Humans cannot live without a general ideal image, they either have one and strive to reach it or are looking for one and will not rest until they find it. In all societies and cultures people have ideal images that give them energy and enthusiasm. By ideal image I mean a perfect and flawless image. Some have an ideal image of religious figures or an ideal image of their country, city, tribe, race etc. The more the image is clear and pure the more a person becomes energetic and enthusiastic. That's why people often need to prevent whatever might disrupt their ideal image. And the more that image is narrow and defective the more it causes fanaticism and intolerance.
The ideal image is a primary emotional need that
takes up much of our thinking, and from that need stems the need for the role
model. The search for a role model is a search for someone who can provide us
with the ideal image we are looking for.
One hole in that perfect ideal image, if not
repaired, is enough to gradually spoil it. That's why defense is crucial in
fanaticism in order to protect the perfection of the image. When someone finds
a flaw in their ideal image, they'll start looking for another ideal image, and
if they didn’t find one they'll build their own ideal image by assembling parts
of different ideal images. This assembled image will make them weak because it
contains contradictions.
This utterly perfect image covers all areas of
life including material ones, making the person supposes perfection and
excellence even in material objects that are shared by everyone. For instance,
if someone is attracted and polarized toward a culture different than theirs,
they'll view this culture as totally ideal, even their soil is better than
theirs, their air is better, their language, their skin, their names, their
farming tools, their art, their literature, their animals, their garbage, and
everything in them, around them, above them and below them is better!
This is a state of total polarization (extreme
attraction), and there exists a state of partial polarization. Fanaticism and
polarization happens only when the ideal image is formed in the person's mind
and imagination. The ideal image causes the state of emotional and mental
polarization. The polarized individual toward a society different that their
own, be that society in the past or the present, is a clear representation of
the effect of the ideal image that every human needs. They search for it
motivated by the feeling that naturally seeks its creator and His perfect ideal
path. The Quran said: " O man, you are striving unto your Lord and you
will meet Him", every human is striving to God.
That's why Plato wasn’t totally unrealistic, as
materialists claim, when he spoke of utopia, he was motivated by a natural
human need. Humans can't work except when they have an ideal image or when
they're searching for one. A person who has two or more contradicting ideal
images will be weak and shaky, while a person who has one ideal image will be
strong, active and confident.
Whenever you find enthusiasm and fanaticism be
sure that there is an ideal image behind it, whether true or false, and whether
it exists in reality or trying to make it a reality, what matters is that they
view it as ideal. Idealism supplies people with energy and determination. Thus,
we can call humans : "idealistic creatures" at least in terms of
motivation. The reason behind over enthusiasm is concentrating on one ideal
image. A fanatic to their ideology sees it as perfectly flawless, and also sees
no perfection in other ideologies else they wouldn't be fanatic. However, who
wobbles between several contradicting ideal images is weak, and the weakest of
all is one who has no ideal image and can't create one, this may lead them to
feel that life is absurd and even think of suicide.
Having multiple ideal images is what causes the
surprising total change in some people, like when someone who's been living a
materialistic life suddenly shifts to a strong religious adherence. The reason
is that the religious ideal image was pressuring them. We might also find a
religious person who has an ideal image of the materialistic secular life,
which might make them change suddenly from religious to secular or even
atheistic lifestyle, due to the pressure of the secular ideal image they
have.
People who have a defective ideal image often
resort to isolation, because interaction with people with different ideal
images exposes the flaws in their partial ideal image. The ideal image is very
sensitive to criticism, that's why they resort to isolation or even attempt to
forcefully silence the different opinion. Criticizing the ideal image of
someone is very painful to them, for when you make people question their ideal
image you're now crushing their source of enthusiasm, hopes and zest for life.
However, we should always follow the truth. In
fact, following the truth is part of true idealism, even we if had to sacrifice
an image we're used to. All the ideal images that are based on isolation will
be affected, for the world now is a small village. Hence, complete isolation is
impossible. Only the true ideal image will stand, which respects all the human
feelings. This true ideal image is God's straight path. The strongest ideal
image is the one most open to criticism and welcomes questioning. It is the one
that's capable of convincing both the mind and the feeling not one without the
other, and that's what human-made ideologies don't have.