The Teaching of Hazrat Inayat Khan1

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Topic

Archetypes

Astrology

Attainment

Chakras

Character

Christ

Compassion

Dervish

Desire and renunciation

Destiny and Free Will

Dimensions

Discipleship

Dreams

Duties and debts

Ego

Elements

God

Guidance

Healers

Healing

Health

Heart

Immortality

Initiation

Light and Love

Lovers

Magnetism

Mastery

Material life

Meditation

Message

Mind

Physical Body

Planes

Poets

Power

Prayers

Purpose

Reconstruction of World

Relationships

Religions

Saints

School

Scientists

Sexuality

Sleep

Speaking

Stages

Stories

Sufism

Teaching Style

Voice

Women

World

Wounds of the Heart

Sub-Topic

14 to 18

Awakening

Discipleship

Fana-fi-Shaikh

Farid-ud-din-Attar

Five Desires

Five Steps

Four Personalities of God

Four stages of God Consciousness

Four Types of People

Four Ways People Evolve

Grades of Evolution

Inner Life

Outer Signs of Progress

Paramatma

Path of Initiation

Signs of spirituality

Spiritual Attainment

Steps 4-10

Steps in the Spiritual Journey

The art of personality

The Last 7 Steps

The Prophet

Three Stages

Wakening to the Message

THE SUPPLEMENTARY PAPERS

PSYCHOLOGY 3

The Art of Personality

Learning the Art of Personality

And now one might ask: how does one learn the art of personality? In the same way as one learns the art of painting or drawing. In the first place one learns how to draw a straight line, a horizontal line, a circle, a curve. And in learning the art of personality it is the same. How to say a thing, and how not to say a thing, and how to avoid to say a thing, and how to say a thing without saying it.

Then one learns the art of light and shade which is the next thing. And that light and shade is how to hide a certain part in conversation and to make the other part brought to prominence. And then there is coloring. There is a great variety of colors. Every feeling, every thought, every idea has its particular color. And when a person knows how many of these colors there are and when he composes with them all he says and does in life, then it becomes an art of personality. It is nothing if a person has collected diamonds, or if he has got pearls or if he has got rubies. What is it if he has not developed in his personality that precious quality which makes a person precious. What is it? All those things are nothing.

There are four grades through which one develops in the art of personality.

  1. One grade is when a person has become thoughtful. Then he begins to observe his thoughts, to see his actions.
  2. The second grade is that not only he observes his thoughts and sees his actions, but is able to control them.
  3. The third grade is that a spontaneous outflow of sympathy comes from the person, that it is natural; that his attitude is outgoing, that his personality attracts and that his personality becomes a blessing.
  4. And the fourth grade is a grade where no effort has to be made by the artist to make the art of personality. In this grade the artist becomes art itself and whatever he does, it all becomes a beautiful picture.