The Nafs

[Cramulus]

I just wanted to share a little snippet I read yesterday on Chaos Marxism, because it sent me reeling...

The Sufis teach that the nafs (aka ego, aka "false self") is the trickiest little bugger, and will continually disguise itself as something else (God, the Greater Good, ascended Space Brothers, the Muse) in order to continue your slavery and addiction to it.

So the Nafs is the ego, the false self, and it tricks you into thinking that it is God, or Money, or True Love, or whatever it is you're burning yourself up to get. It's really just a hungry little god in your belly which constantly demands food.

Researching the Nafs, the idea seems to be tied pretty deeply into Sufi/Muslim values, so I don't want to go too far into that. They identify the nafs with the animal nature, something that needs to be trained and refined and polished over time. Greed, envy, lust, betrayal, malice, all the things which muslims condemn is within the basic unrefined state of the Nafs. Isn't it interesting that in this framework, one's basic desire to unite with the divine is obfuscated by one's an animal nature? Or to be less dualistic - the unrefined self?


I was chewing on this in IRC, and enki pointed out that this sounds awfully similar to Choronzon, a thelemic demon which dwells in the abyss. Chronozon 333 is your internal monologue, a force which distracts and obsesses you. Wikipedia notes: "Carroll himself states ... that Choronzon is simply the name given to the obsessional side-effects of any deluded search for a false Holy Guardian Angel, or anything which the magician would mistake for his own profound genius itself."


It's disarming, right? Because if you give credence to this idea, it suggests that you may be on the wrong path. All that stuff you toil for may be just a distraction from the Divine, however you conceptualize it. And is there any way of knowing? But luckily, conceputalizing this internal force as an external entity allows you to regard and evaluate it with a certain degree of objectivity. And, if you choose, banish it.

[LMNO]

It sounds like a way of enforcing constant self-evaluation and humility.

[Brotep]

An excellent point. It works from multiple paradigms, too.

For the psychological...
Anything can be a barrier to insight; if you are not careful, desire for what is represented on a map may blind you to the territory.



Is it a force, or a tendency?

I do not think I can banish my tendency to make such mistakes, but I can try to be honest with myself.

[Telarus]

Excellent find!

Sufi thought intrigues the hell out of me, especially because I see the connections (in style of operation and language used) to other liberation/illumination hidden sects.

[Mangrove]

Nafs sounds pretty much like the Nephesh in the Kabbalah.

The Nephesh being the 'animal soul' which runs the show unless put under the service of 'Ruach'. The Ruach being the 'mind'. Some might divide the Ruach into a lower (general day to day mundane consciousness) and the upper (higher thinking).

Basically: higher thinking checks the activity of the animal desires.

[Cramulus]

Is there any way to know whether you're being driven by Nephesh or Ruach?



also, does this look accurate?

Judiasm : Kabbalah :: Islam : Sufism ?

[Mangrove]

Is there any way to know whether you're being driven by Nephesh or Ruach?



also, does this look accurate?

Judiasm : Kabbalah :: Islam : Sufism ?

a) Years of work.
b) Yes - Kabbalah is the 'esoteric' branch of Judaism while Sufism is the equivalent in Islam.

Having dug out some old notes from the 1990s, I found the following concerning Islam:

Zahir (Exoteric)

Belief in the blessedness after death through symbolic participation in divine truths = Muslim

Batin (Esoteric)

Belief that blessedness is attainable during life by direct contemplation of the truth = Sufi

[Mangrove]

Incidentally, Ruach is better translated as 'spirit' rather than mind.

[Mangrove]

an-nafs

the soul, psyche, the subtle reality of an individual, the 'I'. As opposed to the spirit (ruh) or to the intellect ('aql), the nafs appears in a negative aspect, because it is made up of the sum of the individual or egocentric tendencies. But a distinction is made between:

1 an-nafs al-haywaniyah: the animal soul, the soul as passively obedient to natural impulsions

2 an-nafs al-ammarah: 'the soul which commands', the passionate egoistic soul

3 an-nafs al-lawwamah 'the soul which blames' the soul aware of its own imperfections

4 an-nafs al-mutma'innah 'the soul at peace', the soul reintegrated in the Spirit and at rest in certainty. The last three are expressions from the Qur'an.

(Titus Burkhardt)

[P3nT4gR4m]

Is there any way to know whether you're being driven by Nephesh or Ruach?

Pay very close attention. The more often you observe the beast taking over the reigns the more familiar you will become with the symptoms. The Ruach starts out from a very weak position and must be trained to take control. The Nephesh on the other hand has been doing this shit for years. It's very good at it and it's also very skilled at tricking/defeating the usurper.

