The Teaching of Hazrat Inayat Khan1
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Topic ArchetypesAstrologyAttainmentChakrasCharacterChristCompassionDervishDesire and renunciationDestiny and Free WillDimensionsDiscipleshipDreamsDuties and debtsEgoElementsGodGuidanceHealersHealingHealthHeartImmortalityInitiationLight and LoveLoversMagnetismMasteryMaterial lifeMeditationMessageMindPhysical BodyPlanesPoetsPowerPrayersPurposeReconstruction of WorldRelationshipsReligionsSaintsSchoolScientistsSexualitySleepSpeakingStagesStoriesSufismTeaching StyleVoiceWomenWorldWounds of the Heart | Sub-Topic Breaking of rhythm is diseaseby Mother EarthDyingHealthPunishmentSpiritual HealingThe Persona of the HealerTreating the Wounded |
THE SUPPLEMENTARY PAPERSMISCELLANEOUS 2How to Treat the WoundedComing now to the question how to treat the wounded. In the West the medical treatment, the surgical inventions, the appliances have advanced so much that in this there is no more to be done. There remains to train the women how to receive, how to treat the wounded. What is learnt is the medical, the surgical work. Besides this we should know how to treat the wounded not physically only but spiritually.
Sometimes sympathy is shown in such a way that the patient is made more ill. I have always seen that the children of grand people are more subject to illness than others, because for the slightest indisposition there is the doctor, and the treatment, and the remedies and the bed prepared and also the nice dishes. If we say to a wounded or sick person, "How ill you are. How very bad your condition is," his thought is drawn to his bad state, and he becomes worse. Whatever his condition is, we should say, "It is nothing very bad. It will be better." This is psychologically. Mystically, when we go into the presence of a wounded or sick person, we should think that by our presence alone he will be healed much more than by all the medicines, for they are drugs and we are the living soul, the higher beings. For this healing-power three things are necessary. This healing is usually done by the (1) eyes or by the (2) fingertips. There is a better way than this of healing, that is, to heal by your (3) kindness. But this cannot be learned. If a person is not kind, he cannot learn to be so. The only thing is to practice kindness, to do kind actions, and so to develop the quality. Looking at the world we shall see that, besides these wounded, there are many other wounded. We shall see that the world is full of wounded and among thousands we shall find scarcely one healthy person. There are the wounded by life and the wounded of the self. We should know how to treat these wounded also. There is a verse by a Hindustani poet: "First help into port the small boat, and then your own ship will come safely to harbor." This means: Stop in order to help another in his difficulty, and there will be every promise of your own undertaking being successful. But we can heal another only if we forget our own wounds. If these are always before our view, we cannot help others and we shall never be healed ourselves.
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