;.l1,6,60,66,1,0,10,75,192,2,15,20,25,127,10,0,
CURRICULUM OF THE SUFI ORDER
The teaching of Hazrat Inayat Khan
Presented and paraphrased by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan
Including parallels with the ancient Sufis
LESSON 7
FASHIONING OUR PERSONALITY

Do you have a taste for creativity? It gives a wonderful sense offulfillment without which one may ask oneself what is the purposeof my life.

"The art of personality is the purpose for which man was created.For other arts cannot be compared with the art of personality."
(HIK), (ART OF PERSONALITY.)

"One may ask: If we have a personality, why must we develop it?But even a diamond must be cut! It has light in it yet cutting isrequired to awaken it. It cannot show its glow and brilliancybefore it has been cut. It is the same with the personality."
(HIK),  (PRIVILEGE OF BEING HUMAN.)

Rather than trying in one's meditations to assess one'scircumstances or figure out one's problems, Hazrat Inayat Khanrecommends working with the self. This will in turn throw newlight on one's situation in life.

"Man himself is the object of his realization. And by the study ofhuman nature one realizes the nature of life in general." 
(HIK), (UNITY OF RELIGIOUS IDEALS.)

What an opportunity those few years on the planet offer to fulfillour purpose! To achieve? Yes, being of service, even in a smallway as a cog in a wheel of that humungous machine that ourcivilization has constructed! But even if that is our objective,the richness of our personality will make us more effective.

"The saints and sages, who have been gifted with insight, oftencommune with God and through their inner heart-development havebeen able to achieve God's purpose in this world." 
(HIK), (GITHA 2.)

It is of course exciting to enjoy the marvel of life and live itintensely. But what do we do with it? We have a palate of colours;do we make a painting of it?

PRACTICE: (I [PVK] am paraphrasing Hazrat Pir o Murshid InayatKhan's words)

Instead of just regurgitating your assessment of your problems,ask yourself how all you see affects you and how you react to it.

First, how does your spirit react to the objects or the conditionsyou encounter, to the sounds you hear, to the words people speakto you?

Secondly, see what effect you yourself have on conditions and onothers when you come in contact with them.

Thirdly, observe the condition of your spirit, of your mind, ofyour body, of your situation in life, and of your relationshipwith others.

Fourthly, analyze yourself and see where does "I" stand? Does itstand as a remote exclusive being?

In your meditation, concentrate on the change of identification ofyour soul. Loose your false self and identify yourself with yourtrue self.

"...As your soul goes further on the path of knowledge, you willnotice that it begins to recognize the feeling of 'I-ness' and seehow it identifies with what is not itself. (The Soul Whence andWhither.) The soul changes its own identity with the change of itsconstantly changing vision." 
(HIK), (SPIRITUAL LIBERTY, P 227.)

To be part of what it is all about, we need to find our place (andeven play our part) in the advancing march of evolution whichitself is trying to blossom as our being, while on the other hand,the perfecting of our being contributes to that very advance ofthe cosmic evolution.

PRACTICE: (my [PVK's] paraphrasing of Pir o Murshid's wordscontinues)

Try to discover a kind of universe in yourself. You will find thatby the study of yourself, you will come to that spiritualknowledge for which your soul hungers. You will find that all isin oneself, and that you can cultivate in yourself what you wish.As soon as you begin to look within yourself a world opens to youfor it is not a little plot of ground that you have to cultivate;but you have the opportunity to make a whole world of yourself,and to make a world is a sufficient occupation to live for. 
(HIK PARAPHRASE BY PVK ), (PHILOSOPHY.)

SPIRITUALITY OF THE FUTURE

While traditional spiritual transmissions from the East in pursuitof Samadhi have often led to what psychotherapists have coined the"spiritual bypass," overlooking one's own idiosyncrasies HazratInayat Khan announces the spirituality of the future: rather thana belief in God, making God a reality by incorporating more andmore of the bounty of the universe in that wonderful work of artthat is the personality.

PRACTICE:

Be cautious that while working with your personality, you keepbeing aware of the action of the Universe (God) upon the formativeprocess of your personality rather than slipping back into yourpersonal identity.

