Objective: To discover the relationship and meaning of Love and Death in Sufi (Islamic Mystic) psychology and explore the extent one can integrate findings into person-centred literature on the self and psychotherapy.

Methods: Mixed methods were utilized. This study spanned four years and was supervised by the University of Edinburgh Counselling and Psychotherapy Department. Data was collected in various locations in Turkey. Literature on Love and Death was explored through writing as inquiry and integrated into the diary entries of the author, a Sufi therapist. Auto-ethnographic fiction allowed for the ethical considerations of confidentiality to be met, and for the author to create literature-based research that could blend with the colours of lived experience, thereby increasing the reliability of the findings.

Results: The understanding and relationship between Love and Death depict a release of conditions in one’s database, revealing a way of being that is beyond the body and the ego. The false self is discovered to be the ‘ego,’ and the true self is found to be divine love, the essential one observing eternal diverse compositions of itself.

Conclusions: While a person-centred concept of the true self is confined to the ego, a Sufi psychological understanding is beyond the ego. Suggestions are made for a new Sufi-inspired, holistic, therapeutic avenue. This includes cognitive work that focuses on de-conditioning one’s database of its conditions, associated judgments, and emotions to experience the true self.

Authors:
Elif Zapsu, Üsküdar Üniversitesi, Türkiye

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Elif Zapsu is a lecturer in psychology at Üsküdar University, Istanbul. PhD in Counselling and Psychotherapy, University of Edinburgh. Her interests include Sufism and Physics in Psychology, Child Psychology, Qualitative and Arts-based research.

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/elifzapsu123

Additional website of interest
https://www.elifzapsu.com/

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