Hazrat Inayat Khan here concludes this theme, urging us to learn the art of life in order to further the necessary reconstruction of the world. The previous post is here.

I do not mean to say that any effort, in whatever form, towards the reconstruction or towards the betterment of conditions is not worthwhile. But what is most needed is for us to understand that religion of religions and that philosophy of philosophies which is self-knowledge. We shall never understand the outer life if we do not understand ourselves. It is knowledge of the self that gives knowledge of the world. The politician, the statesman, however qualified, will dispute about things for years and years, but he will never come to a satisfactory conclusion unless he understands the psychology of life and of the situation. And so the educator will try new schemes, but he will never come to a satisfactory conclusion unless he has a psychological knowledge of life, the knowledge which will teach him the psychology of human nature. But I do not mean by psychology what is generally understood by this word; I mean the understanding of the self, the understanding of the nature and character of the mind and of the body.

What is health? Health is order. And what is order? Order is music. Where there is rhythm, regularity and cooperation, there is harmony, there is sympathy. Health of mind and health of the body depend therefore upon the preserving of that harmony, upon keeping intact that sympathy which exists in the mind and body. Life in the world, and especially as we live it amidst the crowd, will test and try our patience every moment of the day, and it will be most difficult to preserve that harmony and peace which is all happiness. For what is the definition of life? Life means struggle with friends and battle with foes. It is continual giving and taking. 

And where are we to learn this? All education and learning and knowledge is acquired, but this one art is a divine art, and man has inherited it. Because he is absorbed in the outer learning he has forgotten it, but it is an art which is known to the soul; it is his own being; it is the deepest knowledge that he has in his heart. No progress in any line that man can make will give him the satisfaction which his soul is craving for, except the one which is the art of life, the art of being, the pursuit of his soul.

In order to further the reconstruction of the world the only thing possible and the only thing necessary, before trying to serve humanity, is to learn the art of being, the art of life, for oneself and in order to be an example for others.