Short Introduction to the Foundation of the Concept of the Individual in Western Thought

Abstract

The objective of this part is to elucidate the concept of man in the ways of thinking of Iranians by studying the relationships of man to God in Persian Sufism.¹ We will attempt to show the importance of the domination of mystical thought upon the non-development of the concept of the individual in Iranian ways of thinking. Still more important in this context is an explanation of how the Sufi doctrine of the Unity of Existenc, which brought about ideas of supremacy of the Universal Self over the individual self and of the complete identification of the individual human self with God, has been an obstacle to development of the concept of the individual in Iranian thought. This, then, is in stark contrast to the dualistic conception of the world in Western ways of thinking which led to the emergence of the concept of the individual.