Hazrat Inayat Khan has been considering the use of spoken words to heal or accomplish spiritual effects, and now he focuses upon how the words are formed and spoken.
Then there is the question as to how one can best prepare oneself to utter a certain word effectively? Symbolically speaking, a person may pronounce the same word a hundred times before people, but it is an iron word. Another person may say it fifty times, but it is a copper word. Another person may say it twenty times, but it is a silver word. And another person may say it only once, and it is a golden word. For instance, a person may talk and talk and talk in order to convince you; he may dispute and discuss and argue and show a thousand examples to make you believe him, but the more he wants you to believe him, the less he convinces you. Yet there is another person who tells you something perhaps only once, and you cannot help saying: ‘Yes, I believe it, I understand it, I am convinced’.
How does one prepare oneself? How does one prepare the reflectors in order to make the impression of the word? Yogis and Sufis have found certain practices by which a kind of psychological development is brought about. Through these a person becomes naturally more and more sincere and earnest, and everything he says bears that influence, that power. Perhaps these practices have no value according to the science of voice production, but they have a very great value according to the psychological point of view. It is such practices which have been considered as concentration, meditation, contemplation and realization.
Regarding ancient words, a student of ancient languages will find that these words can be traced back to one and the same source. The closer you approach the ancient languages the more you will find a psychological significance in them, and the languages of today will seem like corruptions of them. It is surprising how many words in the languages spoken today come from the ancient languages, and many names of persons are derived from them.
In the ancient languages, words were formed by intuition. Modern languages are based on the grammar one learns. Certainly words that have come purely from intuition, and that form a language which is an action and reaction of man’s experience of life are more powerful than the words of the languages we speak today. Thus, they have a greater power when repeated, and a great phenomenon is produced when a person has mastered those words under the guidance of someone who understands that path.
Every vowel has its psychological significance, and the composition of every word has a chemical and psychological significance. The Yogis use special words which they repeat in the morning or in the evening. And by this they reach a certain illumination or come to a certain state of exaltation. It is this very science which was called by the Sufis of ancient times Zikr. This means a science of bringing about desirable results by the repetition of the proper words or phrases. A chemist may have all the medicines, but if every person went and got whatever medicine he wanted, he might cure himself or kill himself.
To be continued…