THE JOURNEY OF THE SELF
(Excerpts Only)

By: Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri

Chapter 4 (Continues)
Treatment, Cure and Fulfillment

The Treatment and Cure of the Self

In physical treatment, the modern doctor examines and recognizes the state of his patient, and considers the causes and effects in order to understand the nature and root of the illness. We have a similar situation in the treatment of the self, its symptoms, conditions and vices. Such treatment is often termed as spiritual medicine. According to Islamic teachings, we must also observe natural cause and effect, to understand how these vices occur and how to overcome them. Ultimately, all treatment of the self depends on removal of the root source of these vices.

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The Three Major Sources of the Conditions of the Self

According to Tusi, the major sources of the conditions of the self are rooted in the three primary forces or powers that propel the human self.

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The major sources of symptoms of each of the three primary forces can be described in outline form as follows:

1. The power of attraction, when in a state of (a) excess, manifests itself as envy and its various forms of greed, gluttony, passion, and lust for persons and objects that are not appropriate to it. In a state of (b) neglect, it manifests itself in sloth, in being too languid to seek sustenance, in being incapable of carrying on one's own life, and in sluggishness of appetite. In a state of (c) perversion, it manifests itself as indulgence, relish in consuming or eating corrupt, un-nourishing things, and in all aspects of perverted sexuality, such as homosexuality and all use of appetite outside the natural laws.
    

2. The power of repulsion, when in a state of (a) excess, manifests itself in anger, violent rage, vindictiveness, unfounded jealousy, and so on. In a state of (b) neglect, manifests itself in cowardice, lack of self-regard, general weakness in one's nature, and faintheartedness. When in a state of (c) perversion, it manifests itself as fear, and yearning for perverse or unjust revenge.
    

3. The power of discrimination, when in a state of (a) excess, manifests itself as perplexity, being troubled, or as a showing guile, cleverness or too much ingenuity. When in a state of (b) neglect, it manifests itself as simple ignorance, foolishness, stupidity, inadequacy and inability to speculate or discern. In a state of (c) perversion, it manifests itself as compounded ignorance, as a yearning for knowledge which does not assist in the development and perfecting of the self and in seeking irrelevant information and facts that are no use for self-development.

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Conditions of the Power of Attraction

The most severe of the conditions of attraction, or desire, as we have mentioned, are the following: envy, which arises out of excess; sloth, which arises out of neglect; and indulgence, which arises out of perversion.

1. Envy. Envy arises when the power of attraction in the self reaches a point of excess and manifests itself as greed, gluttony, passion, and lust for persons and objects that are not appropriate or conducive to one's state of well-being. An excess of greed causes one to wish to be graced with the advantages, achievements and possessions of other people without having gone through the process of earning them. The aspiration of the envious person is to remove these advantages from others and attract them to himself. Yet the fortunes of others are the direct result of the interaction of countless variables that are particular to the individual being and cannot be earned, gained or possessed without experiencing or being subjected to those circumstances. The envious person covets the fruits of that experience without being willing or able to engage in the process that leads to them. It is therefore based an ignorance of the unified nature of reality.

The origin of this vice is in the compounding of ignorance and avidity: ignorance of the fact that the outcome is only going to satisfy us temporarily, and avidity which reflects the basic insecurity of our nature. For it is quite out of the question for one person to hope to amass all of the worldly goods and possessions and achievements of all other beings. Even if such a possibility were to occur, the avid, envious person would derive no satisfaction from it, for by one's very nature new desires will continue to arise as long as one lives. The envious must also be made to see that one's avidity can never be satisfied by things designed to feed the lower self, which by its nature is insatiable. The appetite of envy can never be filled. Therefore the outcome of the state of envy can only be grief and suffering.

Envy has been described⁽³⁾ as the most abominable and odious of conditions. Odious is the person who wishes to have harm befall his enemy, and more harmful still is he who wishes harm to befall someone who is not even his enemy. So the condition of envy is the most abominable of all, and consequently one is always grief-stricken, for such a person can only seek to overcome distress at the expense of others, that is, by acquiring the good of others.

