Today, in the world, many people think that one can do without religion, and that they themselves have outgrown religion by reason of their evolution. Many have no religious belief. And therefore the world has never been in a more chaotic condition. No doubt one finds in tradition and in history that in the name of religion the selfishness and ignorance of mankind has played a great part. Therefore man, revolting against this state of things, has forsaken religion, and has forgotten that spirit which, in the name of religion, has also played its part in the world.

And now, in the absence of the influence of religion, the spirit which in the name of religion played a part in history has continued to play its part under the name of modernism. In spite of the separation that man tries to make between himself and others, he has always felt in himself a lack, at home and in his country. And this can be seen, today, among the materialists, who would not for one moment allow themselves to have a religious belief, but yet they are not satisfied. And the reason is that they lack a very great and very important thing, a thing that they cannot attain because they have built a wall before themselves.

There is a desire in every person, be he happy or unhappy. That desire is to live; even if not on the earth, in the hereafter. And the one who looks at it with pessimism and says, "I do not know if there is a hereafter," he also would like to be convinced that there is a hereafter. If that person disputes with you against the possibility of the hereafter, it is only to establish in his mind a conviction that there is a hereafter. He will not admit it, for he thinks it is intelligence to deny it. But he is not willing to die: he is not willing to deny that there is a continual life.

The mission of devotion, of religion, of spirituality, therefore, has been to bring that conviction to man which outer reasoning denies, but belief and faith alone can give. Is there one person in this world who would like that his existence should cease for good? Not one person. But every person seemingly or unseemingly is in the pursuit of finding out, if he can, some thread, some link, in order to be sure that there is a life in the hereafter. It is not true that there is no proof of the hereafter; only, those who want a proof, they look for that proof in a wrong direction. How can a proof of immortality be found in mortal existence? The proof of immortality is immortality itself. As life has no experience, it has no proof. If there is a proof, it is life itself. It is just like wakening from unconsciousness and coming to consciousness; so it is coming to immortality from the limited conception of mortality. Has not every religion tried in its own way, by giving some means or the other, to bring man to realize that there is a life in the hereafter?

It is the present age which objects to believing something which can only be understood in its culmination; and that way it refuses to believe it. Belief, when it is developed, is faith. And it is in that faith that you will find a seal; by opening it, there is a revelation of the continuity of life. No one but one's own self can convince one of the life in the hereafter; but one can give oneself a belief to begin with: the conviction will come by itself. Many have taken wrong methods in order to convince man of the hereafter. And by trying to play with phenomena they have, instead of giving a new belief, taken away the belief of the intelligent and built a wrong belief in the simple ones.

The work of the Sufi Message, therefore, is to use all different methods, devotional, religious, spiritual, which will suit the particular grade of a person's evolution, in order to prepare his heart for that conviction which is called the life immortal.