This is the conclusion of the article begun here, in which Hazrat Inayat tells us that all that we seek can be found within, if we are willing to look for it in the right way.
The subject which is the most important to study in this whole life is ourselves. What we generally do is to criticize others, speak ill of them, or dislike them; but we always excuse ourselves. The idea is to watch one’s own attitude, one’s own thought and speech and action, and to examine ourselves to see how we react upon all things in our favour and in our disfavour, to see whether we show wisdom and control in our reactions or whether we are without control and thought. Then we should also study our body, for then we shall learn that the body is not only a means of experiencing life by eating and drinking and making ourselves comfortable, but that it is the sacred temple of God.
Besides, this breath which we breathe from morning till evening, we hardly consider what mystery is behind it. This one object is of such great importance that if one really studied this science one could understand the whole being. But this is the very thing of which everyone seems to be ignorant. People never think about it; they think we breathe and that is all, and they do not know how and why. In point of fact there is something in the breath which connects the body with the soul, and the day when the breath leaves the body this connection is broken. The body remains on the earth, and the soul goes on; and therefore that which links the soul and body together must be of the greatest importance. The man who knows how to breathe and how to communicate with his soul begins to realize that the universe is within himself, and it is through realizing the universe in himself that man comes to real spirituality. Even in the Bible there is a hint about this science, though it is generally not interpreted in this way. I mean where it is said, “Be ye perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect”. If there is a possibility for the soul to attain perfection that perfection lies in realizing the universe in man.
The secret of this is that you are as small and as narrow as the horizon of your consciousness.
The secret of this is that you are as small and as narrow as the horizon of your consciousness. And if your consciousness rises above these barriers which make you small you naturally become wide, and you naturally become great. Therefore spiritual perfection is attained by concentration and meditation. In the Western world there is today the school of the Sufi Movement, so that people need not go to the East in order to search for these things, and so that the same mystery, in a modified form not to hinder their busy life, may be given to the Western people who can be trusted with it. For a Western person has many responsibilities in his life; he does not have the time to meditate and to concentrate. Yet if an Occidental person finds time for cricket or billiards he can just as well find time for meditation and concentration. If he only believed in its benefit he would certainly do his best to spare some time for this most valuable thing. No doubt it is not our wish at all to awaken those who are asleep. Those who are asleep, they had better sleep, because for them sleep is good; they need sleep and they should sleep. But to those who are tossing in their beds, who are trying to get up, we offer our hand, and help them to rise. It is this which we call initiation in the esoteric school of Sufism. Sufism is not something secret; only, as not everybody can understand it, we do not wish to give it to everybody to ridicule it. It is only entrusted to some serious people who will steadily go on in the path of divine wisdom.
The task they have is to serve in the cause of bringing people together, making them meet in wisdom.
The Sufi Movement is a society of members from all nations of the world, and the task they have is to serve in the cause of bringing people together, making them meet in wisdom. If we come together it is not because of business of politics or industry, for that is a momentary, not a stable unity. The stable unity lies in the understanding of the truth of life, in which we all can become friends. Two people who understand life well become closer than brothers, they become greater friends than any other friendship can give. There is nothing that divides them, neither nationality nor race nor any other division. But this task is only intended for those who are seriously inclined towards the understanding of the deeper side of life.