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How to use the Chessboard day by day
A few simple bearings for using it each day — not to judge yourself, but to see yourself, understand the slope, and take up the journey again.
The Chessboard is neither a test, nor a judgement, nor a horoscope. It is a map of lucidity. You open it in a real moment of the day, you locate yourself, you see the slope, you take an action, you note it — and you take the road again.
القاعدة
The rule, in six gestures
- I locate myself. “How do I feel, right here?”
- I understand the slope. Where can this state take me?
- I see the grapnel or the arrow. A possible fall, or a possible rise?
- I take an action. A concrete gesture, now.
- I note it. A trace in the journal, to see myself.
- I take up the journey again. Without condemning myself.
مبادئ
Eight bearings, so as not to misuse it
A square is not an identity. It is a state, a dynamic — not a name I give myself.
To feel a passion does not mean being bad. Everyone passes through every square.
The danger is not to feel, but to settle in a state.
A grapnel signals a possible regression — a hook that grabs if one lingers.
An arrow signals a possible elevation — a virtue that lifts if one dwells in it.
A fall is not a condemnation: “do not despair of the Mercy”.
The journal serves to see oneself, not to judge oneself.
The goal is not to “reach 100”. The goal is to take up the journey again, again and again.
الحركات الثلاث
The three movements
Ordinary movement
One simply passes to the next square. Most of the squares.
Arrow — elevation
A virtue one dwells in lifts, in a single step, over several squares.
Grapnel — fall
A state one settles into tumbles one down, step by step, toward a low square.
Think of snakes and ladders: you advance square by square; some are ladders, others snakes; you only fall if you stop on the square.
المصطلحات
A small lexicon, without jargon
| Traditional term | In plain words |
|---|---|
| Station مقام (maqām) | a state or an inner stage |
| Grapnel كلّاب (kullāb) | a mechanism of falling |
| Arrow | a possibility of elevation |
| To sojourn | to settle into a state |
| To flee فرار (firār) | to leave an influence or a slope |
| The desert الصحراء | the solitude after parting from a bad influence |
| Passion الشهوة (shahwa) | a desire that governs |
| Hatred الحقد (ḥiqd) | active rancour |
| Trial المحنة (miḥna) | a consequence, a revealing crisis |
حُسن الظنّ
A symbolic reading, never a verdict
The application makes no diagnosis. It says “you seem close to…”, “this state may correspond to…”, “check whether it speaks to you”. Never “you are on square 8”, “you have fallen”, “you are guilty”. The map enlightens; it does not condemn.