The most destructive of all kinds of envy is that which occurs among people of intellect, as it is a very subtle and deep illness. It is that type of envy which is directed against other people of wisdom and their gaining in knowledge.

To overcome envy, one needs to reflect upon the fact that envy is the result of ignorance of the nature of reality. To consider the total position, both negative and positive, of the person who is envied could rationally reveal to the envious one how whimsical and illogical his mental state is. If one is envious of another's wealth, for example, a brief consideration of how that wealth was obtained could illustrate how untenable one's desire is. That wealth could have been obtained by inheritance, which one cannot emulate. If, on the other hand, one considers the hard work, commitment and many sacrifices that may have gone into acquiring that wealth, and one is willing and able to make those same commitments and emulate them, then it is no longer envy, and it becomes a positive objective that one can strive toward. Inherent in envy is a falsehood of premise which needs to be investigated. Once found, one is released from envy.

We need to differentiate between envy and emulation. Emulation is a desire to acquire a noble quality or a desired object belonging to another, without any wish for its removal from that person. Emulation, moreover, is of two kinds: one is praiseworthy and one is reprehensible. Praiseworthy emulation occurs when the longing is directed towards acquiring various felicities and virtues. Reprehensible emulation is when the longing is directed to the baser appetites or pleasures. The same is true for avidity – it, too, can be directed either towards virtues or to worthless or harmful objectives.

2. Sloth. Sloth is based generally on two things: fear of change, and lack of positively regarded experiences.

Fear of change is fear of active and dynamic situations. Such situations necessarily involve a host of changing and therefore challenging factors – such as making decisions, being questioned and judged, and the possibility of failure – all of which can be avoided through sloth. Inimical to such challenges is the bitterness of potential disappointment, and therefore affliction and suffering. The person fearful of such exposure retreats through inactivity into the stagnation of sloth.

But sloth is concomitantly rooted in the lack of tasting and experiencing the positive aspects of living in this world and growing in knowledge; of developing outwardly – materially and socially – and inwardly, in inner awakenings and unfoldment.

The condition of a slothful person is like a man who is asleep. To awaken him, we use whatever measure – a gentle nudge, a hard tug, a bucket of water – will bring about a response. At the physical level, diet and exercise are essential ingredients, to be prescribed appropriately. One needs to be motivated to achieve health and, at other levels, to develop love for achievement or discovery. It could be sympathy or compassion for others which could bring about a positive energy in a person and cause him to act and overcome his sloth. It could be anger against injustice which could move him out of a condition of sloth, by taking on some activity against injustice.

The key is to find the right motivating factor which is appropriate at the time, and that can only be what touches the person and concerns him. What is important is to find the right hook – which can seem insignificant at first.

Then comes the development of an appetite for life and worldly joys. Consideration of the natural laws, beauty and other things can all be used as an attraction to enable the healthy energies of life to flow into the slothful one. After all, the interaction with life comes about either through basic physical needs or from the love of knowledge and inner discovery. One way or another, we need to be propelled into the dynamics of life, where learning and growth take place.

3. Indulgence. The third condition of attraction is indulgence in all that is despicable, which arises out of perversion. That perversion is in allowing the reins on behavior to be taken away from the higher self and given to the destructive carelessness of the lower self. Giving way to the excesses of the lower tendencies and desires manifests itself as relish in consuming corrupt, un-nourishing things, in all aspects of perverted sexuality and in all uses of appetite beyond the natural laws. There is no end to indulgence once one is fully immersed in it.

The treatment is based on abstinence. A complete abstinence extracts that patient from the state of indulgence, so that weaning can take place. If indulgence has reached such a point that a person has been put completely out of balance in his physical or inner state and is thoroughly immersed in it, then the only cure is total and utter severance from these indulgences. If it is moderate, then a cure may be effected by redressing the balance gradually until one is weaned off these baser tendencies.

Whatever appropriate measure is taken to enable the indulgent to recognize the benefits of his abstinence, it needs to open new horizons to compensate for what appears to be a restriction in the process of weaning him off his gluttony. The benefits in the form of better health, increased general well-being and greater energy are all conducive to better performance in other and new activities. Restriction, accompanied by the realization of the benefits from restriction, is the start of the curing process.

