Analysis of Different Types of Psychological Conflicts in Attar’s Prespective and the Way of Dealing with them

In psychology, divergent conflicts are among the critical motives for mental and neurosis disorders. Psychologists have attempted to provide solutions for these conflicts by introducing them, in order to reduce mental disorders in society. One of the subjects of controvercies with respect to the confounds of psychology in Attar’s writings considering his mystical viewpoints, is the vaious kinds of conflicts and their solutions. Since Attar uses a very plain and simple language in his writings and many stories and anecdotes for introducing important mystical topics, it is important to analyze his writings through this point of view in order to explain psychological ideas alongside mystical ones and use that to improve the mental health within the society. This study tries to explain Attar’s viewpoint and solutions, which are mentioned in his four Mathnavis, about three conflict types of interpersonal, social, and intrapersonal using a descriptive-analytical approach. As it appears, Attar has presented approaches for resolving conflicts. These solutions are sometimes in accordance with psychological solutions and sometimes in contradiction with them. Nevertheless, they can be used to reduce the existing conflicts and their outcomes. Among the most important solutions mentioned by Attar for removing or overcoming conflicts are using communication, allegory and anecdotes, kind language, recognition and explaining the problem, submission and compromising, objecting and criticizing the society, criticizing rulers through poems, humor and stories, and fighting the inner human urges to resolve the issues. 
Introduction:
The similarity between mysticism and psychology has always been a popular topic among scholars. Since both of these subjects are about human psyche and mind, they can have quite a lot of points in common. Although in the beginning, psychology was more about studying mental illnesses rather than mental health and did not have much connection with religion and human spirit, but over time an increasing number of psychologists have paid attention to religion and human spirit in their researches and realized the perfection and changeability of humans. Psychologists have also considered the human connections with other members of the society and find the reason for many mental illnesses in the interpersonal relation of a human being with him or herself as well as his or her relation with the society.
In mystical literature, much attention has been paid to human spirit. Mystics have always considered this world to be a facade that is free of any value or worth. Instead, they have often talked about human spirit and have tried to lead their readers to make use of their self-knowledge and theology (gaining knowledge about God). Among them, Attar is one of those mystics who shows mental and ideological worldviews in her poems. He talks about many spiritual factors in humans and tries to convey his meanings using stories and anecdotes. He also pays a lot of attention to humans’ relation with the society and other people. Because of this, many of the conflicts mentioned in the works of psychologists can be found in Attar’s writings with considerable results. In this study, the authors struggled to answer two main questions. First, what are the most common internal and external conflicts and struggles? Second, how can we solve them?
Materials and Methods:
This research first tries to study the four books of Attar, and then to analyze different conflicts and how to resolve them, using an analytical descriptive method. In the end, it tries to compare and analyze Attar’s views and ideas with psychology.
Results and Discussion:
Conflict in psychology:
From a psychological point of view, conflicts are a type of mental pressure and one of the leading reasons that could endanger the mental health of people. Psychologists use the term conflict to talk about situations where a person experiences opposite people, events, goals, behaviors, and tensions at the same time.
Different kinds of conflicts from the point of view of psychology:
From the point of view of psychology, three types of conflicts could cause mental illnesses: A. Interpersonal conflicts. B. conflict between a person and the society. C. intrapersonal conflicts.

Interpersonal conflicts:

Interpersonal conflicts are the type of conflict that occur between two people because of different personal beliefs and preferences. This type of conflict often causes, anger, violence, and unsatisfaction. Psychology offers different solutions for resolving these conflicts. One of the most important solutions is peaceful conversation to achieve agreement. Attar, uses anecdotes and conversations to convey meanings. In some of his stories he presents his meaning through a dialogue between two people which in a way shows interpersonal conflicts. Another clear example of interpersonal conflict is the conversations between Hodhod and other birds in Manteq al-Teyr.

Conflicts between a person and society:

From the perspective of psychology, this type of conflict usually occurs over the values of the ruler of the society. In this situation, a group of people of believe that their values are in conflict with the values of society. This trembles the mental security of the person. The conflict between the values of a person and society is one of the reasons behind the decline of mental health. If these conflicts are too deep, they could cause tension, anxiety, and depression. The conflicts between a person and society are shown in two ways in the works of Attar: 1. Criticizing rulers and politicians. 2. Criticizing moral and social issues common in the society. Through anecdotes, the poet criticizes common moral and social issues in the society of his time or the behaviors of the rules, kings, and authorities with sarcasm and humiliation.

Intrapersonal conflicts:

Interpersonal conflicts are considered by psychologists as one of the main reasons behind tensions and mental pressures. They believe that internal processes, such as unresolved conflicts can cause tensions and mental pressures whether individuals are aware of them or not. The issue of intrapersonal conflicts in mysticism is often conveyed through the conflict between Nafs and mind, and heart and soul. Attar, has paid much attention to this subject and has shown fighting against Nafs through many anecdotes and stories. Conflicts between Nafs and mind or heart can be a pull-pull conflict or a pull-push conflict. In many cases, humans have these conflicts because of their inner desires. On the one hand, humans tend to enjoy this world’s blessings, on the other hand, the thought of afterlife and achieving perfection is another desirable outcome for which he needs to leave worldly enjoyments. So, humans in life want two outcomes which are in conflict with each other. Achieving one could mean losing the other.
Conclusion:
Through studying the four books of Attar, it can be concluded that he has shown different conflicts in psychology through anecdotes, and that he has directly or indirectly presented solutions for them as well. In order for reducing interpersonal conflicts, he suggests dialogue, problem solving, and adjustments. In the conflicts between a person and the society, he uses madmen and other characters from his stories and addresses the rules, and mischievous men of his society. He tries to convey his criticisms to everyone through the voice of his main characters. In terms of intrapersonal conflicts, the conflicts between Nafs and brain or heart can be of a pull-pull or a pull-push type. He considers defeating Nafs as the only solution to this type of problem which can lead to peace and a healthy mental state. To teach his ideas to his readers in the best possible way, Attar, uses story telling and anecdotes. Conveying such topics through examples, makes them much more effective and understandable. The results of this research shows that the best way to resolve the conflicts between people and society is dialogue which is accepted today by the global community. Therefore, Attar’s works can be used to resolve different conflicts or at the very least reduce them