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...the health of the soul can also be maintained in these two (external and internal) ways. Externally is to protect the soul from outside elements such as what a person hears or sees that may worry or disturb him causing arousal of emotions that include anger, panic, sadness or fear and causing other similar responses.
Internally means to protect the soul from internal symptoms of negative thinking about what may harm the person with respect to the symptoms or disorders that we have described. As is known, these disorders can cause worry and anxiety to enter the heart. One can heal oneself using two methods. First, when feeling peaceful and when the faculties of the soul are in a tranquil state, one should convince the heart (mind) that this world, dunyā, has not been created to give people whatever they wish or desire without their being subjected to anxieties and worries or harmful unwelcome symptoms. One should realize (after this internal monologue of self-convincing) that this is the inherent nature of life on this earth and that this is what one should expect from life in developing one's habits and a regular way of life. Therefore one should not ask for what has not been created in the very nature of one's world."
Abu Zayd al-Balki's Sustenance of the Soul: The Cognitive Behavior Therapy of a Ninth Century Physician
Malik Badri, p. 31
Paperback: ISBN 978-1-56564-599-8
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Summer Institute for Scholars
Scholars and Students gather during the Summer Institute for Scholars whose theme this year is "Theologies and Ethics of Justice: New Directions in 21st Century Islamic Thought."
