The True Self is not the ‘nafs’. It’s the part of you that is pure consciousness – the pure awareness which has always been there, before any thought-form or feeling.
It is not your thoughts about yourself or your attempts to imagine yourself as being ‘better’ than you are on the level of external form.
It’s the part of you that is so essential, that you live most of your life never even noticing that it’s there – in much the same way as a fish never realises it’s in water.
One of the great secrets to happiness and inner-peace is to remove your attention from the ‘objects’ that the mind gets fixated on – thought-forms, feelings, external objects you can see, external sounds – and give your fullest attention to the ‘space’ or awareness within which those objects are appearing.
Just as you can become aware of an external object, or a thought, or a feeling, you can become aware of the part of you that is aware.
You probably just did it as you were reading this.
Gently direct your attention into the part of you that is the attention itself.
You might notice, when you do this that your mind is instantly calm and you’re almost a little ‘spacey’. And yet, you’re still fully alert and aware. You’re actually more aware than usual.
Spending time immersing yourself in this level of awareness is one of the best ways to connect with Allah – you’re getting a glimpse of his beautiful name “al-Khabir” – the all-Aware.
In the next Nafs Mastery Session (tomorrow, Tuesday at 6pm UK time), we’re going to do a deep dive into the nature of the True Self and the profound implications it has for mental health, spiritual growth and personal excellence.
To take part in the program, read this page carefully, then sign up:
