Heart, Self and Soul: Concepts in Islamic

I thought I might put this in a new thread and i don't have the website i got this from, so i apologise for that, its been a long time that i've kept this. And again, Enjoy!

He is Sheikh Ragip of the al Khalveti al Jerrahi Order of Dervishes

I am enjoying your articles. But have a question

The soul or ruh is directly connected with the Divine, even if one is unconscious of that connection.  The soul has seven levels or facets of the complete soul.  These levels are: mineral, vegetable, animal, personal, human, secret and secret of secret souls.  Each level represents the stages of evolution, and the process that it goes through in its growth.  The soul is wholistic, and extends to all aspects of the person, ie: the body, the mind and the spirit.  Each level of the soul has valuable gifts and strengths, as well as weaknesses.  The goal is to develop the strengths and to achieve a balance between these levels, not forgoing the lower ones to focus only on the higher ones.

I can figure out the animal, human, secret and secret of secret souls, I think, but mineral and vegatable are a little beyond me.  Unless that is to say we are a part of all the earth.

senekerk wrote: I am enjoying your articles. But have a question The soul or ruh is directly connected with the Divine, even if one is unconscious of that connection.  The soul has seven levels or facets of the complete soul.  These levels are: mineral, vegetable, animal, personal, human, secret and secret of secret souls.  Each level represents the stages of evolution, and the process that it goes through in its growth.  The soul is wholistic, and extends to all aspects of the person, ie: the body, the mind and the spirit.  Each level of the soul has valuable gifts and strengths, as well as weaknesses.  The goal is to develop the strengths and to achieve a balance between these levels, not forgoing the lower ones to focus only on the higher ones.   I can figure out the animal, human, secret and secret of secret souls, I think, but mineral and vegatable are a little beyond me.  Unless that is to say we are a part of all the earth.

I would say its part of our organic self. As for being part of all the earth, we all have elements that the earth and universe is made of  and basically that is star dust

Anyway, I did a little search to find something that is on par with the topic and i did found something:there is more in the article as below is in the middle, the link is under the exerpt. 

TRANSFORMATION and SERVICE

There are as many ways to reach reality as there are individuals, but all true ways involve transformation of the ego nature and service to creation. The basis of morality and service to others is selfless love and this comes as a result of self-work, a process of discovery of our deeper Self, well beyond the superficial personality.

The sufis have become aware of the different levels of our self, they recognise up to seven different aspects of the soul (nafs), and know how to balance them. We are all dominated by different souls at times, but the sufi aim is to maintain spiritual balance.

These souls are:

The mineral soul . Our deep mineral structure, connected to the skeletal system, includes our basic sense of connection, at atomic and subatomic levels, with all the universe. However, its characteristic is , like a crystal, to be rigid.

The vegetable soul. It is located in the liver and related to the digestive system. At this level transmission of energy and transmutation begins. Nourishment and growth is one of its functions. To have a healthy vegetable soul, we need healthy nourishment ( at physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual levels)

The animal soul . It includes our basic emotional states, passions and fears. It is located in the heart and the circulatory system. Passions and fears are functional, they can be useful and give us vitality and strength. but they must not dominate our lives otherwise they distort our perception and behaviour. Emotional unbalance in the student dervish is the first area of concern which the sufi teacher addresses with appropriate practices and correctives.

The personal soul, located in the brain and the nervous system. It allows us to elaborate advanced response to the environment by developing complex thinking models and planning. This centre is also connected with the ego and the sense of personal identity or self.

The human soul is located in the inner or spiritual heart, it is the focus for spiritual values such as compassion and creativity. This is heart intelligence

The secret soul, is what remembers our divine origin and it is therefore the seat of inner consciousness. It is also located in the inner heart.

Beyond this, there is the secret of secrets, the soul of the soul, totally transcendent (beyond space-time).

Each of the souls ( except the last two) have positive as well negative characteristics, the negatives occuring as a result of unbalance.

The last three souls (human and secret souls) can be seriously damaged, even anesthesised and deadened by abuse of substances such as drugs and alcohol. For this reason these are forbidden in Islam.

http://www.lifewaves.net/lifewaves/Philo_spiritual/spirit/in dex.shtml