Summary

These three conditions related to the power of attraction are a result of neglecting the lower self instead of disciplining it, training it and leading it towards higher planes. However, basically all treatment of the lower self depends upon removal of the vices.

If a person allows the appetites and desires to rule over the self, one could end up in a worse state than the lowest of the animals. Once the self is obsessed by these desires, nothing can bring about lasting satisfaction, and its behavior will therefore be erratic and unstable.

One difference between the lower self of the human and the animal is that most animals in their natural habitat behave within general limits and will be satiated whereas the human being knows no limits. It starts with one thing which leads to another, and is never satisfied as it increases in its appetites and desires.

Also with human desire, we notice that it can shift from one direction to another. For example, love of beauty could lead to the love of collecting objects of beauty and art, or the love of gazing upon a beautiful face could end up in love of intercourse and so on; unlike the animal, where the appetites are much more basic and simple.

Another difference is that whereas the animal satisfies its appetite without thought or worry, the human being in satisfying his desire is always colored with fears and anxieties about them. It is stated in the Qur`an:

Satan [i.e. the lower self] has been made an enemy of you, so take him as such. (35:6)

It is related in a tradition that the Prophet said, 'For every human being there is a Satan.' He also said, 'Satan flows in the veins of all human beings, so he [i.e. our lower negative tendencies] affects all human beings.' This implies that Satan manifests himself through our lower nature and baser actions. In another tradition, the Prophet also said, 'God has helped me with my Satan [i.e. lower self], and it has submitted.'

So the remedy to control and elevate the lower self is by disciplining it, training it and leading it to the higher self.

The first and foremost remedy to stop the rampage of the lower self is to reduce its strength by restricting its fodder or fuel, in the sense of food, drink and all other physical gratifications. Restriction of diet and fasting increases sensitivity and awareness by means of which better balance and control can be achieved.

The second remedy is to weigh the self with greater discipline in order to train and encourage it in obedience so that it may be subservient with insight to rationality and correct thinking.

The third is to elevate the self by calling upon and turning towards the higher self. By doing so, one will learn the deep meaning of true submission and dependence upon reality.

If these three remedies are combined, it will be much easier for the self to be weaned of its baser elements, and to be enriched with its potential higher virtues.

The Conditions of the Power of Repulsion

The most severe of the conditions of repulsion, according to Tusi, are these three: anger, which arises out of excess; cowardice, which arises out of neglect; and fear, which arises out of perversion.

Anger

Anger derives from an excess of the force of repulsion, and manifests itself as rage, vindictiveness and the like.

The principal force behind anger is the appetite for vengeance, as suggested earlier. So forceful is the appetite for vengeance that one of our masters said that among the most difficult of actions is to have compassion and clemency when wrong has been done to one.

When the desire for revenge becomes uncontrollable, the fire of rage is ignited. The blood begins to seethe and the brain and arteries are excited and heated. That is why, in early Sufi writings, anger has been called a dark vapor. The intelligence is cut off as if by a veil, and its controlling influence over action grows feeble. The body becomes like a cave in a mountain, inside which a fire rages. Nothing can be seen except dense smoke and blackness. So the senses and higher faculties cannot in any way guide or control, or point to a way out once rage takes over. While this state lasts, it is virtually impossible to treat the sensory deterioration or to extinguish the blaze, for everything that is normally used to deal with an incipient conflagration now becomes the very fuel of its energy – indeed, the reason for its increase. If one rebukes or reproves rage, it only flares more intensely. If one resorts to placation, the burning brands simply multiply.

Naturally, the situation differs somewhat from one case to another and from one individual to the next, according to his or her constitution and type, Some people's constitutions resemble sulfur and ignite at the smallest spark; while others are like oil, which requires a greater cause to ignite, while still others are like dry wood, which takes more time to ignite and is easier to put out. Others have constitutions like wet wood, very much more difficult to ignite and fairly easy to extinguish.

One can extend these metaphors and examples until one reaches the case of the person who is almost impossible to ignite. At the other extreme, as we have at times experienced, there is the person with whom even the slightest cause, a mere word, produces the most volatile explosion.

