SOUK - 12oct09 - soul in the world

12th October 2009

We continue with our series on the soul’s manifestation from the point of the creation of the soul as a ray of light. Then we talked about the sun mysteries, the sun religions, the idea that God is the sun. We also said there was a time when God was the moon in the moon religions, and a time when God was the earth in the earth religions. Now we see them all together. This is the origin of the idea. It is not just an idea, it is a real experience, that is what interests us. It is a real experience in which we can discover ourselves not only a being of light, but the fact that we are part of that sun. We are that sun. The physical sun is merely a manifestation of that experience in which the divine contracted his/her consciousness into becoming a being. That is a particular spiritual point of view. That was on the in-breath. On the out-breath there was the expansion of the Divine being which then burst forth as rays of light. Souls are constantly coming into being. This teaching is about the journey of the soul towards manifestation. We talked also about a stage in which the soul is recognised as an angel, and now we want to talk about how that angelicness manifests as a soul in this world, as you and I.

Before we start we look at some of the issues we face. The idea of the spiritual versus the material; we are so impressed with the material side of light - which is of course important, it is part of creation. The way we express it is as children we have toys, and that is what we are exited about, we talk about. As adolescents we have boyfriends and girlfriends, and that is what we are excited about, what we talk about. When we grow up we have motorcars and houses and jobs and promotions, that is what we talk about endlessly; how we redecorate our house, what kind of promotion we are going to get, what our next door neighbour’s problems are. Those are the things that preoccupy us. Those become our material objects. As you get older all these things start to disappear. Other things start to appear, like aches and pains and growing old. One then begins talking about what pills you are taking, who is the best surgeon. Again that becomes another set of objects that we hold on to, that we express ourselves through. Nothing wrong with that, it is part of life. But then we tend to miss the part that this teaching is about: the soul. The soul has become so absorbed in all these experiences which of course are very interesting and have their own importance, but are they fundamental to life, what is fundamental? What is the constant throughout life? What is timeless in life? The teaching tries to point us towards that aspect which is in us which is the angelic. The angelic nature which is timeless, beyond limitation as such.

Nigel spoke to someone he has known for a long time, a very worldly, very successful man, who reached the top of his profession and then fell flat down. There is a reason why he lost it: he was deeply unhappy. He had been so inculcated by the idea that you have to succeed, you have to be rich, you have to have objects that show your importance in life, but these things actually created a deep depression. It was a depression of the soul, the feeling of the soul. He was deeply unhappy. As such, in the mornings he used to be terrified to go out into the world to face the day. Eventually it came to the turning point where the world collapsed completely in every respect. Now he simply volunteers his time in a hospital, helping people. Nigel asked “What do you feel you achieved?” And he answered “I finally achieved happiness.” It is not the answer that we all just have to give up everything and go volunteer.. That is not he recipe for happiness. This is an example of a soul who has always been very sensitive. Nigel remembered somebody ho at one moment could be very aggressive and very domineering and another moment have tears in his eyes because he felt compassion, especially for someone who was week, suffering, disadvantaged. There is a tenderness in him, but the kind of people he was surrounded with did not allow for that, it could not survive. That is why he was deeply unhappy. Here is an angelic soul who has taken a life-time to discover that calling of the soul. In other words that angelic nature has finally become conscious now in the world through his life, and he is at peace with himself. This what we are talking about, this battle between the material and the spiritual. The two inevitably have to blend together. Matter is just another form, a condensed form of spirit. We become so impressed with the appearance of the material world that we project everything that is in our souls onto the material. All power, happiness, joy, love gets projected onto all these material things and so when they are about to be taken away from us we feel as though are life is going to be taken away. This is the theme for this particular teaching that of course it is very difficult for the angelic nature to be in the world. It is such a conflict, it seems so opposite, the idea that people can cheat each other, betray each other, kill each other, rape each other, steal from each other. It is quite horrifying to that nature in us, and the way we tend to deal with that is we tend to shut off on that nature And then we say, as long as I can survive that is the most important thing. But we create self-murder. You do not literally kill yourself, but you kill off any potential of realisation of yourself, you deaden yourself. Underneath that deadness is buried the pain of the soul. One of the most important aspects of Sufi teaching is that it shows us how to honour that spiritual nature in the world in a way that is not necessarily unworldly, it does not have to be naive. Last time we talked about angels and grown-up angels. We said that angels were like children, very sweet, innocent, they melt your heart and open your heart. But when you have a problem, can you come to a child with a difficult worldly problem? Perhaps you can occasionally, but mostly it is very difficult, because a child can simply empathise with you, but they cannot help you in terms of showing you a way or the wisdom of the world - what we call the sophia wisdom, which is the way to deal with things. That is what we called a grown-up angel is. We use that term quite deliberately. We do not say that being mature means you lost your innocence. You retain your innocence but you develop wisdom. One does not have to go at the expense of the other. The two must go side by side, they must be co-existent. That is what we mean by grown-up angel. One can be wise, and one can be worldly, and one can also be innocent, kindly, truthful.

