FROM DIVIDED TO CONCRETE SELF: A STUDY IN IQBAL'S CONCEPT OF RELIGIOUS PSYCHOLOGY

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Dr. Tahir Hameed Tanoli, Dr. Muhammad Shahid Habib, Dr. Farooq Hassan, Dr. Hafiz Muhammad Abrar Awan, Mr. Shakoor Alam

Abstract

The concept of the unity of self in the form of an all- embracing concrete self leads us to the notion of ultimate reality. Human self has the capacity of approaching Concrete Self and to adopt its attributes as well. According to Iqbal, thought is capable of reaching an immanent infinite. Having Ultimate Self as its primary source, the human self, in Iqbal's perspective, becomes different from psychological self. According to Iqbal, Reality is essentially spirit and, in the history of Muslim culture, in the realms of pure intellect and religious psychology i.e. higher Sufism the ideal revealed is the possession and enjoyment of the Infinite. Regarding the development of ego, before self approaches the Infinite or Concrete Self, it must be able to adopt the attributes of Concrete Self and then transform itself to concrete self. Through this achievement it will be able to play its role in the act of ‘world-shaking and world-making’. In psychological perspective, the self cannot maintain its concreteness under external pressures and unfavorable conditions and suffers a divide. The divided self results into divided personality. But according to Religious Psychology, human self has many undiscovered levels of consciousness which indicate its unlimited possibilities. The vast possibilities and innumerable levels of human self, yet unexplored, are in dire need of an organized discipline of religious psychology, which  may deal the unaddressed issues of human self, which are floating in the mess of confusion.

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