LOVE, HARMONY, AND BEAUTY
Hazrat Inayat Khan
It might be thought that the philosophers and mystics and sages, who are so near and close to God, might take too much liberty with the world. But they are, on the contrary, the most tender and sensitive towards mankind. They are ready to share anyone's trouble, to share anyone's sorrow, to share everyone's depression and despair. They are ready to console any and every person with their words, to help with their service, and to give their sympathy always to those who need it. They shrink at no sacrifice of time, money, pleasure, or comfort. As Christ teaches, 'Whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.'
What does all this teach us? It is all a lesson in sympathy for one's fellow man, to teach us to share in his troubles, in his despair. For whoever really experiences this joy of life, finds that it becomes so great that it fills his heart and his soul. It does not matter if he has fewer comforts or an inferior position than many in this world, because the light of his kindness, of his sympathy, of the love that is growing, the virtue that is springing up in his heart, all fill the soul with light. There is nothing now that he lacks in life, for he has become the king of it.
Such a person becomes a healer, a real healer. He heals a person with his glance, with a kind word, with his hand, by his comfort, by his nature. What a healing that is! Unpretentious, unassuming; the real healing is when a man is in sympathy with another's trouble and gives him a helping hand. He is the possessor of the true wine. He who can send from his eye the glance that proves the sympathy and help he is anxious to give, what a healing power he has! Is it not like a young bird being taken in beneath the brooding wings? There cannot be a more beautiful process of healing than this among all the different methods by which people have endeavored to heal.
Some may ask what, then, should be the object which one should love in this life? Is there any particular object that a man can be recommended to love? Is it best to love one's parent or friends? To love one friend only, or to love just one beloved of the opposite sex? Should one love something in the abstract, some spirit, some ideal, some name, or something, which is beyond man's nature? Or should one love something idealized as the God whom one worships? There are many who say that there is no love which is useful but the love of God. All other forms are worthless. Another says that he or she can love no one who is of the opposite sex, having once been disappointed in this way. Another will say, 'I will love no human being; I can love my dog or my cat better. They do not disappoint me, whereas I was once disappointed in man.' Another says, 'I love my money, because if I am in need that is the only friend that comes to my rescue. The deposit I have in my bank does more for me than anyone can do. Why than should I not love my money?' And still another person says, 'If God is all, if He is to have all love, then why not love the chair, or the table, or a book, or the work that a person does a work of art, a piece of music; is it not the same?' But all these questions are voiced by hearts which have once been disappointed, once broken. They broke and became closed, and once the doors of the heart are closed there is no light to guide its path. That is what is so beautiful in the little English song, 'The light of a whole life dies when love is done.' There is no light when love is done. When love is done, the heart is closed.
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Love Always
mudra