~Brandon Gilbert

Self-awareness, defined as the ability to listen and observe both internal experiences and external realities, is foundational for maintaining a healthy relationship with oneself and the world. It acts as a tether, grounding individuals in reality and preventing them from being consumed by their own thoughts, emotions, or sensations. Without this balance, a person risks falling into distorted ways of thinking and behaving, such as superstition, sentimentality, fantasy, escapism, dissociation, avoidance, or bypassing, all of which represent forms of disconnection from reality.

In extreme cases, such as severe mental illness, the absence of self-awareness leads to total disconnection from external input. For example, individuals with psychosis or narcissistic personality disorder may fully believe their own thoughts and feelings as objective truths, ignoring any outside evidence or alternate perspectives. This creates a self-reinforcing loop of internal beliefs, fears, and distortions, with no external grounding to challenge them. Such detachment results in paranoia, delusions, or an inability to empathize, trapping individuals in an echo chamber of their own making. Listening and engaging with external reality, therefore, are critical for breaking these cycles and maintaining a connection to collective truth.

The concepts of superstition, sentimentality, fantasy, escapism, dissociation, avoidance, and bypassing exemplify how disconnection from self-awareness manifests in everyday life. Superstition arises from irrational beliefs and arbitrary connections, often rooted in fear or ignorance, while sentimentality focuses on exaggerated, surface-level emotions that avoid deeper truths. Fantasy and escapism represent mental detachment, creating comforting illusions or distractions to avoid confronting reality. Dissociation involves a more severe detachment, disconnecting a person from their own identity or environment. Avoidance and bypassing, whether through rationalizations, distractions, or spiritual justifications, sidestep challenges or discomfort rather than addressing them directly.

In contrast, genuine substance, logical formulas, and authentic skill demand self-awareness, active listening, and engagement with both internal and external realities. Genuine substance is grounded in evidence and depth, while logical formulas rely on structured reasoning to evaluate and solve problems. Authentic skill is cultivated through deliberate practice and interaction with the external world, requiring an honest acknowledgment of one’s limitations and a commitment to growth.

Listening serves as the critical mechanism that bridges internal and external realities. It allows individuals to test their perceptions, refine their beliefs, and remain open to feedback, fostering accountability and clarity. Without listening, people lose their ability to reality-check their thoughts and feelings, mistaking subjective experiences for objective truths. This disconnection reinforces distorted thinking and prevents genuine progress.

In summary, self-awareness and the ability to listen are essential for navigating life with substance, logic, and skill. They protect against the traps of irrationality, avoidance, and emotional overindulgence, grounding individuals in reality and fostering meaningful growth. Without self-awareness, people risk spiraling into self-reinforcing loops of disconnection, ultimately eroding their ability to engage authentically with themselves and the world.

https://x.com/alshreefaluony/status/1854186696692158692

قال الإمام ابن الجوزي رحمه الله:

ولقد تاب على يديّ في مجالس الذكر أكثر من مائتي ألف، وأسلم علي يديّ أكثر من مائتي نفس

ولكم سالتْ عينُ مُتَجبّرٍ بِوَعْظي لم تكن تسيل

ولقد جلستُ يوماً فرأيت حولي أكثر من عشرة آلاف ما فيهم إلا مَن رَقّ قلبه، أو دمعتْ عينه

فقلت لنفسي: كيف بكِ إذا نَجَوا وهلكتِ؟

فصِحتُ بلسانِ وجدي: إلهي وسيدي .... لئن قضيتَ عليّ بالعذاب غداً فلا تُعْلِمهم بعذابي صيانةً لكرَمِك لا لأجلي، لئلا يقولوا: عذّبَ من دلَّ عليه

[صيد الخاطر]

Abd-El-Kader At Toulon Or, The Caged Hawk

No more, thou lithe and long-winged hawk, of desert-life for thee;
No more across the sultry sands shalt thou go swooping free:
Blunt idle talons, idle beak, with spurning of thy chain,
Shatter against thy cage the wing thou ne’er may’st spread again.

Long, sitting by their watchfires, shall the Kabyles tell the tale
Of thy dash from Ben Halifa on the fat Metidja vale;
How thou swept’st the desert over, bearing down the wild El Riff,
From eastern Beni Salah to western Ouad Shelif;

How thy white burnous welit streaming, like the storm-rack o’er the sea,
When thou rodest in the vanward of the Moorish chivalry;
How thy razzia was a whirlwind, thy onset a simoom,
How thy sword-sweep was the lightning, dealing death from out the gloom!