The third aspect is some of the kind of experiences that illustrate this kind of awakening to what is spiritual within us. There is the story of Hazrat Inayat Khan who was always on a very busy schedule. He had a very good organiser, Sirkar van Stolk, who planned all his trips. This man was a very spiritual man but at that time more aware of the world and the needs of the world. One day they were having breakfast together, and he said to Hazrat Inayat Khan “It is getting late, we have to catch the train.” Hazrat Inayat Khan said “Yes, that is true.” Sirkar was always in a hurry. Hazrat Inayat Khan quite deliberately started to peel another egg. Sirkar said “If we don’t go now we will miss the train!” which was the worldly reaction that Hazrat Inayat Khan could have listened to. They could have left and would have got to the station on time. But he ignored that. This is about these two worlds, the material and the spiritual. And he carried on peeling the egg very slowly and Sirkar in an act of frustration said “We have missed the train.” He gave up. Eventually they arrived at the train station and the train was there. The master knew what was happening while the people did not. The people only knew the timetable. How did the master know that the train was still there, without any telephone message - that has to do with the secret of the heart. It is about the attunement - being attuned with all things in life. Of course it takes a very special kind of attunement, but it is a way of being able to be in the world but not being oppressed, intimidated, shaped by the world. Nigel also recalled a personal experience as a young lad he used to drive a motorcycle. When he was 16 he came up to a traffic light. He was always ahead of the game, ready to go just before the light changed. This particular time he was ready to roar off and something pulled his hands of the handle bars. He saw a pair of hands, not his, on the handle bars stopped the bike; Nigel did not stop it.. As it stopped a huge green bus came racing by at 60 or 70 miles an hour against the lights. He would have been crushed, he would not have been here. How could that be? Another part of his being, another part of reality was present, it is not just this body that was present, other parts of reality were at work. It was quite a shocking wake-up, as his life had actually been saved. Nigel remembered another experience when he was at the Abode, the Sufi centre in New Lebanon. He had what he thought was a heart attack. He had this incredible crushing pain in the heart, and the immediate thought was “I am having a heart attack.” That is the worldly point of view. He was only able to walk a few steps, and suddenly he was transported to a state of ecstasy. It was not a heart attack at all. It was the opening of the heart chakra, and in those few hours he experienced a clarity in which he could see all his follies. He could see everything that he needed to see. It did not last but it was there. It was enough of an experience to say “What you see as real is relatively unreal. If you think this is reality, think again. There is another world, the world of pure spirit, and when it speaks and moves through you everything changes in you. The world does not change, but the way you see it changes totally.” This is what we are faced with. There is the challenge of trying to tune in to that angelic nature, at the same time recognising, honouring the limitations of the material world and finding a way of having both aspects, the worldly and the spiritual working side by side.

