Steps to Getting to know Yourself....

The eight principles
How can we ascend to the higher levels? First of all, we need to stop doing what we are doing, and have the desire and intention to ascend by applying healing principles in our lives. Healing requires devotion, dedication, and discipline. The eight principles of Sufism are keys to progress towards the finer, more delicate levels. Theses include:
1. Zekr (to remember) Remembrance of God. The zekr of the common person is seeking closeness to God through prayer and in chants of remembrance.
2. Fikr (to think, meditate) Being in the state of wondering. Fikr involves the practice of stopping what one has been doing and instead of focusing inwardly with single-pointed concentration. I
3.Sahar (to awaken) Awakening of soul and body. It is process of developing the eyes and ears of inner awareness, of listening to the heart, and of gaining access to our hidden potentialities.
4. Jui’I (to hunger) Having hunger of heart and mind to persist in seeking and obtaining the truth. It involves the deep desire and intention to steadfastly and patiently seek our true self.
5.Suamt (to observe silence) Ceasing to think and about talk about worthless things. This is the process of quieting both the tongue and the brain, of tuning out the external temptations and tuning in to the Divine.
6.Suam (to fast) Fasting of body and mind. It includes physical fasting, as well as detaching from the brains wants and desires, and external sensory perception.
7. Khalvat (to observe solitude) Praying in solitude, externally and internally, and detaching.
8. Khidmat (to serve) dissolving in the truth of the master and dissolving in the truth of existence, God. One discovers the path of the soul for personal growth and service.4

Self

The true self......

The true self is not the changing cellular system, the social conditioning, nor the mental and emotional states that are constantly in a state of flux and change. The true self is the stable reality, the true personality of each human being.1
In Islam it is equated with Divine. This is why Islam proclaims the Oneness of Existence, la-ilaha- illa’llah, there is no other but God. This is true human dignity granted to humans, that there is no separation between you and God.2

Sciences...

In the study of all sciences, it is the reality of man”self” which is forever seeking, searching in curiosity, with that inward vision and quest for the knowledge which is the seed for all sciences. The driving force behind man’s quest for revealing the hidden truth beneath the disguises and for surpassing the limitation forced upon him by nature is his inherent, infinite identity. It is that innate “I” who searches and researches everything from particle to the universe, embracing all knowledge that is to be discovered. 3