dr. John Andrew Morrow (www.lastprophet.info).

^[2] There are other claims about the original copy that it has been brought to Topkapi Palace in Istanbul.

Books, bodies, and beautiful paintings – these are all emergent systems. As our understanding of these systems grows, so, too, do the questions about how we study them.

Scientific revolutions require the shift of paradigms [1]. According to Thomas Kuhn, a paradigm is more than a current theory and its implications. It’s also combined with a worldview where the theory exists. As an example, classical mechanics does not only consist of Newtonian laws, but also has a deterministic worldview. Kuhn states that when the anomalies and limitations of the current paradigm are encountered in the scientific community, new ideas pour in and thereby a new paradigm is formed. The development of quantum mechanics against classical mechanics is an example of such a paradigm shift. Along with this shift, not only new formulas and theories were developed, but a new worldview – one that was not deterministic – emerged.

In the last century, we witnessed many scientific breakthroughs in the areas of chemistry, computer science, medicine, molecular biology, and physics. Along with the experience and knowledge we gained from them, we still try to understand the secrets of the universe we live in from “very small” to “very big.” However, certain systems, so-called complex systems, push the limits of our scientific theories and the tools used to analyze them. In this article, we will describe such systems, viewing them as candidates for a new paradigm, with their characteristics and their implications to our worldview and science.  

In the existing literature, complex systems are defined as those formed by many elements that correlate and interact with each other somehow. As a result of these correlations and interactions, these systems reveal behaviors and properties that are not obvious in their individual parts. There are numerous examples of complex systems, including biological systems, climate systems, and economic systems.  

The most important feature of complex systems is emergence, which can be deciphered from the below example. When someone moves into a new apartment, the first issue they face is how to decorate their place. Depending on what they have, they put pieces of furniture in certain places within the room and organize them according to their taste. For example, if they decorate a living room, they might put two couches against the walls in such a way that they sit perpendicular to each other. A rug might be laid out before them and a coffee table might be placed on it. Moreover, another table with a lampshade on it might be put in an empty place where the two couches connect. They might put a television stand so that it faces the couches and the café table. In addition, a dining table with a nice tablecloth on its top and six chairs around it might stay in the far corner. A vase with flowers might be put on the middle of the table. In this example, they picture a pattern that emerges in decorating the living room according to one person’s taste. Clearly, someone else could have organized the room differently with the same furniture and thereby another pattern might have emerged.

Let us consider a bit what the aforementioned example tells us. First, the character and the impression we get from the room depends intimately on how it is decorated. Changing the arrangement of furniture leads to the emergence of new patterns which might seem lovely to some people, boring to others. Although the impression might vary from person to person, everybody might agree on a professional’s take of the decoration. Second, the emergence of patterns in the organization of parts is not limited only to the decoration of rooms. It is obvious in many, many systems. For instance, Monet, Picasso, and Renoir made their masterpieces using different colors of oil paint and a canvas. With the same pieces, one can however paint figures with no clear meaning. By the same token, using letters in one language, Shakespeare, Goethe, and Dostoyevsky wrote their masterpieces. However, with the same letters, it is possible to write essays that do not say anything at all. In these examples, we see different patterns emerge by arranging the pieces in different plans.

Now let us ponder on the following question: What is the relationship among individual parts and the pattern that emerges when we arrange these parts in specific ways? In all the examples mentioned above, none of them seem to have a direct relationship with the emergent pattern. In the case of room decoration, just a couch or just a café table does not tell us what kind of living room there will be. In other cases, the lack of relationship is even more obvious. Twenty something letters do not possess any insight into Shakespeare’s Hamlet or Goethe’s Faust. Nor do oil paints have any hidden picture in them related to Monet’s Argeteuil or Renoir’s La Grenouillere. Then, it is clear that patterns emerge according to the knowledge, talent, vision, and plan of whomever is organizing them.

The above examples were chosen from daily life for the sake of simplicity. At this point, let us turn our focus to the scientific aspects of pattern emergent systems due to the interaction of parts. This emergence phenomenon is universal and one of the characteristics of the complex systems that are formed by many parts with different features and characters. Therein, new features that are not obvious in individual parts arise as a result of their interaction. There are numerous examples of such systems such as the internet, stock market, economic systems, and biological systems [2]. As you might see, they interact extensively with our daily lives; therefore, understanding them offers unlimited benefits to us. Furthermore, they challenge us in both scientific and philosophical manners. Let us see how so in the below paragraphs.

