Those filled with the knowledge of names and forms have no capacity for the knowledge of Truth.
Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Related Material by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Compiled by Wahiduddin Richard Shelquist – wahiduddin.net
Those filled with earthly knowledge — and what they call learning is often only the knowledge of names and forms — have no capacity for the knowledge of Truth or God. It is the innocent and pure soul who has a capacity for learning. When people come to take a lesson on any subject, and they bring their own knowledge with them, the teacher has little to teach them, for the doors of their hearts are not open. Their hearts that should be empty in order to receive knowledge are occupied by the knowledge that they already had acquired.
Intellect is the knowledge of names and forms, their character and nature, gathered from the external world. It shows in an infant from birth, when it begins to be curious about all it sees; then, by storing in its mind the various forms and figures it sees, it recognizes them as an addition to its knowledge of variety. People thus gather the knowledge of numberless forms of the whole world in their minds and hold it; some of it stands out luminously and predominates over, and covers, others. They also retain those forms which interest them. The nature of forms is to overpower one another in proportion to their material concreteness. The more concrete they are, the more luminous they appear; so the intellectual people take an interest in their variety and law of change, and as knowledge is the food of the soul, they at least become increasingly interested in the knowledge of names and forms, and call that ‘learning’. This becomes their world, although it neither gives them a sense of unchanging comfort, nor do they thereby gain an everlasting peace.
Wisdom is contrary to the above-named knowledge. It is the knowledge which is illumined by the light within; it comes with the maturity of the soul, and opens up the sight to the similarity of all things and beings, as well as the Unity in names and forms. The wise penetrate the spirit of all things; they see the human in the male and female, and the racial origin which unites nations. They see the human in all people and the Divine Immanence in all things in the universe, until the vision of the whole being becomes to them the vision of the One Alone, the most beautiful and beloved God.
Commentary by Murshid S.A.M. (Sufi Ahmed Murad)
Samuel L. Lewis
Mind is Heaven and Hell. The akasha or accommodation is not so different from the sky. We see sky at day or night: in the day there is a single torch — the Sun — yet all illumination; in the night there are many lamps — the Stars — yet darkness. Sky at night is like the mind replete with knowledge of names and forms — it is still in darkness, while sky at day is like illuminated mind.
These two aspects have been called astral and Buddhic, which are not so much conditions of mind but conditions related to mind. The astral world is the result of mind divided, and it is impossible for Sufis to be contained here, as they practice Darood and thus escape all delusion and all snares. The Buddhic condition indicates heart and mind coordinated making Truth possible. Therefore Buddha has sometimes been regarded as a solar deity. This is true insofar as mind is concerned, but it is equally true with respect to everyone of the rank of Rasul.
Higher than this is the condition where there is neither day nor night.