Hazrat Inayat Khan now begins to explain the mostly unrecognised theme of the magnetism of beings and objects. The previous post is here.

In preparing a thing, one not only puts one’s magnetism into it, but also the voice of one’s soul is produced in the thing one prepares. For instance, it is not difficult for an intuitive person to feel in the food that comes before him the thoughts of the cook. It is not only the grade of evolution of the cook that is produced in it, but also what the cook was thinking at that particular time. If the cook is irritated while cooking, if he or she is grumbling or sighing, if he or she is miserable and wretched – then all that is prepared in the food that comes before you.

It is the knowledge of this fact that made the Hindus accept a high-caste Brahmin as a cook. That person whose evolution was great was taken as a cook. That person’s life was pure, their thoughts were elevated. It is not a custom of the past, it is a custom even of today. The Brahmin who is sometimes the guru, the teacher of other castes, may also be the cook.

Besides this, in ancient times when human psychology was keenly observed in all one did, every person, whatever his rank or position in life, was equipped for cooking and preparing dishes for himself and for his friends. A great mark of appreciation and affection was shown by people who invited some relations or friends to their house by placing before them dishes that they themselves had prepared. It was not the dish, it was the thought that was put into it.

Life these days seems to have taken away many considerations of a psychological character. There was a time when, whether in the East or in the West, knitting or weaving clothes was known to every little girl. To give to one’s brother, sister, beloved or relation some little thing made by one’s own hand was a custom. Now, a thing is easily bought at a shop, and no one knows who made it or whether it was made grudgingly or without grumbling, or how! Especially at this time when the working man is in revolt, what the workman has put into the objects he has made for you is open to question. In sewing for the person one loves, a thought has gone naturally with every stitch that one has made. If it is done with love and affection, then every stitch produces a new thought and completes that living thought of love, thus giving inwardly that great help that every soul is in need of.

Also, the wagons, carriages and ships that are used at the risk of man’s life, by whom are they made? Who knows what the condition of the mind of the builders of the Titanic was. Was there a peacemaker teaching them to keep a certain rhythm of mind while making her? Everything that is made has a magical influence upon it. If it is made with a thought quite contrary to what is needed, then it only means dangers awaiting the ship, the train, the wagon, the car. Often, without apparent cause, you will find a boat in danger, something breaking without substantial reason. This is because in its make-up, the thought of destruction has been given. It is working through it; it is something more living than the object, itself. So it is when a house is built. The thoughts given to it by the one who was building it, or by those who worked on it, all count. In short, we understand by this that there is a thought attached to all things prepared either by an individual or by a multitude, and that thought must give results accordingly.

To be continued…