In the latest French edition of The Path of Perfection published earlier this year, Professor Bahram Elahi presents a model of the human soul, or what he also calls the true self – a preview of which had already been given on this site. In this model, the soul, just like the body, is presented through a series of anatomy-like diagrams as an actual organism: a psychospiritual organism with which it is necessary to become familiar in order to perfect one’s humanity.

Shortly before he was executed Socrates confided to one of his disciples that there was nothing to fear in death for the friends of knowledge. Indeed, if it is true that the body is merely a tomb for the soul, a form of unconsciousness that is lifted at death, what is there to fear for those who have dedicated their lives to seeking truth and justice?

Nested in the cocoon of our ego like silkworms, we are unaware of what we really are. Bahram Elahi develops the metaphysical as well as ethical implications of this striking image. The reality of the self consists in a plurality of functions and levels of consciousness in dynamic interaction, as illustrated—in figures—by the polarity between “surface conscious self” and “deep conscious self” (“inner guide”). Some key-ideas to help us break the cocoon…

We live in our ego… well, I don’t know about you, but that is certainly true for myself. This became clear to me after I listened to—and reflected on—the distinction between surface conscious self and deep conscious self as it is presented here. The surface conscious self is my ego, my demanding self, this self that wants to be recognised by others, that wants others to love me, admire me, that wants everything to be for me and only for me, that takes every opportunity to get offended, that gets on its high horse over the tiniest criticism, that sees itself at the centre of the world with everybody else on the outskirts, that thinks I know better, that dreads getting relegated to second place and doesn’t like its rivals to succeed at anything, that revels in compliments and remembers them with delight, that believed others owe me attention, consideration, that they should listen to me…

The goal of spirituality is the perfection of the soul. But what does perfecting the soul mean? From an ethical point of view, it is a matter of transforming the soul’s substance, thereby developing all human virtues within oneself. Such a transformation is not automatic. It requires that one first develops an accurate idea of what virtues are, as well as of the means for making them shine forth in oneself.

What can we learn from near-death experiences (NDEs)?
According to cardiologist Pim van Lommel, MD, author of Consciousness Beyond Life, the main difficulty is to understand what it means to be the witness of one’s own clinical death – a phenomenon that challenges ordinary logic.
Yet NDEs are not only a scientific enigma: their far-reaching ethical and spiritual implications remain to be spelled out.

Ostad Elahi used to define his teachings as a new medicine of the soul: one that is adapted to the true nature of human beings and adheres to the law of causality governing both their spiritual and material lives. The spirituality he practiced was natural spirituality, and he considered the process of spiritual perfection to […]

James Morris, Ph. D., is professor of Theology at Boston College. A specialist of islamic philosophy, he has written authoritative studies on Ibn ’Arabi and Mulla Sadra’s metaphysics. His most recent publications include a translation of Ostad Elahi’s Knowing the Spirit (SUNY, 2006), a book which he also prefaced and annotated.

In first part of this video interview published by ostadelahi-indepth.com, Prof. Morris discusses the reasons that led him to study this particular work. He emphasises its relevance and place in today’s modern world by explaining how Ostad Elahi invites his readers to relate the arguments developed in his study to their own personal spiritual experience.

The id or the terrestrial soul is the part of us that constitutes the source of our material instincts. When these instincts lead us to harm other people or the celestial part of our selves, the id takes on the face of the imperious self, an unethical and anti-divine instinct-driven faculty that stands in opposition to our perfection.

In Freud’s structural model, the id is the name given to the instinctual entity from which all of our instincts spring, alongside the super-ego—the seat of morality—and the ego—the centre of willpower and conscious reasoning.

In order to gauge the ethical quality of our conduct, there are many factors to be considered, such as the motivation and intention behind a certain course of action. But how does our intention matter, if in most cases we are not even sure what it is? In what sense can intention affect our spiritual growth? These are delicate issues. Here are some reflections from one of our readers that we found worth sharing.