ARISTOTLE AND THE WORK OF HIS HEART.

Aristotle is one of the greatest thinkers in the history of Western world, making contributions to science, philosophy, logic, metaphysics, mathematics, physics, biology, botany, ethics, politics, agriculture, medicine, dance and theatre. He was a student of Plato, who in turn studied under Socrates.
He was the first to devise a 'formal system for reasoning', whereby the 'validity of an argument' is determined by its 'structure' rather than its content.
Aristotle was the founder of the Lyceum, the first universal institute, based in Athens, Greece. Along with his teacher Plato, he was one of the strongest advocates of a liberal education, which stresses the education of 'the whole person' including one's moral character, rather than merely learning a set of skills. According to his view, this type of education was necessary if we wanted to produce a 'society of happy as well as productive individuals.'
Aristotle believed that 'knowledge could be obtained through interacting with physical objects.' He concluded that 'objects were made up of a potential' that circumstances then manipulated to determine the object's outcome. He also recognized that 'human interpretation' and 'personal associations' played a role in 'our understanding of those objects.'
Aristotle's research included a study of biology. He attempted to classify animals into genera based on their similar characteristics of their kind. He further classified animals into species based on those that had 'red blood' and those that did not. The animals with red blood were mostly vertebrates, while the 'bloodless' animals were labeled 'cephalopods.' Aristotle's classification was regarded as the standard system for hundreds of years.
In Marine biology, an area of fascination for Aristotle, through dissection, he closely examined the anatomy of the water creatures. His observations of marine life were expressed in his books with considerably accuracy.
 In 'Meteorology', Aristotle did not simply mean the study of weather. His more expansive definition of meteorology included 'all the affectations we may call common to 'air' and 'water', and the kinds and parts of 'earth' and the affectations of its parts. Aristotle identified the 'water cycle' and discussed topics ranging from 'natural disasters' to 'astrological events.'
One of the areas of Aristotle's philosophy focuses in the systematic concept of logic. Aristotle's objective was 'to come up with an universal process of reasoning' that would allow 'man' to learn every conceivable thing about 'reality.' The initial process involved 'describing' objects based on their characteristics, states of being, and actions.
Aristotle also discussed 'how' man might next obtain information about objects through deduction and inference. A deduction was a reasonable argument in which "when certain things are laid down, something else follows 'out of necessity' in virtue of their being so." His theory of deduction is the basis of what philosophers now call a 'syllogism', a logical argument where the conclusion is inferred from two or more other premises of a 'certain form.' For example, consider the following syllogism, 'all men are mortal; Socrates is a man; therefore Socrates is mortal.' Aristotle explains 'syllogism' as a 'discourse in which, certain things having been supposed, something different from the things supposed 'results of necessity' because these things are so.' Aristotle defined the 'main components of reasoning' in terms of 'inclusive and exclusive' relationships.
Aristotle's philosophy not only provided man with 'a system of reasoning', but also touched upon ethics. One of his most influential works is the 'Nicho'Machean Ethics', where he presents a theory of happiness that is still relevant today over 2,300 years later. The key question Aristotle seek to answer is "What is the ultimate purpose of human existence? What is that end or goal for which we should direct all of our activities?" Aristotle claimed that nearly everyone would agree that happiness is the end which meets all at the ends. Happiness is the final end or goal that encompasses the totality of one's life. It is not something that can be gained or lost in a few hours, like pleasurable sensations.
Happiness is more like the ultimate value of your life as lived up to this moment, measuring how well you have lived up to your full potential as a human being. For this reason, one cannot really make a pronouncements about whether one has lived a 'happy life' until it is over, just as we would not say of a football game that it was a 'great game' at half-time of it. For the same reason we cannot say that children are happy, any more than we can say that an acorn is a tree, for the potential for a flourishing human life has not yet been realized. Aristotle said, "for as it is not one swallow or one fine day that makes a spring, so it is not one day or a short time that makes a man blessed and happy."
The main trouble with this assertion, now in our time, is that happiness, in our modern world, is often conceived of 'as a subjective state of mind', as when one says 'one is happy when one is enjoying a cool beer on a hot day, or is out having fun with one's friends.
