licting
harm on his fellow men and will hunger and thirst to do good. And yet, if
we ponder the lessons of history it will become evident that this very
sense of honor and dignity is itself one of the bounties deriving from the
instructions of the Prophets of God. We also observe in infants the signs
of aggression and lawlessness, and that if a child is deprived of a
teacher's instructions his undesirable qualities increase from one moment
to the next. It is therefore clear that the emergence of this natural
sense of human dignity and honor is the result of education. Secondly,
even if we grant for the sake of the argument that instinctive
intelligence and an innate moral quality would prevent wrongdoing, it is
obvious that individuals so characterized are as rare as the philosopher's
stone. An assumption of this sort cannot be validated by mere words, it
must be supported by the facts. Let us see what power in creation impels
the masses toward righteous aims and deeds!

Aside from this, if that rare individual who does exemplify such a faculty
should also become an embodiment of the fear of God, it is certain that
his strivings toward righteousness would be strongly reinforced.

("The Secret of Divine Civilization", pp. 97-8) [35]

"36: As to the differences among human beings and the superiority or..."

As to the differences among human beings and the superiority or
inferiority of some individuals to others, the materialists are of two
schools of thought: one group is of the opinion that these differences and
the superior qualities of some individuals are inborn, and are, as they
would put it, an exigency of nature. According to them, it is obvious that
differences within the species are inherent. For example, there are, in
nature, different kinds of trees; animals, too, are varied in their
nature; even minerals vary naturally among themselves, and you have here a
quarry filled with stones, there a mine of rubies, translucent and richly
red; here a shell with pearl enclosed, there only a bit a clay.

The other school of traditional philosophers holdeth to the view that the
differences among individuals and the varying levels of intellects and
talents derive from education: for with training, a crooked branch can
grow straight, and a barren tree of the desert can be domesticated, it can
be grafted and made to bear fruit, which may be bitter, but with time
turneth sweet. At first, its fruit may be small; but