“The true delight of the soul lies in love, harmony and beauty, the outcome of which is wisdom, calm and peace; the more constant they are the greater is the satisfaction of the soul.“

I spent three-and-a-half hours viewing a video documentary created by esoteric astrologer Phillip Lindsay entitled “The Hidden History of Humanity” while a severe thunder storm raged outside with wind gusts up to 50mph providing the perfect atmosphere for the subject matter of this story. Here’s a link to it when you have two-and-a-half hours to spare. It will blow your mind seeing how vast and traumatic our history is, and that of our planet, and how we arrived where we are today.

I will now share more from the writings of Sufi Inayat Hazarat Khan. This excerpt from THE MYSTICISM OF SOUND is entitled “HARMONY.”

THE PEACE for which every soul strives, and which is the true nature of God and the utmost goal of man, is but the outcome of harmony; this shows that all life’ s attainments without a sense of harmony are but vain. It is the attainment of harmony which is called heaven, and it is the lack of it which is termed hell, The master of it alone understands life, and he who lacks it is foolish in spite of all other knowledge that he may have acquired.

The Sufi gives great importance to the attainment of harmony, believing that light is for angels and darkness for the devil, but that harmony is necessary for a human being in order to keep a balance in life.

There are three aspects of harmony: eternal, universal, and individual.

Eternal harmony is the harmony of consciousness. As it is in itself eternal, all things and beings live and move in it; yet it remains remote, undisturbed and peaceful. This is the God of the believer, and the God of the knower. All vibrations from the finest to the grossest are held together by this harmony, as well as each atom of manifestation, and both creation and destruction take place in order to uphold it. Its power ultimately attracts each being towards the everlasting peace.

Man is drawn in two opposite directions by the power of harmony: towards the Infinite and towards manifestation. He is less conscious of the former than of the latter, and by facing towards one direction he loses sight of the other. The Infinite, being the essential spirit of all, finally attracts all to itself. The Sufi gives the greatest importance to harmony with the Infinite, which he realizes by resignation to the will of God, the Beloved.

The existence of land and water, the land for the water, and the water for the land; the attraction between the heavens and the earth, all demonstrate the universal harmony. The attraction of the sun and moon to each other, the cosmic order of the stars and the planets, all connected and related with each other, moving and working under a certain law; the regular rotation of the seasons, the night following the day, and the day in its turn giving place to the night; the dependence of one being on another; the distinctive-ness, attraction and assimilation of the five elements, all prove the universal harmony.

The male and female, beast and bird, vegetable and rock, and all classes of things and beings are linked together and attracted to each other with a chord of harmony. If one being or thing, however apparently useless, were missing in this universe of endless variety, it would be as it were a note missing in a song. As Sa’di says, “Every being is born for a certain purpose, and the light of that purpose is kindled within his soul.” All famines, plagues, and disasters such as storms, floods, volcanic eruptions, wars, arid revolutions, however bad they may appear to man, are in reality for the adjusting of this universal harmony.

There is a story told in India of how once all the inhabitants of a village which had suffered from drought, gathered together before the temple of their God, praying that for this year an abundance of rain might fall.

A voice from the unseen replied, ‘Whatever We do is for the betterment of Our purpose, ye have no right to interfere with Our work, oh! ye men’. But they again cried for mercy, and continued to do so more persistently. Then came the answer saying, ‘Your prayers, fastings, and sacrifices have induced Us to grant for this one year as much rain as ye desire’. They all returned home rejoicing.

In the autumn they worked vigorously on their farms, and after having prepared the ground and sown the seed, they prayed for rain. When they considered that sufficient had fallen they again had recourse to prayer, and the rain ceased. In this way an ideal crop of corn was produced and all the inhabitants of that country made merry over it. This year more corn was grown than ever before.

After the crops were gathered in how-ever, all those who ate the com died and many were the victims. In perplexity they again sought the God bowing low before the temple crying, ‘Why hast Thou shown such wrath to us, after having shown so great a mercy?’ The God replied, ‘It was not Our wrath, but your folly for inter-fering with Our work; We sometimes send a drought, and at other times a flood, so that a portion of your crops may be destroyed, but We have Our reasons for so doing, for in this way all that is poisonous and undesirable in them is also destroyed, leaving only what is beneficial for the preservation of your life.’

The villagers prostrated themselves in humble prayer saying, ‘We shall never again try to control the affairs of the universe, Thou art the Creator and Thou art the Controller, we are Thine innocent children, and Thou alone knowest what is best for us.’ The Creator knows how to control His world, what to bring
forth and what to destroy.

It’s a good story about trusting Divine Providence to provide for our needs. “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” What’s missing from their prayer, however, are the words “According to Thy will, O Lord.”

There’s another story this one brings to mind that offers a little different, and participatory, perspective. It’s about a farmer working his fields when his pastor drops by for a visit. Looking out over the farm and plowed fields the pastor exclaims “My, look what the Lord has done with this land!” To which the befuddled farmer exclaimed: “Yeah, well you should have seen it when the Lord had it all by himself!”

We are rightly the keepers of the Garden of Eden, however we are no longer mere “innocent children” as the villagers thought of themselves in relation to their Creator and “Controller.” We are co-creators with the Creator and one another, the collective Body in and through which the Great Spirit dwells and acts on Earth.

There are two aspects of individual harmony: the harmony between body and soul, and the harmony between individuals. The soul rejoices in the comforts experienced by the external self, yet man becomes so engrossed in them that the soul’s true comfort is neglected. This keeps man dissatisfied through all the momentary comforts he may enjoy, but not understanding this he attributes the cause of his dissatisfaction to some unsatisfied desire in his life. The outlet of all earthly passions gives a momentary satisfaction, yet creates a tendency for more; in this struggle the satisfaction of the soul is overlooked by man who is constantly busied in the pursuit of his earthly enjoyment and comfort, depriving the soul of its true bliss. The true delight of the soul lies in love, harmony, and beauty, the outcome of which is wisdom, calm, and peace; the more constant they are the greater is the satisfaction of the soul.

If man in his daily life would examine every action which has reflected a disagreeable picture of himself upon his soul arid caused darkness and dissatisfaction, and if on the other hand he would consciously watch each thought, word, or deed which had produced an inward love, harmony and beauty, and each feeling which had brought him wisdom, calm, and peace, then the way of harmony between soul and body would be easily understood, and both aspects of life would be satisfied, the inner as well as the outer. The soul’s satisfaction is much more important than that of the body, for it is more lasting. In this way the thought, speech and action can be adjusted, so that harmony may be established first in the self by the attunement of body and soul.

There’s an easier and sure way to bring love, harmony and beauty to one’s soul, and that way is simply to express these qualities in one’s living, for one knows that which one expresses. The first one to experience a smile is the one who smiles. The one who loves is first to experience love. And the one who gives is the first to receive. This is the Way of spiritual expression that is now open and available to all who wish to awaken to the Truth of Love, which is Life. Unfortunately, not everyone wants to awaken from slumber. I am still amazed at how hard it is to convince some people they have been hoodwinked and fooled into believing a lie. It’s easier to fool them than to awaken them from their slumber. The ancient Persian proverb still holds true and applicable today:

“He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not, is a fool; let him slumber. He who knows not, and knows that he knows not is awakening; be a light unto his dawn. He who knows, and knows not that he knows, is awake; teach him. He who knows, and knows that he knows, is a wise man; pay heed unto his words.”

There needs to be more of those who know and know that they know in this day of radical change and transformation. “This is the day that the Lord hath made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

I welcome your thoughts and insights. Until my next post . . . .

Be love. Be loved.

Anthony

tpal70@gmail.com