Do not underestimate your "lower" opponent.

It's a fight you can't win. Or maybe you can but the odds are stacked against you. Try more coercive/diplomatic approach - make it more of a partnership than a - this soul aint big enough for both of us - standoff.

Throw the dog a bone every now and again. Scratch it's balls and it'll follow you anywhere.

[Telarus]

Compare to Tai-chi/Chi-Gung metaphors of the Upper Dan-Tien and Lower Dan-Tien, and the fact that the Enteric Nervous System surrounds our center of gravity (and connects to the back-brain via the vagus nerve).

All this talk of lower/upper has a purpose (i.e. references to actual practice and our physical/mental states and orientations... one of our 'minds' is literally lower in the gravity well than the other, which is what makes mammal bipeds unique), and most esoteric systems seek to align the 'consciousnesses' so that they can act synergisticly (force multiplier).

[P3nT4gR4m]

Dunno if it's a common thing but it prolly is. When I first came across this concept my consciousness was filled with righteous indignance. "I'll get this monkey whipped into shape" I thought to myself. The kneeject reaction was to attain complete subjugation. The whole shooting match under my direct control.

What's the point? Is there really anything to gain from having to concentrate on making your own heart beat, or your lungs breathe? Is that a step forward? Best divide the jobs up in a sensible order. leave the janitor shit for the janitor and the administrative shit for the administrator.

Of course without a bit of attention and effort most have the janitor running the whole show.

[Doktor Howl]

What's the point? Is there really anything to gain from having to concentrate on making your own heart beat, or your lungs breathe? Is that a step forward? Best divide the jobs up in a sensible order. leave the janitor shit for the janitor and the administrative shit for the administrator.

This.

[LMNO]

The problem is that the Janitor has a nasty habit of stealing the keys to the Bradley Assault Vehicle from the administrator and driving into town for a beer.




LMNO
-Metaphor, WHAT?  Metaphor, WHAT!?

[Brotep]

Nafs sounds pretty much like the Nephesh in the Kabbalah.

Same root, too. Just as with Ruach and Ruh.

AFAIK some of the Kabbalistic layers of soul don't have clear Sufi counterparts--i.e., Neshamah (and Chayah, and Yechidah).

Still, there are a lot of similarities. Aside from the mutual Semitic background, there was exchange of ideas back and forth, especially in places like Spain before it got all inquisitiony.


Both Sufism and Kabbalism have become playthings of popular culture (Coleman Barks' "translation" of Rumi, and The Kabbalah Center, respectively...Leaving Hermetic Qabalah out of this for now).


There are many differences, though, which I think arise from the following points:

The Hasidim (a grassroots ecstatic movement that shunned pursuit of divine knowledge through intellectual means--which makes sense, since its founders were poor and had no access to education) were kinda absorbed into so-called Orthodox Judaism (in no small part due to the Holocaust). A certain amount of Kabbalah is accepted in the Orthodox community. Kabbalah is not a sect of Judaism, however. Then there's the Sufis, who have their own interpretation of the Shari'a, which is to say they're their own sect of Islam. Mind-altering substances are forbidden by Islamic law, because the Prophet's visions came to him in a state of ordinary consciousness, proving that he was not merely another prophet in a chain, but the Seal of the Prophets, greater even than Moses. IIRC the strict interpretation of that includes caffeine. However, certain Sufi orders love to drink assloads of coffee and stay up all night praying. But really, if you want to see the difference, read ibn al-'Arabi's interpretation of the Deluge given in The Bezels of Wisdom and imagine the frothing rage into which it would send a literal interpreter of the Quran.

There is also the fact that Judaism still has the flavor of a tribal religion, where Islam is evangelical. That is, while each claims the creation of all humanity for its God, Islam holds that prior to the Creation Allah asked every soul "Am I not your God?" and they all answered in the affirmative. So in other words, while God only holds you responsible for being a bad Jew if you're Jewish, Allah will hold you responsible for being a bad Muslim regardless of what you think you are.

These two factors, supplement to exoteric study vs. separate sect and tribal religion vs. evangelical religion account for many differences between Kabbalistic and Sufi teachings.

As super duper famous Kabbalistic texts, go, the Zohar is at the top of the list. And what does it say the Deluge was about? Punishment for masturbation. In contrast, the Sufi saint ibn al-'Arabi says it was a collision between the transcendent and immanent understandings of God (both of which he deems vital). The Zohar doesn't go out of its way to contradict the literal interpretation of the Torah, while ibn al-'Arabi seems to revel in doing so for the Quran.

There you go, more than you ever wanted to know on the subject.