Life, which is an All-Pervading Energy, is obviously revealed as the source of motivation in all aspects of manifestation. From the ‘Absolute’, a spark of consciousness unfolds, and out of this miracle, individual rays of consciousness are seen radiating in line with the universal principle of expansion and contraction. The ancient Sufi terms for these two opposite motions expansion and contraction are ‘Uruj’, and ‘Nasul’. The process of expansion followed by contraction could be seen as the original secret of Time.
The soul, in its purest form as a ray of the All-Pervading Energy, is also seen as an individualized energy roaming freely in ‘Angelic Spheres’, there, where there is no beginning nor end, no condition, no object, and which is not related to concepts such as good and bad, happiness and sorrow, gain and loss.
Those whose hearts are attuned to what one could call the Angelic Spheres obviously show most loving qualities; and those who show special signs of intelligence have obviously inherited that gift in some way or other from what one could describe for convenience sake, as the ‘Jinn spheres’. The Sanskrit word ‘Jnana’, meaning the world of thought, is where the soul becomes captive of the ‘I’ concept, while unfolding on its way towards manifestation.
The physical plane, which is to our knowledge the fulfillment of manifestation, consists of various shapes and substances, originated from the involution of spirit, also called the evolution of matter. These definable aspects of matter are seen in different proportions of the five elements, earth, water, fire and air, as well as within the vegetable world, the animal kingdom and the human condition.
The physical body, which is a universe in itself, bears traces of all conditions through which the original lump of clay unfolded along its journey through time and space. This explains why one can trace the qualities of the mineral kingdom in a rigid-minded person; in a supple-minded person one can trace the qualities of the vegetable kingdom, whereas the qualities of the animal kingdom can be traced in a person’s uncontrolled passions and fears.
All experiences received through the five senses are accumulated in the mind and kept in the memory through the power of the breath, which is behind all action, and which keeps the entire mechanism in running order. The body is motivated by Will-Power, the mind accumulates experiences, and the feeling heart is the clear mirror which reflects back upon the soul all impressions, without any modification in its brightness.
A child born on earth possesses characteristics, which it may have inherited from parents and ancestors, but at the same time the child possesses other qualities, some of which might be quite foreign to those of the parents, revealing evidence of affinities to that which it has not yet experienced. One finds among artists, poets, musicians, thinkers, and creators of all types traces of a genius disposition, which might have been inherited, in form of impressions experienced on the soul’s journey towards the human state of consciousness.
On its return journey, the soul could be pictured passing back through the same spheres through which it traveled on its way to manifestation; cleared, however, from all impressions acquired during life on earth, which constituted the garb of its individuality; and as a ray of sunlight, it de-personifies itself within the unconditional Absolute, the All-Pervading Energy.
Divine origin is seen in the divinity of the soul, whereas self-consciousness is born out of the illusion of duality; yet from a mystical point of view, both ends are destined to meet at the same level of consciousness as a manifestation of the Divine Heritage in the human being.
Hidayat Inayat-Khan
