wiliam chittick on psychiatry

7/30/2019 wiliam chittick on psychiatry

1/5

International Society for Iranian Studies

Freedom from the Self: Sufism, Meditation, and Psychotherapy by Mohammad ShafiiReview by: William C. ChittickIranian Studies, Vol. 22, No. 2/3 (1989), pp. 145-148Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of International Society for Iranian StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4310678 .

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2/5

Reviews 145

These very minor shortcomings in no way diminish the value of this book,which is the rarestof academic accomplishments: eruditescholarship hat s alsoa work of art.H.E. ChehabiHarvard University

Freedom from the Self: Sufism, Meditation, andPsychotherapy, Mohammad Shafii, New York: Human Sciences Press,1985, 261 pp.The author received his M.D. from the University of Tehran and is presentlyprofessor of psychiatry at the University of Louisville. The book sets out tocompare and contrast"humandevelopmentand integration n Sufism" (definedsimply as "Islamicmysticism")with "theconcepts of humandevelopmentandmaturity in Western psychologies, particularly psychoanalysis and egopsychology" (p. I1). The firstchaptercompares the "Sufi"view of personalitystructure with that of ego psychology and the second the role of the spiritualguide (pir) with that of the therapist. The middle three chapters investigatemeditation--largelyon the basis of psychophysiologicalstudiesof practitionersof TM, Zen, yoga, and "Sufism"--andthe Sufi concept of fana', which istranslated as "freedomfrom the self." ChapterSix claims that the first threestages of the Sufi path correspond to the three stages of ego psychology.Having satisfied himself that he has shown "amazing similarities betweenSufism and ego psychology," the author turnsin the last chapterto describingfourfurther tages in Sufism which have no parallels n modempsychology. Hehopes to show that, "If there are so many similarities in the earlier stages ofpersonality integration, perhaps there arc comparable higher stages not yetidentified in Westernpsychologies"(p. 207).Any contribution this book may make to scholarship lies in the field ofpsychology, where the author demonstrates that there is much to be learnedthrough the study of Sufi material. The contributionto Iranianand Islamicstudies is minimal. Readersof thisjournalwho open the book hadbestabandontheir sensitivity toward such matters as accurate portrayal of the sources,awarenessof culturalandreligious contexts, precise definitions of terminology,andwildreductionism.Books of this sort(one thinks also of A. Reza Arastch) raise an importantssue:How can Sufism be presentedto modernpsychology in a manner hatdoes notturnit into anotherexuberant,fluffy, love-cures-all,self-realizationmovement?Can one remainfaithful to the texts and teachingsof Sufism as preserved andtaughtin traditionalcircles and at the same time present them in a manner that

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3/5

146 Reviewswill meet the standards f contemporary cholarship? Enoughsolid andintelligent ontemporarytudiesof Sufismexist to show that here s noreasonin principlewhy this cannot be done. Iranians n particular ave a greatpotential ontributiono make n thisarea,but those Iranianswhohave dealtwith Sufism and psychology are for the most part cut off from theirownintellectualoots. What s needed s scholarswhohavea thorough nowledge fthe still-living radition f Islamicphilosophy,which s intimatelyntertwinedwith theoreticalSufism. They could clarify the intellectualand culturalunderpinningsf Islamicpsychologynrelation o thoseof Western sychologyandevencontributeo the investigationf the philosophical resuppositionsfmodern sychology muchas S.H. Nasrhas done for scienceandphilosophyngeneral).Shafii, like manyothercontemporaryuthorswithrootsin the East,clingstoSufism'ssupposed"anti-intellectualism",gnoring he fact that this grew upbecauseof its stressonsupra-rationalnowledge,llumination,nddirectvisionof thespiritualworld ishraq,kashf, huhuid, hawq).It is certainly ossiblc ocriticize the "rationalmind"n the contextof Sufism,but how can one alsothrowout intelligence? Sufis like Rumiwhodowngrade eason 'aql) in thenameof love do not criticize ntelligence, ut ratherhe limitations f commonsense and rationalprocesses. In all its classical forms Sufism is anothermanifestation f that Islamicethos which Rosenthalhas called "knowledgetriumphant";t is no accidenthatone of its mostcommonnames nPersians'irfan.Partly ecause f his unfamiliarity ith he visionary nd ntellectual niverse fSufism, Shafii constantly mphasizes he emotive and affective sides of Sufiexperience,whichare precisely those sides that are disparaged y the Sufimasters hemselves.Anyonewho participatesn Sufi dhikr n order o achievean "intensive motionalexperience"p. 68) is hardlyworthy o be a novice.Like otherWestern tudies hat nterpret ufism argely n termsof emotions,Shafiiemploystheextremely ationalmodeof Western cademics.He is notdisturbed--nors heevenaware--thathis modehappenso be alien o traditionalIslamic intellectuality,which is on intimate erms with faith and piety. Inshort, hemindsof authors uch as Shafii have beenso thoroughlymoldedbythe horizontal niverse f modemsciencethat heyare totallycutoff from hevertical dimensionwith which Sufism concerns tself and are barred romgrasping he existenceof any formof knowledge ther han he rational.Theycan find no way out of the scientificconceptionof knowledgeother than arationalisticeaction gainst ationalismhatholdup"love" s itsstandard.Misunderstandingsf basicIslamic ndSuficoncepts bound, utspacepermitsno more than a few allusions here. In general the author has no realunderstandingf thehierarchicaltructuref theuniverse s perceivedn Islam.Evenwherehe triesto come to termswith t, as for example n the last chapterwherehe drawsan interestingorrelation etween even stagesof the nafs andseven stationsof maqamon the Sufi path, his view is totallyshapedby thesteam-rollerf scientism;hesevenstagesbecomedifferent licesof thepancake



