I have recently been very intrigued about moods, specifically how our moods biologically change. The processes behind why we get happy, sad, or angry are integral to our existence, and having some insight into how exactly they come about could help us grow immensely. 

In my search for answers, I discovered Dr. Masaru Emoto (d. 2014), a Japanese scientist that had dedicated his life to studying water. Dr. Emoto’s studies claim that thoughts, feelings, words, ideas, music, and even names affect the molecular structure of water and thus our physical reality. During his study, Dr. Emoto discovered that water droplets that had been repeatedly exposed to positive or negative words, profoundly changed the water’s color, shape, and symmetry.

His first experiment involved putting distilled water into small jars, writing a word or short phrase on a label, and then taping that label to each jar. The jars were then left overnight on their own. Some of these words had positive associations such as “self-love,” “beauty,” “passion,” and “happiness.” Other jars had negative associations such as “evil,” “hatred,” or phrases such as “you disgust me.” Each jar then had a small amount of water flash frozen in order to form crystals, which were then observed under a microscope. The results were astonishing; the positive words formed beautiful, symmetrical crystals that looked very similar to snowflakes while the negative words were discolored, chaotic, and fragmented.

His revolutionary findings were published in his book, The Hidden Message in Water. However, Dr. Emoto’s work was met with criticism, skepticism, and confusion. Other commentators were concerned that Dr. Emoto did not do enough to share his approaches or provide sufficient evidence for his experiments.

He decided to take the experiments a step further and wanted to see what would happen to a large amount of water over an extended period of time. His famous “Rice Experiment” involved putting the same amount of rice in three different jars and then adding the same amount of distilled water into the jars. He then closed the jars and labeled each jar with a different word. On the first jar, he labeled it with the phrase “Thank You”; the second jar with the phrase “You are an idiot”; and the third jar was left with a blank label. Every day, for 30 days, he visited each jar and read aloud their corresponding label to the jar for one minute and tracked the changes in each jar over the month. By the end of the month, he had noticed that the water in the jar labeled “Thank you” had started to ferment, giving off a strong, pleasant aroma. The water in the jar that was labeled “You are an idiot” turned black with an unpleasant shape. The most interesting result, in my opinion, was the last jar with the blank label that had been ignored the entire time. It turned into a nasty green-blue color as opposed to staying near its original color. His results were consistent with his previous experiments with smaller jars, and it appeared that there was a trend. I was astounded by these discoveries and could hardly believe it, so I decided to try it for myself. My daughter and I did the same experiment as a part of her science fair project. To our amazement, we got very similar results within just 19 days. This experiment was a great lesson regarding the impact that our words have on others for my children beyond being just a science fair project. 

Dr. Emoto concluded his findings by stating that water is a “blueprint for our reality” and that emotional “energies” and “vibrations” could change the physical structure of water. It is imperative to remember that water is life; about 70% of the human body, and almost two thirds of the world, is made up of water. Therefore, everything happening around us, our thoughts, our attitudes, our behaviors, and our intentions are related to each other and can affect our emotions. Scientists still need to figure out how exactly these changes in water may affect our bodies and our world, but the results are clear for all to see.

This puts more responsibility on our shoulders to be responsible human beings. We should always think, speak, and act positively if we also want our surrounding environments to be positive.

There is also a great lesson in this study for teachers and educators. We teachers come across a variety of students at various ages all throughout the school year. Our interactions with them can have a very real impact on their lives, minds, and futures for better or worse. Every year we are given around 25 jars of rice with water, to represent 25 students, in each class with no label on them. We meet with them at the beginning of the year with no bias towards any of them. They are each a perfectly clean slate in our eyes, a new jar of distilled water and rice waiting to either ferment or rot. We then, consciously or subconsciously, label them in our minds and hearts; the students labeled “jar 1” receive praise and compliments; some students are labeled “jar 2” and are told that they will fail or are troublemakers; while the last group is labeled “jar 3” and is largely ignored due to their own shyness and/or our indifference. If you are a teacher or interact with children on a consistent basis, it is more than likely you already had hundreds or thousands of jars by now and now you can ask yourself that how many of them finished the year in better shape than the beginning of the year. How many of them were labeled as “jar 1”,”jar 2” or “jar 3”? When I close my eyes and think about all the years I taught, I am not sure if I was able to treat all the jars with positive attitude.

I believe everyone had an experience about how our tone of talk or our answers changed the heat of the discussion. As stated in the Bible, “a soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger” (Proverbs 15:1). Sometimes a simple small word could change your life completely in a positive way or a negative way. Our modes, attitudes and the language we use, impact the people around us and most of the time we are not fully aware of its extent.

Both positive and negative thinking or thoughts are contagious. When we see cheerful friends around us, we feel our days a bit brighter, or we feel down when we talk to grumpy people. Positive attitudes, positive thinking and positive thoughts do change our lives. Bediuzzaman Said Nursi put it well: “A person who sees the good in things develop good thoughts. And he who has good thoughts receives pleasure from life.” People who can develop positive thinking will more likely have a healthy, happy, and successful life, and they can overcome struggles more easily. If you want to have a healthy, good looking, warm environment that is productive and gives a pleasant time, you need to use positive, encouraging and soft language to make it happen. It is in our hands to improve our world with love and gratitude.

Positive thoughts lead to good feelings, good deeds, and diminish negativity, make our hearts delighted. Whereas negative thoughts generate bad feelings, hatred, jealousy, anger, depression, stress, and negative emotions which cloud our soul and lead to an unhealthy life. To be able to stay healthy emotionally and psychologically we have to immediately turn ourselves to positive thinking when we feel we are surrounded with negativities. The Prophet Muhammad, the Messenger of God (peace be upon him) said “Follow a bad deed with a good deed and it will erase it.” We may not have full control initially over the types of thoughts that cross our minds every moment, however we have the ability to ignore or pursue them as prescribed by the Prophet, peace be upon him: “Whoever believes in God and the Last Day, let him speak good or remain silent.”

References

● https://www.masaru-emoto.net

● Beyond Words Publishing www.beyondword.com.

● https://hado.com/ihm/water-crystals/

● Source: Sunan al-Tirmidhī 1987, Grade: Sahih

● Source: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6110, Grade: Muttafaqun Alayhi

● https://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/show/a_grain_of_truth_recreating_dr._emotos_rice_experiment

● Gray, Donna (July 26, 2003). “Message in the water.”Calgary Herald. p. S8. Retrieved 2019-04-21 – via ProQuest..

Question: Is having bad opinion of others actually self-inflicting?

Answer: “When you hear a man say, ‘The people are ruined,’ he himself is the most ruined of them all.”[1] Since this blessed statement is a pithy one, it conveys many truths. One of the truths conveyed by this saying by Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, pertains to making false assumptions or having bad opinions about others. Vilifying others, even to the degree of declaring them to be ruined, almost always stems from such false assumptions. However, the noble Prophet points out that the one who makes such sinful statements is actually the most ruined one.

Those who idolize their ego seek others to blame

The underlying motive behind such invective is egotism, ego-centrism, and even narcissism. If a person is vilifying everybody and finding faults in them, it means that they are idolizing themselves unawares. A person devoid of positive thinking but fixed on negative thoughts can even use their false assumptions to criticize very important acts of worship by others, questioning their sincerity in their prayers.

Such a thought should be accosted by the Prophet’s warning, “Did you cleave his heart open to check it out?”[2] We cannot know anyone’s heart. A person who seems to neglectfully observe prayer may actually be observing it with deep feeling. Viewing others’ acts of worship with bias and assuming them to be sanctimonious is a terrible form of false assumption. Such a false assumption may cause a person to end up in utter spiritual loss. God Almighty forbids baseless suspicions, in a definite and clear fashion, with the following Divine decree: “O you who believe! Avoid much suspicion, for some suspicion is a grave sin (liable to God’s punishment); and do not spy (on one another…)” (al-Hujurat 49:12).

While considering others, it is always necessary to view them in a positive light, as far as there is a possible basis for it. Even if a person has only one aspect that allows positive thinking, one must still take it and avoid negative thinking. On the other hand, while viewing ourselves, we must be self-critical to the degree of worrying about the possibility of having spoilt our good deeds by showing off.

Someone who outwardly seems to have a weak connection with God, owing to poor observance of individual worship, can be someone who always speaks truthfully in interpersonal relations and never lies. We must interpret this attitude of theirs as a result of their God-consciousness and say, “Given that this person is so scrupulous about refraining from lying, then they must have a very strong relation with God.”

Similarly, imagine a person who is very vigilant against unlawful gain, does not even eat a forbidden morsel, and refuses to take an undeserved payment for a task they did not carry out. This person’s behaviors are so praiseworthy that one can only assume his or her special connection with the Divine.

Balance: think positively, but with caution

If we refrain from going to extremes but seek the ideal conduct on this matter, we must never disregard the following principle: for those people whose ups and downs we witness, we should still think positively, but with caution. If the person we view with positive thoughts occasionally strays from the line of uprightness, then they may not be a mature and perfect person, as we see them to be. In this respect, even if we entertain positive thoughts about that certain person, we should not fail to act cautiously about certain issues, such as giving them some vital responsibilities or entrusting them with very important tasks. However, we should know that even in such a case, we do not have the right to adopt statements that convey negative thoughts while giving an account of that person. We cannot say things like, “I do not have much trust in such and such person; they are not really trustworthy.”

While viewing others we should think that even the simplest deeds can be a means of salvation for them. We should overlook their faults and avoid speaking negatively about them. A particular example from the time of the noble Prophet provides important lessons to believers in this respect.

In the early period of the prohibition of alcohol, one Companion was caught drunk many times and was severely reprimanded. Once, he was brought to the presence of the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, and reprimanded for the same offense. One of those present reacted to him with words like, “May God curse you! What a bad person you are! How many times it has been, and you are still brought to his presence like this?”