Extreme rages within the self are worse than the case of a ship on the high seas during a typhoon. It is actually easier to bring such a ship to safety because there are people at work on board who are actively interested in reducing the danger and possibility of drowning, whereas a person who is full of rage has cut himself off from the senses that could prevail and control the rage.

Ali ibn Abi Talib has said that anger or vehemence is a kind of madness whose author can only have regrets, and if he does not acknowledge these regrets, then that madness becomes firmly established.

If anger is not acknowledged and dealt with, it can choke off the warmth of the heart, producing sicknesses which will only lead ultimately to destruction. The warmth of the heart means the normal pulse of life in a man's breast, which is its real function. We do not describe a furiously angry man as possessing a warm, supple or moving heart while he is angry.

Tusi provides a list of the major causes of anger: conceit, pride, contention, quarrelsomeness, jesting, arrogance, scorn, treachery, unfairness, and acquisitiveness.

At the centre of many, if not all, of the foregoing is the yearning for revenge.

(a) Conceit. <snipped>

(b) Pride. <snipped>

(c) Contention and (d) Quarrelsomeness. Contention and quarrelsomeness are both based on discord and disharmony, and are therefore aspects of ignorance. These two vices cause intimacy and friendship to disappear, producing instead repulsion, separation, dislike, hostility and ultimately destruction and breakdown, for the entire world and its functions and the universe itself depend on familiarity, love, harmony and unity.

Quarrelsomeness is among those basic corruptions that disrupt the order of the universe. As such, it is one of the most abhorred and destructive of vices. Engaging in contention or quarrelsomeness is to preserve one's own position while attacking another's. It is essentially destructive and negative.

The manner of resolving a dispute is as important as the reason for it. Quarrelsomeness only brings about greater anger, which in turn casts veil upon veil over ignorance. Instead of illuminating the heart of the matter, the darkness of ignorance is reinforced. It must therefore be stopped. The remedy is to bite one's tongue. Simply not to reply. Silence.

The treatment requires awareness and insight. The remedy can occur if one does not cling to a fixed image of oneself and one's position and reputation. Once a person sees that what one is doing is causing greater discord and dispersion, then the process of reduction and of an eventual end to one's pugnacious ways may occur. With that realization, one will only respond if it is of help or positive benefit to another, and if it upholds justice. This positive response will neutralize the contention, whereupon clarity will prevail and all will benefit.

(e) Jesting. <snipped>

(f) Arrogance. Arrogance is closely related to conceit and pride. The difference is that the conceited person lies to himself, while the arrogant and proud person lies to others. The foundation of arrogance is ultimately lack of inner stability and contentment.

Arrogance manifests itself in a number of ways: in physical beauty, intelligence, in one's opinions, ideas, beliefs, ancestry, wealth, property, social status, reputation, and in the collective strength of one's country, community or society.

The reason that this illness is so critical is that on many levels it does not allow for any progress or cure for the self. For example, even if one is doing good, by having seen that one is doing good, that itself prevents one from benefiting from the liberation and freedom that come from good actions.

The cure for arrogance is to look beyond the cause of our arrogance. If it is good works, then the cure is to look beyond the self to the source of all goodness, the Merciful Creator.

Ultimately, the cure for all forms of arrogance is to pull its roots out from the heart, completely, by self-knowledge, watchfulness and awareness.

A practical treatment is to put oneself in a lower position than another. Whatever the form of arrogance may be – for example, pride in one's spiritual knowledge – one must recognize that there are others with greater knowledge than oneself. One should also keep company with those of greater gifts than oneself.

To overcome arrogance, one must practice putting oneself behind others and placing others before oneself, and also lowering oneself before one's elders. Practicing humility by certain acts which we consider to be beneath ourselves, such as carrying luggage for others, taking food to the poor, watching one's manner of dress, so that we do not place ourselves above others by what we wear, and sometimes purposely wearing something that is ordinary and plain, and other similar acts of humility will help to bring about a cure.

It is always wise to see oneself as being smaller and less than other people at all times, and to practice humility. By constantly acknowledging our mistakes and what goes on within ourselves and publicly exposing it, the roots of arrogance will dry up and wither away.