“The souls in the angelic sphere have all goodness, and this proves that goodness is natural and what is contrary to our nature, we call it badness. The angelic souls in the angelic sphere are innocent. This also shows that innocence is the natural condition of the soul and the lack of innocence is a foreign element which the soul acquires after coming on earth. In the angelic sphere the souls are happy; this shows that unhappiness does not belong to souls. lf it would belong to souls, they would not be unhappy. It is something which is foreign to the souls. Therefore the discomfort coming out of it is called unhappiness. The souls on the earth have something of the angelic quality;”

First of all, it is natural for us to be innocent. It is neither foolish, it is not immature, it is not limiting, it is natural. So the fact that we can be shocked at things is very important, rather than not being shocked by things, being indifferent. That shows that we still have that innocence in us, and secondly that we all have something of that angelic quality. Every soul has been through that journey fro that plane of innocence to the earth. Some souls show that quality more than others. Some show that quality very clearly; you can see that sometimes in a child, that the child is simply very angelic, and other children, not necessarily because of their environment, but because of their soul nature, do not show a strong angelic nature. They may show a different quality, a more artistic, gifted quality. Or a quality more akin to the world. They may be into sport straight away. That is fine, it is all part of nature. We all show the angelic quality to a greater or lesser extent. So the souls on earth have something of the angelic quality.

“Therefore they readily respond and are attracted without resistance to the innocence, happiness and goodness of another person. If they know that because this is the original quality of their soul,”

In other words, you respond to it because it is already in you. You respond to a child and a child’s innocence because innocence is in you. Those who are unable to respond have unfortunately become so veiled in their pain that they cannot feel it. But it is still there.

“As Rumi has said: 'People are drawn towards me and they shed tears with me, cry, and yet they know not what it is in me that attracts them.'”

There are some souls in whose presence we cannot but cry. There is no reason, but we do not have to have a reason. it is because the soul feels the recognition of our innocence. That is what brings us to tears. The beauty of the soul brings us to tears.

“Seeking after goodness, innocence and happiness helps the angelic qualities to develop in a soul. Spirituality therefore is the development of the angelic quality and love of spirituality is the longing for angelic spheres. It is homesickness.”

On the one hand spirituality is the expression of the angelic nature. But we must not fall into the trap of thinking that spirituality cannot be found here in the world. The way to answer that is we do not have to leave this world to rediscover our nature. We discover it through the heart, through unveiling, polishing the heart. Opening the heart, softening the heart, working with the heart; that is what brings us the memory and the experience of our angelic nature. We do not have to go anywhere. We do not have to eschew the worldly life. We only have to look within.

“Does death frighten the spiritual beings? No, death for the spiritual souls is only a gate-door, through which they enter into that sphere which every soul has known to be its home. Souls who become conscious of the angelic sphere even to the smallest degree, they hear the calling of that sphere and if they have any discomfort in this world, it is of that homesickness which the call of the angelic sphere gives.

“The souls may be likened to a ray of the sun; so the angels, being not adorned with physical garbs, are lights, are flames themselves. The Scriptures therefore say the angels are made of light, NUR. Nur is especially that light which comes from the Divine Sun, the Spirit of God. In short, all souls are made of that essence which is the essence of the whole manifestation and in every soul there exists some part of that essence, however little, and the quality of that essence is to absorb all else which is around it in time, and to develop, so that it would immerge into its own element, which is divine.”

(All quotes: Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan - Lecture “The Soul towards Manifestation” given at the Suresnes Summer School on 13th August 1923 from the Complete Works of Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan - Original Texts: Lectures on Sufism, 1923 II: July-December)

There is the question that people always ask, what do angels look like? It is actually the wrong question. You could simply say Chinese people see Chinese angels, Arab people see Arab angels, English people see English looking angels. And a smart one says angels are all subjective. The real issue is angels appear to us in a form that we can understand. They use the mind to appear to us i a form we can recognise and understand. They would not appear to us in a form we would not recognise - how would we then know that they are angels? In themselves angels do not have a form. In themselves angels are simply light. beings of light, they do not have a form. If there is any distinguishing quality it is in colour, but they do not have a form. They have a being, a presence and a consciousness.

There were some questions that followed the talk.

“Question: The soul coming on e a r t h is the angel; if a soul coming on earth is affected by the spirits , from the returning spirits , why are not all the angels affected by those spirits?”