Upon hearing this, the noble Prophet said, “Do not speak like this; do not help Satan against your brother with such words. I swear by God, he loves God and His Messenger very much!”[3] So we should constantly view others through this perspective of the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him.

Positive thinking: a very beautiful form of worship

One must especially avoid making false assumptions when considering the volunteers devoted to serving for the sake of faith and the Qur’an—those who have a relationship with God, His Messenger, and the Qur’an. A believer must heed the following warning of the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him:

“Whoever shames his brother for a sin, he shall not die until he (himself) commits it.”[4] In this respect, one should be fearful, shaking in anguish with the consideration, “I saw such negative things in certain persons, but what if others see such things in me, my spouse, or my children?”

A real believer must be careful with his thoughts about others, no matter who they are. A real believer must act cautiously. As it is known, tayaqquz, which means being ever-vigilant, is the first step of spiritual journeying. A believer must always walk on the path of God with open eyes, channel his thoughts in the positive way as much as possible, and must definitely not commit the sin of false assumption. In addition, the noble Prophet points to positive thinking as a lofty horizon, stating that, “Entertaining good thoughts stem from a person’s good worship.”[5]

Together with positive thinking we should not fail to act cautiously and build barriers against those who take delight in biting others like poisonous snakes and are continually trying to cause harm. However, acting cautiously in this respect should not stop you from praying to God to grant guidance to those who devise various conspiracies against you.

In the face of the mistreatment and oppressions you go through, God has granted you the possibility of a different preference. If you wish, it is possible for you to say, “My God, please vanquish them, shatter their alliances, bring their schemes to nothing, and let them fall into their own traps!” Saying all of these is your right, in accordance with the judgment of the verse, “If you have to respond to any wrong, respond (only) to the measure of the wrong done to you” (an-Nahl 16:126). If somebody is oppressing you, preparing different conspiracies against you, or setting traps against you, it will be your lawful right to make moves to reverse these. Together with that, the verse continues, “but if you endure patiently, it is indeed better for the patient…,” and states that even in terms of personal rights, it is better for you to show patience and not give up gentlemanliness.

Footnotes

[1] Sahih Muslim, Birr, 139; Sunan Abu Dawud, Adab, 77; Imam Malik, Al-Muwatta, Kalam, 2.

[2] Sahih al-Bukhari, Maghazi, 45; Sahih Muslim, Iman, 158.

[3] Sahih al-Bukhari, Hudud, 4-5; Abdurrazzaq, Al-Musannaf, 7/381, 9/246.

[4] Sunan at-Tirmidhi, Sifatu’l-Qiyamah, 53; Tabarani, Al-Mu’jam al-Awsat, 7/191.

[5] Sunan Abu Dawud, Adab, 81; Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Al-Musnad, 2:297.

When you ride a rollercoaster for the first time you feel a surge of emotions that grab, terrify, and haunt you all at once – well, at least at the start. But once you get over that first drop, that first mind bending, gut wrenching drop, you suddenly realize that your life isn’t over. And not only is your life not over, it’s also exciting anticipating what else is around the corner.  When the adrenaline takes over, the fear of the impending disaster dissipates.

That’s what pregnancy was for me. I had the initial fear seeing the digital test flash “pregnant.” That fear wasn’t because it wasn’t planned – technically, we did plan. We got married, bought the nice house in a subdivision, and had a fantastic waiting period of five years so that we could explore married life without kids. The fear was the feeling of “oh no, what have we done?!”

And I wasn’t the only one who felt it! My husband had that look on his face when I showed him the test. He didn’t jump around with joy or even smile; he just looked at me with an expression of confusion and worry that settled somewhere closer to acceptance. You would have thought we were two fifteen year olds still in high school with no life achievements. But what mattered most wasn’t our initial reaction. What mattered was the journey we were embarking on together as husband and wife. The excitement hit us quickly enough, along with the extreme nausea and vomiting that plagued me for months.

My husband always wanted a beautiful baby girl. That was his desire from the start. I don’t have to explain how happy he was when the ultrasound tech told us what we were having. We decided to have a nice small and intimate reveal party, just for the grandparents. We got the idea to get cute pink build-a-bears to give to the prospective grandmothers and we revealed our daughter’s name along with the due date. It was exciting and wonderful.

But life always has a drop waiting around the corner. It never fails: impending doom lurks, waiting for its next victim. It wouldn’t be a journey if it didn’t have obstacles. So that is what I first thought when my OB/GYN called me to come to the office exactly one week after the reveal party. But I could have never prepared myself for the words “positive for Down syndrome.” I kept thinking, how could this be? My husband and I were both still in our twenties and healthy, with no family history of anything more than diabetes. This couldn’t happen to us! I stared at my husband, and he had the look of suffocation, as if the room had been stripped of oxygen. We rushed home to do research, to ease our minds into believing that the prenatal test was inaccurate or wrong. We even grasped at the straw of someone in a lab mixing my blood with someone else’s. Our parents reassured us that it was a faulty test, it happened all the time in the eighties and early nineties. My husband held fast to thoughts of positivity, but I ventured into the realm of realism very early because I knew that life always gives you something that you perceive to be unfair and unbearable. That drop was unbearable.

The twist and turns came in the next few months with the fantastic ultrasound test that showed no signs of Down syndrome at all on our little one. But of course, me being the president of the realm of realistic notions, I couldn’t allow myself to be too relieved. But could anyone really blame me? I mean if my child was to be born with Down syndrome, wouldn’t I, as her mother, need to be there for her? If the doctor pulled her from my womb and the true visualization of her features set in, and she bore obvious signs of that extra chromosome, I would still reach for my child and hold her tighter than a mother bear.

My husband and parents could step out of the room and regain their composures, while going through the stages of grief all the way to acceptance and unconditional love. But me, being momma, I needed to go through that ahead of time, so when my baby girl was handed to me the only thing she would feel was my undying and unwavering love for her.

I did the only thing I could do: I prayed. Not to take away any disabilities or deformities. How could I? How could I be so presumptuous to ask God to make my life any easier than the next person’s? No one has it easy. No, instead I prayed for a healthy beautiful baby girl. And I spent hours telling God “thank you.” I was grateful that I could conceive, and that I had a great husband who also would love our daughter unconditionally. I was thankful for the roof over my head and the qualities that my loving parents instilled in me, because during my pregnancy there was barely a week that went by without hearing about a woman killing or abandoning the baby she didn’t want. I was thankful to have compassion and natural human affection. I spent hours crying and speaking my peace with God, knowing that no matter how different she might be, my daughter was a direct gift from Him and I knew that I only wanted what was best for my child, which is to be better than me. That is what all parents truly want.

When the delivery was over, so was that ride of loops and drops. Because when they handed me my little girl all I saw were her perfections, no flaws. And my husband thanked me for bringing our child into the world. Even now, two years later he still thanks me, and I still thank God because he answered my prayers.

This entire ordeal taught me many lessons about life and our ability to make it harder than it needs to be. Sometimes we ourselves are the disasters we try so hard to avoid. It’s our thinking and our mindset that end up getting the best of us and turning something that can be conquered into a mountain of pain. I learned that you don’t have to be a saint to put trust in a higher power to guide you. I could have allowed the fear of the unknown to destroy me, to cause me to become so paralyzed that I lost my ability to avert a disaster. We all have that ability, regardless of what life sends our way. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but also what we perceive as a catastrophe is ultimately left up to our own interpretations.  

Now I am on a new rollercoaster ride. New twists, turns, and drops, each one filled with thoughts of fear and despair. But this ride is called motherhood. Every day I am forced to reset my thinking and my viewpoint on things. I remind myself that it is my choice as to whether something is a mountain or a molehill. Do I choose to wallow in negative thoughts of impending doom or do I look for the way out of the tunnel, the light that is always at the end? Because when I look at my life over the past couple of years, every disaster that has come my way has made my family and me stronger and more versatile. And every blessing that has come our way is received with gratitude and graciousness.

Do I see everything through rose colored glasses now? Not in the least. I was and will always be a realist. Seeing life for what it is will constantly require an endless readjusting of our minds. The truth is, we never truly stop riding the rollercoaster. We can only hope to learn how to enjoy it as much as possible. If we don’t, we are doomed to see every event as something to cower in front of. You don’t get to know when it is coming, and you don’t get to know what it will be, but you do get to choose how it will affect your life: mountain or molehill? I choose to see the twists and turns of my pregnancy as the blessing they always have been. My daughter has no real health issues or problems, no heart defects and no developmental delays. She is healthy and beautiful, with a smile that will bring the world to its knees. All that I truly wanted was for my baby girl to be healthy and smart. She is beyond everything I could have dreamed possible. When I look into her eyes, I am aware that she may have difficult days ahead, but she will have many happy ones, and on her worst day she is still better than I am.

Quite obviously, divine humor is not by me, as the title and byline may imply. I also sense a few wrinkled brows among our readers. Can humor be divine? The question is not unreasonable: the prophets of our Lord certainly had little to laugh about. Moreover, religion has hardly been the stuff to engender a smile or a giggle.

Enter the Dalai Lama, who is seen to giggle a great deal. One wonders why. A plausible answer could be that His Royal Highness is exceedingly nervous in the face of an impossible world. Hence the giggle. I also have a delightful book on my shelves by one Christmas Humphries. It is all about Zen Buddhism. Mr. Humphries offers a dedication to his wife who, I quote, “laughed in all the right places.” Mr. Humphries informs us of the concept of the sound of one hand clapping and we are reminded of our own Queen Elizabeth who exercises the notion at all times as she waves regally to her subjects when out driving in her state carriage. She may be giving half measure, but her subjects respond with two hands in full.

