Obstacles of Living Morally In Nahj al-Balaghah and Letters of Paul

One of the important question about living morally is that why human beings though thay will to live morally,can not live morally. In other words, why the moral life is difficult? To answer the question, it can be said that  there are some obstacles on getting to any aim, and the human being faces some obstacles on living morally. These obstacles can be divided into two divisions: the external, and the internal. In this thesis, we have examined the internal obstacles and have called them “the psychological obstacles. The psychological obstacles, themselves, are divided into divisions: the epistemic and the non-epistemic. In Imam Ali’s and Paul’s words, there are many sayings about living morally, in which it has been mainly emphasized on the importance of the obstacles of living moraaly especially the internal obstacles.  Thus, in this thesis /dissertation, we are going to discover, extract and deduce the obstacles of living morally in the moral doctrines and commands of Nahj al- Balaghah and Paul’s Apostles by a descriptive- analytic method. By exploring in Nahj al- Balaghah and Paul’s Apostles, it can be understood that some things as the lack of self- discipline, egoism and heteronomy and their corresponding vices such as greed, anger, covet, sparing, envy and hypocrisy are the non- eopistemic obstacles of living morally, and some things as ignorance, deception ( This world (Dunya), Satan(Iblis), passion and lust), pride, fanaticism and dogmatism are among the epistemic obstacles of living morally. According to Imam Ali, the ignorance is the greatest epistemic and non- epistemic obstacles of living morally. Ignorance, as opposed to the “patience”(Hilm), is a non-epistemic obstacle, and, as opposed to the “knowledge”(Ilm) and “reason”(Agl), is an epistemic obstacle of living morally. According to Paul, the infidelity and living in terms of flesh are, in general,  the greatest obstacle of living morally,and living in terms of the flesh has consequences,among which the “pride” is the greatest epistemic obstacle, and the “covet” is the greatest non-epistemic psychological obstacle of living morally.