The question is about the idea that angelic beings incarnate, what about those that have left this world. He talks about angels that incarnate but spirits that leave it. It is just a way of distinguishing if you are coming or going. he is saying, how come that the spirits that leave this world do not affect the angelic spheres. Imagine you had many years in this world, had a lot of problems, and died fed up. Then you return to the angelic spheres. If you told the angels what you experienced non of them would want to incarnate.

His answer is that in order to enter the angelic spheres you have to become innocent. In recovering your innocence you lose all that bitterness and cynicism. Only when you remember your angelic nature and your innocence can you re-enter that sphere. Many people have said this in different ways. Christ said that you have to be born again, to become innocent. This is the answer. There is not a potential clash. You experience this on retreat when you cannot enter the angelic spheres and experience your angelic nature until you become innocent. And you see this when people emerge from a retreat, especially from a long retreat. They are unrecognisable in a sense that their light is really shining from the, They are very sensitive. They cannot stand loud noise. They find it difficult t come back into the world. That is the proof. In order to enter the spheres of light you must become innocent.

The other point is the question “Is not the essence of al souls the same?” The Divine spirit is the Divine spirit in all souls, but no soul is the same, every soul is different. Some souls are more angelic, some are more djjinn-like, genius like, some are more earthly and some are more gross, some are very fine. Some are very powerful, some are very good. Every soul is different. Even on a tree, no two fruit are the same. On the plum tree, on the apple tree, every plum and every apple is different. Every soul is different.

How can we honour the angelic nature in the world? This was of course all part of the teaching that went in parallel with this that we looked at last year, which is the art of personality. To summarise the themes that he will have spoken about was character building, which always followed the soul’s manifestation. The first thing he talks about will, and he links the will to spirit, in other words the mind is linked with spirit. The will to be able to face life. That will and that spirit, it’s essence is the sun. Our first teaching was that the soul in a sense comes from the Divine sun. We only have to remember that inheritance. That gives us the spiritual strength and will to be in the world, to face the world whatever our challenge might be. This is the first teaching of being in the world, the art of personality. How can the soul cultivate the personality in such a way that it is genuine and it has depth and also it can still honour its spiritual nature. So first is the spiritual strength in us lies in the will. You can think of a diagram, that is the vertical line of the cross. That is spirit. Spiritual strength - the world cannot touch or crush it.

The second teaching is to do with the heart., The heart has a capacity like a musical instrument. The heart can develop the capacity to attune to all conditions, to be with all conditions, to face different kinds of people, some are rough, some are fine, some are dishonest, some are good. All people are different. No judgement about that. The heart can feel each one, knows how to appeal to each one without losing its own essence. We do not have to lose our essence when we learn to resonate and harmonise with different people in different situations. All we have to do is find a potential note in that person that we can attune to. That is the second important teaching in the art of personality that links to the soul. It is the horizontal member of the cross. That capacity to open your heart and embrace more and more and more. To attune, to work with, to play music with the world. Some people you can laugh with, some you can cry with, some you can be honest with, others you must be silent with.

The third teaching is conserving your energy, or spiritual economy. In other words do not waste your time in situations that do not deserve that time investment. Do not waste your time with people who are going to waste your time. Do not get involved in situations that are going to drain you. You are using your discrimination to choose that which seems right. To everything else you show an independence and an indifference. it is like a knight who has a mission and sticks to everything that relates to the mission. Everything else they do not touch. The warrior fights al battles. That is the difference. Spiritual economy is about being clear about what you value, what you are heading to, aiming for, and the rest is very interesting or harassing, pay no attention. That is spiritual economy, conserving your energy. If we do not, we get caught up in other people’s issues, problems we cannot solve ourselves, things that sometimes drown us. It is important to remain above those things.

Those are the three aspects so far that pertain to the soul’s manifestation. They go side by side with the three teachings we had the last three weeks. The teaching of the soul as a ray of light from the sun, the teaching that the soul is an angel, and the teaching how can that angelic nature be protected and affirmed in the world in such a way that we do not lose our innocence and that we also become wiser.