But divine humor…? Why not? We are informed that God is the sponsor of all life and all endeavor; thus, why not, indeed, divine humor?

It has occurred to this writer that we may wish to consider divine charisma. Naturally, one cannot actually purchase divine charisma, and nor can one use magic to conjure it up! However, and please bear with me, I would suggest, nay insist, that one can be instrument in manifesting it.

My explanation may hopefully point to something we adults are happy to make – or at least bring on a smile.

I speak, here, of babies, and would contend that they could easily lead us to a point of enlightenment.

Being a parent is in reality about as high as you can consciously go. I say in reality because we are talking about involvement with another human being. This not about me; this is about we. This means you, the aspirant, and your baby, your spiritual teacher.

I’ve been thinking about Zen. Don’t worry, that was the cosmic giggle you just heard, too. Zen is about doing what you do. Am I right? George Bernard Shaw’s, “He who can does, he who cannot, teaches,” just about sums it up (not that you are supposed to sum things up, but even so…). Forget teachers and teaching. Shaw obviously didn’t mean them, or that. GBS was into Zen, but he didn’t know it. The Japanese Zen master, Dr. Suzuki, may have been enlightened but could not have put it better. On the other hand, Dr. Suzuki would probably not have bothered.

Please consider the advantage of transcending this world. Your baby could help.

Obedience is the keyword, but it will go against the grain. Nobody wants to be obedient. We figure that to have a life, we need an opinion; we need to call the shots. But if having babies is what you do, you need to rethink, maybe unthink, the rules.

Did you ever consider obeying your baby?

“What can he mean?” you will be forgiven for asking. But that’s the point. Your baby is already working on you and is getting you nicely softened and shaped. Already your brain is dissolving in a mental meltdown. Suddenly you are feeling about things. Thinking is sort of a long way away, like your thoughts are down a deep well. You are no longer really thinking at all. It’s suddenly all a ghost-like echo of things learned, and all pretty irrelevant at that. Congratulations! You have a head that is full, however, of awful awareness. The trick is to turn the awfulness into positive action.

You are suddenly Mr. and Mrs. Awareness. You watch your baby because, let’s be honest, you can’t drag your eyes away, anyway. And that goes for visitors, too. Everybody is suddenly on their best behavior when a baby is nigh. Ladies utter goo-goo stuff, waggling fingers. Men stand around in the background, awkwardly, looking worried, thinking about doing a second job. The baby is socking out waves of something or other that is indefinable but real. This is charisma of the highest order. The baby has caught your attention, has got you focused and it isn’t even trying. One lopsided toothless grin, and you are going to fall apart. Your baby has got God on his or her side.

Somebody once said, “The real children of God know not what they do.”

Here is the message. Imagine your baby carrying that kind of charisma right on into adulthood. Well, we have all probably countenanced the notion of never growing up. But could you accept the idea that babies are already grown up, and that we adults have sometimes (sorry about this) simply hung around, done maturity in reverse, and accumulated a lot of juvenile junk?

It goes like this. You are gazing at your baby and you hate the idea of your baby growing up and having all of those “experiences” that the experts tell you are necessary for someone to become old and adjusted. An old Hindi proverb puts it thus: “Living life through experience is the most bitter of ways.” It means you are constantly reaching back into the past to find answers for today. Come on, can you imagine your baby smoking a cigarette? Do you want your baby to experience hardship, divorce, anger, being overweight? Do you want your baby to use bad language, or become a neighborhood flirt, or a kid who steals cars?

As an aside, this is not just social criticism I’m putting out because I must quickly state that this writer is as guilty as the rest in respect of just about all of the areas of human misdemeanor mentioned above. I feel better already.

OK, you don’t want your baby to have or experience all of the crud that makes life difficult. You don’t want your baby to smoke a cigarette because the idea is appalling. This is your baby’s way of telling you to stop smoking. Moreover, the baby hasn’t uttered a word. Hey, if that isn’t Zen, what then? It is all because your baby is not communicating in the usual way. Your baby has touched your feelings, nay, even your conscience. Babies are holy, that’s all. But they don’t know that they are holy and that makes them even holier.

Babies make us aware of what is bad for us. One exchange with a mystic I read went like this: “Do you love humankind?” asked the mystic. “Indeed I do,” replied the aspirant. “Then why,” said the mystic, “do you treat yourself so badly?”

What is happening, if you go along with the idea, is that the baby is helping you to clean up your act. This, by any reckoning has to be good. But there is an ongoing issue at stake and it is extremely appealing. If you can clean up your act you won’t have to give your baby any crud, or unmanageable appetites, later.

Right! Obey your baby and get transcended. Your in-laws may hate you, but you will not be adding a jot of personal chaos to our world. Your baby will grow up loving you, even if you don’t deserve it.

One thing I would counsel: never, ever, try to let your baby know what you know. Your baby won’t get it because a baby’s outflow of charisma is not of his or her own volition. Pressed to converse (assuming your baby has acquired a language before leaving the cot), the retort would be, “Oh, this is simply what I do.”

It all means that charisma from the right source, and exercised in a natural—may I suggest baby-like—way, could be the stuff of salvation.

We are all aware of the danger of walking the thin line between satire and sarcasm. Much of what we call humor is of the mind. It is calculated and often alludes to, and takes advantage of, the failings of others. One senses the sly wink and nudge when allusion is used. The certainty that the recipient of humor is part of the act, is in collusion. In such a case we become allies in negativity.

To be honest, a baby may not definitely make us laugh, although they often do, but they can easily bring about the rosy warmth that we love, which is, of course, the result of love. We are no longer talking about a jokey existence, but we must agree that a baby can lighten our day. A baby can, even, make humor possible. Babies have that special something that soon, unfortunately, gets lost to adults. Moreover, and as already mentioned, they don’t know that they are doing it. It means that their charisma must be the benefit of grace.

In a time of darkness and ignorance, we must challenge our preconceived notions, seeking answers in education and trust.

It is another season of service. Our love-filled hearts are longing for Joseph but as desolate as Zaliha,^[1] and we are crying the lamentations of Jacob. Yet, we are waiting for glad tidings to arrive soon to open our eyes and lift our feelings.

It is impossible not to feel the pain of our people when we witness their heart-breaking state while being dragged along under the debris, destructions, and disasters of these dead, dark years.

Now please go! Go and visit all those countries that share a similar fate! I am sure you will not be able to come back without feeling painful sorrow for them! From the biggest cities to the smallest town centers; from the most crowded urban areas to the most remote villages; there are countless places that have been suffering under the dominance of ignorance and social problems. This combination is like a vortex that swallows whole communities – and sometimes whole countries. In these countries, you will witness such serious social, spiritual, and economic sicknesses. They were not healed in the first place and became chronic, and now they have become incurable.

Among all these, however, the most irremediable illness is ignorance. Ignorance is such a chronic disease that it corrodes an entire nation and gnaws away at our existence. Ignorance is the deprivation of knowledge; it is the inability to define proper goals in accordance with the acquired knowledge; it is a life deprived of Truth and righteous thinking. Ignorance has been a calamity that has existed in every time period. As has been the case with every nation, it is necessary to dry out this stagnant swamp, illuminate the minds of the masses with knowledge, guide young people to a proper and sound state of thinking and historical awareness, and prevent the negative trends that conflict with the quintessence of humanity; otherwise it will be impossible to remove ourselves from the crises this illness causes. We will find ourselves in a vicious circle.   

Was it not ignorance that caused us to fail to cultivate our fertile lands, to foster the growth of crops and fruits on our lush plains, to benefit from our gushing rivers? Was it not ignorance that turned our paradise-like world into ruin? We have lived completely unaware of our beauties and treasures, which are like the gardens of Eden; we have not been able to reap the benefits from our fields or from our minerals. Worst of all, by drowning ourselves in the illusion that we were not capable of doing anything with our own resources, we sacrificed our hope and willpower. And ignorance, which slowly ruined our people’s abilities, has reached its darkest depths today…

In this new era, at a time when scientific and technological thinking have rapidly developed and a flash of hope appeared, indicating that we could be pulled through these calamities, people have been drawn into another vortex: completely overwhelmed and dazzled with an inferiority complex, some assumed that crushing national awareness and conscience, destroying moral values, and shedding our high virtues was the only way to reach the level of developed civilizations. They’ve committed serious blows upon our national spirit and identity instead of embellishing the hearts with faith and equipping the minds with science and wisdom, which would bring prosperity to every corner of the world with art and trade.

In a way, this second type of ignorance has been even more destructive and caused greater danger. The previous ignorance melted away when confronted with knowledge and science, but this next-generation ignorance has been able to penetrate everywhere, purporting to spread in the name of knowledge and civilization. It has been approved and applauded by everyone. While the previous ignorance turned the world into ruins and brought joy only to those who like darkness, the ignorance that emerged later swept away all virtuous qualities, including spiritual nobleness, selflessness, and altruism. It left the masses dumbfounded.

Nevertheless, mentors and educators who have undertaken the role of building the future will wage war against these two types of ignorance. They will, and must, spare no effort and no legal means to elevate people to an era of enlightenment. In order to achieve this, it is essential to announce a mobilization of culture. We must turn all parts of our world – from homes to schools, coffeehouses to barracks – into learning centers. A general mobilization should be launched against ignorance, thoughtlessness, artificialness, and unawareness of national culture and merits; while decisions made under preconceived opinions should be criticized. Answers should be sought in science and scientific research; a new and fresh perception should be acquired.

There is no doubt that the forerunners of this blessed duty can only be teachers and educators – fortunate educators who treat their students in a wholesome manner, caring for both their physical and moral attributes. They must consider the human position and relations within the universe as a whole. They must inspire and invigorate their hearts in line with the purpose of their creation. They must be teachers who grasp the physical and metaphysical worlds as two sides of one reality!

