Iqbals Challenge to Psychology

ahmedafzaal.com /2008/08/17/iqbals-challenge-to-psychology/
This short poem by Muhammad Iqbal is included in his second collection of Urdu verse, Bal-i Jibril
(Gabriels Wing), published in 1935. It is titled To the Psychologist.

Go beyond the world of thought, if you dare

There are still unexplored islands in the ocean of the self;
This silent sea will keep all its mysteries hidden from you
Until you strike to part its waters
With the staff of Moses.

The ocean is self; unexplored islands are those regions of the self that modern psychology does not
recognize as real or as worth investigating on their own terms. The poet suggests that existing
scientific methods may not be adequate for reaching these hidden regions of the self; something
unorthodox and more daring is therefore required, viz., the strike of Moses.
Modern psychology, despite its great achievements, is too concerned with the surface layers of the ego
to be able to make any informed judgement about what really lies underneath. Iqbals complain is that
the discipline of psychology seems to have restricted its inquiry to the dynamics of the efficient self,
i.e., the inner realm of thinking, feeling, willing, and so on. While the dynamics of the efficient self are
important in their own right, they do not tell the whole story about the reality of the self. There is much
more to the self that is still undiscovered and unexplored from the viewpoint of psychology. If modern
psychologists could gather the courage to take seriously the insights and experiences of the prophet,
the mystic, and the poet, they would be able to discover new worlds precisely where they now think
absolutely nothing exists. They would then be forced to revise and reconsider a great deal of their
knowledge. Science is unaware of these new worlds in the depths of the self because psychology has
not yet taken the necessary risk of letting go of its own assumptions and expectations.
Iqbal has expressed similar opinions in the lectures he delivered in 1928. In the first chapter of
Reconstruction, while discussing the nature of mystical experience, Iqbal has this to say:

Modern psychology has only recently begun to realize the importance of a careful study

of the contents of mystic consciousness, and we are not yet in possession of a really
effective scientific method to analyze the contents of non-rational modes of
consciousness.

In chapter five, while discussing the significance of the assertion I am the creative truth, as uttered by
Husayn bin Mansur Al-Hallaj (executed in 922 CE), Iqbal notes:

The true realization of his experience, therefore, is not the drop slipping into the sea, but
the realization and bold affirmation in an undying phrase of the reality and permanence
of the human ego in a profounder personality. The phrase of Hallaj seems almost a
challenge flung against the Mutakallimun [orthodox theologians]. The difficulty of
modern studies of religion, however, is that this type of experience, though perhaps
perfectly normal in its beginnings, points, in its maturity, to unknown levels of
consciousness. Ibn Khaldun, long ago, felt the necessity of an effective scientific
method to investigate these levels. Modern psychology has only recently realized the
necessity of such a method, but has not yet been able to go beyond the discovery of the
characteristic features of the mystic levels of consciousness.

These passage illuminate what Iqbal means by the metaphor of islands hidden in the ocean of the
self. He is referring to deeper levels of consciousness that mystics have been aware of for thousands
of years but which do not seem to make much sense within the reigning paradigms of mainstream
psychology. For Iqbal, what is most relevant about these deeper levels of consciousness, as revealed
in the bold claim made by Hallaj I am the creative truth, is that beyond the transient rise and fall of
thoughts and feelings there is something with a very different character. There is a profounder
personality in each one of us, something whose reality and permanence is in diametric opposition to
the transience and impermanence of our inner world of thinking. Elsewhere, Iqbal has used the term
appreciative self for this inner reality, and suggested that we become aware of it only in moments of
deep meditation when the otherwise incessant chatter of the efficient self calms down.
Iqbal made these observations in the late 20s and early 30s of the last century. Psychology, of course,
has come a long way since then, and so the extent to which Iqbals critique still holds is a matter of
some debate. Only a detailed survey of the developments in the psychology of religion during the last
eighty years or so can establish whether or not any significant progress has occurred along the lines
suggested by Iqbal. Ideally, only those scholars who are trained in this particular field and also have a
sympathetic understanding of Iqbals philosophy are in a position to determine if Iqbals critique needs
to be updated, and in what ways.
For now, I would like to pose a different question, viz., what is Iqbals own proposed methodology for a
scientific understanding of the deeper levels of consciousness? In the poem quoted above, Iqbal uses
one of his favorite metaphors Moses striking the sea with his miraculous staff and parting the
waters. The psychologist who is too caught up in the world of thought must use the strike of Moses to
part the waters of the ocean that is the self; only then will he/she discover the hitherto unexplored
islands. What Iqbal leaves for his reader to figure out is the meaning of the strike of Moses.
What does it mean to strike the ocean of the self with the staff of Moses? Since Iqbal has used this
particular image rather frequently in his poetry, I suggest that a comparative study of his various uses
of this metaphor will tell us something about his intended meaning. Thats a task for another day.