There are two different temperaments that we generally see in the world. One says, ‘I will not hear music on Sunday, it is a religious day. The liking for colors is emotional. Do not look at pictures, it excites.’ To enjoy any perfume, to like fragrance, he thinks is sensual. And then there is another temperament that feels the vibrations of the colors, that enjoys delicious food, that admires the straight line and the curve, that is touched and moved by music, that feels exalted by the beauty of nature. And what difference do we find in these two temperaments? The difference is that one is living and the other lacks life. One is living because he is responsive to all the aspects of beauty, whether the beauty appeals to his eyes or ears, or to his sense of taste or touch. The other one is incapable of enjoying it.

If we deny ourselves the divine beauty that surrounds us,
then the beauty which is within will not unfold itself.

Man in his innermost is seeking for happiness, for beauty, for harmony. And yet, by not responding to the beauty and harmony that is before him, he wastes his life, which is an opportunity for him to experience and to enjoy. What self-denial is it to deny the divine beauty that is before us? If we deny ourselves the divine beauty that surrounds us, then the beauty which is within will not unfold itself. Because the condition is that the soul is born with its eyes open outwardly; it does not see the life within. The only way of wakening to the life within, which is the most beautiful, is first to respond to the beauty outside. This world with all its unlimited beauty, nature with its sublimity, personalities with divine immanence, if we ignore all this then why have we come? What have we accomplished here? The person who ignores it turns his back on something for which he is continually seeking. He is his own enemy. By this way he cannot be spiritual, he cannot be religious. By denying himself all that is beautiful around him, he cannot be exalted. For if beauty within was the only purpose of life, God would not have created man and sent him on earth.

Besides this, it is the vision of the beauty on the earth that awakens the vision of the beauty that is in the spirit. Some say that it is sensuous and that it deprives one of spiritual illumination. It would, if a person were to be totally absorbed in it and were to live only in it, and did not think that there was something else besides, because the beauty that is outside no doubt has a transitory character; it is passing and therefore is not dependable. For the one who depends upon this beauty and has become absorbed in it, and by doing so has turned his back on that beauty which is everlasting, for that person, this is certainly wrong. But at the same time, no soul has ever arrived at beholding the vision of the spiritual beauty that is to be found within, without being awakened to the beauty that is external.

One might think that a child who dies very young cannot come to that spirituality through the beauty of life. I will say that the child is sometimes more responsive to beauty than a grownup person, because a grownup person has developed in himself a pessimistic attitude, a prejudice, and by that prejudice, he is incapable of seeing that beauty which a little child can see and appreciate. For instance, when we look at a person we make a barrier of our preconceived idea before we look at him. A child, an angel on earth, looks at him as it would look at its best friend. It has no enmity, no preconceived idea about anyone, and therefore, the child is open to beauty. A child does not know that the fire burns; the child only knows that the fire is beautiful. And therefore, the child is so blessed that every moment of its life it lives in a complete vision of beauty, and so long as that state lasts, a soul is in the Garden of Eden. It is exiled from that day when the soul has touched the earthly human nature. Someone may say, ‘If within the soul there was not the capability of appreciating beauty, how would it be able to perceive the external beauty first?’ The soul has, born in itself, a natural craving for beauty. It is a lack in the person if he does not seek it rightly. Is there any person who is not a lover of beauty, who is not capable of appreciating it? He denies himself that beauty that he could have admired freely.

One may ask, ‘Is the quality of appreciating beauty more spiritual than the craving for knowledge?’ I would say, in answer, where does knowledge come from? Knowledge comes by observation. Observation comes by love of beauty. The first thing is that the flower attracts one’s attention, and then one begins to find out where the flower comes from. What is its nature and character, what benefit it has, how to rear this plant? The first thing is that one is attracted by its beauty. The next thing is, one wants to find out its nature. From this comes all knowledge.

There is a kind of artificial learning, not a natural learning, which may be called time saving. Someone says, ‘Now people have learned in their lives and they have discovered things for us and written about them in books. I must learn that by reading the book.’ But he does not know that he has not learned what the person who has written the book has learned. For instance, someone who has read the books of Luther Burbank*, if he has read fifty books on horticulture, has not learned what Luther Burbank has learned. For he made experiments for himself; he had been in the garden; his joy was such that he could not explain. No doubt another person will benefit by what he has given, but another person cannot enjoy what he has enjoyed, unless he pursues the same course.

In my explanation, spiritual means living. A spiritual person, who is awakened to the beauty of poetry, who is quick to admire the subtlety of the poetry, who is appreciative of the beauty of melody, of harmony, who can enjoy art and be exalted by the beauty of nature, who lives as a living being, not as one dead, it is that person who may be called spiritual. And you will always find the tendency of spiritual personalities to be interested in every person in their lives. That is the sign that they are living. A person who is shut up in himself, closes himself. He has made four walls around himself. That can be his grave, he is buried in it. The person who is living naturally sees all. And, as he sees all, he sympathizes with all, he responds to all, he appreciates all in everybody. And in this way he awakens in himself the sublime vision of the immanence of God.

*Luther Burbank (1849 – 1926) was a botanist and horticulturist.  Although he was criticised for not being ‘scientific’ in his methods, he felt a deep love for growing things and developed more than 800 strains and varieties of plants in his lifetime, many of which are still grown today.  By nature, he was a kind, modest and generous person.  Hazrat Inayat Khan met Luther Burbank when he visited California, and it is evident that the Master appreciated him very much.