Yes, denying the physical aspects of the human, as is the case in some monastic ways of life and some forms of mysticism, and considering the human with only his bodily and physical aspects, as in the case in some philosophical systems, has proved harmful to humankind.

Is it at all possible not to realize that humankind is an exceptional being, who holds a prominent position within the whole universe and is charged with very sublime missions, and hence, is a candidate for various ranks and positions?

How can a creature, who possesses an ability to benefit from all kinds of science and knowledge, who is granted the capability of intervening in events, who is equipped with skills to perceive, comprehend, and accept all types of beauty, who can distinguish many types of delights and pleasures, and who is insistently longing for “eternity,” be without a duty and ongoing future? Regarding the human as a being who is without any duty or responsibility, and thereby deprived of an endlessly long and happy future, means to lower this estimable being to the level of most primitive creatures; to deny all their physical and mental abilities and emotions; and to push him or her to the most bitter and stressful path and turn their world into misery. I do not know whether any other cruelty or grievance could be bigger than this!

A real teacher and a true mentor is the fortunate person who teaches his or her students – who have been sent to the world with limitless possibilities – the righteousness and unerring ways of thinking. A real teacher invigorates their emotions, triggers their eagerness and willpower, and elates their spirits. A real teacher wipes out all darkness and iniquities that block students’ ways, and delivers them towards luminescent sources. In due time, everything touched by these blessed, trustworthy, and truthful teachers will gain the highest value; things regarded worthless will become like gold; the most darkened souls will reach the dawn; individuals who are completely bound to serve their carnal desires will explore and discover their own souls and become kings of their selves.

How blessed are those teachers who devote themselves to guiding, certifying, declaring, and manifesting the truth through all disciplines of science! Who follow their pupils in every stage of their development and always carry the vigor of elevating their students to the level of real humanity! Who sometimes become tense as a lightning bolt, but soften and calm down into gentle beams of light, illuminating the hearts and minds of their students!

^[1] Zaliha is the wife of the prominent person in Egypt who bought the Prophet Joseph (pbuh) as a slave. According to the story, both in the Qur’an and the Bible, she fell desperately in love with Joseph and tried to seduce him, yet Joseph rejected her at the cost of being imprisoned for many years. Her name is not recorded in the scriptures; however, she is popularly called as Zaliha in Islamic sources.

Educators have identified some skills that are necessary for students to succeed in their lives – these are called 21st century skills (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2008). In the age of innovation and information, certain skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, communication, innovation, and technological proficiency are vital for succeeding in the new workforce, yet many countries have not yet utilized their resources to teach and assess these skills. It is believed that if countries fully understood the link between students developing these skills and the future of their economies, these countries would invest and develop ways to foster the aforementioned skills in their students.

Due to this, educational researchers have proposed that it is an economic and social imperative for everybody to work towards ensuring the next generation will be eQuipped with 21st century skills (Triling – Fadel, 2009; National Research Council, 2010). In this article, I will discuss some of the 21st century skills, their importance, and whether these skills are enough for today’s students to succeed in the workforce and be happy in their social lives.

21st century skills

Due to increased globalization and access to technology, new skills are needed to succeed in the workforce. Educators, government officials, and business people were asked about what these 21st century skills” entailed. I’m going to address some of their most common answers.

Jerald (2009) justified and explained what skills our students need in this age – and why they need them. He believes we need a generation with newer skills due to changes in automation, globalization, workplace, demographics, and personal risk and responsibility. Computer technology in manufacturing has led to the automation of many jobs that humans once performed better, faster, and cheaper than machines. Technological and political changes as well as competitive forces have caused economies to be globalized. Together, these factors have changed how businesses operate. There is less hierarchy and supervision, and greater autonomy and personal responsibility for workers. Also, the global economy and ever-changing technology create a mobile population; thus, the population demographics of many countries are changing. As a result, individual risk and responsibility have increased. The skills defined as imperative for the 21st century have some commonalities, and they include reading literacy, mathematical literacy, scientific literacy, communication and collaboration, critical thinking and problem solving, and creativity (Jerald, 2009; Pacific Policy Research Center, 2010). I want to look at each of these skills in detail.

Reading literacy: Reading literacy is more about reading to learn rather than learning to read (Jerald, 2009). It is expected that employees are able to decipher many kinds of documents to carry out all kinds of tasks. This task may change from getting a driver’s license to voting in an election to learning how to run new eQuipment. There are a number of national and international assessments that examine teenage and adult literacy. For example, the PISA reading literacy assessment measures students with reading charts, graphs, tables, maps, diagrams, forms, information sheets, advertisements, political flyers, vouchers, and myriad different certificates. Research supports the importance of strong literacy. Adults with stronger literacy skills are more likely to be employed, paid higher, and to have better jobs. Therefore, both individual and organizational success is highly dependent upon a high level of literacy.

Mathematical literacy: Mathematical literacy is sometimes called Quantitative literacy or numeracy.” This implies something other than what students do in a classroom, like answering a multiple-choice Question or solving a test Question. Jerald (2009) says it’s possible that even highly educated people cannot be successful in understanding real life Quantitative information, such as understanding credit card offers or comparing the cost per ounce of food.

Lynn Steen, a professor of mathematics at St Olaf Collage, points out that the roles played by numbers and data in contemporary society are virtually endless” (in Jerald, 2009, p.39). Professor Steen summarizes why mathematics literacy is so important by saying:

Virtually every major public issue-from health care to social security, from international economics to welfare reform-depends on data, projections, inferences, and the kind of systematic thinking that is at the heart of Quantitative literacy (In Jerald, 2009, p.39).

Scientific literacy: Science is known as one of the least favorite or most difficult subjects for most students, but experts say that all adults need to understand and apply science in daily life. There are several types of knowledge necessary for scientific literacy. The first is to be familiar with important scientific topics. OECD’s PISA science literacy assessment measures 15 year old students’ knowledge of physical systems, living systems, earth and space, and technology. The second necessary knowledge is how science works and how to apply scientific methods such as observation and testing. The third piece of necessary knowledge is an understanding of how science and technology impact our society and physical world, for good or ill. Therefore, scientific literacy is one of the critical skills that people have to possess in the 21st century.

Financial literacy: This skill is particularly important for each and every citizen to make healthy economic decisions. Educational research points out that there are considerable weaknesses in financial literacy among students and adults in the United States. For instance, the Jump$tart Coalition’s 2002 biennial financial literacy test results showed that American high school seniors answered only 50 percent of the Questions correctly. Likewise, the Institute of Certified Financial Planners conducted a survey and found that making individual financial decisions is one of the major problems for participants.

Communication and collaboration: Learning is a social activity that happens either in a formal school setting or other environments. Communication and collaboration skills entail students’ ability to communicate clearly by using oral, written, and non-verbal means, and to collaborate effectively and responsibly with the people around them (Pacific Policy Research Center, 2010). The world is shrinking and becoming like a small village thanks to the Internet and new technologies. This creates new communication challenges. Although education has reQuired good communication skills, including speech, writing, and reading, the increasing diversity of the global economy demands a much more complicated and advanced set of skills for communication and collaboration (Trilling – Fadel, 2009). For example, it is expected that students and workers are able to listen effectively to superiors to decipher deeper meanings within the speaker’s speech and attitudes. An effective communicator shouldn’t just be able to listen well, but should be able to speak with diverse groups about different topics – and oftentimes in different languages. For collaboration skills, each individual has to demonstrate the ability to work productively and respectfully with diverse groups. Being flexible and helpful, and making necessary compromises are essential components of effective collaboration skills. Researchers suggest that using active learning methods, including project-based learning, problem-based learning, and game-based learning may help students develop the aforementioned skills.

Critical thinking and problem solving: Employers value critical thinking and problem solving skills the most (Jerald, 2009) because research indicates that workplace tasks demand employees doing things without having to be told or directed to do so (Levy – Mrunane, 2007). For instance, almost 60 percent of companies rate critical thinking and problem solving as very important skills which they expect high school graduates to possess. Unfortunately, 70 percent of employers report that students are mostly lacking in these areas. Mark Maddox, of Unilever Foods North America, explains why critical thinking and problem solving skills are so important and necessary in the workplace, saying, For our production and crafts staff, the hourly workers, we need self-directed people who either have problem-solving skills or can easily be trained to think on their feet and find creative solutions to some very tough, challenging problems” (In Jerald, 2009, p. 51). His company has such high expectations because they no longer employ supervisors who take control or explain things. Students or employees with such skills are good not only for the workplace, but also for their participation in solving local, national, and global problems that pose threats to everybody.

Creativity and innovation: The new Skills Commission (2007) did extensive research on the workforce and global economic indicators; they concluded that in addition to all the important above-mentioned skills, the U.S. needs a crucial new skill that will maintain its competitiveness in the global economy – a skill called creativity and innovation. Creativity is an essential skill that incorporates communication, problem solving, risk taking, curiosity, tolerance of ambiguity, and Questioning (Conference Board, 2008). The type of creativity adults need in today’s workplace is the one that enables workers to solve problems not encountered before. It also helps them cope with ill-structured tasks or problems that have no single right solution – or even any good solution.

Global awareness: This theme emphasizes the importance of working collaboratively with diverse people from different cultures, lifestyles, religions, ideologies, and backgrounds; this work must be done with an attitude of mutual respect. Also, promoting the study of other languages is very meaningful and necessary for understanding different nations and cultures. Doing this will enable students to feel closer to global issues and diverse learning communities; thus, they will create a new world where everybody respects each other, accepts others in their positions, and seeks ways to solve problems rather than fighting and killing innocent people and destroying valuable land.