In order to explain human happiness, Aristotle drew on 'a view of nature' he derived from his biological investigations. He said, "if we look at nature, we notice that there are 4 different kinds of things that exist in the world that surround us, each one defined by a different purpose:
- Minerals like rocks, metals, and other things have only one common goal, what they seek is to come to a rest, and they do not possess a soul.
-Vegetative plants and other wildlife are a different kind of thing that emerge from the ground, and possess life. Because they seek nourishment, and growth, they have souls and can be even said to be satisfied when they attain these goals.
- Animals that we study as belonging to the animal kingdom. Here in this kingdom we see a higher level of life emerging from the earth. Animals seek pleasure and reproduction, and we can talk, for example, about a happy dog or sad dog, to the extent that they healthy and lead a pleasant life.
- Humans, what is it that makes human beings different from the rest of the animal kingdom? Reason.
Only humans are capable of acting according to principles, and in so doing taking responsibility for their choices. For example, we can blame Johnny for stealing something since he knows the action is wrong, but wouldn't blame an animal since it does not know any better.
By reasoning things out we attain our ends, solve our problems, and hence live a life that is qualitatively different in kind from plants or animals. The good for a human is different from the good for an animal because we have different capacities or potentialities.
He then prescribed 'a moral code of conduct' for what he called it, 'a good living.'
He asserted that 'good living' to some degree defied the more restrictive 'laws of logic', since the 'real world poses circumstances' that can present 'a conflict of personal values'. That said, it was up to the individual 'to reason cautiously' while developing his/her own judgment.
Aritotle's work also discusses the topics of 'matter and form'. In his book 'Metaphysics', he clarified the distinction between the two. To Aristotle, 'matter' was the 'physical substance' of things, while 'form' was the 'unique nature' of a thing that gave it 'its identity'. Aristotle's writings about 'how people perceive the world' continue to underlie many principles of modern psychology.
In 322BC, just a year after he fled to Chalcis to escape prosecution under charges of impiety, Aristotle contracted a disease of the digestive organs and died. In the century following his passing, his works fell out of use, but were revived during the first century. Over time, they came to 'lay the foundation of more than 7 centuries of philosophy. Solely regarding his influence on philosophy, Aristotle's work influenced ideas from late antiquity all the way through the Renaissance.
More than any thinker prior to the modern era, Aristotle enshrines 'happiness' as a central purpose of human life and a goal in itself.  Happiness, he said, depends on the 'cultivation of individual virtue.' Aristotle was convinced that a genuinely happy life required the fulfillment of a 'broad range of conditions', including physical as well as mental well-being. Virtue is a method of achieving and maintaining the 'balance between two excesses.'
Aristotle's doctrine of 'balance' differs from Buddha's 'middle path' in the way of achieving it. For Aristotle the 'balance was a 'method of achieving virtue,' but for Buddha the 'balance' referred to a peaceful way of life which negotiated the extremes of harsh asceticism and sensual pleasure seeking.
The 'middle path' was a minimal requirement for the meditative life, and not the source of virtue itself.
Thus Aristotle gave us his definition of 'happiness': "... the function of man is to live a certain kind of life, and this activity implies a 'rational principle', and the function of a 'good man' is the good and noble performance of these, and if 'any action is well performed' it is performed in accord with the appropriate excellence: if this is the case, then happiness turns out to be 'an activity of the soul in accordance with virtue'."

THE UNDERSTANDING OF INSTINCT.

Instinct is an innate behavior, thinking, or feeling, repeated by an individual without noticing it. Natural desire or tendency that makes you act in a particular way, also is considered under the definition of natural instinct. It is something that a human being cannot override.
There are two kinds of basic instinct: life instinct, or death instinct.
There is no transitions between instinctive and experience-based behavior components. The differences usually lie on how they emphasize biological and/or environmental forces.
Behavioral patterns come into sequences of innate and learned behavior components. Only the innate components qualify as instinctive behavior. They are rigid and do not get modified or become more flexible due to experience.
Flexible or intelligent behavior does not evolve from instinctive behavior.