The first way we’re challenged are the scientific aspects. Let us see emergence in the following example. Quarks are the most fundamental particles that are experimentally verified in the universe. That is, they cannot break into parts. Their typical features are mass and electric charge. When they come together in certain combinations, they form protons and neutrons that form the nucleus of an atom. Atoms also have electrons around the nucleus; these electrons have different energy levels.

Up to this level, we do not see much difference in behavior emerging from the arrangements of parts aside from some physical details. When atoms come together, they connect by chemical bonds and thereby form molecules and matter. At this level, the chemical bond is a new feature. If we had a single atom, we would not know chemical bonds were possible. Then, a single atom does not have this feature: a chemical bond.

As an example, two hydrogen atoms and one-oxygen atom bonded together form the water molecule. By itself, this molecule does not display very peculiar phenomena. However, when many of them come together, they can be ice, liquid, or vapor depending on the environment’s conditions, e.g. temperature and pressure. Again, these behaviors are completely new and do not appear in a single water molecule.

Another aspect is this. Up to a few molecule levels, quantum mechanics describes what’s going on. However, when the system size reaches a certain level, usually a few centimeters to meters, we use Newton’s laws to describe the system. According to a Noble laureate in Physics, Robert L. Laughlin [3], Newton’s Laws are emergent properties that arise in a sufficiently large scale as a result of the interaction of smaller entities described in the Quantum regime. This point of view differs from the classical reductionist approach in which a complex system might be understood by studying the simpler parts that constitute the system. This is quite opposite to what is described above. Laughlin, as many others, sees the reductionist approach limiting our understanding of complex systems [3].

We would also like to look at examples from biological systems. In contrast to the above example, in this case, there are numerous types of molecules. Additionally, most of them function in the water; thus water is part of the system. Biological molecules are organic and made of a few types of atoms – nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon. In addition, a few ions, such as zinc, sodium, and so on, play crucial roles.

Simple biological molecules are DNA, RNA, and proteins. Even they are made of thousands of atoms. At this point, it is clear that a special arrangement of this many atoms yield very complex molecules. If we go one level up and investigate a system of DNAs, RNAs, and proteins, we will reach the basic unit of living organisms: cells. In a simple bacterial cell, there exist a few million proteins that float in the water. In more complex organisms, this number significantly increases and the cell becomes more complex. However, what emerges keeps us in awe: life. A single DNA or single protein does not have this feature. However, when they are together, they act in harmony, produce, grow, exhume energy, and die. These are very distinct features that do not exist at the level of a single molecule. Biology does not have quantitative theories, such as physics or chemistry. The approach to study such systems is usually to modify a certain gene and to check its effect on the phenotype. Then, this approach can be considered reductionist.

In the above examples, we saw how emergence occurred. Now, let us see how science studies complex systems. There are two approaches to study such systems. One is top-down, or the reductionist approach; the other is a bottom-up, or holistic approach. So far, the former has reigned over science. This is due to various reasons. The most important is that breaking the system into subsystems reduces the complexity. However, this approach is valid only if the system is the sum of its parts. In contrast, in emergent systems, as Aristotle said, “the whole is more than the sum of its parts” [4]. Then, you might expect that the holistic approach might be more useful than reductionism.

However, there are other factors challenging this approach. One is the lack of tools or insufficient availability to study the systems. For example, with the advances in today’s technology, we can simulate and do the necessary calculations to dock a small molecule to a protein structure in a few days using the methods of Molecular Dynamics. In this simulation, there are a few thousand atoms. However, in a cell, there are roughly 10¹⁴ atoms and the simulation of such an environment would take forever.

The philosophical aspects of complex systems are not limited to how we study such systems or the emergence of physical laws. One important question is this: how do parts with no relationship to the emergent pattern know which pattern they will give rise to? In the science community, this question causes a big debate due to its outcomes. As we see in the decoration example, or the painting and literature examples, emergent patterns do depend on how they are arranged and thereby who arranges them. Can we say that many letters come together randomly to form words and later sentences? Are those sentences arranged randomly to give birth to Hamlet? If you adopt these questions to the cellular, then you must ask how life emerges by the arrangement of zillions of atoms. At this point, we are forced to agree with both Aristotle that, “the whole is more than the sum of its parts” [4] and Paul W. Anderson, Noble Laureate in physics: “More is different” [5].

Murat Erdin is a freelance writer living in Massachusetts.

References

1. Kuhn, Thomas. 1962. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, The University of Chicago Press.
2. Waldrop, M. Mitchell. 1992. Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos, Simon & Schuster.
3. Laughlin, Robert. 2006. A Different Universe: Reinventing Physics from the Bottom Down, Basic Books.
4. Metaphysics, Aristotle.
5. Anderson, P.W. 1972. “More is different,” Science Vol. 177, No. 4047, 393-96.