The Only Power of the Mystic
The only power for the mystic is the power of love.
Every kind of power lies in this one thing which we call by the simple name: love. Charity, generosity, kindness, affection, endurance, tolerance, and patience--all these words are different aspects of one; they are different names of only one thing: love. Whether it is said, 'God is love,' or whatever name is given to it, all the names are the names of God; and yet every form of love, every name for love, has its own peculiar scope, has a peculiarity of its own. Love as kindness is one thing, love as tolerance is another, love as generosity is another, love as patience another; and yet, from beginning to end, it is just love.
Remember therefore that for higher attainment on the spiritual path, study is secondary; all knowledge of occult and psychic law, all magical powers, are secondary. The first and most important principle is the cultivation of the heart quality.
One may ask: How to cultivate the heart quality? There is only one way: to become selfless at each step one takes forward on this path, for what prevents one from cultivating the loving quality is the thought of self. The more we think of our self the less we think of others, and as we go further the self grows to become worse and worse. In the end the self meets us as a giant which we had always fought; and now at the end of the journey the giant is the stronger. But if from the first step we take on the path of perfection we struggled and fought and conquered this giant which is the self, it could be done only by the increasing power of love.
What do I mean by love? It is such a word that one cannot give one meaning. All attributes like kindness, gentleness, goodness, humbleness, mildness, fineness, are names of one and the same thing. Love therefore is that stream which when it rises, (it also) falls in the form of a fountain, and each stream coming down is a virtue. All virtues taught by books or by a religious person have no strength or life because they have been learned; a virtue that is learned has no power, no life. The virtue that naturally springs from the depth of the heart, the virtue that rises from the love-spring and then falls as many different attributes, that virtue is real. There is a Hindustani saying, 'No matter how much wealth you have, if you do not have the treasure of virtue, it is of no use'. The true riches is the ever increasing spring of love from which all virtues come.
--Hazrat Inayat Khan from "The Bowl of Saki"
What do you understand by the "virtue that rises from the love-spring"? Can you share a personal story that brings out the heart quality? How do you reconcile selfless love with love (acceptance) for oneself?
Words are like a finger that is pointing out something.
By focusing on the finger we completely miss that which it is pointing at.
That is the problem with intellectual discussion.
Love is like and ocean. It sustains life in all its forms.
Humility unbinds the love that we already are. Humility is not thinking less of ourselves. It is thinking of ourselves less.
It is beautiful to realize that love is not only expressed as love , goodness or kindness but also as tolerance, patience, humbleness etc. Loving enough can do wonders, hope we all increase our capacity to love day on day. Amen.
Amen to previous reflections! It's all about Love!
Steven Curtis Chapman's, " When Love Takes You In" (just played on my Pandora station) so beautifully supports this theme.
"When Love (God) takes you home,
Everything changes . . .
The beat of a heart,
Says you belong here . . .
Loneliness ends . . .
A new life begins . . .
When Love takes you in."
Love this . . . Love you!
I understand the author to say that, for as much as we have not experienced the full flow of the river, we all have some access to at least some of its tributaries. We are not completely deprived of patience, endurance, honesty, etc. We are not disconnected from the source as long as we don't give up effort. Not the selfish effort to improve ourselves but the effort to open up and live from the heart. This has to be the axis of our conscious effort. Just about what I needed to hear. Thank you.
Paraphrasing Inayat Khan when asked what is the virtue that rises from the love spring?, he might say something like he said when asked what is Zen,Khan would tell the story of a young fish going to the Queen fish and saying something like: "I hear there is a sea. What is it and where is it? Love is everyone and everything. when one gets rid of his or her ego, one notices they are one with everyone and everything. That is the reconciliation of selfless love with love – – acceptance for oneself.. I must admit that it is easy to say difficult to do since I do not approach that very often. Thank you for the opportunity to respond. Warm and kind regards to everyone and that is like love to and for you all with myself being included in us all.
