What Is Estimation, and What Role Does It Play in Our Lives?

Have you ever thought what illusion and estimation are and what they do to our perception? Do they have a positive impact on our lives? Why do we often hear about the negative effects of illusion? We want to answer these questions in this article.

‘Turning the world upside down’ is what illusion does to us. Illusion is, in fact, the estimative faculty that has gone out of the control of the intellect. Illusion can mislead the mind in its evaluations, analysis, recognizing norms and anomalies, and ultimately determining what is good and bad. In fact, it turns the truth upside down and gives our intellect a different interpretation of reality. It is like an accountant who gives wrong data and information to his employer and misleads her in her evaluations.

When our focus is on the estimative faculty, in other words, when estimation governs us, instead of logically analyzing input data, we rely on the information that estimation gives us. As a result, the estimative faculty veils our perception of theoretical information and knowledge and brings other faculties under its control. In cases where estimation exerts high control, the individual becomes illusional and loses his balance. So far, we have become somehow familiar with the estimative faculty, now it is time to find the answer to these questions: “What is estimation and what role and status does it have among the levels of our soul?”

A Specialized Answer to the Question “What Is Estimation?”

A brief answer to the question “What is estimation?” could be that estimation is the third level of our existence which acts as an intermediary between imagination and the intellect. It interprets the images that are formed through imagination in the soul, and then it gives them to the intellect to derive general formulas.

If we were to provide a more specialized answer to the question “What is estimation?” we would say that estimation is a tool for the “perception of general meanings.” In fact, estimation is a more general manifestation of the concepts that imagination understands. For example, the image we have of our mother in our mind is imaginal, while our understanding of the general concept of motherhood is formed in our estimation.

Estimation, like other dimensions of our existence, finds peace with its own partner or beloved, i.e., estimative forms.

To better understand the question “What is estimation” and find out how estimation works, we must know that it is one of the most rebellious faculties of our existence, and our human spiritual) dimension cannot control it easily. It constantly seeks to take control of our soul, rule over us, and drown us in estimations such as status, position, fame, and popularity.

Why Do We Need the Estimative Faculty?

When we neglect and underestimate fitri (innate) and spiritual matters, our material nature (lower self) gradually dominates our fitrah. As a result, the power of our animal dimension increases. In these conditions, estimation hinders our proper understanding, preventing us from properly analyzing issues; in other words, it presents facts to us in a distorted way.

We have often heard that imagination and estimation are tools we use to justify our mistakes. Sometimes, they hide behind good deeds and involve us in estimative perfections and even something admirable such as cultural or political activity. Here, what really matters is our true intention behind these actions. If we do these things with the goal of gaining social status, popularity, and fame to make ourselves look good, they are nothing but estimations. Now this question may arise: Is estimation really necessary?

The truth is that all levels of our existence are interconnected, and if one dimension of our being is disrupted, it affects the functioning of other dimensions as well. It is like the gears of a clock that rely on each other, and if one gear is missing, the entire clock system will be disrupted and unable to function properly. Therefore, we cannot remove or ignore any of these stages and still expect the whole system to continue operating smoothly.

For example, the intellect dictates that a dead person has nothing to fear and cannot harm us; but when the lower levels, i.e., imagination and estimation, are tainted, we involuntarily fear the dead. This means that the intellect cannot convince us that the dead do not harm us, and it is estimation and imagination that decide for us. This shows that as long as the lower levels are tainted, higher levels cannot perform their duties properly. Therefore, they are influenced by lower faculties and ultimately lose their efficiency.

 What Is the Difference between Imagination and Estimation?

Both imagination and estimation are levels of our existence, and most people think that these two mean the same thing. Sometimes, we even use them interchangeably. For example, when someone is under illusion, we might say “His imagination must be playing tricks on him!” But what is the real connection between imagination and estimation?

Imagination can exist without estimation, but estimation always requires an imaginal manifestation. In other words, we may have an imaginal picture in our mind and do not understand its general meaning; or it may not have a general meaning. But it is impossible to know the general and universal meaning of something while we do not know any specific examples of it. That is, in order to understand a general concept, we need to perceive a manifestation or an example of it.

Let us clarify this with an example: Fear is something we have experienced, such as being scared by a fierce dog that ran towards us and made us feel scared. When we recall this event, an imaginal picture of being scared of dogs is formed. Our general perception of the concept of fear in this incident and any other type of fear is related to our estimative faculty. The general rules and formulas about fear in our mind are related to our intellective faculty.

Of course, the relationship between estimation and imagination is not only limited to the formation of estimation out of imagination. In fact, the most important step in controlling estimation is controlling imagination. As we mentioned, if an image or imagination does not exist, an estimation does not take shape. So discovering the question “What is estimation and how does it work?” is not enough. To control our estimative faculty, we must be able to control its source. We cannot allow our imagination to fly in any direction and expect our estimative faculty to remain healthy and pure.

In this article, we tried to find the answer to “What is estimation?” and we examined the difference between estimation and imagination. We listed some examples of the effects of illusion and the power of estimation compared to other faculties of our existence. We mentioned some of the damages to our estimative faculty and talked about the role of estimation in understanding meanings and its connection with the intellect.

If you are interested in learning more about the next faculty of the soul, which is the intellect, the next lesson will be useful for you.