Üsküdar Üniversitesi Founding Rector, Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan was a guest of the ‘Müstakil Akademi 5. Silsile’ training program. Tarhan, making evaluations to the youth regarding the topic of ‘The Changing World and Youth,’ stated that it has begun to be understood in the new era that emotional skills are more important than technical skills. Tarhan; “It led to the prominence of neuroscience-based learning and education with real content. Value-based education is an education system where values are taught even in physics and chemistry,” he said.
Global Civilization Crisis: California Syndrome
Üsküdar Üniversitesi Founding Rector, Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, in the training program he attended, drew attention to the California syndrome and the lifestyle in which people glorify hedonism. Tarhan; “I want to talk about a syndrome called California syndrome. A civilization crisis; I used to call it the Western civilization crisis, but now it has become a global civilization crisis. Firstly, hedonism, that is, in the California syndrome, there is a way of life where people whose life philosophy is hedonism, who are hedonistic, glorify hedonism. If you ask someone with California syndrome what their Ego ideal is, it doesn't necessarily have to be in California. It exists in Istanbul, Antalya, Erzurum, it's everywhere... A person who has this glorifies pleasure; it's essentially capitalist morality. Narcissism begins, that is, a lack of empathy; this person is a more advanced form of selfishness. Books are currently being written in the USA about a narcissism epidemic. Narcissism, selfishness is merely selfishness becoming a personality; people who only think of their own interests, who only think of themselves as special and important, who see themselves as the center of the world, do not recognize others and 'the other' today; we can call it a colonialist mindset. Loneliness, as the third problem here, alienation, has become the West's globalizing problem. And fourthly, unhappiness, depression, and suicide emerge. The California syndrome is not written in psychiatry books, but it should be thought of more as popular science terminology; the world is heading in this direction,' he said.
“We used to say subconscious, now we say implicit memory”
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, drawing attention to the 3 fragile points of youth, said; “Think about the slogans of the youth during the Constitutional Monarchy era, what were they saying? Equality, brotherhood, freedom (Müsavat, uhuvvet, hürriyet), meaning peace, justice, innocence, fraternity, and freedom, and this is the same. Today's youth hate authoritarian behaviors. The reason they said 'freedom' was that they wanted freedom-oriented governance instead of fear-oriented governance, and they had an expectation of freedom. Because these could not be met, during the March 31st Incident, the youth of that time and the system's status quo clashed. Are the same risks present now, or not? I leave the analysis of that to you. Here, the youth have developed reverse identities. So, why is a psychological revolution happening in the world we live in? After the human brain was discovered in the changing world, even philosophy will be rewritten. Neurophilosophy and Neurotheology exist, meaning the relationship between the brain and religion has emerged. Why is it like that? Look, it currently shows how the brain works. When words are heard, when words are spoken, when words are formed, when words are seen, it works in almost every part of the brain. During speech, all parts of the brain work; our brain is like this. The brain is not a silent organ; it constantly works tirelessly. The brain works even during sleep, just as it does when awake, during the period we dream. That's why the brain works even during sleep. The brain classifies information in its sleep. It keeps important information in memory and moves unimportant information to implicit memory. We used to call it the subconscious, now we call it implicit memory. The brain is an amazing organ, and we are currently talking about the quantum brain. Our brain is not just a brain; there is a quantum brain above our brain,' he said.
“Religion and Belief Have Now Entered the Laboratory”
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan made evaluations regarding Levh-i Mahfuz. Tarhan; “There is evidence in the Quran that the universe is digital; I found it. There is evidence of Levh-i Mahfuz. Levh-i Mahfuz means the master book. That is, the master book is equivalent to the universal database in information technologies. Allah wrote the universal database and named it Levh-i Mahfuz. First He created the souls, then He created the universe, He created mathematics. For example, He created the universe; there was the first Big Bang 15 billion years ago. Then there is the Milky Way Galaxy, and there is a black hole in the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. The Earth's distance to the black hole is 25 thousand light-years. The Earth rotates around its own axis at 360 meters per second. What is 360 meters? A football field is 90 meters in size. So, the Earth rotates as fast as four football fields per second. So how does the Earth revolve around the Sun? The Earth revolves around the Sun at a speed of 30 km per second. The Earth rotates around its own axis at 360 meters, but around the Sun at 30 thousand meters, 30 kilometers. There is a third speed; the Solar System also rapidly revolves around the Milky Way. Its rotation speed is 210 km. Per second, the Earth revolves around the black hole, in the Milky Way, at a speed of 210 km per second, or 210 thousand meters. There is an incredible calculation, and in Surah Yasin, Allah created everything with calculation. This calculation has not changed for billions of years; if it were to change, if the sun were to say 'I'm not turning today,' everything would be overturned. Even the watch on our wrist breaks. Even the most expensive watch breaks after a while, but this order in the universe, an order that works perfectly like a clock, an artful order superior to a clock, continues exactly the same. This can only happen by a supreme power, a will with wisdom and might, who created the high universal database. That also affirms the belief in monotheism (Tawhid). Monotheism (Tawhid) is scientific knowledge; both beliefs are evidence-based beliefs. Therefore, religion has now entered the laboratory, belief has entered the laboratory. Scientific evidence that we can confidently defend belief scientifically has been gathered, and I tried to explain this in my book 'Psychology of Wisdom,'” he said.
