Will and Perfection
Will and Perfection
Based on the foregoing, we can conclude that moral life consists, in a sense, of man's struggle against his own carnal self. These struggles must be continuous. Thus, a morally-approved life is the outcome of a contest between our bodily or mundane desires and our reason and willpower, i.e., the struggle to get rid of that which is not befitting to human beings.
People can attain true freedom by fighting against and dominating over their corporeal desires and lusts. In this regard, people can be categorized into three groups: those who are beaten by their corporeal desires and lusts, those who continue to struggle against them, and those who have won over them.
For Al Ghazali, a sure path to perfection (kamal) is knowledge and freedom, and knowledge helps man to attain the knowledge of God (ma'rifat al-allah), and freedom salvages man from entrapment to passions and lusts and as well as to worldly sorrows. This perfection is not delusional and survive death. For him, if man renounces his ill intentions by resisting against his nature, this means he has succeeded with a strong efforts and thereby evaded responsibility. If, on the other hand, he gives up not out of such an effort, but because of weakness, negligence, embarrassment or other reasons that do not rely on good faith, he cannot escape moral responsibility.