The Inner Self
by Mir Hadian
Finding your inner self is important, so we hope
this explanation helps you to understand. By concentrating on your inner
self, what are you going to achieve?
You will hear many spiritual paths, perhaps
even religions, speaking of the importance of knowing your inner self.
Only by concentrating on your inner self will you begin to know and
get acquainted with yourself – the truth of your self. This is
not the same as who you think you are – what you think you know
of yourself is something else. This is the truth.
We all have likes and dislikes about ourselves, but when you concentrate
on your inner self you come to realise that these are no more than illusions.
You realise that all along, the impression that you have had of yourself
is nothing more than an illusion and that you have not known yourself
at all.
For some people, that can be frightening
because it is difficult for them to accept who they really are. The
Sufi approach of contemplation, meditation, reflection, dream-work and
working with shadows brings you face-to-face with your inner self and
helps you to come to terms with what you see.
You may also ask what you’re going
to achieve by knowing yourself? Some people may say that they dislike
themselves so much that they don’t want to know themselves anyway.
But this is a misunderstanding. By knowing your inner self you become
connected and begin to reach toward your higher self.
Your higher self is a gateway to the divine
– to the Creator. People go through the hard work of coming to
terms with their inner self so that they may understand and connect
to their higher self. Your higher self is the gateway to opening up
and looking at life beyond our life.
Learning about your inner self has its advantages
and disadvantages. The advantages are that you feel happier, stable
and balanced. The disadvantage is that students can become absorbed
in self-observation for many years.
Ultimately, when you experience the higher
self, your attitude towards your inner self changes. You come to realise
that your inner self has no meaning. But you cannot know your higher
self until you have first understood your inner self.
