''The Commanding Self'' is a book by the writer Idries Shah first published by

Octagon Press Octagon Press was a cross-cultural publishing house based in London, UK. It was founded in 1960 by Sufism, Sufi teacher, Idries Shah to establish the historical and cultural context for his ideas. The company ceased trading in 2014. Description ...

in 1994. A paperback edition was published in 1997. Shortly before he died, Shah stated that his books form a complete course that could fulfil the function he had fulfilled while alive. As such, ''The Commanding Self'' can be read as part of a whole course of study. Shah stated that ''The Commanding Self'' was "the key to understanding his entire corpus of work."

Content

''The Commanding Self'' builds on the foundations laid in Shah's previous publications, ''

Learning How to Learn – Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way ''Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way'' is a book by the writer Idries Shah that was first published by Octagon Press in 1978. Later editions by Harper & Row (1981) and Penguin Books (1985, 1993, 1996) include an i ...

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Knowing How to Know ''Knowing How to Know'' is a book by the writer Idries Shah published posthumously by Octagon Press in 1998. A paperback edition was published in 2000. Shortly before he died, Shah stated that his books form a complete course that could fulfil t ...

''. "The Commanding Self" ( Arabic ''Nafs-ul-Amara'' اﻟﻧﻔﺲﻻﻣﺎﺮﺓ) is Sufic terminology for the "mixture of primitive and conditioned responses, common to everyone, which inhibits and distorts human progress and understanding". The opening pages of the book expand on this definition: "The Commanding Self ... can be seen as a sort of parasite, which first complements the personality, then takes over certain parts of it, and masquerades as the personality itself." Shah states that there is "no intention of destroying or undermining the Commanding Self". Instead, would-be students are encouraged to "divert vanity from the spiritual arena ... to channel the Commanding Self's activities to any worldly ambition: while continuing to study the

Sufi Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...

Way in a modest and non-self-promoting manner." Written in response to requests for "clarification, interviews, question-and-answer sessions, lectures", the following sections of the book present study themes intended to enable the student to observe the functioning of their own emotional and conditioned responses.

Reception

Upon its publication,

Nobel Nobel often refers to: *Nobel Prize, awarded annually since 1901, from the bequest of Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel Nobel may also refer to: Companies *AkzoNobel, the result of the merger between Akzo and Nobel Industries in 1994 *Branobel, or ...

prize winner

Doris Lessing Doris May Lessing (; 22 October 1919 – 17 November 2013) was a British-Zimbabwean novelist. She was born to British parents in Iran, where she lived until 1925. Her family then moved to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), where she remain ...

wrote of ''The Commanding Self''; "What Sufis offer is learning, through experience. But if Sufism is not to be understood by people not involved in the process of becoming Sufis, or working with Sufis, what hope is there for outside enquirers; what use is a book like this one? But this is exactly where ''The Commanding Self'' comes in, and other books Idries Shah has been publishing which are part of a "course", if you like, and designed to introduce the interested to this way of looking at life, as well as teaching students. An analogy they use is that a dried peach is not a peach, but may prepare you to recognize fresh peaches when at last you eat one."

References

External links

Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Commanding Self, The Sufi literature Sufi psychology Books by Idries Shah 1994 non-fiction books