"The soul manifests in the world in order that it may experiencethe different phases of manifestation, and yet not lose its way byregaining its original freedom, in addition to the experience andknowledge it has gained in the world."
(HIK, Presumably)

To arouse our potentials lying in wait in the seed of ourpersonality, we need to learn the skill of contemplating ourpersonality from the antipodal vantage point, which the Sufis callthe divine point of view. The realization arrived at by makingthis shift in perspective contrasts with the knowledge acquired bythe personal vantage point (acquired knowledge); it is revealedwhen having seen that one's personal vantage point is limited. Oneinvites the thinking of the universe (which albeit adumbratesone's thinking) to take over from one's personal thinking.

This calls for a complete reexamination of our concept of God as"up there." We need to strongly and realistically discover inourselves God as a potentiality that becomes an actuality as us.

"God is hidden in His creation. The soul may be considered to be acondition of God, like a wave is a condition of the sea... acondition which makes the only Being limited for a time. It is inman that divinity is awakened, that God is awakened, that God canbe seen...."
(HIK, Presumably)

IBN 'ARABI:
"Then you make Him manifest in His creation."

AL JILI:
"O Thou who art absent there, we have found Thee here."

"Thou art non-existent in Thy Essence, existent in Thy person."(?AL-JILI?), (1983, p 5.)

HAZRAT INAYAT KHAN:
"As God comprehends the whole universe within Himself, being one,so man contains within himself the whole universe as Hisminiature. (Akibat: Life after Death.) ... Man is born in thisworld ignorant of the kingdom which is within himself." 
(HIK), (Power of the Word.)

Admittedly, the word God embodies anthropomorphic projections.
       
[ Footnote (sa) kitc07 -- 1 ]


IBN 'ARABI:
"Since we know Him by ourselves, we attribute to Him all that weattribute to ourselves. To Him we attribute no quality withoutourselves having that quality, nor Him."

Owing to the widespread influence of Buddhism in our time, theword Universe, often used by Hazrat Inayat Khan, is moreacceptable to some.

"To many the thought of a personal God does not appeal, thoughthey might accept the idea of an abstract God. But they forgetthat something abstract cannot be a living being... Let them callGod by any name, or think of Him with whatever imagination theyhave: it is after all the highest ideal. ...Urging upon someonethat God is abstract and formless and pure, and that God isnameless, all these things do not help that person to evolve; forthe first step on the path of God is to make a conception ofGod....Then awaken the God within by making God a reality."
(HIK, evidently)

 However as he [ HIK ] points out,

"There is no way of getting proof of God's existence except bybecoming acquainted with oneself, by experiencing the phenomenawhich are within one." 
(HIK), (MIND WORLD P 265.)

"...Very often, many who are ready to accept the God-Idealquestion the personality of God. Some say: "If all is God, thenGod is not a person, for 'all' is not a person: 'all' is what isexpressed by the word all."... No doubt it would be a greatmistake to call God a personality, but it is a still greatermistake when man denies the Personality of God."
(HIK, loc. cit. or looks it.) 

However, although he points to the aspect of God actuated inexistence, and by the same token in ourselves, HAZRAT INAYAT KHANdoes not limit God to that dimension.

"God is beneath all, within and without all things. It is owing toour limitation that we cannot see the whole Being of God."
(HIK)

"...but all that we love in color, line and form, or personality -all that is beloved by us - belongs to the real Beauty who is theBeloved of all." 
(HIK), (Music.)

PRACTICE:

While envisioning your personality as an advanced condition of thecosmos, the way by means of which God (the Universe) becomes apersonality, still leave room for the transcendent dimension ofGod as "beyond the beyond" - as "other."

HALLAJ:
"O consciousness of my consciousness so subtle that it escapes theimagination of all living beings. (cf. Massignon, vol. lll, 1975,56.) How can contingent creatures who have alienated themselvesfrom Him by the abyss of time, try to prove the Creator by Hisworks." 
(CF. DIWAN Q VIII.)
       

IBN 'ARABI:
"So He knew Himself through witnessing in the manifest. But Heknows that He could not be known in respect of His transcendence(Huwiyyah) - in respect that He knows Himself in the principle ofHis Being."
 (CF. CHITTICK, 1989, 131-2.)