In the Scriptures, in the 2nd Epistle of Peter, warns against the instinct of the false teachers who will try to substitute human words, that leads to spiritual death, for the 'Divine Word' that leads to life bringing a new heaven and a new earth. It says:
  "We do not follow cleverly devised myths ... You must understand this, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the 'impulse' of man, but men moved by the 'Holy Spirit speaking to them from God.' But false prophets also arose among the followers of the Truth, just a s there will be 'false teachers' among you, who will secretly bring in 'destructive heresies', even denying the "Master" who "bought them", bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their licentiousness, and because of them 'The Way of Truth' will be reviled. And in 'their greed' they will exploit you with 'false words'; their condemnation has not been idle, and their destruction has not been asleep ... These, like irrational animals, creatures of 'instinct', born to be caught and killed, reviling in matters of which they are ignorant, will be destroyed ... They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their dissipation, carousing with you. They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice 'unsteady souls.' They have 'hearts trained in greed'... These are waterless springs and mists driven by storm; for them the nether gloom of darkness has been reserved."
One of the major risks for people who are on the path of a renewed natural and spiritual awareness, is to misunderstand the concept of 'instinct and 'intuition. To rely blindly on instinct, thinking that is the best tool to follow nature, is the greatest danger.
Many people who have embraced the natural spirituality believe that the mind (the ability of thinking) is an obstacle to the connection with the forces of nature, and therefore do not avail a training; they simply think that even the study and cultural deepening are tools that could pollute the purity of their natural soul. They rely exclusively to the personal improvisation, without understanding that the pursuing of knowledge of Truth, based on laws, regulations, ordinances, etc,  will get them more in tune with the forces of nature.
Every aborigine knows that instinct is not only to be dominated, but also to be driven, and that we must learn from the elderly (ancient laws). What would happen with one of these improvised learners if they encounter a wild bear in the forest? For sure this person will follow his basic instinct of conservation of life, he/she will run away. Well, this individual will be torn apart. But if someone had previously explained what is best to do in that situation, he/she would have saved his/her life.
The paths are personal, individual, and tailored to the needs of the individual. But taking the easy and simple way of thinking that consist in doing the minimum in the pursuit of "truth" is unfortunately limited.
We need a common ground shared by all, that its own aim should be to structure a good body of shared knowledge, "the knowledge of "truth." The study of nature and its real symbolic manifestations in heaven and earth. Only with this basis we can expect to make a qualitative leap that will take us to lead the 'instinct' through intuition.
Intuition is defined as an attitude that is learned, trained and nourished by 'theory' (study) and 'practice' (experience).
A perfect example is when an individual learn how to drive a vehicle, regardless the size. Learning the theoretical part (rules) and absolutely unnatural movements like pushing on a pedal to brake or accelerate makes you to coordinate the understanding of moving in space with a gigantic mass and follow the rules given for that purpose. After a short period of time practicing these movements and rules together, they are not only being assimilated, but internalized so deeply that they become automatic. After we have internalized the experience the intuition springs, and this new way of 'take rational decisions without thinking' is a state of mind in balance between the domain of the instinct and the domain of the mind.
It is the intuition which makes us put a feet on the brake before a pedestrian appears on the sidewalk, and this is simply the result of the interaction between the driver's past experiences and the unconscious calculation of the possibilities to avoid an accident.
The thinking that 'theoretical information can ruin our natural purity and the ability to connect with the divine' is a childish attitude. Indeed there is no spiritual path anywhere in history of the world that does not include an apprenticeship, which serves to bend the ego strength which always tries to make us believe that 'just as we are' we are perfect.
It is very beautiful to look at the sunset, but even more beautiful is to comprehend it. We confuse very often learning with knowledge, experience with wisdom, saying with doing, and this confusion leads many people to individual paths, that have value in itself, but only to understand our own limitations, and not longing for the divine.
The 'Divine' is the force of 'Love' that unites everything. It is the manifestation in the whole reality of the eternal symbols, and only knowing the deep meaning of such symbols we can expect to enjoy improvement in the life we share all together here in this world.