Woman kneeling by a small pond in a lush garden, tending plants beneath pink blossoms.

Beyond the persona: Self-analysis within a greater perspective

The challenge and the delight of the Nâm Weekend of Silence

 

Knowing oneself is concerned with discovering what both you, the wearer of the ‘persona’, and the mask consist in.

Yoginâm, SIWEB, Dimensions of Experience, 2023 / p.38

 

In daily life we often long for reassurance, that underpins our sense of security. The roles we adopt -being a loving mother, an attentive friend, or someone always ready to help- affirm that we are important, wanted, seen, and not alone. Yet this dependence on external validation brings uncertainty and traps us in identification with our persona; losing them feels like losing the reassurance we believe we need most.

Participating in a Nâm Weekend of Silence interrupts this self-reinforcing pattern. Though you are still with others in a group setting, which may trigger familiar roles, the silence prevents their enactment. In this stillness, we may discover a different way of connecting—with ourselves, and by extension, with others.

This discovery is the beginning of a form of self-analysis that moves beyond examining our reactions and experiences, touching on something greater than ourselves that cannot be known, only acknowledged. It affirms that, beyond experience, we are transcendental beings:

 

The unknown of something or someone is OK and it should not always be filled with anything.

Participant of the Intensive Meaningful Living, April

 

Garden scene with a pink-flowered tree in bloom, petals drifting down over shrubs and a stone statue in the foreground.

Two people stand by the front door of a red-brick building, with a white decorative balcony above them.

Four adults sit around a small table on a sunny brick patio, chatting with drinks in hand.

 

 

 

 

Meaningful Living: The quality of asking questions and taking action

 

The Sufi mystic and poet Ibn ‘Arabi said:
Reflection without action is avoidance.

 

When the perspective shifts from misguided identification with roles and patterns to an affirmation of our transcendental nature, of which the divine is an integral part, we create space for transformation:

For instance you may suffer from a natural feeling of insecurity. It will be obvious that this is rooted in programmes that were formed in early childhood. You may understand these programmes, but it is very difficult to transcend these programmes without the awareness that they are contrary to the Natural State of our transcendental being.

Yoginâm, Self-analysis, 2018

 

The Intensive Meaningful Living is a journey where questions are met with counter-questions, not a conscious striving for letting go and acceptance, but a space where these concepts find you by surprise. As you discover that lightness and fun can accompany life’s serious questions, a realisation may grow that action or transformation lies not in conscious understanding, but in where you direct your attention.

Self-Analysis as is meant here is not a psychoanalysis
It is not a methodology to understand oneself better
Understanding oneself is always an illusion
And constitutes an illusion about an illusion
One cannot step aside for objective observation
Observing oneself always expresses
The current Habitual Programmes of Perception
That determine what one is

Yoginâm, The Book of Nâm, 2020 / p. 289

 

Participants sit cross-legged on red mats in a circle around a large blue stone sculpture on a pedestal; papers are scattered on the carpet.

Smiling woman in a white robe kneels on a red mat as another person sits on a red mat writing in a notebook nearby in a yellow-room setting.

Woman with curly hair sits on a red cushion on a carpet, smiling and clasping hands, indoors near a yellow wall.

Person with curly hair in a white hoodie sits cross-legged on a red mat, writing in a notebook.

Person in a white robe and head wrap kneeling on a rug, surrounded by scattered papers in a bright room with sheer curtains.

Two people kneel on a beige carpet, exchanging a pen over papers for a craft task in a sunny living room.

 

To lift a corner of the veil on one of the themes covered during the Intensive, you can read Irma’s blog, where she shares her insights and demonstrates, in practical terms, how self-analysis in the context of transcendence can help transform you and your world.

Read Irma's blog here

Person in a gray coat standing in a backyard garden beside a glass greenhouse, with a small pond, rocks, and lush shrubs surrounding them.

Garden scene with pink flowering plants at the water's edge, a tree with yellow blossoms, and a rocky pond border.

Stone garden statue of a seated figure among green shrubs and a large white-flowered bush at the center.

Older man in a striped shirt sits on a brick building's open window ledge, looking down at a small object in his hands.

Person peeking over a dark slate roof from a dormer window, cloudy blue sky in the background.

Man in a brown vest crouching on a roof edge, smiling at the camera with a blue sky and clouds behind him.

Cozy hotel lounge with customers seated on armchairs, warm lamps, and a red-curtain window at the far end

Woman sitting on a beige sofa in a living room, with a tall wooden floor lamp and warm amber lamps, red curtains to the right.

Person seated on an outdoor chair on a brick patio, looking down, with shoes on the ground and a sunny yard with trees in the background.