[ N.B. (sa).  I guess that PVK uses 'Cf.', often anyhow, simply tomean, this is the Source of that quote.
Stricly, if I recollect whatever sunk in about 50 years ago, 'Cf.'means 'Compare' and would be used only after the Source of thequote has been given, to reference a similar but not identicalremark. ]


YOUR PERSONALITY AS PLANT; POTENTIALITY AS SEED

HAZRAT INAYAT KHAN illustrates the relationship between man andGod with that of the plant and the seed.

"Is not man the seed of God? Is it then not his life's purpose tobring forth divine blossoms? In the heart of the flower there issomething that tells the story of the whole plant....The key tospiritual attainment is to be conscious of the Perfect One who isformed in one's heart. God is hidden within His creation... Awakenthe God within."
(HIK)

PRACTICE:

Instead of just identifying yourself with your self-image try toenvision your personality as a plant and imagine that it is theunfurling of its seed which is buried in your unconscious, buttries to become known by manifesting itself as your personality.

The seed represents a dimension of God as a potentiality becominga reality in God in His/Her existential condition.

While HAZRAT INAYAT KHAN places so much emphasis on thedevelopment of the human personality - that is the plant, theflowers:

"The fulfillment of the purpose of that seed is that it is put inthe ground, that it is watered, that a seedling springs up and isreared by the sun; it brings forth its flowers and fruits. This isthe fulfillment of that seed which already contained in itself thefruit and flower. A person who does not see the reason of allthis, is in the seed state; his mind is in the state of a seedwhich has not yet germinated, which has not yet produced itsseedling, which has not yet experienced the springing of theplant."
(HIK)

- he still draws our attention to the seed. Therefore, whilefashioning our personality, we need to be cautioned against thetendency to slip back into our personal vantage point andidentity.

"On the other hand, it is the discovery of God as the seed of ourbeing that will spark the unfurling of that plant that is ourpersonality....One might say that it is for the sake of the flowerthat the plant was purposed, but really speaking, it is the seedwhich comes in the heart of the flower which continues the race ofthe plant, which is the source and goal of the plant....One cansee that in the essence of the seed of the rose there is the roseitself, its fragrance, form and beauty. Although in the seed it isnot manifest, at the same time it is there in essence. The one whotunes himself not only to the external but also to the inner beingand to the essence of all things, gets an insight into the essenceof the Whole Being, and therefore he can find and enjoy thatfragrance and flower which he sees in the rose, to the same extenteven in the seed."
(HIK)  (MYSTICISM OF SOUND.)

Yet HAZRAT INAYAT KHAN sees both as complementary:
	
[ N.B. -- In the preceeding sentence I have replaced theconcluding period . with a colon : , and am apt to henceforth doso without further notice, Crusoe. ]


"The effect is in the cause and the cause is in the effect, as theflower is the outcome of the seed and the seed is in the heart ofthe flower. It is difficult  to decide whether to name the flower"seed" or to call the seed "flower." " 
(HIK), (Sangitha 1.)

PRACTICE:

Try to reconnoiter, identify with, the bounty lying in the root ofyour personality rather than simply identifying with yourpersonality (which one erroneously confuses with one's selfimage).

"The stem sprung up first, then the leaves, then came the flower,and from the flower came the seed....The final purpose is to bringabout that seed which is the source of this whole manifestation."
(HIK),  (SMILING FOREHEAD.)

[ Footnote kitc07 -- 2 or so ]

"...The same God so little of whose perfection manifested in theplant arises again and again in the pursuit of perfection tryingto emerge as perfectly as possible in the midst of the humancondition."
(IBID LOC. CIT.) 

(Footnote kitc07 -- 3 )

"Man may be called the seed of the whole existence. As the seedcomes last, after the life of trunk, branch, fruit and flower.And, as the seed is sufficient in itself and capable of producinganother plant, such as that of which it was but a small product,so man is the product of all the planes, spiritual and material, abeing small in comparison with the mountains and rivers and seas,or even in comparison with many beasts and birds, and yet in himalone that shines forth which caused the whole - that primalintelligence, the seed of existence - God. Therefore is man termedAshraf-ul-Makhluqat, the Ideal of the Universe." 
(HIK), (SANGATHAS I)

AVICENNA:
"He began with the noblest thing: intelligence and He concludedwith the noblest beings: the intelligent." 
(ARBERRY, AVICENNA ON THEOLOGY, JOHN MURRAY, 1951, P 50.)

