Continuing with his theme, Hazrat Inayat Khan considers and lays aside doctrines and common concepts regarding the inner work. The previous post is here.
Intellectual study may last the whole of one’s life; there is no end to it. This is why the teacher does not encourage speculation. A doctrine means a separation from other doctrines. The Sufi belongs to every religion, and thus he has no special beliefs or speculations. There can, for instance, be one Sufi who believes in reincarnation, and another who realizes heaven and hell. The work of the Sufi is personal development. It is what one practices that is important, rather than what the teacher says, although the teacher can give protection.
Initiation contains several degrees. It is a trust given to one by the teacher, but the real initiation is the work of God. No teacher can or will judge. The real pupil is he whom the teacher knows he can trust, though all are welcome to him. Spiritually, he is both father and mother to the pupil. The life of the teacher is often a sacrifice; he is often persecuted and suffers much, but what little help he can give, he will give.
No special qualification is needed in order to become a pupil. The teacher gives; the pupil can take it or leave it. The teaching is like a precious jewel hidden in a stone; it is for the pupil to break the stone and find the jewel. In the East, this inner teaching is part of religion, whereas in the West, it is often looked upon merely as a form of education. It ought to be a sacred education. In the East, the murshid gives the lesson and the pupil practices it for a month or a year; he cannot have a different practice every week. My grandfather practiced one meditation for forty years, and then a miracle happened to him. One should not be ambitious to do other exercises before having had a result from the first one.
There are different degrees, but they are not to be discussed on this path, because, after all, different stages are the conceptions, the speculations of some wise people. It is just the same as with music. There are seven notes of music because the musician has accepted that there are seven; but a scale can be made to contain more notes or less notes, if the musician wishes to make it so. We distinguish stages, although in reality, it is impossible to do so. It is a spontaneous development on the spiritual path which may be called treading the path of initiation.
How can one explain spiritual progress? What is it? What is it like? Spiritual progress is the changing of the point of view. There is only one way to recognize this progress, and that is to see the progress in one’s own outlook on life, to ask oneself the question, ‘How do I look at life?’ This one can do by not judging others, but by being only concerned with one’s own outlook. As long as a person is concerned with the faults of others, as long as he criticizes others, he is not yet ready to make his sight clear enough to see if his outlook on life is right.
What, in reality, are the different initiations? Is one better than the other, or higher than the other? In what way are they to be distinguished? By knowing some more mysteries, by knowing some secrets, by studying something very wonderful, or by communicating with something unseen? Nothing whatever of this kind, not one of these things can assure one of a higher initiation and of greater progress in the spiritual life. In the first place, we need not strive for mystery, for life itself is a mystery. All that seems simple to us, all that presents no mystery, becomes mysterious as soon as the outlook on life is changed. Secrecy is to be found in simplicity; it is the simple life that is full of secrets.
To be continued…