The higher you rise, the wider becomes the margin of your view.
Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Related Material by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Compiled by Wahiduddin Richard Shelquist – wahiduddin.net
No doubt, life is difficult for many of us, but very often we make it even more difficult for ourselves. When we do not understand the real nature and character of life we make our own difficulties. I can assure you that in everyone’s life five percent of their difficulties are brought about by the conditions of life, and ninety-five percent are difficulties caused by themselves.
Now you will ask: When the difficulties come from ourselves, where do they come from? We do not like struggle in life, we do not like strife, we only want harmony, we only want peace. It must be understood, however, that before making peace, war is necessary, and that war must be made with our self. Our worst enemy is our self: our faults, our weaknesses, our limitations. And our mind is such a traitor! What does it do? It covers our faults even from our own eyes, and points out to us the reason for all our difficulties: others! So it constantly deludes us, keeping us unaware of the real enemy, and pushes us towards those others to fight them, showing them to us as our enemies.
Besides this, we must tune ourselves to God. As high we rise, so high becomes our point of view, and as high our point of view so wide becomes the horizon of our sight. When one evolves higher and higher their point of view becomes wider and wider, and so in all they do they strike the divine note, the note which is healing and comforting and peace-giving to all souls.
Commentary by Murshid S.A.M. (Sufi Ahmed Murad)
Samuel L. Lewis
Mind can only see what it has experienced, but the mind of an intelligent person will consider what others have experienced. However, all the experience and knowledge of all people is beyond the ken of any one. This grand view is only possible to hold in the heart, which may be attuned to the whole universe. When one has love for all humankind, one can feel — even as a mother or father would — the condition of humankind, the need of humankind.
And one can extend this feeling to animal, plant, rock, and even beyond space and time and sphere as the heart expands. Extension of view increases capacity of heart, and increase of capacity of heart extends view. This is all caused by Ishk and is nothing but Ishk.