
A JOURNAL OF TRANS-ETHNIC SPIRITUALITY
VOL. 2, ISSUE 2
Heart of the Message, is produced for the Church of All and
of all churches at Pagosa Springs by Post-Dogmatist
Publications, Rev. Hamid Cecil Touchon; Editor-in-Chief. This publication
is a part of the larger site, A CHERAG'S LIBRARY. COPYRIGHT 1997
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"Going
Beyond the Form in Our Worship"
Cherag Regina Coeli McKnight
I was struck by something Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan said at the Leaders'
retreat a couple of years ago. He said, "It has become more fashionable
these days to meditate than to pray, but meditation reduces to stress-reduction
when it is not connected to one's worship."
Pir Vilayat went on to tell of his experience of leading a group in
meditation in which they were focusing on bringing light into their auras.
He opened his eyes, and he saw that the meditators were no more luminous
than before. "What am I doing here?" he asked himself. Later that day,
at the worship service, when they were singing and praising and lighting
candles, he saw that in that same group "the light was tremendous." And
so, worship is clearly and important aspect of spiritual practice. It is
important for us to discover our nostalgia for the sacred. Through worship,
the heart literally is opened to the Divine Presence.
Thus, it is important that we not think of the Universal Worship service
as just a ceremony. In the Universal Worship, we are participating in something
whereby we are being transformed, lifted from our humanness into our spiritual
dimension. So, going beyond the form of the worship service, let us try
to access the deeper aspects of it.
Pir Vilayat says that the Cherag (the minister) presides not as a personality
but as a representative of God on earth. Cherags are trained to invoke
the presence of the masters, saints, and prophets and to get into the attunement
of the masters. The Cherag works to get beyond personality-identification,
concern with performance, self-judgment, and ego. It is helpful for the
congregants to view him or her in that light, as well.
The service opens with the Invocation: "Toward the One, the Perfection
of Love, Harmony and Beauty, the Only Being, united with all the Illuminated
Souls, who form the embodiment of the Master, the Spirit of Guidance."
Taj Inayat has beautifully expressed the deep significance of the invocation.
As we repeat "Toward the One. . .", we can be aware of a surrendering of
our identity, as the light of the moon and star is overawed by the rising
sun. As we repeat "United with all. . .", we can use Taj's image of many
rivers merging into the ocean, and we can be open to that living stream
of blessing. Taj writes, "If you invoke these beings, this blessing, and
this radiance, and come empty to be filled, you can receive this blessing.
One needs only to truly want to. Feel the opening of all barriers between
Heaven and Earth, between ourselves and the Buddhas and the Christ beings
and the Illuminated Souls whose presence is always here. By invoking them
and opening to them, we feel their blessings in our being more strongly
and we
then become a channel for this blessing to the world." That can be the
effect of our invocation when it is said with consciousness and intention.
Pir Vilayat says that the lighting of the candles is the high point
of the service. It fills the space with Presence, because with the lighting
of each candle, we are invoking the presence of the masters, saints, and
prophets of that tradition. We must think of these beings; we must invite
them. Pir recalls that his father, Hazrat Inayat Khan used to say that
it is better that there be few people and more angels at the Universal
Worship service than that there be a lot of people and no angels!
The scriptures are the message of God to humanity at different times
and places on the planet. When he or she reads each scripture, the Cherag
attempts to be in the consciousness of the prophet, and we as congregants
can receive the readings in that spirit. When the scriptures are presented
to the altar, it is our offering. We are offering our reverence, our homage,
and our gratitude--not a dead goat. It is a gift of ourselves.
Pir Vilayat reminds us that we must realize the Masters, Saints, and
Prophets as living presences. Buddha, Christ, Shiva, Zarathustra, Abraham
and Mary are a part of our being. He suggests that we not limit ourselves
to thinking of those beings as past. He says;
"If Mohammed were living today, he wouldn't say cut off the hand
of somebody who's stealing. In fact, he might be president of the Commission
on Non-Violence. Buddha might very well be married, and he might very well
be a psychotherapist. And Christ, I think he might be in El Salvador .
. .The Universal Worship is an opportunity to get into the consciousness
of sublime beings so that eventually we can start manifesting something
of their being."
