An-nafs is a very fascinating concept. It could be translated as the self. But while the etymology of the word self is an emphatic expression of the “I”, the etymology of the word Nafs is the emphatic expression of transcendence. The three Arabic letters forming this word have one original meaning which is an exhaled breath.

It made me reflect on the divine breath that was blown into Mary, and the divine breath that is blown into every baby.  The word Nafs that is so representative of our human experience is the fruit of this exhaled divine breath that brings us to life. It simply means just as in the post about Maslow’s pyramid of needs that at the beginning of man’s story is transcendence.

Perhaps the choice of Arabic as a language to convey the message of God is that the implicit and explicit meanings work together to convey this message of love, of unity and duality. It follows that operating from a pure I or ego perspective that does not take into account this dyad is operating from a false self. But perhaps this thought deserves more time for reflection.

While still on the subject of etymology and linguistic precision, I would like to mention another important term. Having read a few papers by Freud this year, I came across another interesting term which is hysteria. This term first used to describe the condition of some women, comes from the Greek word meaning “of the womb” or “suffering of the womb” the womb itself meaning the belly.

If you look at the etymology of the word rahim (the Arabic word for womb) you will find that at the root is the meaning of mercy the quality that goes with the womb and motherhood.  When we oppose the two, one ties the word to a place of psychological troubles, the other to a place of mercy.

Perhaps these are signs of profound conceptual differences between the Islamic perspective of the human condition and a non-faith-based perspective.