To the Brothers and Sisters

in USA, Mexico and Colombia

 

Mühledorf, July 21, 2003

Theme work:

The second theme is a look at Nafs-e lawwâme or the “Lamenting Soul”

   

My dear friends,

 We have been working with the lower part of the Soul, the Nafs-e ammâre. Now we shall have a look at the Nafs-e lawwâme or the “Lamenting Soul”. This part of the soul makes us reflecting and reasoning. We are obviously distinguishing ourselves from animal with this potential for reasoning and observation of our own urges. Therefore it can be said that the consciousness of most average human beings is on the level of Nafs-e lawwâme. With Nafs-e lawwâme we become human beings.  

The faculties of Nafs-e lawwâme makes us constantly search for something else. We are never happy with what we have – not because of greed (this is Nafs-e ammâre) but because we want something else, because we want a change. This is because unconsciously we know that this what we have is not God and therefore not what we finally are seeking for. Nafs-e lawwâme is a basic expression of La il-aha il-Allah: “This is not God – I don’t want it, and that is not God either – I don’t want it!”; and so on.  

And finally we are also not happy about ourselves; we are judging ourselves. We accuse our own Nafs-e ammâre (Commanding Self) to be greedy and thus to be too fat. We are unhappy about our own laziness, our many little addictions, our weaknesses, and so on. We feel guilty for our own doing and start to blame it. This was clearly visible in the beautiful work some of you have done about the last theme (about Nafs-e ammâre).

 The Nafs-e lawwâme or its quality is mentioned in the holy Quran:

 But ney! I call witness the accusing voice of man’s own self-reproaching soul! (75:2)

 …and among them are some who sin against themselves; and some who keep half-way (between right and wrong); and some who, by God’s leave, are foremost in deeds of goodness: and this, indeed, is a merit most high! (35:32)

 While the Nafs-e ammâre is an automatic movement of unconsciousness, the Nafs-e lawwâme is an expression of a first step of awakened consciousness. At this level we struggle for the bringing together of the Unconsciousness with the “Higher Consciousness”, or – in other words – the reactive part of our soul wants to be guided by the cosmic order (instead of being guided by our immediate urges).

 People who are strongly identified with the Nafs-e lawwâme are often self-critical, and they remain true to moral and religious laws. They regard all wrongdoing as ethically unacceptable or as a sin, and they have the tendency of forcing their lower Nafs (Nafs-e ammâre) under a strict discipline.

 The veil on the level of Nafs-e lawwâme is the External World. People on this level of soul take the visible or scientifically proven order as measure for their judgment of “correct” and “incorrect”, “right” and “wrong”, “good” and “bad”. At this level we are motivated to gain knowledge and to try to understand and control everything. This is generally a good quality (the Prophet said, that we should search for knowledge even if we have to go until China to gain it), but it can become a tumble-stone on the way to God. Trust in God can not be “managed” with knowledge and control, and God is much more than we can understand.

 There are ten attributes characterizing the Nafs-e lawwâme that are often mentioned. These are

·        asceticism

·        piety

·        abstinence

·        divine service (church, mosque, temple)

·        obligation for prayer

·        fasting

·        the pilgrimage

·        additional pilgrimage

·        payment of the arms-tax (for the poorest)

·        religious fight

 The above qualities are mostly regarded as being “good”. And yet they can become veils between God and us. There are more attributes linked to Nafs-e lawwâme that you will find when working with those above.

 Please reflect on moments when you were stuck in this level of soul. In which moments have these qualities been supportive, and in which other moments have they been obstacles on your Way of Derwish? And a gain: whatever you wish to write about your findings, write it down for yourself. The act to put on paper what you discover and learn is an important act of anchoring and stabilization.

   

May we all be well guided, and may Hz. Mevlana’s light make our path visible!

   

                                                                   Yours,  Peter