The Analysis of Human Nature by Dr Muhammad Rafi-ud-Din

The Analysis of human nature – two levels of natural human desires
       We now need to analyse in detail what man’s nature means and what is the character of his natural love? Man’s nature means his instinctive desires. They have two levels as follows.

a. The Lower Desires of Man

Firstly, the desires on the animals or biological level, e.g. feeding, sex, fear, or dislike of things which are harmful to the maintenance of life and liking for things which aid in its maintenance and are favorable for it etc. These Desires of man are common to him and the animals below him in the scale of evolution because man is also an animal, though a rational one. The Purpose of these desires is to enable man to preserve his life and race. Therefore they have an internal biological compulsion which compels him to seek their satisfaction. If this completion had not been there in these desires, man would have ignored them because of which life and that of his race would have been in danger. These desires of man, which have an internal biological compulsion and are common to him and the animals, have been given the name of “instincts”.

If man only had these desires in him, there wouldn’t have been need for any prophets to satisfy them because he would also have satisfied them as does an animal under compulsion. Then, why should man have been a human being; he would have been only an animal and called no more than an animal.

b. The Higher Desires of Man

Secondly, those desire which are of a level higher than that of the biological level. It is this level of his desires which differentiates man from the animal. It is the Special privilege of man which is not shared by other animals. The desires of this level are not biological but physiological in nature. In other words, their aim is not the development of the body but that of the soul or the human self. All the desires on this level are sub-ser-vi-cent to one desire alone. Thus it will be correct to say that there is virtually only one desire on this level. This desire takes the form of an intense love for a beautiful ideal (i.e. an ideal to which a person may ascribe the limit or beauty and perfection, whether it may exist in it or not).