This instalment concludes Hazrat Inayat Khan’s brief explanation of the philosophy of form from the Sufi point of view. The. previous post is here.
The various forms are differentiated from each other by reason of time and space. The leaf produced yesterday changes its colour and form today, thus differing the one from the other, but both having the same source.
If it had not been so, all beings of the universe would have been alike, being the manifestation of the One and only Being. The difference of likeness among the races during different periods, and the difference of the features and natures among children of the same parents shows that the cause of all difference has been time and space. There is a greater resemblance between twin born children owing to their birth taking place so near together. Yet in this case the difference has the same cause. Germs, insects, birds, and beasts resemble each other much more closely than human beings, birds more so than beasts, and germs more so than insects, because so many of them are born at the same time.
The difference between the inhabitants of the different parts of the universe is as great as is the space between them. For instance, the Chinese resemble the Japanese more closely than an Egyptian, while the Persians resemble the Turks, owing to the nearness of their native land.
The difference in appearance and nature between the inhabitants of East and West is as great as is the space between, and the time between the birth and growth of their race, although man is the same all over the world. The difference of science, art, customs, manners and ideas, their progress and degeneration all are worked out under the law of time and space. Not only this but even man’s fate in life depends much more upon the time of his birth and the influence of the planet ruling at the time.
On the model of the earth the Heavens were built. This reveals the mystery of form that it is the impressions gathered on earth which enable the soul to make different forms. A turmoil caused by external activities naturally upsets the harmony and rhythm of the creative activity within. There it works as a sound, as light, then it turns into feeling and thought, then in the end it manifests through form, figure, and especially through feature and expression. Speaking in brief it may be said that every action done on the surface is as ringing the bell in the church tower, evenly rung it sounds rhythmic, unevenly rung produces an unrhythmic impression.
The finer forces of life are holding in their hand the rein of external elements and according to their sound and rhythm the external elements work. It is in this way the change of features is brought about, upon which beauty or ugliness depends. The one who knows the secret of this can mold his form and produce his ideal in his children. In this the mother’s part is more important than that of the father.
Form may be seen even in a phrase, in a poem, and it may be seen in imagination, thought, even emotions and feelings have their forms, and those who see only with the physical eyes can see no other than the material form, and it is so to speak a kind of eye that opens which sees the forms of ideas and feelings. The Prophets who heard the inner voice have given to that divine language a form and tried to picture that form in their words which the world has taken as a sacred book. It is the nature of mind to adorn every idea, thought and feeling with a suitable form according to its capability in which lies the whole secret of vision. Symbolism is a language of the idea hidden under a cloak of a form. It is a natural tendency of a developed mind to express an idea in a symbol or to read an idea from a symbol, which proves that behind every form there is a spirit and behind all these fine and gross forms there is God.