“There is a Global Addiction Epidemic”
He mentioned that Üsküdar Üniversitesi introduced the ‘Positive Psychology’ course in 2013. Tarhan; “Globally, there is an addiction epidemic right now. So, what solution did the West find for this? In 2015, Harvard published a course, number 1504, as a groundbreaking course. They introduced positive psychology as a course and are still teaching it. It taught saying mercy, taught gratitude, thus taught the science of happiness, taught meaning and values, taught meditation. Actually, Harvard introduced this Eastern wisdom, Anatolian wisdom, as a course within scientific methodology. But these courses are not in our education system. But we, as Üsküdar Üniversitesi, introduced it in 2013, before Harvard did in 2015, and it is still ongoing. Yale University introduced the happiness course in 2018. In fact, Yale University later made it public after the pandemic began in 2021, and 3.5 million people registered in a short time, and the New York Times reported on it. It says 3.5 million people took the happiness course. It is also announced as the science of goodness. Later, after its publication in England, a ministry was established. The United Kingdom and Japan established ministries of loneliness in 2021. It was established in England in 2018. We established the positive psychology course in 2013, even before Harvard. Our students take a 14-week, credited course per semester, and we conduct pre-tests and post-tests for them. We definitely get the course outcomes, the learning outcomes, and students give feedback saying, 'my relationships with my father improved,' 'my relationships with my friends improved,' 'I became at peace with myself.' Could there be anything better than us integrating this for our students? We teach prophetic ethics without mentioning the name. When they understand, people actually see it there. Bristol University also introduced a similar course in 2019 due to the increase in suicides,' he said.
“Every Student is a Leader Candidate”
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan made evaluations on what qualities a leader candidate should possess. Tarhan; “Each of us is a leader candidate. Every student is a leader candidate. First, they are their own leader. Then, they are the leader of their family. Then, if they are a manager, they are the leader of their workplace. What qualities should a leader candidate possess? Modernism tells us that being smart and hardworking is enough. Being smart and hardworking is not enough. We need to educate smart, hardworking, and well-intentioned people. We need to teach young people good human values and character values. However, those character strengths are as follows; these character strengths, which are scientifically accepted, are also nourished by Gardner's positive psychology theory. Gardner, the man who discovered the concept of multiple intelligences at Harvard, defined this in 1980. He defined six themes: Wisdom, courage, humanity. Within wisdom are originality, curiosity, openness to learning, open-mindedness, and a broad perspective. These constitute five character strengths. Intelligence. It assesses a person's intelligence capacity in terms of knowledge and values. To what extent? Wisdom is also linked to the extent to which one shares things with others. It's not enough to know something; it's a wisdom related to being able to share it with other people,' he said.
“It is Not Possible for a Person Who Changes Their Lifestyle to Fall into Depression”
Tarhan, speaking about how a child who doesn't ask questions is one who cannot develop their brain, lacks reasoning, and is closed to new experiences; “When raising children, we teach our child to be silent and defer to elders. We say, 'My child, be quiet, don't do something shameful, it's a sin.' What does a child who doesn't ask questions mean? A child emerges who cannot develop their brain, lacks reasoning, and is closed to new experiences. In our culture, we suppress children who ask questions. This situation does not suit the 21st century. The child will ask, and we will respond with counter-evidence. The fallacy of obedience culture has now become apparent. That's why new generations ask 'why?' They don't ask 'how do I pray?' They ask 'why should I pray?' Therefore, the youth's questions are different. We can make mistakes, we can commit sins; it's like this in spiritual aspects. In material matters, someone broke someone's heart, someone did something. In such situations, if there is intense guilt, that feeling of guilt remains in the person's brain as a trauma. Against that trauma, there are things a person can control and things they cannot control. There are things within one's power and things outside one's power. We work on this in therapy. Some events are beyond our power, events we cannot change. For example, there are impossible loves. There are platonic, forbidden loves. You suffer as a price for this. You suffer, then you become like Layla and Majnun. You pay the price. There are many suicides. Most of them are due to pathological love, impossible love; many people are hospitalized in psychiatric clinics for this. We see examples of this. Ultimately, it is very good for a person to realize this. For example, someone is sad about something. If there is a solution, it's not worth being sad. If there's no solution, it's still not worth being sad because the outcome won't change. Either way. Why should a person who thinks with this logic be sad? In most cases, we cannot accept this state of guilt and cannot manage it. We cannot be forgiving. If it's unforgivable, accept and manage it. If it's forgivable, forgive. Therefore, if we change our lifestyle, it is not possible for a person to fall into depression,' he said.
