Hazrat Inayat Khan continues his subtle and elevating explanation of the relationship between Deity and Divinity. The previous post in the series is here.
Again, jewels, precious minerals, and pearls can all be found in man, in his character, in his external and inner being. All this is hidden; but we can discover a pearl in a person, we can see in the heart of man a diamond or an emerald, all the jewels of this world are there if only we can see it. And not only that, not only worldly treasures but also all the heavenly things are there. Man represents the planets, he represents the sun and the moon, and he represents heaven and its angels; what does man not represent? He represents God. In that sense one may call man a miniature God, and it is the development of humanity which culminates in divinity; thus Christ is the example of the culmination of humanity. It would be hiding the greatest human virtue to hide this secret, which is the key to the mystery of the whole universe.
No doubt, compared with God divinity is the imperfection of God, but it is still the perfection of man. It is just like a drop of water, which is entirely, and absolutely water, and yet it is a drop in comparison with the ocean. The ocean is God, but the drop is divine. If man had understood this secret of life, no wars, no differences would have arisen among the followers of the various religions, who in all ages waged wars against one another’s religious ideas. No prophet or master at any time would have been rejected or tortured or refused if the world had only known this: that God always comes, that He always shows himself through the heart of the godly. The comparison of the divine with God is just like a sun-glass (magnifying glass) placed before the sun. The sun-glass partakes of the heat of the sun and transfers the heat to the earth, and so the divine man, the messenger in all ages, comes and partakes of God’s rays and hands them down to earth in the form of the divine message.
Although the sun-glass is not the sun, yet when it is exposed to the sun it partakes of the sun and begins to show the quality of the sun. And so it is with the souls who focus their heart on God, for then God becomes reflected in their heart. The beauty and power, which are to be found in God in their perfection, begin to show themselves in those souls, just as the sun-glass does with the sun. They express it in their lives. The Sufis call this Akhlaq-i Allah: the divine manner. One cannot teach this manner; it comes when the heart is focused on God, and then all that is in God becomes manifest in man. When this realization comes one cannot speak any more of the God within, then God is within and without at the same time. As soon as God is realized God does not remain within; it is before realization that God is to be found within, and this will help to find the perfection of God, but once God is realized He is in all.
There are ages of aristocracy, and there are ages of democracy of all kinds, not only in regard to government, but also in regard to religion. And as it is natural that aristocracy should be misunderstood, so it is natural that democracy should be demoralized by the ignorant who can only understand the outer meaning of democracy. Aristocracy of religion is belief in God, worship of God in a certain form, in the form of prayer or service, of ceremonial or ritual, whatever the form may be. And also its recognition and acceptance when it is given by an actual man; not only that, but the recognition of the illumination which completes its development in the soul of man. The Zoroastrians by their sun worship taught that the sun represents the light of the spirit, and so the sun of God represents the light of God; but others misunderstood it, and took it to mean something different. The Son of God is he who finds out and who is conscious of his inheritance from God, and not of that from man. One who is conscious of his earthly origin is an earthly man; one who is conscious of his heavenly origin is the Son of God.
To be continued…