Word 2: The One Who Does Not Know the Book of Oneself How Can Benefit from Another Book
Word 2: The One Who Does Not Know the Book of Oneself How Can Benefit from Another Book
Nafs (I) is like a book. Just as a book contains different pages, the Nafs also has different levels.
In the introductory sessions of self-knowledge, we discussed the union of perceived and perceiver that everything we understand will unite with us, and because we are eternal, our actions and knowledge will be with us forever.
Nafs is made of knowledge and actions. Every knowledge and action we acquire is written in a book (Nafs), and on the Day of Judgment, the book that is given to us in which all the details are written is the same book (our Nafs).
“Those, He has written upon their hearts faith and strengthened them with a spirit from Him” Al-Mujadilah-22.
That is, God writes faith in their hearts. We are God’s written book. Is writing faith like writing words? What words does God write in the hearts? Is this an ordinary pen? No, it should be noted that the divine pen and the book of God and the writing of God are different from our writing. Man must read his book because we are the book of God that we have forgotten ourselves.
There is a story from the pagan Indians about self-knowledge. They said, “When God created man, all the Gods met to decide where to hide our secrets so that humans would not be able to find it. One said to hide them into the seas, another said to hide them into the earth. Another said to hide them in the heavens. The biggest God said something that everyone else accepted. He said to hide our secret within himself since he will explore everywhere except himself”.
The interesting thing is that most people hate themselves. How is it possible? The answer is that when humans have a friend who really love, they do not get tired of talking to him/her and always enjoy it, but when they are alone, they cannot bear themselves for ten minutes. Bayazid Bastami (a student of Imam Sadiq (A)) said that if all the heavens and the earth are multiplied by one million and placed in the corner of the mystic’s heart, the mystic will not feel it.
Ibn Al-Arabi has a treatise called the “Secrets of Solitude” in which is explained all the worlds which man enters and their characteristics but finally says “Know that all these worlds are within yourself”.
How can a person who did not know himself want to know the angels, resurrection, heaven, hell, the prophets, and God?
All praise is to God to the extent that He deserves it.