4/5

Reviews 147

of the secularmind,all in the mode of id, ego, andsuperego. In spiteof a vagueawareness that there is also a dimension of "transcendence", gnorance ofcosmology and theology preventsthis from having any real significance to thestudy.Problemsin later chaptersare prefigured n the first, where the authordiscusses"personality structure" in "Sufism", basing himself on a superficialinterpretation made withoutreferenceto the numerous studies on the topic) ofthe psychology of the philosopherAvicenna. Here we are told that the Sufisreferred to the "unconscious"as baiin, with only a minimal attempt to justifythis statement. The authoris oblivious to the deep resonance of the termbatinin Islamic thought or the fact that it can never be understood n isolation fromzdhir. He does not have the slightest idea that thebctin/zdhir dyad correspondsto several other similardyads (e.g., ghayb/shahddah, ma'ndls,rah, 'aqllhiss),and that each of these dyads tells us something about the extremely complexnature of the so-called 'unconscious' of Muslims. This constantly displayedinsensitivity to two profoundly different world views is almost unbelievable.Several other examples could be mentioned where the author employs Sufiterminology with no awareness of the original context (e.g., 'forgetfulness'[ghaflat], pp. 52 ff.). It is as if the technical terms of Sufism are merely cogs ina machine that can be lifted out and placed in the machine of Westernpsychology to make it function a bit more smoothly. One of the author'sfavoriteexpressions is "similar o", but he never tells us why a certain tenuousformal similarity should have any relationship to a similarity in meaning (hewould have done well to meditateupon the dyad ma'nia/lsrah).The author often displays his conviction that Sufism has much to offer tomodem psychology. Sometimes, however, he comes up with sentences like, "Inthe past, the Sufi pirs, the Yoga gurus, and the Zen masters did not have thepsychological or psychoanalytical sophisticationof the present time"(p. 133).If this means that these people did not have the tools of statistical analysis, fine,no one can argue. But the clear implication is that the pre-modems were notnearly as well versed in the nature of the human psyche as we are, so theirpsychotherapywas primitive and inept. Yet these pirs, gurus, and Zen masterswere people who shaped civilizations, producedsome of the most beautiful andenduring pieces of world literatureand art, taught hundredsand thousands ofdisciples how to live in harmonywith theircommunities and the naturalworld,and will continue to exercise their influence long after all the books of theFreuds and the Pavlovs have been recycled. So if the author means, as heappears to, that these people did not understand he humansoul, nothing couldbe more absurd. Moreover, for all their"sophistication", he modems have notbeen able to produce a psychotherapythatproduces any results. As the authoradmits in anothercontext, "A numberof studies show that it does not matterwhat type of therapy one applies, whether psychoanalysis exploratorypsychotherapy,behaviortherapy,or faith-healing [!]: the outcome is about thesame"(p. 77). If it is "unsophisticated"o say, along with the Prophet,"Iseekrefugein God from a knowledge which has no use", then all the pirs and gurus



5/5

148 Reviewswerecertainlyunsophisticated.William C. Chittick,State Universityof New York at StonyBrook

A Jeweler's Eye: Islamic Arts of the Book from the VeverCollection, GlennD. Lowry,withSusanNemazee. 240 pp.,76 colorplates,b&w illus.An Annotated and Illustrated Checklist of the VeverCollection,GlennD. LowryandMilo ClevelandBeachwithRoyaMarefatandWheelerM.Thackston. 48 pp.,456 b&w llus.ArthurM.SacklerGalleryand Universityof Washington ress,Washington,D.C. andSeattle,1989, 2volumeset,$125.00The collectionof Islamicworksof arton paper massedby the ParisianewelerHenri Vever disappeared n 1942 when Vever died. Its recent dramaticreappearance nd acquisitionby Washington's ackler Museumhave beenchronicled y a Smithsoniannstitutionelevisiondocumentary.Workingwithunprecedentedispatch,Dr. GlennLowry, he Sackler's urator f Islamicart,andhis colleaguesprepared nexhibition,AJeweler'sEye,inorder obringaselectionof theVevermaterialmmediatelyefore hepublic.Thecatalogue fthe exhibition itself would be a remarkable chievementgiven the timeconstraintspon heauthors.Thesimultaneousublication f whatamountsoa preliminarycholarly atalogue f the entirecollection, armore hana merechecklist,hasprovided cholarswitha basicresearchoolof immense alue,andattests o theSackler's road ense of its own wide rangeof responsibilitiesscustodian f thisremarkableollection. To be sure,few museums odayhaveeither hecuratorial,ogistical, rfinancial esourcesocomplete ucha massiveprojectn sucha short panof time,but the achievementf thesetwovolumesattestsaboveall to a sense of responsibilityo thegeneraland to thescholarlypublic hat s to behighlycommended.Manyof the Veverobjectswerepublished y variousauthors n the firstfourdecades of this century. The eight miniatures rom the greatShah-ndmehcompleted round 335at Tabriz ave ongbeenknown oscholars, nd ogetherwith the six examplesalready n the Freer,theyprovidea concentrationfmaterialwithoutparallel nywhere.Otherwell-knownworksof artcreatednIranandIndiahad ongbeenthoughtost,and heir eappearancerovides newimpetus or scholars cross he world oward he studyof the Islamicartsof thebook.The exhibition, beautifully and elegantly mounted in the Sackler, wascomplementedby the catalogue,with its color reproductions, iographical


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wiliam chittick on psychiatry