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 Akhlak Allah 1Akhlak Allah 2Akhlak Allah 3And RealizationAnimal-like egoArt of PersonalityAttitude Toward Self, Vol. 4Attitude Toward Self, Vol. 6Attitude Towards OthersAwakeningCharacter HealingConfidenceCulture of the HeartDuty of HappinessFearless 1Fearless 2Grades of HumanityHarmonyIndifference and loveLeadershipLeave an Impression of GoodLife In This WorldMental PurificationMy Thoughtful SelfNo detachmentReward & punishmentRulesSelf-denialSigns of SpiritualitySoul QualitiesThe DomeViprit Karnai |
Vol. 4, Mental Purification1. Mental Purification3a. Attitude Toward OthersThe right attitude depends on how favorably one regards one's own shortcomings. Very often one is ready to defend oneself for one's faults and errors, and is willing to make one's wrong right. But one has not that attitude towards others. One takes them to task when it comes to judging them. It is so easy to disapprove of others! It is so easy to take a step further and to dislike others, and not at all difficult to take a step further still and to hate others. And when one is acting in this manner, one does not think one does any wrong. Although it is a condition which develops within, one only sees it without; all the badness which accumulates within, one sees in another person. Therefore man is always in an illusion; he is always pleased with himself and always blaming others. And the extraordinary thing is, that it is the most blameworthy who blames most. But it is expressed better the other way round: because one blames most, one becomes most blameworthy. There is beauty of form, of color, of line, of manner, of character. In some persons beauty is lacking, in other persons there is more of it; it is only the comparison that makes us think that one person is better than the other. If we did not compare, then every person would be good; it is the comparison which makes us consider one thing more beautiful than another. But if we looked more carefully we should see the beauty that is in that other one too. Very often our comparison is not right for the very reason that although today we determine in our mind what is good and beautiful, we are liable to change that conception in a month's, a year's time. That shows us that when we look at something, we are capable of appreciating it if its beauty manifests to our view. There is nothing to be surprised at when one person arrives at the stage where he says,
Each is right from his point of view. They are both sincere. But they differ because they look at it differently. Each of these persons has his reason to approve of life or to disapprove of it. Only, the one benefits himself by the vision of beauty and the other loses by not appreciating it, by not seeing the beauty in it. By a wrong attitude, therefore, a person accumulates in his mind undesirable impressions coming from people, since no one in this world is perfect. Everyone has a side which can be criticized and wants repairing. When one looks at that side, one accumulates impressions which make one more and more imperfect because they collect imperfection; and then that becomes one's world. And when the mind has become a sponge full of undesirable impressions, then what is emitted from it is undesirable also. No one can speak ill of another without making it his own; because the one speaking ill of others is ill himself. Thus the purification of the mind, from a moral point of view, should be learned in one's everyday life:
Souls on earth are born imperfect and show imperfection, and from this they develop naturally, coming to perfection. If all were perfect, there would have been no purpose in their creation. And manifestation has taken place so that every being here may rise from imperfection towards perfection. That is the object and joy of life and for that this world was created. And if we expected every person to be perfect and conditions to be perfect, then there would be no joy in living and no purpose in coming here. |