Furthermore HAZRAT INAYAT KHAN sees a level in the programming ofthe universe beyond the seed - the cosmic code: the initiatingdivine intention:

"On the other hand, we cannot really compare even the seed withthe source. The ultimate source does not depend upon anything."
(HIK), (MENTAL PURIFICATION.)

PRACTICE:

Can you imagine that the very code of the cosmos not only embodiedin your genes but the seed of your personality is simply theprogram that enlists the divine intention that escapes and defiesour reason.

YOU DISCOVER YOURSELF THROUGH THE KNOWLEDGE GOD HAS OF HIM/HERSELFTHROUGH YOU

"The soul has in it a potentiality, a creative power as its divineheritage. On the one side man is limited and imperfect; on theother side he represents the unlimited and perfect."
(HIK)  (Alchemy of Happiness.)
" ...God is 'all possible.'"
(IBID LOC. CIT, no doubt of it)


IBN 'ARABI:
"He brings them out from the treasuries which are with Him; thatis from an existence which we do not perceive to an existencewhich we do perceive."

For the Sufis we discover ourselves by discovering how Goddiscovers Himself by manifesting to Himself, and by the same tokendisclosing to us the eternal principles of His being in theidiosyncrasies of our evanescent personality.

HAZRAT INAYAT KHAN:
"The purpose of the whole creation is the realization that GodHimself gains by discovering His own perfection through ourimperfection."

This knowledge cannot be acquired, but is revealed.

AL HALLAJ:
"No one knows Him except the one to whom He makes Himself known."
 (MASSIGNON, VOL. III, 1975, 72.)

IBN 'ARABI:
"God describes Himself to us through ourselves."

"No one knows what is within himself until it is unveiled to himinstant by instant."
(IBN 'ARABI, I presume)

HAZRAT INAYAT KHAN:
"The intelligence knows, not because it has learned. It knowsbecause it knows. This is the reason of all reasons, the cause ofall causes, beyond man's limited reason....Reason cannot be brokenexcept by a still greater reason." 
(HIK), (THE WAY OF ILLUMINATION.) 

"If anywhere there is a trace of God to be found, it is in theintelligence." 
(HIK), (SOCIAL GATHEKAS.)

These are not unrelated points of view; rather they areinterdependent. One might illustrate their relationship, albeitinadequately, by the relation there would be between a threedimensional panoramic view (the cosmic dimension) and a twodimensional snapshot.  But this does not suffice. It is also likethe relation between the code and its existential configuration,or the archetype and the exemplar.

Besides, HAZRAT INAYAT KHAN recommends extrapolating betweencontemplating the plant (our personality) and the seed of thatplant (the cosmic code); that is, extrapolating between the divinepoint of view and the human.

"Wisdom is born of the meeting of the knowledge of the heavens andthe knowledge of the earth. When the light from within is thrownupon this knowledge, then the knowledge from outer life and thelight coming from within make a perfect wisdom."
(HIK, apparently)

To be continued in the next installment.

================================================================
==============================================================

COMMENTS FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY:

as_it_is_said, "No comments from the Peanut Gallerya"
(USA slang 1940's, not known to have been used ny persons overapproximately 10 years old=

[PVK TEXT: ]
Admittedly, the word God embodies anthropomorphic projections.
       
[ Footnote (sa) kitc07 -- 1 ]
            
COMMENT [sa]

Enough already.  PVK continually makes this point.  No doubt it isreassuring to the ideologic agnostics of the German Furzes, butfor us normal Americans from Israel et al., who take practicingreligion for granted, it gets a bit ennuyant.

Like Uncle T.S. Eliot said, that prat, "I gotta use words when Italk to you."  And concepts when I think.

I mean, so its anthropomorphic projection, big deal.
You would rather I project a monkey or an elephant, like theHeathan Hindoo do?

Or the image of a computer, like the Society of Nerds.