Again and again, Pir Vilayat has emphasized the aspect of worship as
a reflection of the Cosmic Celebration in the Heavens, and he emphasizes
our need for glorification, for our awakening to the sense of glory and
splendor which we have lost in the trivial day-to-day mechanics of our
lives. The purpose of worship is to help us awaken to the divinity in our
being.
In the words of Hildegard of Bingen;
"Be not lax in celebrating. Be not lazy in the festive service of
God. Be ablaze with enthusiasm. Let us be an alive, burning offering before
the altar of God."
The Art of Personality - Hazrat Inayat
Khan
There is one thing: to be man; and there is another thing: to be a person,
a man, by completing the individuality in which is hidden the purpose of
man's coming on earth. Angels were made to sing the praise of the Lord,
jinns to imagine, to dream, to meditate; but man is created to show humanity
in character. It is this which makes him a person. There are many difficult
things in life, but the most difficult of all is to learn and to know and
to practice
the art of personality.
Nature, people say, is created by God and art by man; but in reality
in the making of personality it is God who completes His divine art. It
is not what Christ has taught that makes his devotees love him; they dispute
over those things in vain; it is what he himself was. It is that which
is loved and admired by his devotees. When Jesus Christ said to the fishermen,
'Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men', what did it mean? It meant,
'I will teach you the art of personality, which will become as a net in
this life's sea.' For every heart, whatever be its grade of evolution,
will be attracted by the beauty of the art of personality.
What does mankind seek in another person, what does man expect in his
friend? He wants him rich, of a high position, of a great power, of wonderful
qualifications, of wide influence; but beyond and above all he expects
from his friend the humane qualities which are the art of personality.
If one's friend lacks the art of personality, all the above things are
of but little use and value to him.
There is a question: how are we to learn it? We learn it by our love
of art, by our love of beauty in all its less various aspects. The artist
learns his art by his admiration of beauty. When a person gets an insight
into beauty, then he learns the art of arts, which is the art of personality.
A man may have a thousand qualifications, or rank, or position; he may
possess all the goods of the earth, but if he lacks the art of personality
he is poor indeed. It is by this art that man shows that nobleness which
belongs to the kingdom of God.
The art of personality is not a qualification. It is the purpose for
which man was created, and it leads man to that purpose in the fulfillment
of which is his entire satisfaction. By this art man does not only satisfy
himself, but he pleases God. This phantom play on the earth is produced
for the pleasure of that King of the universe whom the Hindus have called
Indra, before whom Gandharvas sang and Upsaras danced. The interpretation
of this story is that every soul is destined to dance at the court of Indra.
The art of personality is, in reality, learning to dance perfectly at the
court of Indra. But the one who says, 'But how can I dance? I do not know
how to dance,' defeats his purpose. For no soul is created to stand aside
and look on, every soul is created to dance in the court of Indra. The
soul who refuses certainly shows its ignorance of the great purpose for
which the whole play is produced on the stage of the earth.
Gentleness is the principal thing in the art of personality; one can
see how gentleness works as the principal thing in every art.
Gratefulness in the character is like fragrance in the flower. A person,
however learned and qualified in his life's work, in whom gratefulness
is absent, is devoid of that beauty of character which makes personality
fragrant. If we answer every little deed of kindness with appreciation,
we develop in our nature the spirit of gratefulness; and by learning this
we rise to that state where we begin to realize God's goodness towards
us, and for this we can never be grateful enough to His divine compassion
The art of personality is to cut off the rough edges of this spirit
of vanity, which hurts and disturbs those one meets in life.
The art of personality, therefore, does not teach the rooting out of
the seed of vanity, which cannot be rooted out as long as man lives; but
its crude outer garb may be destroyed in order that, after dying several
deaths, it may be manifested as the plant of desires.
Dignity, which in other words may be called self-respect, is not something
which can be left out when considering the art of personality. When one
asks what it is, and how this principle can be practiced, the answer is
that all manner of light-heartedness and all tendency to frivolity must
be rooted out from the nature in order to hold that dignity which is precious
to one.
So for a wise man, a certain amount of weight is required in order to
live, which gives balance to his personality. Wisdom gives that weight;its
absence is the mark of foolishness.
The more one studies and understands the art of personality, the more
one finds that it is the ennobling of the character which is going forward
towards the purpose of creation. All the different virtues, refined manners,
and beautiful qualities, are the outcome of nobleness of character. But
what is nobleness of character? It is the wide outlook.
