The following article by Nuria Irene Daly was first published in the Australian Sufi Movement newsletter Spirit Matters.
I was born during the war – my parents desperately longed for peace, so I was given the name Irene which means Peace in Greek. My parents managed to escape certain death from the Nazis in Vienna; they were Jewish. They became part of a small Jewish refugee community in Derry (N. Ireland) in 1939, just before the outbreak of war. Europe was still at war when I was born in the summer of 1943 – the first baby born into that small community. One of my ‘uncles’ wrote a poem celebrating my birth – it began – ‘Irish girl, your name is ‘Peace’. What is Peace?
Did this group of Viennese refugees find peace? The coming of a child into that community gave them hope and purpose. In the following year, another baby -a boy was born into the community. That family, too, wanted a new beginning, purpose, and peace. Three families stayed in Derry – the two with children and another couple who had come singly but married there. They did not have children, but those who stayed, had a purpose for staying.
Murshid says that there are five things that man yearns for: – Life, Power, Knowledge, Happiness, and Peace. Our families found Life, and they lived and worked for their children – for us. They were happy to see us grow and be happy too. To have a good education – to do well at school was most important – we had to have knowledge – to live Life to the full and make a living.
To find Peace, people leave the environment they find troublesome – sometimes to emigrate, become a refugee, or simply to get away from people, sit quietly, and rest.
Murshid says that ‘he who is not ready for peace would not find it even if he went to the caves of the Himalayas away from the whole world’.
‘The one who has found peace within himself may be in a cave of the mountain or among the crowd, yet in every place, he will experience peace. True peace can come only by being so firm against all influences around us that nothing can disturb us.’[1]
My father could do that – he was a peaceful person – wherever he was – even in Vienna under the Nazis, he quietly went about his business until my mother had to hide him in the cellar. My mother used to say ‘Er hat eine Ruhe in sich’ which translates as ‘he has a peace or quietness in him’ – she said the same about me, but it was not meant to be complimentary – it was a criticism, said with exasperation.
My father was a peaceful soul, but it took my mother to get them both out of Vienna – to find a way out of certain death and destruction. She saved them both many times and, in many ways, – she understood human nature, where my father saw only the good in people.
What causes war and conflict – lack of Peace? ‘The message of God has been given to many Messengers in a form suited to the evolution of the people of that particular age. As humanity evolves its tendency is to unite – to rise above differences of nationality, religion, race, or creed. The prophet Mohammed warned his disciples not to attach his name to his message but that it should be called Islam, the message of Peace. Islam literally means Peace.’
‘The differences between religions are only external – their inner meaning is one. If humanity had only understood this, the world would have avoided many wars. War has mostly been caused by religion, which was given to the world to establish peace and harmony.’
‘Individualism, materialism, and commercialism have brought about competition and rivalry. Life is a continual battle, and the only thing which can ease this is a consideration for others, reciprocity, unselfishness instead of selfishness.’
‘Self-realisation reveals the Truth, which is the ultimate goal – it brings happiness which words cannot explain. It is that peace that is yearned for by every soul.’[2]
The soul’s original Being is Peace. The inner and essential part of each and every being is composed of fine vibrations, and the external part is formed of gross ones. The finer part we name spirit being less subject to change and destruction and the grosser part matter which is more subject to change and destruction. All that lives is spirit, and all that dies is matter. The gradual increase of activity causes vibrations to materialise and the gradual decrease of activity transmutes them again into spirit. Vibrations pass through five distinct phases while changing from the fine to the gross, and the elements of ether, air, fire, water, and earth each have a savour, colour, and form peculiar to itself. At each step in their activity, they vary and become distinct from each other, and it is the grouping of these vibrations which causes variety in the objective world.[3]
Self-realisation is a balance within us of all these five elements. When we use the Element Breath, we are balancing these elements. We can easily relate to some elements, yet others are problematic. I would say that my father had well-developed water and air elements within himself, but the fire element was repressed (he was an Aquarius), whereas my mother had a lot of fire and with it fear. She was an Aries. We must learn to know and understand each element – become the element, earth, water, fire, air, and ether.
What the Sufi strives for is Self-realisation, and s/he arrives at this by means of the Divine Ideal – God. This realisation is happiness and that peace that is yearned for by every soul.
The Golden Lotus pictured here is sacred – it represents our journey from the mud where it has its roots, rising through the water, through the air, reaching for the sun.
The Element Breath is perfect for bringing us to a place of Peace – Ether. We must know and understand each element – eventually becoming earth, water, fire, air, and finally ether. By doing this, we become balanced – not too much of one element or too little of another. That is true self-realisation.
For me, the symbol of Earth is the mighty oak tree representing the Tree of Life – with its roots deep in the earth – in the depths – the underworld, and its crown reaching the heavens. The divine essence Lilith (born with Adam and equal to him), the Shekinah, lives within the Tree at its Centre. We breathe ourselves into the Tree and become part of it using the Earth breath to become Earth. Its colour is Amber – the vibration of the Earth and Tree.
For Water, I visualise a picture I loved as a child – lovers entwined, diving deep in the depths of a green ocean – the Water of Life. The Ocean is the Source of all Life – we are born of Water – it is sacred. So when we breathe Water, we imagine we are in its depths – in the ocean, swimming freely, playing, moving, living in the deep.
Fire was a difficult element for me, but I have learned that the Fire of Love burns away all impurities – the ego and everything we think we are. It burns away fear leaving us free and purified. The Divine One communicates with us through Fire, as Moses experienced in his encounter with the burning bush. The flame burns in all things – even the roots of a mighty tree long dead. The flame burns but does not destroy! The fire breath gives power, energy and clarity. It is a dragon breath!
Air is the breath of God – we breathe it and move through it. For shamans, the Wind is an entity and treated depending on what kind of Wind it is. A North Wind? A South Wind? An East or West Wind? In our practice, we might find ourselves flying. That is liberating and joyous. In Fairy Tales, the Psychopomp – usually a flying horse, carries the hero to and through the inner realms. The vibration and colour of air is blue – the colour of the Queen of Heaven – the colour we see in our meditations. Often in Fairy Tales, the hero returns ‘home’ on the back of his flying horse with his Beloved Queen. On the way they play, she (the horse is female, an aspect of his Beloved) performs three kinds of feats of skill and daring for him while underneath the sun. The sun, too, is feminine in Irish mythology.
The Truth and yearning of every soul – self-realisation is arrived at. It is not only realisation; it is a happiness that words cannot explain. It is the peace that is yearned for by every soul. That is home – Ether. It is all colours and yet no colour – the highest and finest realm of all. The realm of Soul and eternal Peace.
‘Peace be with you.’
[1] Hazrat Inayat Khan. The Alchemy of Happiness. Vol VI The Sufi Message. P.21 22
[2] Hazrat Inayat Khan. The Unity of Religious Ideals. 1979
[3] Hazrat Inayat Khan. The Mysticism of Sound and Music. Shambhala. Boston & London. 1996