Nor less quick to slay in battle than in peace to spare and save,
Of brave men wisest councillor, of wise councillors most brave;
How the eye that flashed destruction could beam gentleness and love,
How lion in thee mated lamb, how eagle mated dove!

Availed not or steel or shot ‘gainst that charmed life secure,
Till cunning France, in last resource, tossed up the golden lure;
And the carrion buzzards round him stooped, faithless, to the cast,
And the wild hawk of the desert is caught and caged at last.

Weep, maidens of Zerifah, above the laden loom!
Scar, chieftains of Al Elmah, your cheeks in grief and gloom!
Sons of the Beni Snazam, throw down the useless lance,
And stoop your necks and bare your backs to yoke and scourge of France!

Twas not in fight they bore him down; he never cried aman;
He never sank his sword before the PRINCE OF FRANGHISTAN;
But with traitors all around him, his star upon the wane,
He heard the voice of ALLAH, and he would not strive in vain.

They gave him what he asked them; from king to king he spake,
As one that plighted word and seal not knoweth how to break;
‘Let me pass from out my deserts, be’t mine own choice where to go,
I brook no fettered life to live, a captive and a show.’

And they promised, and he trusted them, and proud and calm he came,
Upon his black mare riding, girt with his sword of fame.
Good steed, good sword, he rendered both unto the Frankish throng;
He knew them false and fickle—but a Prince’s word is strong.

How have they kept their promise? Turned they the vessel’s prow
Unto Acre, Alexandria, as they have sworn e’en now?
Not so: from Oran northwards the white sails gleam and glance,
And the wild hawk of the desert is borne away to France!

Where Toulon’s white-walled lazaret looks southward o’er the wave,
Sits he that trusted in the word a son of Louis gave.
O noble faith of noble heart! And was the warning vain,
The text writ by the BOURBON in the blurred black book of Spain?

They have need of thee to gaze on, they have need of thee to grace
The triumph of the Prince, to gild the pinchbeck of their race.
Words are but wind, conditions must be construed by GUIZOT;
Dash out thy heart, thou desert hawk, ere thou art made a show!

by William Makepeace Thackeray

Shaykh 'Abd al-Fattah Abu Ghuddah said after quoting his Shaykh, "And I will add a forth thing: A sultan's house, meaning a large house to contain all the books!"

‘Supplication is not a form of worship unless it is accompanied by entrusting the matter essentially to the Ultimate Reality, most-High, for He is the One who knows the final outcome of things and their inner realities. The one who knows this and is present with the Ultimate Reality most-High does not ask Him for any specific thing determining resolutely that it is ultimately best for them unless He has already informed one of its goodness and informed one of its essential nature. Beyond this, one does not ask Him for something in its essence specifically assuming it is good for one except that one entrusts the ultimate reality to Him because He knows ultimately what is best for us and what is in our true interest…Hence we do not ask for felicity and goodness regarding what we imagine or assume is the means to that with absolute resoluteness and we do not seek protection from evil or our ultimate suffering regarding what we assume is the means to that either because from His Names is the Subtly Kind. He is the One in whom things are hidden in their opposites just as was so for Joseph. For authority and power were hidden in his enslavement and imprisonment as well as the many other forms of trials and tests that He endured and he responded to that by saying: “Truly my Lord is subtly kind in what He wills. Indeed it is He who is all-knowing and all-wise.” ’ (Quran 12:100)

Amir Abdul Qadir al-Jaza’iri, Reflection 268

"...فإن العامة لا يرون في تحريك الشر عليهم إلا صورة الشخص الذي حركه عليهم لغيبتهم عن الله سبحانه و تعالى و عن غالب حكمه. فنهضوا في مقابلة الشرور بحولهم و إحتيالهم و صولة سلطان نفوسهم. فطالت عليهم مكابدة الشرور، و حبسوا في سجن العذاب على تعاقب الدهور.."

- سيدنا الشيخ سيدي أحمد التجاني رضي الله عنه/ جواهر المعاني لسيدي الحاج علي حرازم برادة رضي الله عنه