There is a sense of economizing to be found more or less in every soul;
and when this tendency works with those around one and those with whom
one comes in contact, one develops one's personality. The desire to spare
another, to have patience instead of trying his patience to the uttermost,
is the tendency to economy, a higher understanding of economy. To try to
spare another from using his energy in the way of thought, speech, and
action, all saves his energy for the other and for oneself it is adding
beauty to one's personality. A person ignorant of this in time becomes
a drag upon others. He may be innocent, but he can be a nuisance; for he
neither has consideration for his own energy nor thought for others.
After having acquired refinement of character, and merits and virtues
that are needed in life, the personality can be finished by the waking
of the sense of justice. The art of personality makes a statue, a fine
specimen of art, but when the sense of justice is awakened that statue
comes to life; for in the sense of justice lies the secret of the soul's
unfolding. Eveyone knows the name of justice; but it is rare to find someone
who really is just by nature, in whose heart the sense of justice has been
awakened.
A friendly attitude, expressed in sympathetic thought, speech, and deed,
is the principal thing in the art of personality. There is limitless scope
to show this attitude, and however much the personality is developed in
this direction, it is never too much. Spontaneity and the tendency to give,
giving that which is dear to one's heart, is what shows the friendly attitude.
Life in the world has its numberless obligations, towards friend and foe,
towards acquaintance and stranger. One can never do too much to be conscientious
in one's obligations in life and to do everything in one's power to fulfil
them. To do more than one's due is perhaps beyond the power of every man,
but in doing what one ought to do one does accomplish one's life purpose.
As a gift is nothing without the giver, so a charm is nothing without
a personality that gives confidence to the patient. Therefore a charm written
by an ordinary person has no effect; the personality of the person who
writes the charm should be impressive, his piety, his spirituality, his
love, his kindness, should all help to make the charm that he gives valuable
and effective.
Selections from: The Privilege of Being Human by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Chapter XI - Overlooking - Darquza
There is a tendency which manifests itself and grows in a person who is
advancing spiritually, and that tendency is overlooking. At times this
tendency might appear as negligence, but in reality negligence is not necessarily
overlooking, negligence most often is not looking. Overlooking may be called
in other words rising beyond things: one has to rise in order to overlook;
the one who stands beneath life could not overlook, even if he wanted to.
Overlooking is a manner of graciousness; it is looking and at the same
time not looking; it is seeing and not taking notice of what is seen; it
is being hurt or harmed or disturbed by something and yet not minding it.
It is an attribute of nobleness of nature, it is the sign of souls who
are tuned to a higher key.
One may ask: Is it practical? I may not be able to say that it is always
practical, but I mean it all the same, for in the end the one who overlooks
will also realize the practicality of it. Maybe he will realize it in the
long run after he has met with a great many disadvantages of it. Nevertheless,
all is well which ends well.
Very often overlooking costs less than taking notice of something that
could well be overlooked. In life there are things which matter and there
are things which do not matter. As one advances through life one finds
there are many things that do not matter, and one could just as well overlook
them. The one who, on a journey which takes all his life to accomplish,
will take notice of everything that comes his way will waste his time.
While climbing the mountain of life, the purpose of which is to reach the
top, if a person troubles about everything that comes along, he will perhaps
never be able to reach the top; he will always be troubling about things
at the bottom. No soul, realizing that life on this earth is only four
days long, will trouble about little things. He will trouble about things
which really matter. In his strife with little things a person loses the
opportunity of accomplishing great things in life. The one who troubles
about small things is small, the soul who thinks of great things is great.
Overlooking is the first lesson of forgiveness. This tendency springs
from love and sympathy; for of whom one hates one notices every little
fault, but of whom one loves one naturally overlooks the faults, and very
often one tries to turn the faults into merits. Life has endless things
which suggest beauty, and numberless things which suggest ugliness. There
is no end to the merits and no end to the faults, and according to one's
evolution is one's outlook on life.
The higher a man has risen, the wider the horizon before his sight.
It is the tendency to sympathize which brings the desire to overlook, and
it is the analytical tendency which weighs and measures and takes good
notice of everything. "Judge ye not", said Christ, "lest ye be judged".
The more one thinks of this lesson, the deeper it goes into one's heart,
and what one learns from it is to try and overlook all that does not fit
in with one's own ideas as to how things ought to be in life, until one
comes to a stage of realization where the whole of life becomes one sublime
vision of the immanence of God.
