True Self-Awareness: Path to Spiritual and Personal Growth

"O Man! The closest thing to you is your own self. Therefore, if you do not recognize yourself, how will you recognize anyone else? Merely knowing that 'these are my hands, these are my feet, these are my bones, and this is my body' is not self-awareness. Even other animals possess this level of recognition for themselves. Or simply knowing that when you feel hungry, you should eat; when you get angry, you should fight; when overcome by desire, you should engage in intercourse – all these are things that animals share with you equally. Then why are you considered superior to them? True knowledge and awareness of your own self demand that you understand who you really are, where you have come from, and where you are going. Why have you come, and for what purpose were you created? What is your true happiness and well-being, and what does it lie in? What is your misfortune and misery, and what does it lie in? 

And these qualities that have been placed within you, some of which are animalistic, some wild and beastly, some demonic, some jinn-like, and some angelic – consider carefully which of these attributes you possess. Among these, who are you? Which of these traits are closest to your true essence? And which attributes are foreign, unfamiliar, and temporary within you? Until you recognize these truths, you will remain deprived of true self-awareness and will not seek your happiness and well-being. This is because each of these qualities has its own unique sustenance and its own form of happiness. The food and happiness of cattle are to eat, drink, sleep, and engage in intercourse. If you are like that, then spend your days and nights in the effort to fill your stomach and satisfy your desires. The food and happiness of predators lie in fighting, attacking, killing, and being filled with rage. The food and happiness of devils lie in causing mischief and deceit. If you are one of them, then adopt such activities so that you may attain your desired comfort and well-being. The food and happiness of angels lie in remembrance, glorification, and circumambulation, while the food and happiness of humans lie in the nearness to Allah and the observation of the divine lights of His beauty. If you are a human, strive to recognize the Divine and witness His lights and beauty. Strive to free yourself from the grips of anger and desire. Seek only that One Being so that you may discover who it is that created these animalistic and bestial traits within you. 

Unveil the truth of whether the Creator instilled these traits in you to overpower you and make them your conquerors or so that you may subjugate and control them, becoming their master. Make them your means for the journey – some as your horse and some as your weapon – so that in this temporary abode, you may use them to sow the seeds of your true happiness. And when you have obtained the seed of happiness, you may trample them underfoot as you enter that realm of true happiness known as 'The Presence of the Divine' by the learned. These are all things you must know. The one who does not know them has strayed far from the path of religion and remains veiled from the true essence of faith."