The Contemporary Human Has Lost the Ability to Ask the Right Questions and Present the Right Methods

According to the public relations and website of Khatam University, the first meeting of the series of "Conversation with an Architect" titled "Questions and Methods in Architecture" took place on Wednesday, March 6th, with the speech of Dr. Babak Abdol Ghaffari; an expert in the field of architecture in the conference hall of Imam Reza (AS) at Khatam University.

Dr. Abdol Ghaffari presented his speech in two parts: an introduction named "Disturbance" and a discussion plan named "Question and Method". He also shared some of his many years of experience in architecture.

He started his speech with the phrase "everything that has been ruined is ruined and everything that is prosperous is facing destruction". Then he mentioned the differences in two views: one was the perspective of the traditional human and the other was the perspective of the contemporary human to the world.

Abdol Ghaffari added: “The whole problem of the traditional human in the true sense of the word is faith, and on the other hand, the whole problem of the contemporary human is wisdom. The whole problem of the traditional human is the production of peace, and on the other hand, the whole problem of the contemporary human is comfort. The imbalance between the body and the mind is the cause of the disorder that we experience in the form of fear.”

He also added: “The whole problem of an artist in the past was the production of works, and on the other hand, the whole problem of the contemporary human is self-expression. In fact, in the past, a farmer involved in producing an agricultural product was actually an artist which is difficult for us to imagine today.”

This architect continued: "Art in the past was etymologically derived from ‘Hoveh’ (meaning good) + ‘Nereh’ (meaning human in general) which means a good person. The whole problem of the traditional human is the creation of goodness and kindness, and on the other hand, the whole problem of the contemporary human is the creation of pleasure since they are busy with consumption and excitement all the time.”

Abdol Ghafari explained: “The whole problem of the traditional human is the truth, and the whole problem of the contemporary human is the profit. The truth is a quality of understanding and there is this thought that only useful things are good.”

He mentioned the role of the media in this "contemporary human colonization" and reminded: “The media knows well how to implement this contemporary human colonization. By homogenizing human tastes and interests, they have taken away the power of disagreeing and saying no.”

This architect continued: “We have lost freedom. The word ‘Azadi’ which means freedom in Farsi is a combination of "A" (which means big) and "Zad" which means born. The whole word means to be born big. However, the media has reduced freedom to having individual rights. Today, no one is trying to build a life, but to live a life.”

In the second part of his speech, Abdol Ghafari addressed the main issue of questions and methods in architecture and said: “Every constructive act has three parts: questions, methods, and answers. The contemporary human has lost the ability to ask the right questions and present the right methods.”

He also added: “The answers to the questions are usually next to the questions themselves, but finding the right answer requires meditation and thinking, which the modern human avoids. On the contrary, the modern human thinks that the answers to all the questions lie somewhere far away.”

In addition to his words, this architect expressed and described the course of his intellectual and practical activities in understanding the world around him, as well as his professional activities in the field of architecture.

At the end of the session and in the question-and-answer section, Abdol Ghafari answered a question about how to make the world more beautiful. “The answer is to use the power of imagination. Imagination is the most effective tool that can be used to think differently,” he said.