Welcome to Philosophy of Life. This is episode 35. As promised, this episode was supposed to be fully dedicated to philosophy and more specific to a philosopher. But be honest with you, I'm not fully ready today to just to this subject. I'm ready to choose a philosopher. I already choose a philosopher. He's Al-Ghazali. In Arabic, Al-Ghazali. In Persian, just Ghazali. He's one of the most fascinated and controversial singers in philosophy. A man who, at a certain point of his life, actually turned away from philosophy after age of 50. He chose a different path, and that makes him even more interesting to me. My plan is to dedicate the next episode to his famous book, Kimya Esawadat. In English it is usually translated to Alchemy of Happiness. But already I have to stop here, because this translation is not quite right. Kimya and alchemy those match, both meaning transformation, both suggest a process to change that is almost magical, but Saudat is not same as happiness. Not at all. Happiness comes from the word happy. It means joy, a good feeling, a lightness in the heart. But Saudat is different. It's about fulfillment, completion, reaching a goal or purpose in life. For example, when you are finishing a painting, you are working for a week. And joy you feel is just not happiness. you close to Saudat, even when something as extreme as war. You might lose the war, but you fulfill deeper purpose. You could still say you achieve Saudat. It's about meaning, not a mood. That's why I want to spend time with this book. It paints a picture of how Ghazali understood human being and what we must do to live well, not just to be happy, but reach sa'adat. Now I have been reading both Persian and English version of the text. And honestly, I don't come to the same conclusion in English. Translation can blur things. Karl Marx himself once said that to truly understand English literature, he had to learn English. Because reading translation never gave him the full meaning. Many of Karl Marx's works weren't even translated into English until 1980s. The same is true for other great thinkers. If you don't read them in their original language, you might miss something essential. Carl Jung also talked about problem in his writing. He understood the danger of losing meaning in translation. And that's why I don't want to rush things here. Last week, I recorded an episode about Fyodor Dostoevsky. And looking back, I feel like I rushed it. I regret not spending more time on the writing and the wording. This time, with Ghazali, I want to go deeper and do it right. So today's episode is more of a preview. Next time, I will will drive into QMI Saadat. Together we will explore Ghazali vision of life, of purpose, and what it truly means to reach Saadat. But before I close, I want to speak about something else. Something that all of us are busy with. The future. The future worries us. It feels more unpredictable every day. The world has become more complex. War in Middle East and elsewhere forces us to think deeply about what lies ahead. Life itself has no value if we don't have a goal. And the greatest crime of those who is in power is they are killing hope. Not only in the Middle East not only in Europe but everywhere those who hold wealth and power are not always the one fighting they sit apart untouched meanwhile the fight for ordinary people grow harder every day and if we don't fight in our mind we will lose before we even begin in this country we say we have rights. And yes, there are many rights written on the paper. But when it comes to life, the real representations, there is no truth left. No voice that speaks for people themselves. We grow up with the rights, but we are left without anyone to defend them. And here is why this matter. This is not enough just to say we have a right. Right lives only when they are defended. And they defend of a right beginning inside us. This is where Ghazali is again relevant. In Kimya-i Sa'ad, he explains that before you can understand the world, you must understand yourself. You must look inward you must learn who you are what are your values what your fear what is your hope for and then once you understand yourself you can extend it that same understanding outward you can respect other people no matter their opinion no matter their religion no matter their background respect must begin within themselves and expand it to the community. At the same time, you must demand that same respect in return. This is how relationships are built. This is how trust is built. But look at our politics today. People are divided into categories. Left, right, conservative, liberal. One side points and says, you are on the right. The other points back and says, no, you are on the left. But what do these words really mean? To be honest, I don't see any truth left in the United States. Maybe a few people lean toward liberty and equality for everyone. But overall, what we have here is not a left or right. We have two rights. Both groups sit on the right spectrum of thought. They just disagree on certain issues. For example, once I asked I'm against abortion. The others say I support abortion rights. And suddenly they are labeled left and right. But that's not philosophy. That is not ideology. That is just opinion on single issue. Calling one side left and the other side right doesn't make them left and right. They are both with the same spectrum of power, wealth and control. And by reducing everything to these labels we stop seeing each other as human beings. We stop respecting each other. We stop listening. This is exactly the opposite of what Ghazali thought. He said, know yourself, respect others. Not because you agree with them, but because they are human beings. So when I talk about the rights, I'm not talking about the empty kind, written down in law. I'm talking about that leaves reality, respect, self-knowledge, responsibility. That is where philosophy meets politics. That is where Sa'adat truly fulfilled, became possible. And maybe that's the real challenge of a time to stop hiding behind labels and start asking, Do I have respect for myself enough to respect others? Do I understand myself enough to defend what is truly my rights? This is not finished yet and this is only beginning of our conversation. We must continue. Thank you for listening and I will see you in the next episode where we go deeper into Ghazali and the alchemy of happiness.