Conclusion

I believe that these are all important skills for an individual’s success in life and countries’ success in the global economy. But today, it is not only the economy that reQuires a different set of skills. Rapidly changing technology and the internet have changed both personal and international affairs, from relationships to trade. The only meaningful way to make each and every country’s future bright and promising is to develop a generation of citizens who are aware of their responsibilities to preserve and strengthen diversity and democracy. This will ensure our world is a better place. Thus, we want our schools, regardless of culture and location, to prepare students eQuipped with the aforementioned skills to face a changing world.

Sahin, PhD, is a Research Scientist at Aggie STEM.

References

• Jerald, C. D. (2009). Defining a 21st century education. Retrieved from http://www.cfsd16.org/public/_century/pdf/Defininga21stCenturyEducation_Jerald_2009.pdf
• Levy, F. – Murnane, R. J. (2007). How computerized work and globalization shape human skill demands. In Suarez-Orozco, M. M. (Ed.), Learning in the global era: International perspectives on globalization and education (pp. 158-176). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
• Nelson, C. (2005). Fethullah Gulen: A vision of transcendent education. Retrieved from http://fethullahgulenconference.org/houston/read.php?p=fethullah-gulen-vision-transcendent-education
• National Center on Education and the Economy. (2007). Tough choices or tough times: The report of the New Commission on the Skills of the American workforce. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. (p. 19)
• National Research Council. (2010). Exploring the intersection of science education and 21st century skills: A workshop summary. Margaret Hilton, Rapporteur. Board on Science Education, Center for Education, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
• NCREL – Metiri Group. (2003). enGauge 21st century skills: literacy in the digital age.Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (2008). 21st century skills, education – competitiveness: A resource and policy guide. Retrieved from http://www.pkwy.k12.mo.us/projectParkway/File/21st_century_skills_education_and_competitiveness_guide.pdf
• Pacific Policy Research Center. (2010). 21st century skills for students and teachers. Retrieved from http://www.ksbe.edu/spi/PDFS/21%20century%20skills%20full.pdf
• Trilling, B. – Fadel, C. (2009). Q – A on 21st century skills. Retrieved from http://21stcenturyskillsbook.com/blog/Q-a/

Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman’s work on intuition reveals an important categorization of human thinking: one takes place effortlessly, immediately after the stimulus and without the command or approval of the self; the other one takes time and effort, and requires approval and guidance from deeper consciousness. The former is called System 1, or fast thinking, and the latter is called System 2, or slow thinking^[2].

System 1 handles basic tasks like walking, breathing, and calculations like determining the value of 2 x 2, while System 2 takes on more complicated, abstract decision making tasks, such as recognizing a face that hasn’t been seen for a long time, making investment decisions, and calculations such as multiplying multiple digit numbers, e.g., 435 x 23. Many of our mistakes, Kahneman says, occur when exhaustion or other factors cause System 1 to do jobs better suited for System 2.

System 1 thinking is highly prone to error and it usually results in mistakes, most of which can be avoided if System 2 thinking is employed. Each individual is responsible for determining if a situation calls for fast or slow thinking. Age, education, and economic and social status have effects on whether System 1 and System 2 are employed properly.

When System 1 and System 2 thinking mechanisms are considered in the social context, it provides a whole new dimension in analyzing social issues, their solutions and public policies. Although System 1 and System 2 thinking are pertinent to individuals, society in general may be greatly affected by how people in decision and/or policy making positions employ those systems, since such decisions, good or bad, are consequential with regards to their likely impact on the betterment of society.

Kahneman’s study gives us a good understanding of the mechanisms employed in the human decision making process. Various factors that cause people to use System 1 when System 2 is a better fit have been studied; however, what motivates people using System 2 remains opaque, despite its crucial role in our personal life and in society at large.

When Kahneman was asked what the simplest, most straightforward advice he would give to someone who wants to make sure they are not ceding certain, important System 2 decisions and calculations to System 1, his answer was, “Slow down, sleep on it, and ask your most brutal and least empathetic close friends … who understand your feeling but are not overly impressed by them”^[3].

Such discoveries of human behavioral patterns remind us of a tradition that has been promoted throughout history in sacred texts and the works of scholars. This tradition is called consultation. The theological motivation for the institution of consultation is the result of one’s acceptance of his/her limits and/or humbleness, and the hope that thanks to this acceptance of not knowing all the aspects of a subject, God, the All-Knowing, will show the right way and lead him/her to the path that is best.

The Proverbs refer to persons who do things with counsel as prudent men: “Among the proud there are always contentions: but they that do all things with counsel, are ruled by wisdom”^[4]. The significance of consultation is made obvious in the Qur’an by naming a chapter Consultation (Ash-Shura); the chapter emphasizes the role of consultation in personal and social life [5]. Another verse suggests utilizing consultation in public affairs^[6].

The prominent 20th century scholar Said Nursi makes a point on consultation in his unique way: “… each individual in a true, sincere union can also see with the eyes of other brothers and sisters, and hear with their ears. It is as if each of the ten persons in true solidarity and unity has the value and power of seeing with twenty eyes, thinking with ten intellects, hearing with twenty ears …”^[7].

System 1 thinking has greater control over our judgments, especially in the presence of intense emotions such as excitement and anger. It is not uncommon that we regret the promises we make within the excitement of a moment or the things we say when we are angry. Abu Dharr reported something along these lines: Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said to us, “If one of you is angry when he is standing, let him sit down so that the anger will leave him; otherwise, let him lie down”^[8]. Changes such as switching positions can buy just enough time for System 2 to kick in. The devil is in details, think before you speak, and think twice before you act – these are some of the idioms and proverbs that guide us on how to keep a healthy balance between fast and slow thinking.

The risk of error in our decisions and judgments can be alleviated as we move from Thinking Fast to Thinking Slow – and even further to Thinking Together, i.e. consulting with relevant parties. In a sense, humbleness is the key attribute that prevents us from making “fast” decisions without due reflection and encourages us to consult with others, and hence, make better decisions on issues that challenge us.

Gokhan Aydin is a graduate student at Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, RF/Microwave Lab. Syracuse University.

REFERENCES

1. Herbert A. Simon, Models of Man: Social and Rational. New York: Wiley and Sons, Inc.
2. Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 2013
3. Jesse Signal, Daniel Kahneman’s Gripe with Behavioral Economics, www.thedailybeast.com
4. Proverbs 13:10.
5. The Holy Quran, Chapter 42, Verse 38, Translation by Ali Unal
6. The Holy Quran, Al Imran, 159, Translation by Ali Unal
7. The Twenty-First Gleam, The Gleams, by BSN, Tugra Books, New Jersey, 2008
8. Abu Dawud, 4782

Historical events mentioned in the Holy Qur’an reveal critical clues about the social arrangements of the tribes onto which God has sent His messengers. By scrutinizing on these parables one can easily notice that whenever a prophet is sent to a group of people, his message was denied at first by the ruling clique of that social order. In various places of the Holy Qur’an, these people, who are at the climax of the society and who oppose the prophets and their followers, are addressed as al-mala’ (the chieftains). Mala’ is a distinctive group in tribal culture because, even though they are small in number, they are rich, influential and well respected. Among the society in which they live, mala’ appears to be the ultimate preservers of the status quo where they have the final say. According to the Qur’an, arrogance is the central characteristic of mala’ which gets in their way of accepting the religion:

“The leading ones among his people, who were arrogant and oppressed the others, said to those that they scorned, to those among them who were believers: “Do you really know and consider Sālih as one sent by His Lord with a message?” They replied: “We do indeed believe in what he has been sent with.” Those who were arrogant said: “What you have come to believe in we indeed disbelieve.” Then (without enduring any longer to see her as evidence of the truth of Sālih’s message), they cruelly slaughtered the she-camel, and disdainfully disobeyed the command of their Lord, and said: ‘O Sālih! Bring upon us that (punishment) with which you have threatened us, if you are of those sent (by God with the truth)!’” (Al-A’raf, 7:74−77)

Even though mala’ portrays itself as a completely sovereign and self-sustaining group, it necessitates the full obedience of jumhoor (majority of the society) in order to continue its existence. This is the main reason why mala’ has been the foremost opposing group towards the messengers of God. The message sent to people via prophets, and the notions attached to it (e.g. tawheed: accepting that there is no god but God, tasleem: surrendering to the God, tawakkul: reliance on God by accepting that He alone is sufficient for all the needs) in every way undermines the very existence of mala’. The particular teachings of the prophets that turned mala’ against them include:

• Wealth or genealogy does not reflect peoples’ positions before God
• No group of people is inherently superior or inferior
• Worshipping God does not require any mediators

Based on the verses of Qur’an and traditions of the prophets, the methods used by mala’ in order to alienate the prophets and their followers can be categorized and exemplified as follows [1]:

1. Fabricating misconceptions about the prophets, their messages and followers: Claiming that the prophets are wizards, liars and/or mad people. (7: 65-66, 109-110)
2. Ridiculing and mocking. (11:38)
3. Encouraging materialism and denying the afterlife. Using material tendencies to divert the attention of people from the teachings of religion towards worldly pleasures. (23:24, 25, 33)
4. Violence: Torturing and killing prophets and followers publicly or secretly, casting them out of their homelands. (7:121-124; 127)
5. Creating fear among the laypeople either through violence against the believers or through misconceptions (7:90; 7:88)

Mala’ in the present day

The intervention between individuals and high moral values, for the sake of personal interests, is still continuing to this very day, only changing its form. So Mala’ still executes a very subtle yet effective plan to protect the socio-economic status of the “privileged,” at the expense of depriving society of morals. In the modern times, thanks to the blooming ideas of freedom and democracy, it has been well accepted that social orders, in fact, sustain themselves much proficiently in the absence of an aristocrat group which is meant to rule the rest of the society. That is the main reason why, in today’s societies, it is not as easy to refer to a specific group as mala’ as it was in the past. However, according to some theories, mala’ has never ceased its existence. According to these claims, even though today’s democracies are designed in the best way to reflect the majority’s opinion on governments, mala’ has generated novel ways to control society without being exposed as a distinctive group. Mala’ of modern times prefer to perform its methods behind the scenes by simply making laypeople believe that it does not exist. It is not involved in matters openly as it used to be but rather reaches its objectives via manipulating majority thinking [2].

