Hazrat Inayat Khan now begins to explain the first steps of manifestation, when the soul, protected by the wisdom of nature, enters the physical sphere by the power of breath. The previous post in the series is here.

After the soul has passed through the sphere of the jinns it arrives on the physical plane. What helps this soul to come on to the physical plane? What opens the way for this new-coming soul to enter physical existence? The coming soul enters the physical sphere by the channel of the breath. Breath is the power at the back of every action. It works as a battery, which keeps the physical mechanism of the human body going. The secret of birth and death is to be found in the mystery of the breath. What is Cupid? It is the soul that is being born. Before it appears on the physical plane it is pictured by the wise as a cupid or angel; it is an angel, for the soul itself is the angel.

Duality in every aspect of life, and on whatever plane, is creative; and its issue is the purpose and the outcome of the dual aspect of nature. The affinity which brings about the fulfillment of the purpose is the phenomenon of Cupid; in reality it is the phenomenon of the soul.

When the soul is born on earth its first expression is a cry. Why does it cry? Because it finds itself in a new place which is all strange to it. It finds itself in captivity, which it has not experienced before. Every person, every object is new, and is something foreign to this soul; but soon this condition passes away. Soon the senses of the infant become acquainted with the outer life which so continually attracts its attention. It first becomes interested in breathing the air of the world, then in hearing the sounds, and then in seeing the objects before it; then in touching them and then its taste develops. The more familiar the soul becomes with this physical world the more interested it becomes; though sometimes it shows homesickness in the fits of crying that it so often has during its infancy. It is not always illness; it is not always that it is crying for things outside. No doubt, as it grows it longs for things outside itself; but it often cries from the feeling of having been removed from a place which was more pleasant and comfortable, and having come to a foreign land of which it knows so little. It is this which causes the infant to have fits of crying.

The wisdom of nature is perfect; and there is no better vision of the splendor of the divine wisdom for the thinker than a child in its early infancy. If the senses of an infant were developed, as are the senses of a grown-up person, it would lose its reason from the sudden pressure of the physical world falling instantly upon it. Its delicate senses would not have been able to stand the pressure of so many and various and intense activities of this world. How marvelously the wisdom behind it works, the wisdom which is the evidence of the divine Protector, Father, Mother, Creator, the support and protection of all; so that the senses of the child develop gradually as it becomes more familiar with life. The more it knows the more its mind expands; and it cannot know more than its mind can grasp, so that in every way an infant is protected in both mind and body.

To be continued…