The Internal Underlying Factors of Moral Deviations from the Perspective of Nahj al-Balagha and the Supreme Leader

Human has two dimensions, on the one hand, he/she has a desire for the world of creation and material things and can become lower than animals; on the other hand, he/she has a desire for the world of abstraction and can get to the highest level of humanity. A person, who wants to reach the perfection of humanity, should know the underlying factors of moral deviations and fight against him/herself and those factors. Sometimes, these factors are related to his/her perception and insight dimension, and sometimes, are related to his/her stimulus and tendency dimension. This analytical-descriptive study, after reviewing library texts, concludes that the origin of moral deviations from the perspective of Nahj al-Balagha and the Supreme Leader is an unbalance between the reason and emotion. The most important underlying factors, related to the perception and insight dimension and theoretical reason, are as follows: ignorance, and the reliance on guess and despotism, which are an obstacle to perception and insight powers, cause the scale of reason to lose its balance, cause to fall into fantasy, suspicion, and despotism in thought, instead of entering the realm of rationality and certainty, and finally, cause to be deprived of understanding the truth. The other factors, related to the stimulus and tendency dimension and practical reason, are as follows: material attachments, and untimely and excessive love, which cause to rust and blind human’s heart, and finally, cause to weak the practical reason that is a protector of the human soul against the outburst of lust and anger.