These theories might be quite stirring but they are still in need of conclusive evidence. On the other hand, if we re-examine Qur’anic verses explaining the tactics employed by mala’, we can easily notice that similar practices are still being used for various propaganda purposes, especially in the mass media. According to Noam Chomsky, institute professor* of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the mass media is the ultimate milieu of spreading propaganda in the contemporary world. In his book Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda, Chomsky claims that in modern societies propaganda is the ultimate strategy employed by the elite clique to be able to pacify the masses and control them: “In what’s nowadays called a totalitarian state, or a military state, it’s easy you just hold a bludgeon over their (society’s) heads and if they get out of line you just smash them over the head. But as societies become more free and democratic, you lose that capacity. Therefore you have to turn to the techniques of propaganda. The logic is clear. Propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state.” Chomsky summarizes the methodology of propaganda as follows: “The people in the public relations industry aren’t there for the fun of it. They are doing work. They are trying to instill the right (!) values. In fact they have a conception of what a democracy ought to be. It ought to be a system in which the specialized class are trained to do their work for the service of the masters, the people who own the society, and the rest of the population ought to be deprived of any form of organization because organization just causes trouble. They ought to be just sitting alone in front of the television set and having drilled into their heads daily the message which says the only value in life is to have more commodities, or to live like that rich middle class family you’re watching…” [3].

Propaganda

The methodology of modern day propaganda was introduced at the first quarter of the twentieth century by Edward Bernays (1891-1995), so-called father of public relations, whose marketing skills made him one of the most popular advertisers of the time. According to Bernays, an advertisement could make consumers want things they do not need if it is prepared with the right tools; the tools that are capable of manipulating human thinking [4]. Nevertheless, these techniques necessitated a profound understanding of consumer psychology. Even though Bernays was not a psychologist by training, he had a very robust source from which he could obtain intriguing ideas about the ways the human mind work: his uncle, Sigmund Freud.

Freud was not a big supporter of the United States and he would not hesitate to criticize America openly. However, by means of his nephew Bernays, his ideas have influenced US lifestyle profoundly. Freud believed that human beings were in fact irrational creatures controlled by their primal fears and unconscious, selfish and bodily desires. Based on this assumption, Bernays concluded that instead of being logically persuasive, advertisements had to link the mass produced goods to people’s subconscious in order to be appealing. One of Bernays’ first advertisement campaigns is a great example of how this new approach worked: George W. Hill, president of American Tobacco Company, hired Bernays in 1929 with the intention of convincing American women to smoke. This was not an easy task in the 1920s because in that era smoking was perceived as a masculine habit, one which was unthinkable for women. After discussing with various psychoanalysts, Bernays decided to start an advertisement campaign called “The torches of freedom” which portrayed smoking as a symbolism of free women [4]. To this end Bernays used mass media to distribute images of top models wearing the most fashionable outfits of the time to create a “free woman” image whose indispensable constituent was smoking cigarettes. The campaign turned out to be a triumph for the American Tobacco Company. Soon smoking became a central habit for modern American women. Ironically, American women became addicted to tobacco on their quest for freedom. Even today majority of advertisements targeting women are based on similar slogans.

Manufacture of consent

After his successful advertisement campaign with the American Tobacco Company, Bernays worked for other big US corporations such as CBS, Procter and Gamble, General Motors and General Electrics. His achievements in the marketing sector started to influence political thinkers as well, such as renowned journalist and political commentator Walter Lippmann (1889-1974). Lippmann believed that mobs could not be entrusted with decision-making, thus, in the interests of power, ordinary people (or in his own words “the bewildered herd”) needed to be managed by enlightened experts. In the art of democracy public management was supposed to be obtained not by force but by what he called the “manufacture of consent.” In his articles he defined this concept as follows: “… the manufacture of consent is capable of great refinements no one, I think, denies. The process by which public opinions arise is certainly no less intricate than it has appeared in these pages and the opportunities for manipulation open to anyone who understands the process are plain enough…The creation of consent is not a new art. It is a very old one which was supposed to have died out with the appearance of democracy. But it has not died out. It has, in fact, improved enormously in technique, because it is now based on analysis rather than on rule of thumb. And so, as a result of psychological research, coupled with the modern means of communication, the practice of democracy has turned a corner. A revolution is taking place, infinitely more significant than any shifting of economic power.”

The revolution indeed took place. As Lippmann has foreseen the techniques introduced by Bernays, it has been vastly used by world powers in order to manipulate communities’ thinking. One of the most infamous examples is for sure the Nazi Party’s anti-Jewish propaganda before and during World War II. Dr. Joseph Goebbels, who worked as the Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, was a passionate admirer of Bernays even though Bernays had Jewish origins. He tried to meet Bernays several times in his lifetime. He even claimed that he had one of his books autographed by Bernays. Goebbels used propaganda techniques to psychologically prepare German society for the annihilation of Jewish people. Unfortunately, it was neither the first nor the last case where propaganda techniques were employed to alienate a group of people because of their race, nation or religious beliefs.

True freedom

In 1990, Edward Bernays was named one of the 100 most influential Americans of the 20th century by Life Magazine. In his book Propaganda, Bernays describes the extent of manipulation quite frankly: “The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society. In almost every act of our lives whether in the sphere of politics or business in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires that control the public mind” [4].

Such means of social manipulation is indeed discomforting to consider, but remains a reality. In the contemporary world, the means through which propaganda spreads is stronger than ever. A single touch on our smart phones, let alone watching television or surfing the internet, can be sufficient to expose ourselves to a bombardment of manipulative advertisements, news and ideas. Consequently, the inevitable question that is raised is: “How is it possible to live and think freely without being controlled and manipulated by sources of propaganda?” Unfortunately, solution to this problem is not a trivial one. Rather than using logical arguments to modify society’s mindset, modern day propagandists try to change people’s lifestyles in order to influence their way of thinking. A quote credited to Prophet Muhammad’s companion, Umar ibn al-Khattab, underlines this threat quite successfully “He who does not live in the way of his beliefs starts to believe in the way he lives.” Perhaps, under such circumstances, the least we should do is to filter out materials that are intended to change our moral values bit by bit. In particular, elements of mass media tirelessly impose that an individual cannot be completely free unless he performs whatever he desires. Any external factor that prevents people from obtaining what they like is represented as a restriction to freedom. By doing so it is made sure that religious and moral disciplines do not interfere with people’s decisions and they are left alone with their yearnings. As a result, instead of becoming free men, society is being transformed into slaves of egoism and consumerism. In my opinion, being able to defy such threats depends on following the footsteps of the people who managed to reduce mala’s influence in the most effective yet peaceful ways, namely the messengers of God. Frugal but dignified lifestyles of prophets Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad (peace be upon them all) and alike should be our points of references instead of the characters displayed on billboards, movies and television series. We should constantly remind ourselves the moral teachings which state that true freedom can only be achieved by freeing ourselves from selfish desires.

*Institute Professor is the highest title that can be awarded to a faculty member at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

References

[1] Muhammad Alshareef. Perished Nations, online lecture series.

[2] Bernays, Edward. 2004. Propaganda, Ig Publishers.

[3] Chomsky, Noam. 2002. Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda, Seven Stories Press.

[4] Curtis, Adam. 2002. Century of the Self, BBC.

No matter how fast or how far a person runs, the horizon will always be beyond them. This being the case, the real distance and depth of the horizon is inside a person, it is in their mind and perception…

A race I will always remember

Not too long ago, when I was still a little boy, I found myself running from my father’s village to my mother’s, and from my mother’s to another and to another, in the hope of catching up with something that was neither a ball, some other toy, nor a bird, but rather the point, the line where the sky seemed to touch the earth. We call it the “horizon.” That line, that “place,” first presented itself to me hiding right behind the trees to the left of my father’s house. I started out that day walking rather leisurely because the distance between me and the horizon seemed so short. When I observed that the sky had moved, or rather seemed to have moved further away, I hastened my steps. Then I noticed that the sky moved further and further away. Well, being determined to reach the place where the sky certainly touched the ground, I kept walking faster and faster until I found myself running.

I ran for quite a while until I realized that “there”, where the sky and the earth met, was still further away, that it would take me more time and effort than I had thought. I went back—I had to go back—to my father’s village, back to my usual village life because I saw that perhaps much more was involved, that maybe much more effort was called for in order to achieve what I desired, namely, to get to the point where I could touch the sky, where I could climb the sky. I went back to the ordinary, the normal life and experience of the village and of my people. But I did not tell anyone, I did not discuss the experience with anyone, even though I did not stop and could not stop thinking about it. I thought to myself that perhaps a week, a month, maybe a year would suffice for me to reach the place where the sky and the earth embraced. I was absolutely certain that right there in front of me, over there, not too far away, the sky touched the ground. And I thought that perhaps all I needed to do was keep walking, keep running, and keep racing forward, without stopping, without interruptions, without distractions in order to get to where the sky kissed the ground.

Today, thirty-five years later, I have realized that I was not wrong. I was right. The sky did touch the ground. It touches the ground all the time. You may ask “but where and how?” The sky touches the ground in our perception. Look across from your window into the distance. What do you see? Or, go outside and look in the distance. What do you see? The sky is right there, over there, touching the ground, the road, the houses, the trees, the mountains, the sea, and remaining there. But keep in mind that this is all happening in our perception. In perception, things are the way they appear, the way they seem. No rigorous, critical thinking is involved. And this happens so many times, and in fact is happening now; it happens every time that we are not thinking deeply, with attention and effort. It happens every time we fail to allow other perspectives, other possibilities and other possible interpretations to emerge.

