Now building on his explanation of the living nature of thought, Hazrat Inayat Khan points out our responsibility not only for ourselves but even for the weather.

Elementals are created by man. When the winds blow and the storms rage, creating all destruction, one looks on it as a mechanical action of nature, but it is not only mechanical action, it is directed by man’s feelings, by the intense feelings of human beings. These feelings turn into huge lives. They push as a battery behind winds and storms, floods and volcanoes.

And so other thoughts that call for blessing, such as rainfall, must bring the mercy of God upon the earth. In the East, they call the rain ‘the divine mercy.’ The sunshine, when the sky is clear, and all other blessings of nature – the pure air that is exhilarating, the spring, good crops, fruits, flowers and vegetables, all different blessings from the earth or heaven which are given to us – are also directed by forces behind them.

As the mechanical working of nature raises the vapors to the sky, which all form together in clouds and cause rain, so the thoughts and feelings, words and actions, also have their mechanical work to do. That work directs the action of the universe. This shows to us that it is not only a mechanical work of nature, but human intelligence, mechanically working, which directs the whole working of nature.

This gives us an idea that man’s responsibility is greater than that of any other being in the world. It is told in the Quran that God said, ‘We laid our trust on the mountains, and they could not bear the load; we laid our trust on the trees, and they were unable to take it; we then laid our trust on man, and it is man who has borne it.’ This trust is our responsibility; not only our responsibility to those around us, to those whom we meet in everyday life, or to the work that we are engaged in, or to the interest that we have in life – but also our responsibility towards this whole creation and what we contribute to this creation, whether it is something agreeable to bring about better and harmonious conditions in the sphere, in the world, on the earth. If we do so, then we know our responsibility. If we are unaware of it, then we have not yet learned the purpose of our being here.

There is childhood, when a child knows nothing. He destroys things of value and beauty, owing to his curiosity, his fancy. However, when he grows up, the child begins to feel his responsibility. The sign of maturity is the feeling of responsibility. So, when a soul matures, it begins to feel its responsibility, and it is from that moment on that a person begins his life. It is from that moment that the soul is born again. So long as the soul is not born again, it will not enter the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is here. As long as man is not conscious of his responsibility, he does not know the kingdom of God. It is his becoming conscious of his responsibility that awakens him to the kingdom of God, in which is the birth of the soul.

Furthermore, in support of this idea, there is a word that in the Sanskrit language is used for the God-conscious people. That word is Brahman, meaning Creator. No sooner has a soul realized this idea than he begins to know that every moment of his life is creative, either automatically, or intentionally. And if he is responsible for his creation, he is responsible for every moment of his life. Then there is nothing in life that is wasted. Whatever be the condition of man, however helpless or miserable, his life is still not wasted. The creative power is working through every move that he makes, every thought that he thinks, every feeling that he has. He is always doing something.

To be continued…