Ideological Connection is Insufficient

 

It is not accurate, then, what is repeated by some people who claim that we need to ideologically be connected with them (A.S.) through our knowledge of their policies, the norms of their personal conduct, and their social activities so that they may be our role models to emulate and in whose footsteps to follow, and so that this will make us feel happy, admiring them as individuals as we admire many a genius and many a thinker such as Addison or Ibn Sina (Avicenna). No; what we need is an ideological, conscientious and emotional connection wherein the feelings participate and to which the senses respond spontaneously and willingly, one that causes shakes the whole being of a man, stressing the depth of his existence, willingly and unconditionally. What is needed is that these elite ones enter our hearts to be the life that sustains them. What is needed is that they enter our souls so that they may more intensely shine and glitter. What is needed is that they enter our being so that they may become more pure, serene and sincere.

What is needed is that they should have the greatest share in coining our believing personality, and that they participate in coining our feelings and formulating our senses.

Let us forever dismiss the argument of those who say that this is knowledge which does not benefit those who know it, nor does it harm those who do not. It surely is a harmful statement which certainly brings us loss and disappointment.

If we overlook all of this, the scales of benefit and harm about which they talk is not clearly defined. It varies in conditions and sources. To talk about medicine to a carpenter may not be of any benefit for his career. So is to talk about astronomy to the smith, or to the weaver, or to the administrator, each in his own career. But the matter relevant to the issues of belief and conduct do not necessarily fall in this category, although the degrees of knowledge of them and of their requirements varies from one to another, following the principle of, “We have been ordered to talk to people, each according to his level of understanding.”