The sky touches the earth, embraces and kisses the ground, right there in a fixed position, as long as you do not move. Once you move, it moves. And when you run after it, it too runs, not towards you though, but rather away from you. If you stand still, it stands still. If you stay where you are, it remains where it is. If you move even an inch, it will move. It will never allow you to catch up with it, to touch it; it will never allow you to possess it, to tame it; it will never allow you to take possession of it. And yet, it is always there, “putting everything into perspective.” By that I mean the horizon enables us to see, for without horizon one cannot see much of anything. Think about it! Everything presents itself in horizon. Everything dwells in the horizon, everything is within the confines of the horizon, and depends more or less on this phenomenon. And if I may borrow an expression from Saint Paul’s speech at the Areopagus (Acts 17:28) and be at liberty to use it as I see fit in this context (just as some scholars say he himself was at liberty to do with the same expression from the writing of Epimenides of Knossos (6th Century B.C.)), one can say that “that in which we live and move and have our being” is the horizon.

Standing still, remaining in one fixed position is not in the nature of the horizon. Its every stop (or what appears to be its end, its boundary) is temporary and transitory, like a pilgrim’s stop on a journey whose destination is still far away. It keeps moving, and it invites us to keep moving too, keep working, keep meeting people, keep exploring, keep digging, keep sowing, keep cultivating, keep harvesting, keep looking, keep reading, keep writing, keep thinking, keep talking, keep wondering.

We hear, not infrequently, the expression, “on the horizon/in the horizon.” What does it mean? It means in view, in the possible future, in sight. That which is in or on the horizon appears close, and seems to be approaching; it is as if it’s right there among the things that one hopes to do soon, as something squarely within one’s reach, among the things that one’s abilities can handle. What is in the horizon, then, is something that appears “present” and seems quite achievable.

What is a horizon? And what does it do?

A horizon is inseparable from a living, perceiving human being who is in the open or in the frontier of the open. There are no horizons in closed spaces, closed places. The distance between a living human being and the line where the sky and the earth meet is very wide. It is infinite. It is far, far away. You can only measure it with your eyes, your mind and your soul. You can figure out how long it is only to the extent that your eyes, your mind and your soul can go. An application of any other measuring device will only frustrate you because the moment you start going after it to measure it, it will recede. But the truth is that what you are actually seeing of the horizon is only a small part of it. The bigger part is on the other side of the horizon. Every horizon has at least two parts: a front and a back. The front of the horizon consists of the part you are seeing, and its back consists of the part hidden from you because of the hills and mountains, the earth, the road, the trees, the sea. In fact, the line where the sky seems to touch the earth is really only a perceived curve or a perceived point of contact, but the horizon really goes far and farther away, without end: it stretches into infinity.

All the things we are seeing are in fact standing in the way of the horizon. Similarly, all the things we are thinking right now, all our thoughts and ideas, everything that is presently on our minds can be an obstacle to a deeper and fuller understanding and appreciation of the horizon. We have to let go of all of these things in order to begin to have an idea of the depth and richness of the horizon.

For now, let us focus on the part of the horizon that is visible to us. It is a world, the world that we live in or would like to live in. Normally, it consists of people, people of different religions and/or of no religion at all, people of different languages and cultures, different experiences, different states and walks of life, different situations and aspirations, people driven by different desires, values and visions, people of very deep opinions, inspirations, beliefs and deep convictions other than our own, people heading in a thousand and one directions. This world, this visible side of the horizon also includes animals of many different types and habitats, which eat different kinds of food and have different spans of life. It also includes many different trees, bushes and flowers, and different types of grasses, etc. Mountains and hills and valleys too, rivers and big oceans, streams and creeks, are all part of this side of the horizon. Small and big houses, low and high buildings, shelters and palaces, mud houses and ghettoes are all part of this side of the horizon that we are seeing. But we do not actually see everything that we know is out there, that is all around us, that is over there in front of us…

How do we even know that there is anything out there, that other people are out there? A long walk, travels, meeting people, doing business with people, education, etc. confirm that there are other people out there, other lifestyles, other ways of thinking, other ways of doing things, other attractions, other things that people consider as very precious and worth dying for. We read about these things, have actually met and seen them with our own eyes, have lived with people of different orientations and values, have had some great opportunities to exchange ideas with them. But neither our reading and studying nor our investigative and explorative eyes can exhaust the visible side of the horizon because even the visible side has its own invisible aspects and invisible faces. Let us take for example persons, situations and objects.

From time to time, a person whom I have known for many years, not only surprises me, but also seems to be a surprise to herself/himself whenever s/he says something or does something I could never have thought or imagined her or him doing. And people of this nature are not uncommon.

How about situations? They are similar. Even the most familiar situations often have aspects that are new and different, which we can see if and when we look with more attention and care. And the moment we become used to these, even newer different aspects of the same situation emerge. The same goes for things such as books, clocks, chairs, doors, and so on. A book often presents us with information that we did not see the first time we read it. And if you read it again, you will again see something you missed the second time you read it. If you wish, you can read it again and again, and you will see something new every time. The book will never fail to make you see something new and/or think something new.

Can a chair or a door do something similar? That is, can a chair or a door make you see something new or think something new every time you encounter them? Let us see. A chair, unlike a book, seems to have no generative power. It seems mute and sterile. But can a chair speak and make us think? The answer is yes, it can speak and make us think. No one would disagree that the chair of Pontius Pilate, the chair of a Court Judge, the chair of Saint Peter, and so forth do have a powerful message. Although these chairs I have cited are special, every chair can say something to us and really make us think. For example, chairs for children and for adults make us think different thoughts, which by the way, make us give children appropriate chairs and to adults what is suitable for them. If we did not think differently of these chairs, chances are we would give adults the chairs meant for children and vice-versa, or give the same kind of chairs to everybody, children and adults alike, seriously compromising comfort. And some chairs would even fall apart (that is, if children’s chairs are given to heavy people like me to sit on).

Doors too make us think. For example, the Door of No Return in Goree Island in Dakar, Senegal, and the Door of Hope in Johannesburg, South Africa, makes every visitor think. But again, although these specific references are special, every door, including those that may seem unimposing and insignificant, can really make us think. Every door has a message.

The bottom line is that even the most visible side of the horizon can have aspects that may not be totally obvious and immediately accessible. Therefore, the visible, that which seems completely clear can still make us think because it often has layers, folds, dimensions, messages that lie beneath its surface. There are always other meanings, other messages behind the obvious. And the moment we finish harvesting one message, the moment we finish reading one meaning, the horizon presents us another one, and yet another, and so on and so forth. Inexhaustible indeed, this horizon can constantly give new meaning, hope, color, shape, style, texture, depth, taste and strength to our lives for endless joy and delight, even under very difficult circumstances. Why? Because the horizon has power to liberate us from the present, the immediate, the obvious. As it draws back, so to speak, that is, when we attempt to respond to its invitation into the open, when we dare to go after it, go with it into the deep, when we allow ourselves to move with it and flow with it, then it can open new doors, generate new ideas, launch new beginnings, reveal inroads, illuminate new bridges, disclose exits, uncover new faces, make terrains of other possibilities visible, make cooperation and collaboration possible, make teamwork possible, bring along other solutions, other fertile soils. With the horizon, there are no closed doors, no human being is a finished project, no done deal, no finished once-and-for-all discussions, no insurmountable barriers. The horizon’s open field stretches into infinity.

All of this is but an invitation to read between the lines, i.e., “to resist simplistic interpretations that dogmatically ascribe fixed significations to [things]” (G. Weiss, Refiguring the Ordinary, Indiana University, Bloomington, 2008, p.58).

It is about the need to go on researching other possible meanings and interpretations of a text, to go on searching for other possible answers to certain problems, to appreciate the expanding limits, and to devote more time and energy to the lifelong project of exploration of self and of the world (and of God) (see P. Okogie’s “Horizon: the birthing world” in the Journal of Horizons of Horizons, Vol. 1, no. 1, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, 2012, p.10).

Rev. Dr. Okogie is Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Bioethics, University of Saint Anselm, Rome, Italy.

Of all the faculties and senses that man is endowed with, moderation is one of the most essential virtues. Moderation concerns all people within society, and can become an unattainable virtue unless all members of society have gained a sufficient level of straightforwardness in their thoughts and actions. That straightness of conduct can only be sustained if a sufficient number of people in that society understand, desire and practice the virtue of moderation.

John B. Watson and his colleague conducted an experiment if an emotion could be generalized from one subject to another subject similar to the first. He targeted a baby, called Little Albert, who had no fear of small furry animals like white rats at that time. To carry out their hypothesis, Watson and colleague presented a white rat for Little Albert to play with. But after a while, the researchers made a very loud disturbing noise whenever Little Albert attempted at reaching for the white rat. After several times the researchers paired the loud noise with Little Albert’s attempts at reaching that white rat, a time came to the point where Little Albert was scared of the animal on its own—without the loud sound. From that on, Little Albert generalized his fear to anything furry, including non-white rabbits and dogs. (Watson & Rayner, 1920)

From early years of childhood, we have directly and indirectly learnt how an excess and shortage of anything could be undesirable. No matter who an individual is or where he or she comes from, that individual knows that eating too much can cause a bloated feeling, eating too less can harm health, talking too much could hurt others, and so does not talking at all. Moderation is such a universal virtue that every individual from every religion, ethnicity, and background knows that a life lived in moderation always reaps the most benefits.

