There is no doubt that the world suffered profound disorder following the disaster of the First World War, and Hazrat Inayat Khan frequently lectured on the spiritual approach that was necessary to rebuild civilisation. We may find much of his teaching applicable to the situation of the world today.
Especially after a war and the pain that the world has thereby experienced, people begin to think again about the subject of reconstruction. But no doubt every person looks at it according to his own mentality, and in this way the ideas about the reconstruction of the world differ very much.
If we consider the condition of the world as it is today, we see that its financial condition, which is most essential for order and peace, has become so complex that many people of intellect and understanding are helpless before this most difficult problem. No doubt there are those who will tell us that there is no remedy for the betterment of humanity other than the solution of the financial problems. But at the same time it seems that these problems are becoming daily more and more difficult and bringing nations and races and communities towards a greater and greater destruction. Before a solution is reached it will be no wonder if a great deal of damage is done to many nations. And although absorbed by their own problems, men do not think enough about these things; nevertheless in the end the world in general will realize the weakness, the feebleness caused by this disorder and by the unbalanced condition of the financial world.
Nations and people make profit out of the losses of the other nations and people, and even if for the moment they may think that they are benefited, in the end they will realize that we human beings, whether as individuals or as a multitude, all depend upon one another. For instance, if because of one part of one’s body another part suffers, in the end there will prove to be an unbalanced state, a lack of health in the physical body. And just as health means that all the organs of the body are in good condition, so the health of the world means that all nations, all people, are in a good condition.
Leaving this financial question and coming to the problem of education, in spite of all the progress that has been made in this field, any thoughtful person will be struck by the amount of work which a little child is given to do considering its age and its strength. It seems that in the enthusiasm for making education richer and richer, a load has been heaped upon the minds of the children. And what happens? It is like a dish which was meant to be cooked for half an hour, but is being made ready in five minutes. It will perhaps be burnt, or perhaps it is underdone. The child knows too much for its age; it knows what it does not require, what it does not value, what is a load to it, what is forced upon its mind. And how few of us stop to think of this question, that childhood is kingliness in itself. It is a gift from above that the child is growing and that during the time of its growth it is unaware of the woes and worries and anxieties of life. These are the only days for experiencing the kingliness of life, the days when the child should play, when it should be near to nature, when it should absorb what nature gradually teaches.
The whole of childhood is devoted to study, study of material knowledge; and as soon as the child has grown into a youth, the burden of life is put on its shoulders, a burden that is becoming heavier and heavier for rich and poor. The result of this is that there is strife between the political parties; there is disagreement between labor and capital. And this life full of struggle to which the child opens its eyes never leaves it time to be one with nature, to dive deep within itself, or to think beyond this life in the crowd.
To be continued…