Intellect and Reason

Intellect and Reason

The theologian and writer, C.S. Lewis, once said of man that he is Intellect, reason, imagination and the senses. He was just echoing the traditional understanding of man in both orthodox Christianity and Islam before the rise of secular modernity where man is reduced to mere body and mind. In the post-Kantian, modern Cartesian world with its dualistic logic and extreme forms of skepticisms, reason, or the ratiocinative faculty in man, is often confused with the Intellect which is the highest, intuitive faculty in man. Reason calculates; Intellect sees, like the eye sees. Reason is part of the soul in man, Intellect is the "uncreated in man" (Meister Eckhardt) above the soul in the inner hierarchy in man, the unchangeable, "the Eternal breath" in us. If man is an isthmus (barzakh) between two oceans, one above and one below, as all traditional religions understand man to be, then this reason in him is the tool par excellence to help him "climb" and swim in that upper ocean of the Spirit, Spirit or Ruh being another name for the Intellect.

Reason is like the stars, or like the moon, that shine at night. Intellect is like the sun. Reason is like a lamp that we need as long as we are in the dark of the night, to help us, to guide us, to show us the way. With the rise of the sun, meaning the awakening of the Intellect, the stars and the moon fade away and lose their efficacy in the brightness of day. The lamp becomes useless. Only a fool would insist on using it while the sun shines brightly overhead.

Note: I am using "man" in its previously accepted sense in the world of scholarship, or its generic sense of the "homo sapien", as al-Insan and not as one of the two (or one of the many nowadays) sexes/genders of the species. Unfortunately, one is now required to re-learn the English language every few years!