Now coming to the question of the opposing forces: according to the Sufis there are Qaher and Qadr. Qaher is the universal Will, universal power; Qadr is the individual will and the individual power. No doubt the individual power in comparison with the universal power is like a drop compared with the sea. It cannot stand against the sweeping waves of the sea that come and destroy it. Nevertheless, the drop, being from the same source as the sea, has also a certain amount of strength, and the individual will also has a certain strength if it wills to hold against opposing forces.

If we want to make the individual will and the universal will more clear, it is in small things that we can do so. When a person is walking in the street and says, "I feel hungry, I should like to go to a restaurant and have a meal" that is individual will. Another person goes in the street and sees a poor man, and says, "Ah, this man -- he seems to be poor, he must have something; can I not do something for him? I want to see him looking happier." As soon as he thinks of the good of another person, at once his will becomes the universal will.

The reason is that the boundary that limits the will of an individual is the thought of the self. As soon as one has forgotten the thought of self, as soon as one thinks of another, that boundary breaks down and the will becomes stronger. The masters of humanity, those who have been able to do great things in the world, where did they get their will from? It was their own will which was extended by the breaking down of the boundaries of the thought of self. It does not mean that one should give up the thought of self, that one must never think of oneself, never think of one's lunch and dinner. The self is there, one has to think about it. But at the same time in order to expand, in order to let the will grow, the more one forgets oneself the more one is helped.