Comparative Theology (May 2022)
A Comparison between Walter Stace and Molla Sadra on the Meaningfulness of Life
Abstract
Extended AbstractThis study compares the views of Walter Stace and Molla Sadra on the meaningfulness of life. Stace believes that the beginning of the problem of the meaning of life occurred when the scholars of the 17th century onward turned away from something called ultimate causes. The destruction of the world’s purposefulness and the telescoping of its phenomena after Galileo is a key event in the history and culture of the West to end the supremacy of religion in Western culture. The removal of the final cause in the history of Western thought has caused changes in scientific and philosophical debates, and this issue, in turn, caused a change in the attitude of man to the discussion of God as a creator and eternal power. As a result, the main issue of man, that is, the discussion about the meaning of life changed accordingly. This has become the main reason for the marginalization of God's divinity and the replacement of human powers, the final result of which has been the dominance of nihilistic approaches. After that, the conquest of secularization and anti-religion challenged the issue of the meaning of life of the new man, and after that, man sees God not as the source of meaning, but as an obstacle to the way of life.Therefore, he relies on his awareness and will and thinks of himself as the creator of the meaning of life. For this reason, the discussion of discovering and searching for the meaning of life has been changed in the past and replaced by meaning-creating approaches and talk of falsifying meaning. The issue of whether man is the builder and creator of the meaning of his life or acquires it from an external factor has become a big challenge for modern mankind. The modern man, due to various reasons such as scientific and philosophical advances, the weakness of religious authorities (Jewish and Christian) in responding to his intellectual and practical needs, the inappropriate behavior of the church towards people of thought and the growing growth of capitalism and consumerism, has suffered a crisis of servitude and unbridled freedom. Absurdity and meaninglessness followed by sadness, anxiety, and despair in individual life, on the one hand, and insecurity and injustice in social and global life, on the other hand, have been the inevitable consequences of self-centered servitude and libertarianism. In the meantime, what is neglected is the essential and natural structure of humans. The new man denied his nature (Fetrat) in order to achieve the freedom of self-foundation in thought and action by turning his back on his tradition.Molla Sadra, an accomplished philosopher and the founder of the philosophical system of transcendental wisdom, believes that life in itself does not have intrinsic value, and worldly life is merely a place to reach human perfection and happiness, which is nearness and annihilation in God. As a result, it has no intrinsic usefulness except in terms of the position of being connected and close to God, through which the possibility of transformation and evolution becomes possible. In his opinion, the meaning of life is completely tied to its purpose, and this purpose is objective and real and not fake or subjective at all. Proximity and annihilation in the name of God are considered the ultimate goal in evolutionary and revolutionary processes by passing through the four journeys from man to God.In his opinion, life has a deep interior in addition to its outer shell, which is considered the goal and perfection of human life based on its philosophical rules and foundations such as essential movement, rational and rational unity, and the reference and return of the universe to the essence of the true meaning of life in the three concepts of purpose, value, and function, and to achieve celibacy in its various types without limits. From his point of view, life and living have degrees of Tashkik. In this regard, Molla Sadra speaks of a good life with the words of revelation and finds it in an existential relationship with human knowledge in such a way that the more certainty and development of man is, the more his life will be. According to its strength and stability, it becomes more meaningful. In his opinion, man is the highest of creations, and his creation is not empty and aimless, and human nature (Fetrat) is deeply and intrinsically tied to God-seeking, and materialism and skepticism have no way in his philosophical system. Empirical science is also a product of man's distance from his original nature, lack of capacity, and stopping at the lowest levels of human reason.
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