“Someone Who Manages Their Time Will Not Become a Social Media Addict”
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan talked about chemical addictions and behavioral addictions. Tarhan; “For something to be an addiction, it contains habit and addiction. Addiction is the state where a habit has become captivity, enslavement. That person is controlled by the thing they are addicted to. There is substance addiction, such as heroin, cocaine. These are chemical addictions. The other is behavioral addiction, such as social media, gambling, and shopping addiction. These have also entered the literature as behavioral addictions. Among behavioral addictions are technology addiction, social media, digital addiction. We are in a digital generation. There is digital addiction. In such a situation, if parents intelligently manage their mobile phones and computers, have these become their subject or object? Think about that. Have we become the subject or object of YouTube? Do we manage social media according to our needs, or does it manage us? Google has established a persuasion laboratory. The conclusion reached in the persuasion laboratory: if we change attention, importance, and priorities, we will hook people. To change what is important, it affects time management. To change priorities, it manages attention. That's why I created an attention and time pyramid. I wrote about it in my book 'Psychology of Wisdom.' There, we will dedicate most of our time to the most important things. Less time to less important things. Someone who manages their time will not become a social media addict. It is necessary to teach a child money management until the age of 10. It is necessary to teach the concept of budget. Someone who learns money management also learns time management. Because they operate with the same dynamic. You will manage time. Time will not manage you. You will be the boss of money. Money will not be your boss. That is also about controlling desires, urges, impulses. Someone with self-control and inner discipline will be the subject of social media, not its object. They will not be its slave. If parents are successful in this regard, the child also resembles them,' he said.
“If You Gather All Goodness into a Room, Humility and Honesty Open Its Door”
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, stating that we can get rid of addictive behaviors if we can develop self-discipline and self-direction; “If you gather all evils into a room, pride, arrogance open its door. If you gather all goodness into a room, humility and honesty open its door. Lying and unlawful (haram) things open the door to all evils. Lawful (halal) and truthfulness open the door to all goodness. Be careful about lying and unlawful things. Rest assured, in life, Allah helps people unknowingly, as if giving them guardian angels. Someone who continues with these two elements while studying, doing business, or working daily is unknowingly protected from evil. If this morality can be the morality of all of us, we can be saved from the evils of many addictions in this regard. Moreover, when it reaches the point of addiction, the human brain changes. While the reward-punishment system in the brain is normally like footpaths, in the brains of substance users who are addicted, the reward part of the reward-punishment system becomes like a highway. They are not satisfied with the reward. That's why addicts are said to have 'reward deficiency syndrome'. At that point, hospital treatment is required. Because without strong treatment in the brain, that person does not refrain from harmful behaviors. If we can develop self-discipline and self-direction, we can get rid of addictive behaviors and manage our time, impulses, desires, and wishes well. We can tame the wild horse within us. If we cannot do this, the wild horse will take itself wherever it wants. We will waste ourselves,' he said.
“A Person Whose Home is Peaceful Should Never Fear for Their Children”
Tarhan, making evaluations about how children should not be taught things with shame, prohibition, and sin; “Until the age of 18, parents are natural guardians. In such situations, parental approval is required for major decisions. What is sexuality? Sexual intimacy is something special and important. Something special and important is experienced in a person's life with a special and important person. Who is that special, important person? It is one's spouse. It is experienced with them. When you explain it like this to a child, every child is convinced. What happens when there is casual sexuality? As I just mentioned with the statistics, adolescent mothers emerge. Many children contract HIV. Girls engage in casual sexuality. Girls also pay the biggest price. In my opinion, someone who advocates for casual sexuality is malicious. We will teach this at a young age without frightening them. We will teach it for their benefit. We will not teach it with shame, prohibition, or sin. 'My daughter, my son, casual sexuality is not right for these reasons; it should be experienced with the person you marry.' We especially need to teach this before the age of 12. When you teach it then, that child easily handles it. Because its seeds are sown in their developing soul at a young age, they have an advantage in life. Therefore, a person whose home is lovely, beautiful, and peaceful should never fear for their children, thinking they became addicted or made a mistake. Or that they exercised freedom and made a mistake. They may make some mistakes, but they can return from those mistakes,' he said.
Reporter: Ebranur Özdemir