The Teaching of Hazrat Inayat Khan      

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Volume

Sayings

Social Gathekas

Religious Gathekas

The Message Papers

The Healing Papers

Vol. 1, The Way of Illumination

Vol. 1, The Inner Life

Vol. 1, The Soul, Whence And Whither?

Vol. 1, The Purpose of Life

Vol. 2, The Mysticism of Sound and Music

Vol. 2, The Mysticism of Sound

Vol. 2, Cosmic Language

Vol. 2, The Power of the Word

Vol. 3, Education

Vol. 3, Life's Creative Forces: Rasa Shastra

Vol. 3, Character and Personality

Vol. 4, Healing And The Mind World

Vol. 4, Mental Purification

Vol. 4, The Mind-World

Vol. 5, A Sufi Message Of Spiritual Liberty

Vol. 5, Aqibat, Life After Death

Vol. 5, The Phenomenon of the Soul

Vol. 5, Love, Human and Divine

Vol. 5, Pearls from the Ocean Unseen

Vol. 5, Metaphysics, The Experience of the Soul Through the Different Planes of Existence

Vol. 6, The Alchemy of Happiness

Vol. 7, In an Eastern Rose Garden

Vol. 8, Health and Order of Body and Mind

Vol. 8, The Privilege of Being Human

Vol. 8a, Sufi Teachings

Vol. 9, The Unity of Religious Ideals

Vol. 10, Sufi Mysticism

Vol. 10, The Path of Initiation and Discipleship

Vol. 10, Sufi Poetry

Vol. 10, Art: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

Vol. 10, The Problem of the Day

Vol. 11, Philosophy

Vol. 11, Psychology

Vol. 11, Mysticism in Life

Vol. 12, The Vision of God and Man

Vol. 12, Confessions: Autobiographical Essays of Hazat Inayat Khan

Vol. 12, Four Plays

Vol. 13, Gathas

Vol. 14, The Smiling Forehead

By Date

THE SUPPLEMENTARY PAPERS

Heading

1. Illusion and Reality

2. Capacity

3. Vibrations (1)

4. Vibrations (2)

5. Atmosphere

6. Light

7. Intelligence

8. The law of Rhythm

9. The Threefold, Dual, and Unique Aspects of Nature

10. Spirit Within and Without

11. Spirit and Matter (1)

12. Spirit and Matter (2)

13. Spirit and Matter (3)

Sub-Heading

-ALL-

Vol. 11, Philosophy

7. Intelligence

Intelligence in its most dense form appears in things and beings as radiance. From a mystical point of view it would not be wrong to say that the freshness of the leaf, the color of the flower, the brightness of the precious stone, and the expression of man's countenance are the light of intelligence in its dense form. No object can be visible without radiance. Although we need the light of the sun in order to make an object more visible to our sight, yet every object is radiant in itself. It cannot exist, it cannot be visible if it is not radiant. If we made a synthesis of all the things in the world which we have separated by analysis and called by various names, we could safely and rightly say that all things and beings are made of light, or that all things and beings are the manifestation of the light of intelligence.

What about the sun and the moon and the stars? There is intelligence in all of these. If the planet on which we live had no intelligence it could not have intelligent beings on it. For what is nature? Nature is the development of the planet. The planet has developed into organic nature and has culminated in human beings, intelligent beings; and it still remains a planet.

No doubt that which exists as a capacity is robbed of its intelligence by what is conceived in it. For instance the body is robbed of its intelligence by the mind, and the mind is robbed of its intelligence by the soul. The larger the power, the more it absorbs. If the body is more muscular, denser, it naturally absorbs the power of the mind, and very often a person with a highly developed brain is found to be not very spiritual, as his brain absorbs the light of the soul. But in the same way it is natural that the soul, which is intelligence in itself, should rob the mind of its intelligence; and the mind in turn robs the body of its extra physical strength if it is powerful.

It is natural, therefore, for the intelligence of the planet as a whole not to be manifest to view. If it can be seen, it is in the intelligence of an individual; but the collective working of many minds as one single idea, and the activity of the whole world in a certain direction, are governed by the intelligence of the planet. We speak of the mentality of a particular person, the mentality of a nation, or the mentality of a race, and so the intelligence of the whole planet has an effect upon all those living on the planet.

There is a certain characteristic peculiar to this planet, for each planet has a certain degree of intelligence. For instance, the fact that at this time and at this stage of human civilization and evolution, when hardly one in a thousand individuals wants to make war, such dreadful wars should have taken place, is due to the influence of the planet working through the minds of those who live on it. This is the secret behind war and peace.

They were not foolish, those who worshipped the sun and taught sun worship; they were not ignorant, those who recognized the sacredness of fire and flame; for they saw intelligence even in the dense form. The sun is the source of the intelligence of all the planets, but the real source of intelligence is God.

The highest form of intelligence is that which shows itself in man. In man intelligence begins to show itself, in a similar if not in exactly the same form as that which may be called the primitive intelligence, the intelligence which existed as such even before manifestation.

In human intelligence we can distinguish three aspects:

  • perception,
  • conception, and
  • assimilation.

One is expressive (conception), the other receptive (perception), and the third is all-powerful (assimilation).

Perception can again be divided into three aspects:

  • all that one perceives through the medium of the five senses,
  • all that one perceives independently of the medium of the five senses, and
  • all that one feels and that one cannot interpret even to oneself in an intelligible form.

Conception also has three aspects:

  • all that one conceives as an understanding,
  • all that one conceives and develops, and
  • all that one conceives and maintains in the same way that it was conceived.

Assimilation is the highest form of intelligence, more powerful and perfect, for it is the power of intelligence that assimilates things, and it is perfect because it assimilates. If we put some dye, some color, in a bottle of water, that color will stay, because the water in the bottle has no power to assimilate it. But if we put the same dye into the sea, the sea will sooner or later assimilate it. This shows that assimilation is the greatest power of intelligence.

How can one speed up assimilation and make it more complete? By meditation and concentration? Meditation and concentration apart, one can do so by becoming thoughtful, considerate, deep, responsive, sincere, and serious. To assimilate is the most difficult thing there is.

We can have many friends in the world, but a friend whom we can really trust is hard to find. And if during our life we have found one, we should be most thankful to have one friend who can keep our secret. Ordinary people apart, kings and emperors who have to deal with thousands and millions of people, have great difficulty in finding one person whom they can trust completely, in whom they have confidence, and they consider themselves most fortunate if they do.

And it is the power of assimilation which enables one to keep a secret and prove worthy of confidence. The one who has the power of assimilation is the treasure-house of all those who confide in him. It is such a one who arrives at the stage of the Master.