(g) Scorn. <snipped>

(h) Treachery. <snipped>

(i) Unfairness. <snipped>

(j) Acquisitiveness. Here we find that virtually all humanity shares in the search for a measure of security in the form of material wealth, be they possessions, precious gems or other rare or desired objects. The fear of their loss, conversely, is a source of great insecurity, anxiety and stress.

There is a traditional story of a king whose subject brought him a most precious and unique crystal ball. This gift gave the king great happiness. It was kept in the safest place possible and he always derived the greatest pleasure and pride from exhibiting it. Until one day, the natural and inevitable thing happened to the crystal ball – its destruction. The king's grief was so great that he lost control over himself and thereby lost his kingdom. Thus an object that was meant to give joy and happiness ended up by being the source of the almost total destruction and ruin of the person concerned.

We know very well how much the possession of even ordinary belongings can cause grief and sorrow.

The belief that material possessions or precious objects are, quite rationally, considered to be useful security in times of calamity is often not at all the case. When the time comes for these objects to be liquidated, auctioned or sold, their owners often find they have overvalued them in their own eyes, or, perversely, that the merchants and middlemen now cause them to be undervalued. Far from being a means of alleviating the suffering of their owners, they cause greater grief. Even though objects are never safe from depreciation or loss, nevertheless, in times of insecurity and upheaval, one will always find people putting their own lives in danger for the sake of their possessions.

The root of this problem is the false notion of security in accumulation. Much energy and effort is spent in outer acquisitiveness and enrichment and not enough on true living or awareness, which is the only secure base. This recognition is the cure. Wealth may alleviate some material suffering, and although most of our suffering is non-material, its root cause is a lack of connection with the creational source and purpose. The ultimate cure, then, is to experience that life's purpose is to discover the meaning and nature of its source rather than to adore and accumulate its glitter and attributes in the world. In poverty or in wealth, in sickness or health, that source of life permeates all and is available to those who can see.

We have now covered the ten major causes of anger, which is the first of the major conditions of the power of repulsion.

The cure for anger is twofold – first by knowledge, and second by action. Knowledge is that the person should understand that what one is angry about is an event of reality, and that by anger itself, one will not achieve anything except hurting oneself. As for action, the angry person needs to take steps that will increase his awareness of his state of anger and thereby reduce the agitation. A very practical cure for anger is that if one is standing whilst in a state of anger, then one should sit, and if one is sitting, then one should lie down. Another practical remedy when one is angry is to take oneself aside and wash one's face and one's hands with cold water or to perform the ritual ablution of wudu. To keep silent is yet another way of overcoming anger.

In states of calmness or meditation, one could reflect and remind oneself of the foolish and dangerous consequences of uncontrolled anger. Then, when one is in danger of giving way to anger, one can call up these images as an aid to controlling oneself, thereby gradually overcoming the condition of anger in oneself.

Further comments on anger are made by Rhazes.⁽⁴⁾ He says that anger is put into an animal so that it may take revenge on another which causes it pain. However, when anger occurs in excess there is such a loss of control (of reason, in the case of humans) that the angry person often causes more harm to himself than to the object of his anger. It is known that anger and rage can bring on blindness in people. Rhazes remarks that there is no difference between a man in the extreme of rage and an actual lunatic or animal, for he has lost his reasoning and intellect.

Whilst anger is not fully eradicated in oneself, what one can do is to propel it in a positive direction. one can divert it towards the injustices and wrongs in this world until such time as one's anger becomes purely an instrument of justice and redressing the imbalances. Anger in this case can help to propel us forward towards the right path.

The ultimate cure for the condition of anger, according to Rhazes, is the recognition and application of justice. For anger is essentially a transgression and deviation from the path of justice and unity towards tyranny – a departure from equilibrium towards the direction of excess. Anyone who observes the proper conditions for justice and makes this one's habit will find the treatment of anger an easy matter.

Cowardice

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Fear

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Fear of Death

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Treatment of the Fear of Death

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Fear of Punishment after Death

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Further Treatment of the Fear of Death

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Notes

⁽³⁾Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Ishaq al-Kindi, ninth-century philosopher of Baghdad. [Up]