Not just on trivial daily matters, moderation can address any issue that has significant relations to human life. Moderation is related to healthy lifestyles, satisfactory life outcomes, healthy relationships, and many more. But one aspect of humankind that is faced everyday—yet it seems to be ignored most of the time—is the mindset, way of thinking, or the cognition. We can have times when there is a “shortage” of the mindset, but more problematic is the instances when some individuals choose to adopt an extreme way of thinking.

Consider the case of Little Albert above, because of one tragedy Little Albert generalized his feelings and fear that anything furry was scary. Probably because that white furry rat seemed to produce such a loud scary noise, Little Albert thought, “so, anything furry MUST be scary too…” This is one example where way of thinking can be extreme. Moderation does not seek to moderate this extreme way of thinking, rather it seeks to moderate way of thinking generally so it is not as extreme.

How moderation is related to prejudice

As mentioned above, moderation can address many issues, and this includes prejudice. Prejudice is defined as the way we see others—the social orientation that is based on a membership of a particular group (Brown, 2010). To understand prejudice, one has to note that prejudice comes from a generalized attribution or characterization (or what is commonly known as a stereotype). Prejudice is the emotional aspect of stereotypical thinking. Like Little Albert, the infant generalized his prejudice to anything furry, and although Albert’s reaction to those furry objects was dramatic, our modern prejudicial reaction is usually more subtle and hidden.

In relation to the issue of prejudice, moderation is synonymized to being fair-minded—a way of thinking that employs the middle point between two extremes. Prejudice is, in its basic form, a way of thinking that is located in one extreme. The extremity comes from the aspect of generalization of prejudicial mindset in its beholder’s way of thinking. But where do these thoughts come from? People’s tendency to generalize their observation of a trait of a person to his or her group members always comes from the external sources.

One study supported the notion that people obtain prejudicial thinking from external sources (Aboud, 1976). The research method involved asking participants to seek information on three fictitious groups. Prior to seeking information, the participants were shown statistics of certain traits related to these groups. This was done to “set” the minds of the participants on the traits that were more likely to be shown by the members of these groups. Consequently, when seeking information on the groups after shown the statistics of the groups, the participants were more likely to “confirm” what they had been told from the statistics, allowing a generalization to occur in their mindset.

Availability heuristics and their role in prejudicial thinking

Why do humans generalize more than they should, or at all? Perhaps it is because of the information they can readily and superficially obtain from the target of their prejudicial thinking. Stereotypes are always something people can see directly, such as weight, skin color, and intelligence shown through behavior and many other characteristics. These sets of readily available information seem to be more important because there is one type of heuristics, availability heuristics that is present in the human mind to help them judge on frequency or probability (Tversky & Kahneman, 1973).

To understand heuristics, consider the two images below that we come across very often. How do you know which gender is which symbol? The existence of heuristics allows us to manage this world in a more simplified and helpful way. Society uses symbols that represent certain group of people to give certain information. No matter where we are, our brain is integrated with the understanding that “skirts” are something only women would wear—it is how, by using that heuristic, we know that the first symbol tells us that it is a women’s place, or belongs to women, or can only be used by women—depending on where we see the symbol.

Heuristics are tools to help people make a cognitive decision on something such as deciding who someone is, if he or she is a righteous person, or what leads to a particular event, or how a certain event happens. Availability heuristics is the tool used to make a judgment when it comes to the frequency of probability that something occurs to that particular target. For example, one may judge the traits of people in community A, after seeing the behavior of a few members of community A. Availability heuristics help people simplify judgment to the most simplified information they can get in mind, and that information can come from various sources, such as a personal experience like the one in the Little Albert case, and others like the statistics given in the study described above.

Availability heuristics can be useful in some situations, such as estimating voting behavior in an election period, or predicting divorce cases for a particular year, but sometimes it has a negative consequence. Prejudice partly comes from the use of availability heuristics and blind “compliance” to such judgment. In this case, availability heuristics are a form of excess of the use of limited information offered to the human mind prior to judgment because blind belief to such heuristics can lead them to generalize. This is an extreme way of thinking that would go against the very nature of moderation itself.

Labeling and availability heuristics

Availability heuristics can be so powerful that sometimes people do not even realize that it is affecting their way of thinking. This is due to the excess use of labeling to simplify and categorize objects. Labeling affects human judgment and interpretation toward something or someone (Jussim, Nelson, Manis, & Soffin, 1995). Labeling is one of the sources of availability heuristics because labeling comes from the traits of physical attributes that people see from the individuals that they label. For example, individuals are labeled as doctors after they are seen wearing a white coat with a stethoscope around their neck, or a man is labeled as dangerous when walking in the dark with a hooded jumper on. Once labeling happens, individuals who conform to the traits and physical attributes that resemble the labels are stereotyped and these stereotypes become the readily available information to serve as a tool to form availability heuristics.

Labeling is not all inaccurate, but the negative consequence of labeling happens because people are too focused on the external traits of a target of the label. People seem to readily judge that a person in a white coat is a doctor, or that a man who has a hood on while walking in the dark is dangerous. These are all the external qualities of the person in a white coat and the man with a hood that people focus on to make a judgment, and eventually they have prejudicial thinking against these targets.

When discussing the topic of faith, Benjamin Franklin said, “Faith is confirmed by the heart, confessed by the tongue, and acted upon by the body.” This definition of faith is in parallel with the definition given by various religions. It emphasizes the importance of both external (confessing and acting upon) and internal aspects (believing) of spirituality. One cannot have one aspect without the other. Moderation involves professing your faith internally, such as believing and keeping your motivation, and externally, such as taking care of your appearance in line with your faith, and being concerned about what you say and do. This means that you do not just focus on either one aspect alone, but prove your stand by maintaining your faith, internally and externally.

In relation to prejudice, labeling happens due to focusing more on the external aspects of traits, like the group members’ appearance, behavior, and even intelligence (as it can be seen from their way of thinking and speaking). But we often neglect to remember that there are interior aspects of those individuals—the aspects that are dismissed from the factors of being labeled. These interior aspects can be different across individuals, thus labels alone could not make an entirely accurate judgment on an individual.

Conceptual frameworks of the relationship between moderation and prejudice

As discussed, prejudice comes from many factors that are not in line with the concept of moderation and this can be prevented by allowing the right way of thinking to be our habit. Moderation is a middle pathway to prevent prejudice. One way to do so is by understanding that while the outside of a person can tell something about him or her, the inside parts can be important too. Figure 1 illustrates the conceptual framework on how moderation can address prejudicial thinking.

Figure 1 shows a continuum of the way of thinking with moderation in the middle and “indifference” and “prejudicial thinking” on each extreme end. Prejudicial thinking, in one extreme, focuses only on the external aspects of a group of people, by which the aspects are used to make a judgment if the group is “good” or “bad.” These judgments are then used to make a generalization. On the other hand, indifference is shown when people have a neutral attitude; too much of it that they do not care about what is happening around them.

Moderation is located in the middle. It is neither prejudicial nor indifferent. People with a moderate way of thinking consider both the external and internal qualities of individuals to make a fair judgment. Each judgment is different across individuals because he or she knows that even if an individual belongs to a certain group, that individual does not have to be the same as the other members of that group. People with a moderate way of thinking know that tolerance needs to be exercised whenever needed, without any unfairness to any individuals who belong to a certain group of people.

Conclusion and a suggestion

When making a judgment or decision on a target’s attribution, it is important to examine the extent to which heuristics or the person’s dependence on readily available information—also known as availability heuristics—affects their judgment. Heuristics can be useful to help people organize, manage, and simplify their thoughts, but it should be supervised so that it is only used in moderate levels. Whenever one feels the need to make a quick judgment, he or she should break it by “educating” the self. Educating the self in its simplest form can be to ask, “What if I am judged that way? Would I like it?” By educating yourself, you make a psychological and mental reminder that to quickly judge means to unfairly treat that individual, which is something you would not want happen to you.

Another way to hinder the potential formation of prejudice is to empathize. By putting yourself in the target’s own shoes, you will be able to see how unfair stereotypes can be to a particular individual. Self-serving bias is a social cognitive error in which you are more likely to view positive events as a result of your own doing and negative events as the consequence of an external factor (Miller & Ross, 1975). This is viewed by psychologists as an error in thinking about other people, but interestingly, this can actually help in reducing prejudice. Prejudice can occur because you fail to attribute a person’s behavior or trait fairly, because he or she is simply another person you cannot relate to. Therefore, by empathizing with a person, you would more likely start to view that behavior through your own lens. By doing that, “self-serving bias” can begin and that is equipped with the ability to also consider your own internal attributes. Therefore, there will be a balance between focusing on internal aspects because it is you, and focusing on external aspects, because it is others.

Moderation is indeed a virtue that can help us develop and grow as a well-adjusting human being. By employing moderation in every aspect of our lives, we can see that moderation can address almost any issue, including prejudice. Moderation is the middle and the most proper pathway of thinking.

Taufik Mohammad, PhD, is a senior lecturer in Universiti Sains Malaysia.

References

• Aboud, F. E. 1976. The effect of stereotype generalization on information seeking. Canadian Journal of Behavioral Science , 8, 178-188.
• Brown, R. 2010. Prejudice: Its social psychology. Oxford: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
• Jussim, L., Nelson, T. E., Manis, M., & Soffin, S. 1995. Prejudice, stereotypes, and labeling effects: Sources of bias in person perception. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 228-246.
• Miller, D. T., & Ross, M. 1975. Self-serving biases in the attribution of causality: Fact or fiction? Psychological Bulletin, 82, 213-225.
• Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. 1973. Availability: A heuristic for judging frequency and probability. Cognitive Psychology, 4, 207-232.
• Watson, J. B., & Rayner, R. 1920. Conditioned emotional reactions. Journal