Chapter XII - Graciousness - Khulq
No sooner does the soul touch the inner kingdom, which is the divine kingdom,
than the true nobility of the soul becomes manifest in the form of graciousness.
Kings and those belonging to aristocratic families were trained in the
manner of graciousness, but it is born in the heart of man. This means
that every soul shows the aristocratic manner from the moment it touches
the inner kingdom, and it shows that true aristocracy is the nobility of
the soul: when the soul begins to express in every feeling, thought, word
and action that graciousness which belongs to God Himself.
Graciousness is quite different from that wrong manner which is termed
patronizing in English. The gracious one, before expressing that noble
attitude, tries to hide himself even from his own eyes. The reason why
the great ones, the truly noble people, are gracious is because they are
more sensitive to all the hurt and harm that comes to them from those who
are unripe. Therefore, out of their kindness, they try to keep themselves
from doing the same to another, however unimportant his position.
There is a story of a dervish who was standing in the royal road at
the moment when the procession of the king was passing. Happy in his rags
as he was, he did not at all mind who was coming, and did not move an inch
at the warnings of the pages who were running ahead of the procession,
until they pushed him away. Yet he did not move far, he only said, "That
is why". Then came the bodyguards on horseback. They did not push him,
but they said, "Away, away, dervish! Do you not see the procession coming?"
The dervish did not move an inch, but only answered, "That is why". Then
followed the noblemen. They saw the dervish standing there. They did not
like to tell him to move, they moved their own horses instead. The dervish
seeing this said, "That is why". Then arrived the chariot of the king.
His eyes fell on the dervish in his rags standing boldly in the middle
of the road. Instead of waiting for his bow the king bowed himself, and
the dervish said, "That is why". There was a young man standing by his
side who could not understand the meaning of these words "That is why",
spoken by the dervish whatever way he was treated. When he asked the dervish
kindly to explain what was meant by these words, the answer was, "They
explain all I mean".
There is a great truth in what Christ has said in the sermon on the
mount, "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth". This will
always prove true whatever be the time and whatever be the evolution of
the world. Be it the time of aristocracy, be it the period of democracy,
the value of that nobility of nature which is expressed in graciousness
will always command its price. It is easy to know the word, but most difficult
to practice graciousness through life, for there is no end to the thought
that needs to be given to every action in life. It wants judgment and a
fair sense of weighing and measuring all one does. Besides, it needs a
fine sense of art and beauty, for in refining the personality one attains
to the highest degree of art. Verily, the making of the personality is
the highest art there is. The Sufi considers the cultivation of humane
attributes, in which lies the fulfillment of the purpose of his life, as
his religion.
A young man one day showed a little impatience towards his aged father,
who could not hear very clearly and had asked him two, three times to tell
him again what he had said. Seeing the disturbed expression on his face
the father said, "My son, do you remember that there was a day when you
were a little child, and asked me what was the name of a certain bird?
I told you: a sparrow. You asked me perhaps fifty times, and I had the
patience to repeat it again and again to you without being hurt or troubled
about it; I was only pleased to tell you all I knew. Now when I cannot
hear you clearly, you can at least have patience with me and, if I did
not hear you the first time, explain it twice to me."
It seems that, in order to learn that noble manner of life, what is
most needed is patience - sometimes in the form of endurance, sometimes
in the form of consideration, and sometimes in the form of forgiveness.
Chapter XIII - Conciliation - Ittifaq
Any efforts made in developing the personality or in character-building
must not be made for the sake of proving oneself superior to others, but
in order to become more agreeable to those around one and to those with
whom one comes in contact. Conciliation is not only the moral of the Sufi,
but it is the sign of the Sufi.
This virtue is not always learned and practiced easily, for it needs
not only good-will but wisdom. The great talent of the diplomat is to bring
about by agreement such results as are desirable. Disagreement is easy;
among the lower creation one sees it so often. What is difficult is agreement,
for it wants a wider outlook, which is the true sign of spirituality. Narrowness
of outlook makes the horizon of man's vision small, and he cannot easily
agree with another. There is always a meeting-ground for two people, however
much they differ in their thought, but the meeting-ground may be far off,
and man is not always willing to take the trouble of going far enough -
as far as required in order to come to an agreement. Very often his patience
does not allow him to go far enough: to where he can meet the other. What
generally happens is that everyone wants the other to meet him in the place
where he stands, and there is no desire on his part to move from there.
