Ma`rifat Falsafi

The evolution of the soul proceeds through ‘proximity to God’ (Qurb); from the perspective of Allamah Misbah Yazdi, proximity to God suggests the ‘intensification of the soul’s presential knowledge’ (al-ilm al-huduri) towards God, and the means of attaining this goal is to have ‘pure intention. This research is dedicated to examining the role of divine intention in intensifying the soul’s presential knowledge towards God. Adopting a descriptive-analytical approach, this study seeks to address how pure intention strengthens the soul’s presential knowledge towards the Divine. Does intention play a direct role in this process, or does it facilitate another mediating factor? Furthermore, which motivations are congruent with divine intention, and what is the role of unconscious motivations in this process? This paper concludes that intention, through orienting the soul’s attentions, leads to the enhancement of self-awareness. Motivations subsumed under divine intention are found to be congruent with it. Furthermore, there is no fundamental difference between conscious and unconscious motivations in terms of reinforcing the core of self-awareness. However, the intensity and weakness of these motivations exert varying degrees of influence on the extent of self-awareness enhancement.