M6:2210 — گر نبینی کشتی و دریا به پیش / لرزها بین در همه اجزای خویش

Translation: If you do not see the ship and the sea before you, Then observe the tremors in all the parts (ajzā) of your being.

Meaning: This verse invites introspection, suggesting that even if one cannot perceive the overt external forces affecting their state, they should observe the involuntary tremors within themselves as proof of powers beyond their control.

Allow me to unveil a profound point from Mowlana. Prior to this verse, Mowlana states that joy and sorrow ceaselessly move within us like a ship and a storm: "Every moment, a storm and a ship, O seeker / He has connected you with your grief and joy." This beyt then summons us to direct observation. Mowlana instructs that if you cannot clearly perceive this 'ship' of joy and the 'sea' of sorrow with its storms, then at the very least, look within yourself. Pay close attention to these 'tremors' that pervade every part of your being. These shivers, these turbulences, these involuntary shifts in our emotional states, are clear evidence of forces that govern us, forces over which we have no control.

I have frequently drawn upon this subtle point of Mowlana's in my philosophy of science classes to elucidate one of our most significant cognitive biases. Mowlana, with unparalleled acumen, observes that we have no dominion over our own joy and sorrow. These emotions do not arrive or depart at our command; they burst into the sanctuary of our being without warning or permission, breaking down the door and overwhelming us. From this, we must comprehend that we do not hold all the reins of our own will; rather, external forces command us. We are enslaved by an order we did not create, and even to alter it, we must seek assistance from the very same order. This admission of enslavement is the first step towards liberation.

Mowlana then offers an anecdote, utterly precise and profound, to illuminate this perceptual error: Imagine a blind man, a reckless drunkard, and a braying camel present in a scene. The drunkard, out of carelessness, kicks the blind man. The blind man, unable to see the drunkard but hearing the camel's cry, mistakenly attributes the kick to the camel due to the concurrence of the two events (being kicked and hearing the camel). This analogy, truly, is worthy of contemplation and reveals Mowlana's astonishing genius.

As Aristotle stated, "He who lacks a sense, lacks a knowledge." The blind man, lacking sight and relying entirely on his hearing, falls into this error. He fails to perceive the true agent, the drunkard, who makes no sound. He makes judgments based solely on what he can sense or hear. He confuses concurrence with causality, completely disregarding the third, unseen agent that sight would have revealed. This error of conflating 'concurrence' with 'causality' is one that frequently occurs in science as well. Consider the misconception that lightning causes thunder, when both are effects of a larger phenomenon. Or, in medicine, the historical confusion between symptoms of the thyroid and parathyroid glands before the latter was fully discovered. Mowlana, through this simple example, demonstrates with rare precision the complexities of scientific methodology and the challenges of distinguishing cause from effect.

This issue becomes even more perilous and misleading in social and psychological matters. In the natural sciences, nature holds no intentions or betrayals, but in the human realm, we confront a multi-layered being where analyzing causal relationships is immensely difficult. For instance, in explaining the causes of revolutions, dozens of different theories are offered, and it remains challenging to discern which factor was a cause, which an effect, and which merely concurrent. It is here that I assert Mowlana was a psychologist and psychoanalyst before the advent of scientific psychology, who, with his keen mystical insight, delved into the depths of human existence and the mechanisms of its cognitive errors. Had he chosen to be a scientist, he would undoubtedly have left behind enduring works in scientific methodology.

Key takeaways

• Introspection reveals the presence of forces beyond our conscious will.
• Involuntary tremors of joy and sorrow indicate our lack of control over our own emotional states.
• Confusing 'concurrence' with 'causality' is a fundamental human perceptual error.
• Deficiencies in senses or information (like blindness) lead to mistaken attribution of causes.
• This distinction is critically important for understanding complex social and psychological phenomena.
• Mowlana, with his mystical insight, penetrates the depths of human cognitive error mechanisms.