This does not mean that in order to become a real Sufi a person must
give up his ideas so as to meet others in agreement. There is no benefit
in always being lenient with every thought that comes from another, and
there is no. benefit in always erasing one's own idea from one's heart.
That is not conciliation. The one who is able to listen to another is the
one who will make another listen to him. It is the one who agrees easily
with another who will have the power of making another agree easily with
him. Therefore in doing so one gains in spite of the apparent loss which
might sometimes occur. When a man is able to see from his own point of
view as well as from the point of view of another, he has a complete vision
and a clear insight: he so to speak sees with both eyes.
No doubt friction produces light, but light is the agreement of atoms.
When one seeks stimulus to thought it does not matter so much if two people
have their own ideas and argue about them, but when a person argues for
the sake of argument, the argument becomes his game; he finds no satisfaction
in conciliation. Words then provide the means of disagreement, reasons
become fuel for that fire. Wisdom is there where the intelligence is pliable,
when one understands all things: the wrong of the right, and the right
of the wrong. The soul who arrives at the perfect knowledge has risen above
right and wrong; he knows them and yet he does not know. He can say much,
and yet - what can he say? Then it becomes easy for him to conciliate each
and all.
There is a story that two Sufis met after many years, having travelled
along their own lines. They were glad to meet each other after all those
years of separation, for they were both mureeds of the same Murshid. One
said to the other, "Tell me, please, your life's experience. After all
this time of study and practice of Sufism I have learned one thing: how
to conciliate others. I can do this very well now. Will you, please, tell
me what you have learned?" The other one said, "After all this time of
study and practice of Sufism I have learned how to master life. All that
is here in this world is for me, and I am the master; all that happens,
happens by my will". Then came the Murshid whose mureeds they were, and
both spoke of their experiences during their journey. The Murshid said,
"Both of you are right. In the case of the first one it was self-denial
in the right sense of the word which enabled him to conciliate others.
In the case of the other one nothing was left of his will any more. If
there was any will, it was the will of God".
The Art of Personality as a Spiritual Practice - Cherag Hamid Touchon
Very often, when we think of our spiritual disciplines we think of meditation
and contemplation, the repetition of sacred Names, self-discipline, etc.
However, one of the key teachings of Hazrat Inayat Khan is that of the
art of personality development.
"The Sufis of all ages considered the art of personality of the greatest
importance."... "It is the art of personality which the prophets proved
with their own lives to be of the greatest importance."... "This is not
a subject of which one can say that it is no better than any other. On
the contrary, it is a subject of the greatest importance."
Hazrat Inayat Khan points out four key aspects in this art:
1) one's actions or body language, 2) one's speech, 3) one's thoughts,
and 4) one's feelings.
1) One's actions and body language often reveal more about a person
than what they say. Such behaviors as how we walk, how we hold ourselves,
our facial expressions, the movement of our hands all express our personality.
Thus we should consider with great care our every action and movement and
spend time gaining mastery and control over our actions.
2) Next is our speech. Not only what we say but how we say it. This
would include a study of the tone and rhythm of our speech, whether we
speak too much or without due thoughtfulness, if what we say is in harmony
with the given situation, whether our words bring peace or conflict.
3) Speech and action stem from our thought processes thus, as we engage
ourselves in the study and refinement of our personality we examine our
beliefs and assumptions, our thoughts and perception to see where this
aspect is holding us back from a beautiful personality.
4) In examining our inner feelings which might be called the colors
of our personality, we observe how our feelings effect our perception and
thus our thought, speech and action. As we delve deeply into our heart,
the very core of our being, we can eventually gain clarity and profundity
of feeling which opens the door to intuition and inspiration thus giving
our personality depth and richness. Without emotion our personality remains
merely dry shades of gray.
To practice this art is merely a matter of deciding to do so and then
to use all of our circumstances in life as the canvas for our efforts.
In time our personality becomes a blessing and a comfort to all who encounter
us as the Divine manor becomes our manor and our atmosphere a source of
love and light.
Please visit the Gallery
at Cecil Touchon Contemporary Art who
supplies the space for this page.
produced
by Post-Dogmatist Publications
copyright 1997
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