Or abstract metaphysicial notions, like the Candidate for Ph.d inPhilosophy (University of California at Santa Barbara, First TryFailed, 1968) that I am.

They're all more or less misleading.  Antrhropomorphic imagry isless misleading than t'others, I reckon.

I mean, leastways anthropomorphic imagry accomodates the Islamicinsight of Ishk 'ALLAH -- "It was but for love of you that 'I'created the Universe" and all that.

I mean, everyone knows -- the Indians taught us that at NewBuffalo, north of Taos -- they were Christians of course, but onecan't hold that against them -- anyhow they were primarilyIndians, Christianity is just a convenient overlay -- makeseverything a bit easier when you go into Taos Plaza for a long cupof coffee and toast and eggs on a winter morning, I suppose --petitionary prayer is efficacious.  And one does need it from timeto time, unless you got Blue Cross Blue Shield Platinum GoldDeLuxe from the IBM Gidgit Factory down the street.

And I mean, you don't really want to be trying to work up thekavanah -- 

that's another term from Judaism, Christianity ain't even got thevocabulary, except whatever's left over form the last of theSchism Conclaves in AugustineVille or wherever they did it -- somedarned drafty castle no doubt, all stone, can't even build a goodfire in 'em, and all those dogs barking around waiting for morespareribs to be thrown on the floor -- who needs it, we'll stay inthe shtetl, thank you very much -- 

-- to the Great Programmer do you -- I mean, at least go withCharlie Brown's Great Pumpkin, if you must -- at least CharlieBrown got soul -- 

Oy gevalt, warm up the coffee, take one lap around the privy, andcheck out the stars -- don't want the Milky Way running away -- 

How can the Yuppies live without the stars -- guess they watch ital on DVD -- 

But I digress.                                

But seriously folks, the SO has done ok by Christianity and Isuppose Islam, but it ain't never taken proper like cognizance ofJudaism -- accidents of the History of Culture I suppose -- we hadkind of a dark age until the end of the Eisenhower Era -- untilthen we thought all we had to know was that you can put eitherapplesauce of sourcream on latka's, but not both at the same time-- except me, I put one of the left side and t'other on the right,with a small but adequate channel between the twain -- that's if Ican't afford a second serving, anyhow -- 

And the same goes for Atum o' Kane -- a nice guy, but what do theyknow from Yiddishkeit in County Kane -- gevalt, it really is abouttime to recharge the Cherags Training, I reckon -- I mean, adoctorate in comparative religion, whatever that is, I ain't neverseen one myself, should be merely an alternative prerequisite,like.

But I digress, I guess.         

"And this is sufficient for those who know."
(R. Chaim Heikel of Amdur, 'Chayim v_Chesed'.)

"The rest is left as an exercise for the Reader."
(College textbook cant, USA 1960's or so)

----------------------------------------------

"This is man.  He has a hard time in life.  You are not to killhim."
 
David McReynolds, ca. 1964, then head of the War Resisters League

(recollected, sa, then head of the NYC Student Peace Union 
(the apex of my political career; after that I retired and ain'tgone back to work since.))

--------------------------------------------------------------

Footnote 2 or so -- 


'Smiling Forehead' -- 'Scowling Eyebrows' -- fry me an aubergineand retitle the next printing of it -- 

'Wisdom's Child' -- I don't have enough teeth left even to thinkthat.

                                        
"The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power
and all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave
awaits alike th'invevitable hour:
the PATHS OF GLORY lead but to the grave."

(one of those Victorian turkeys whom we had to read in publicschool)

Well, Kubrick took that phrase and made what really was apolitically correct movie of it, not that I've seen it.

"'Just war'?
  Just gore."

(sa, from Collected Shorter Poems, 1970's)

Back in the 1970's there was a paperback, 'The Suffed Owl', filledwith the best examples of the worst verse that the editor coulddig out and dust off.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

On citing it as 'Ibid loc. cit':
(Footnote kitc07 -- 3 )
[ or so it seems, for that sat in the same paragiraffe -- or'extended paragraph' as some would say .
Thus in these KIT's PVK often uses a citation of Source within aparagraph to point not merely back, but also forward.  AJanusCit]tion as the Germans would say if they had a sense ofhumour. )

