After speaking about the purpose of the soul’s journey, Hazrat Inayat Khan now gives some insight into the nature of the world of the jinns and that of the angels.
The sphere of the jinn has as many worlds as there are planets in the universe; as many and as different from one another as the planets in the universe, yet not so far apart, not so much out of communication with each other. The heaven of the angels is created on the same model. But is it on the model of the heaven of the angels that our universe has been molded, and also that of the jinns? What is the life there? What is it like? It is difficult to explain, and difficult to put into words, but for example one might see the difference in the life of the birds which can fly over seas and forests, over hills and dales, and feel in tune with nature, and express their joy in song. Then the deer in the woods dwelling in the caves of the mountains, drinking water at the natural springs, moving about in the open spaces, looking at the horizon from morning till evening, the sun their timekeeper and the moon serving as their torch. And then imagine our lives, the lives of human beings in crowded cities, days in the factories and nights indoors away from God, away from nature, even away from self, a life fully absorbed in the struggle for existence, an ever-increasing struggle to which there is no end. There is the picture which helps us to imagine what life the angels live in the highest heavens, what life the jinns live in the middle heaven, and to compare our life as human beings in the universe with their lives.
Are there suns, are there moons, in their worlds as in ours? Yes, this outer solar system is the reflection of the inner solar system. What difference is there between time, our conception of time, and the idea of time they have there? There is an incomparable difference. No words will give the exact idea of the comparison between these conceptions of time; but for the sake of convenience let us say that our year is the hour of the jinns and the moment of the angels.
Are there angels and jinns of longer and shorter lives, as with men on earth? Certainly there are; but there is no comparison between the length of their life and that of the human being. Are there differences among the jinns and the angels as among men of different kinds? Indeed there are, but among the jinns not so many as among men; still less among the angels.
What about the time that every soul spends in the heavens of the angels and the sphere of the jinns? The speed of every soul is different. It is according to the speed with which they manifest; it is a different dimension. The difference in speed is like traveling on the earth, sailing on the water, and flying through the air. Difference in speed between different souls may be likened to one child advancing in its thought so that it may learn in ten years things which another could not learn in a hundred years of life on the earth. Nevertheless, as they say, ‘Slow and sure.’ Souls with balance and rhythm throughout their manifestation learn and experience much more than by a rapid run through the heavens.
To be continued…