The Teaching of Hazrat Inayat Khan      

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Volume

Sayings

Social Gathekas

Religious Gathekas

The Message Papers

The Healing Papers

Vol. 1, The Way of Illumination

Vol. 1, The Inner Life

Vol. 1, The Soul, Whence And Whither?

Vol. 1, The Purpose of Life

Vol. 2, The Mysticism of Sound and Music

Vol. 2, The Mysticism of Sound

Vol. 2, Cosmic Language

Vol. 2, The Power of the Word

Vol. 3, Education

Vol. 3, Life's Creative Forces: Rasa Shastra

Vol. 3, Character and Personality

Vol. 4, Healing And The Mind World

Vol. 4, Mental Purification

Vol. 4, The Mind-World

Vol. 5, A Sufi Message Of Spiritual Liberty

Vol. 5, Aqibat, Life After Death

Vol. 5, The Phenomenon of the Soul

Vol. 5, Love, Human and Divine

Vol. 5, Pearls from the Ocean Unseen

Vol. 5, Metaphysics, The Experience of the Soul Through the Different Planes of Existence

Vol. 6, The Alchemy of Happiness

Vol. 7, In an Eastern Rose Garden

Vol. 8, Health and Order of Body and Mind

Vol. 8, The Privilege of Being Human

Vol. 8a, Sufi Teachings

Vol. 9, The Unity of Religious Ideals

Vol. 10, Sufi Mysticism

Vol. 10, The Path of Initiation and Discipleship

Vol. 10, Sufi Poetry

Vol. 10, Art: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

Vol. 10, The Problem of the Day

Vol. 11, Philosophy

Vol. 11, Psychology

Vol. 11, Mysticism in Life

Vol. 12, The Vision of God and Man

Vol. 12, Confessions: Autobiographical Essays of Hazat Inayat Khan

Vol. 12, Four Plays

Vol. 13, Gathas

Vol. 14, The Smiling Forehead

By Date

THE SUPPLEMENTARY PAPERS

Heading

The Alchemy of Happiness

The Aim of Life

The Purpose of Life (1)

The Five Inclinations

The Purpose of Life (2)

The Four Ways People Take

The Ultimate Purpose of Life

The Art of Personality

The Development of Personality

The Attitude

The Secret of Life

What is Wanted in Life?

Life, a Continual Battle (1)

Life, a Continual Battle (2)

The Struggle of Life (1)

The Struggle of Life (2)

Reaction

The Deeper Side of Life

Life, An Opportunity

Our Life's Experience

Communicating with Life

The Intoxication of Life (1)

The Intoxication of Life (2)

The Meaning of Life

Receiving the Knowledge of Life

The Inner Life

The Inner Life and Self Realization

Steps in the Spiritual Journey

The Interdependence of Life Within and Without

Interest and Indifference

The Four Kinds of Interest

The Four Kinds of Indifference

From Limitation to Perfection (1)

The Aspects of Religion

From Limitation to Perfection (2)

The Path of Attainment (1)

The Path of Attainment (2)

Stages on the Path of Self-realization

Stages of Belief in God

The Stages toward Perfection

Man, the Master of His Destiny (1)

Aspects of the Master-Mind

Man, the Master of His Destiny (2)

The Three Spheres

The Law of Action

2. Aspects of Law

Grades of Personality

The Three Laws

Purity of Life

Acknowledgment

Responsibility

The Continuity of Life

Sub-Heading

-ALL-

Attitude Toward Self

Attitude Towards Friends

Vol. 6, The Alchemy of Happiness

The Secret of Life

Attitude Toward Self

One aspect is one's attitude towards oneself: whether one treats oneself as a friend or as an enemy, whether one is in harmony with oneself or in disharmony. Not everyone is in harmony with himself, and not everyone treats himself as a friend, although he may think so. For man is generally his own enemy; he does not know it, but he proves it in his doings.

One reads in the Qur'an, "Verily, man is foolish and cruel."

Foolish because he does not even know his own interest, and cruel because he very often proves to be his own enemy. Apart from cruelty to others, man begins by being cruel to himself, and that cruelty is the cause of foolishness. Man may consider himself very practical and clever, yet he often proves to be his own enemy.

As Sa'di says, "My cleverness, very often thou provest to be my worst enemy."

Worldly cleverness without faith and strength and trust is usually nothing but a delusion. It is the development of trust in the heart, the development of faith, that first gives a man a friendly attitude to himself; and he becomes his own friend by bringing his external being into harmony with his inner being. For it is when the inner being seeks one thing, and the external being does something else, that there is disharmony in the self. When the higher self desires to go one way, and the lower self another way, then there is disharmony, the result of which is like a volcanic eruption. The two parts of his own being which should unite together in love, clash together and the result is fire.

What causes people to commit suicide? What brings illness and depression and despair? Very often the conflict which exists within oneself, and therefore the attitude towards oneself must first be friendly, kindly, and harmonious. Even in spiritual matters one should not go against oneself.

I remember that when beginning to get interested in spiritual matters I once asked my teacher, "Murshid, do you approve of my staying up most of the night for my vigils?" "Whom do you torture?" said my murshid, "Yourself? Is God pleased with it?" I had not another word to say.