In the first instalment, Hazrat Inayat Khan discusses different forms of belief, such as the belief that follows the crowd and the belief based on reason.
But there is a fourth belief, which alone can really be called belief, a belief which does not even depend upon reason, a belief which is a natural belief; one cannot help having it. Nothing can root it out, no argument, no reasoning, no study, no practice, nothing can take it away from one, for it is a natural belief. This is what faith is. A person who has not reached this belief is still on the way, and he cannot say that he has faith.
Faith is such a great virtue. Even in everyday life one cannot value enough a companion, a relative, a servant, or a friend who is faithful. There is no price for it, it is beyond price to have someone who is faithful, someone in whom one can have confidence, upon whom one can rely with closed eyes, of whom one can say that one is sure that he will never change his affection, his love, his kindness, his right feeling. If one has someone like this one should be most thankful, for it is more precious than any worldly treasure.
If I had to describe the meaning of faith I would say that faith means self-confidence. The secret of faith is that it can be used as a medicine and better than medicine, as wealth and greater than wealth; it can be religion and greater than religion, happiness and greater than happiness. For nothing can buy or sell faith. If there is anything that can be called the grace of God it is faith and self-confidence. It is something one can neither teach nor develop; it must be in one, and it can only be strengthened by loving it, by enjoying it. It develops by itself. If a person comes to me and says, ‘I believe in you so much that I will believe anything you say; but I do not believe in myself,’ I will say, ‘Thank you, I will not believe in you either. You had better believe in yourself first; then I can depend upon you.’ What kind of belief is this? If a man does not believe in himself he will say one day, ‘I believe in you,’ and the next day, ‘I do not believe in you.’ Besides, faith is inspiring, faith causes a man to be brave, courageous, successful, and faith makes life wonderful.
Faith can be observed in five different aspects: faith in one’s impulses, faith in one’s reason, faith in one’s principle, faith in one’s ideal, and faith in God.
It is the mystical temperament that causes a person to have faith in his impulse. When a mystic thinks, ‘I must go to the North,’ he goes there. He does not ask himself why; he accepts the divine impulse, and he goes toward the North to meet whatever he may. If an impulse arises to do this business, to enter this profession, accomplish this or that, and a person does it, there is something wonderful about it. Columbus is an example of this. He had the impulse to go and seek for India, and indeed he found a continent. The outer form of the impulse was wrong, but the inner right.
The mystics of all ages have believed in this. They cannot help it; it is the mystical temperament. If a thousand people say, ‘No, it is not right,’ they say. ‘Yes, it is right, I must do it.’ It is not necessary for everybody to become a mystic in order to have these impulses and listen to them. Listening to one’s impulses is a question of temperament. There may be one man who has it, and another, perhaps a very intellectual man, thinks, ‘Is it right or wrong? Shall I do it or shall I not do it?’ And the time passes and the chance is lost. Out of a hundred people only one will follow his impulse, and ninety-nine will wait to see if something is right or wrong, light or heavy.
To be continued…