Such a person ought to be mindful of both the benefits and the dangers...

Such a person ought to be mindful of both the benefits and the dangers, and make notes of these realities in order to take serious action in purifying his soul. Generally, whoever knows his weak points and deficiencies he or she will be successful in removing them and strengthening the faith.

When a person realizes that being evil and corrupt are not in harmony with lofty human values, and that a free person is responsible for his own destiny, then such an aware and self-cognizant person will direct the soul towards moral perfection. Moreover, human dignity does not allow us to consider ourselves as worthless by trampling the rights of other fellow humans, in view of the fact that we have not been created in vain by Almighty Allah.

Thus with self-recognition, human life becomes meaningful and ground is paved for cultivating moral virtues. In the Holy Qur’an, Allah emphasizes the point that the human being has been created good and purified from sins, and it is only its tendency towards evil that pollutes him. Yet, with the Allah-given powers of intellect and conscience, the human being is able to purify himself in order to attain salvation. Self-recognition and purification have different ways.

The most important of them is pondering. Sometimes, it is essential for us to evaluate our acts and their consequences. In this relation, psychiatrists recommend undisturbed solitude so that physical temptations do not cloud the mind. Thus, through proper evaluation of our daily actions, we can change for good our personality and life. By creating positive factors in oneself, one can adopt new values and new goals for life.

Once, when Imam Zain al-Abedin (PBUH), the 4th Infallible Successor of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH&HP) was asked who was the most important of all, he replied: The one who does not view the entire world equal to himself. That is, he is aware of human dignity and acts properly. In the previous article, we talked about the characteristics of the self and how human nature is capable of achieving faith and self-content by overcoming despondency and misery.

Whoever protects himself from the pitfalls of carnal desires he has realized truth, and in such a case has overcome such negative tendencies as jealousy, hatred and the other moral and spiritual diseases. We also said that if one becomes indifferent towards his internal characteristics he would go astray because of spiritual disorders.