We continue with the series of teachings on mysticism; here Hazrat Inayat Khan speaks about the way in which a mystic prepares the heart to tread the spiritual path, and he begins by explaining what the heart is, in the mystical understanding.
In the first place one asks, “What is the heart? Where is the heart?” And man is accustomed to say that the heart is in the breast. Yes, that is true. There is a nerve centre in the breast of man which has so much to do with the feelings that always the heart is pictured in the breast: that centre which is the most sensitive to our feelings. When a person feels a great joy, it is in that centre that one feels something lighted up, and by the lighting up of that centre, the whole person seems light. The person feels as if he flew, there is a great joy in his life. And again, if depression or despair has come into his life, this has an effect upon the centre. Man feels his throat choked and his breath is laden with a heavy load; it again means that it is that centre that feels.
If man lacks goodness…
it is because he has not yet found himself.
But it is not that only which is the heart; that is like a mirror standing before the heart, focused to the heart, and everything, every feeling is reflected in this mirror, in the physical being of man. A man is ignorant of his soul, so he knows not where his heart is, nor where the centre is where his feelings are reflected. This is a fact which is known by the scientists, that it is the heart which is the beginning of the formation of a child, but if one comes to a mystic’s conception, one sees that it is the heart, which is the beginning of form, that is also the beginning of the spirit; that makes man an individual. The depth of that spirit is in reality what we call the heart. By this we understand that there is such a thing as a heart, which is the deepest depth of man’s being, and if one knows something of it, first it is from the impression which he receives in this nerve centre that is in the breast of man, and therefore man calls that the heart.
In these days people give less importance to sentiment. They rely more upon the intellect. The reason is that when they meet two sorts of people, the intellectual and the sentimental people, they find in an intellectual man greater balance than in the one with sentiment. This is no doubt true. But the lack of balance is for the very reason that there is a greater power than the intellect, which is sentiment. The earth is fruitful, but not so living and powerful as the water. The intellect is creative, yet not so powerful as the heart and the sentiment. In reality the intellectual man in the end will prove unbalanced too, if he has no sentimental side.
Are there not many people of whom those around them say, “I like him, love him, admire him, but he closes his heart?” The one who closes his heart neither fully loves others nor allows others to love him fully. Besides, the person who is only intellectual in time becomes sceptical, doubting, unbelieving, destructive, as there is no power of the heart to balance it. The Sufi considers the devotion of the heart as the best thing to cultivate for spiritual realization. It might seem quite different from what many think, but the one who closes his heart to man, closes his heart to God. Jesus Christ did not say, “God is the intellect.” He said, “God is Love.” And if therefore, there is a piece of God that can be found anywhere, it is not in any church on the earth, nor in heaven above, it is in the heart of man. The best place where you are sure to find God is the loving heart of a kind man. It may be said that by the help of reason man will act according to a certain standard of morals, but that does not make people good. If they are good or righteous, they are artificially made good. All the prisoners in the gaol can be righteous.
But if a natural goodness or righteousness can be found anywhere, it is to be found in the spring of the heart from which life rises, a springing virtue, and every drop of this spring is a living virtue. That proves that goodness is not man-made; it is his very being. And if he lacks goodness, it is not the lack of training, nor training which is most wanted; it is because he has not yet found his self.
To be continued…