The Commanding Self is the key to understanding the entire body of Idries Shah’s work on Sufism.Named after the Sufi technical term for the aspect of humans driven by more primitive instincts, such as greed, fear and vanity, it goes to the very heart of traditional Eastern psychology.First published just two years before he died in 1996, the book focusses directly on a fundamental element in Sufi studies, using the language of modern Western psychology to illuminate what has been long understood within Sufism for many centuries.Sufis insist that clearly observing the more mundane manifestation of our existence is of vital importance for opening the way to other ‘selves’ which we also have the potential for.Following on from Learning How To Learn, it uses a mixture of teaching-stories, humour and question-and-answers to clarify and enlighten, taking concepts presented in Shah’s earlier books to assist readers make further progress in their studies of Sufi thought and action.It forms the second part of Shah’s trilogy on Sufi psychology, and is followed by Knowing How To Know.