A group of friends recently had an interesting conversation about one of the Aphorisms of Hazrat Inayat Khan: In order to acquire spiritual knowledge, in order to receive inspiration, in order to prepare one’s heart for the inner revelation, one must try to make one’s mentality pliable like water rather then like a rock.
It is perhaps a confronting declaration, but as one person observed, there is hope and promise here. Pir-o-Murshid’s wording, that one must prepare one’s heart for the inner revelation, seems to imply that a lifting of the curtain is both natural and destined. No matter how confused and disoriented we might feel, how lost in the labyrinth, there is something to hope for – provided, that is, that we prepare ourselves. But how to do that? How can we change our mentality?
At first, we might tell ourselves that surely our way of thinking is not really so hard and impenetrable. Don’t we have some flexibility as well? Perhaps, but let us consider our mind world and see. We are certainly aware that we carry structures around with us – in fact, we rely on them. Think of our concepts and assumptions and judgments – and don’t omit our identifications. Our nation? Our language? Our family? Our profession? Our politics? Our personal accomplishments? And our failures? All these form the firm stone walls of a house, and although we may not always like the house, we cannot imagine living without this limited, limiting environment. Doesn’t it make our life possible? When we reflect upon it, though, we discover that we are trapped in a self-sustaining spiral: our mental forms create our habits, our habits strengthen our opinions, our opinions reinforce our mental forms, which in turn confirm our habits, and so on. And anyone who has ever tried to change a habit knows that they can indeed be as tough as granite. Meanwhile, outside the stone walls we have built the sun smiles upon all, the wind dances happily in every directions, the mighty ocean of life surges and roars without any barrier.
If we wish to make our mind more flexible, then we must first become aware of our rigidities. These are most easy to spot in our moments of difficulty, although they may also be present in our moments of pleasure. A person, while savouring a cup of tea, for example, might declare, “Every right-minded person drinks tea the way I do. Only a fool would do it otherwise.” Thus the the fluid enjoyment of the tea has been immobilized in the quick setting concrete of personal superiority. Studying our difficulties, we will sometimes find that the discomfort we feel is produced by our own opinion – of a person or a situation or a word spoken to us, for example, and if we were able to let go of our opinion the moment might pass without any pain. On the other hand, we will also discover that sometimes a difficult situation has been brought about by our rigid way of thinking. Then we have the opportunity to drop our structure, like a stone, to the bottom of the stream, and let the water carry us away.
If we attune our mind sufficiently to water, we become more able to overcome our own blocks, and also to manage situations with others. While speaking of the art of personality, Hazrat Inayat said: Sometimes a person can change a situation by one word and others cannot change it by a hundred hammers. There is a way to hammer and break a rock and there is the way of the water. If the rock is in the way, the water will not hammer; the water will surround it, will run smoothly over it and make its way on the top of the rock and in this way the waves will proceed.
It may seem a daunting task to change our mentality. It calls for careful self-examination, but if we wish to advance on the spiritual path, there is no alternative to this painstaking discipline. As it says in Gayan Talas, The path of freedom leads to the goal of captivity; it is the path of discipline
which leads to the goal of liberty.