One’s inclination is the root of the tree of one’s life.
Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Related Material by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Compiled by Wahiduddin Richard Shelquist – wahiduddin.net
The real inclination of every life is to attain to something which can not be touched or comprehended or understood. The hidden blessing of this knowledge is the first step to perfection. Once awake to this fact, we see there is something in life that will make us really happy and give us our heart’s desire. We can say, ‘Though there are many things in life which I need for the moment, and for which I shall certainly work, yet there is only that one thing, around which life centers, that will satisfy me: the spiritual attainment, the religious attainment, or, as one may even call it, the attainment of God.’
Such people have found the key to all happiness, and have found that all the things they need will be reached because they have the key to all. ‘Seek, and ye shall find: knock, and it shall be opened unto you… Seek first the realm of God, and all these things shall be added unto you.’ This realm of God is the silent life; the life inseparable, eternal, self-sufficient, and all-powerful. This is the life of the wise, whatever be the name given to it; this is the life which the wise contemplate. It is the face of this life that they long to see; it is the ocean of this life that they long to swim in; as it is written: ‘In God we live and have our being.’
( from the Sufi Message Series, Volume VII – In an Eastern Rose Garden: Silent Life )
Commentary by Murshid S.A.M. (Sufi Ahmed Murad)
Samuel L. Lewis
Inclination means leaning and this leaning takes some direction. If one is dependent upon mind or body, one cannot rise above limitation. Yet one’s dependency will mark one’s character and influence one’s nature and one’s deeds. All this belongs to the limited personality, and the root may die when a shock or great pain or catastrophe comes.
But when we lean upon God, such events cannot disturb us to the extent of breaking down our spirit. Who depends upon God will be helped by God.