With this post we come to the end of the series of lectures by Hazrat Inayat Khan on the art of personality. The previous post in the series may be found here. It is striking that after touching on a number of fine and subtle qualities that help to display this art, he concludes by telling us that a friendly manner is the principal thing to be developed.
A friendly attitude, expressed in sympathetic thought, speech, and deed, is the principal thing in the art of personality. There is limitless scope to show this attitude, and however much the personality is developed in this direction, it is never too much. Spontaneity and the tendency to give, giving that which is dear to one’s heart, is what shows the friendly attitude. Life in the world has its numberless obligations, toward friend and foe, toward acquaintance and stranger. One can never do too much to be conscientious in one’s obligations in life and to do everything in one’s power to fulfill them. To do more than one’s due is perhaps beyond the power of every man, but in doing what one ought to do one does accomplish one’s life purpose.
Life is an intoxication, and the effect of this intoxication is negligence. The Hindu words dharma and adharma, religiousness and irreligiousness, signify that one’s duty in life is dharma, and the neglect of the same is adharma. The one who is not conscientious in his obligations in life toward every thing he comes in contact with, is indeed irreligious. May will say, ‘We tried to do our best, but we didn’t know how’, or, ‘We don’t know what is expected of us’, or, ‘How are we to find out what is really our due and what is not?’ No one in this world can teach what is anyone’s due and what is not. It is for every soul to know for himself by being conscientious in his obligations. And the more conscientious he is, the more obligations he will find to fulfill, and there will be no end to them.
Nevertheless, in this continual strife what might seem a loss to him in the beginning, in the end is gain; for he will come face to face with his Lord, who is wide awake. The eyes of the man who neglects his duty to his fellow-men, absorbed in life’s intoxication, will certainly become dazzled and his mind exhausted before the presence of God. It does not mean that any soul will be deprived of the divine vision, it only means that the soul who has not learned to open his eyes wide enough will have his eye closed before the vision of God. All virtues come from a wide outlook on life, all understanding comes from the keen observation of life. Nobility of soul, therefore, is signified in the broad attitude that man takes in life.