The trees of the forest silently await God’s blessing.
Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Related Material by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Compiled by Wahiduddin Richard Shelquist – wahiduddin.net
The law of gravitation is working from two sides: from the side of the earth which draws all that belongs to the earth, and from the side of the spirit which attracts the soul towards it. Even those who are unconscious of this law of gravitation are also striving for perfection, for the soul is being continually drawn towards the spirit. They are striving for perfection just the same. In the small things of everyday life people are never satisfied with what they have. They always want more and more, be it a higher rank, wealth, or fame. They are always striving for this.
This shows that the heart is like a magic bowl. However much you pour into it, it only becomes deeper. It is always found to be empty. The reason why people are never satisfied is that they are unconsciously striving for perfection. Those however who strive consciously after perfection have a different way. Nevertheless, each atom of the universe is meant to struggle and strive in order to become perfect one day. In other words, if seers happen to be in the mountains they will hear the mountains cry continually, ‘We are waiting for that day when something in us will awaken. There will come a day of awakening, of unfoldment. We are silently awaiting it.’ If they went into the forest and saw the trees standing there they would tell them that they too were waiting patiently. One can feel it. The more one sits there the more one feels that the trees are waiting for the time when there will be an unfoldment. So it is with all beings. But people are so absorbed in their everyday actions and their greed that they seem to be unaware of that innate desire for unfoldment. It is their everyday tasks, their avariciousness, their cruelty to other beings, that keep them continually occupied, and that is why they cannot hear the continual cry of their own souls to awaken, to unfold, to reach upward, to expand, and to go towards perfection.
( from the Sufi Message Series, Volume VI – The Alchemy of Happiness: From Limitation to Perfection (1) )
Commentary by Murshid S.A.M. (Sufi Ahmed Murad)
Samuel L. Lewis
The Hebrew people have an article of faith that reads: “I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah, and though he may tarry, yet I will await his coming.” Now the law of the Universe is that patience itself enables one to receive the blessing of God, for by that one escapes all the emotions which hamper one at every turn.
If human beings are wiser than the vegetable we must lead a wiser life, and we cannot do that until we learn all the wisdom from the lower creation. Every virtue of every rock, plant, or animal can be cultivated and perfected in us. In the inner life, one often has to develop the qualities one finds in nature, and it is the development of these qualities which bring perfection. Self-surrender is not an annihilation — nothing is destroyed, but the shadow-thought of self is turned into light, and all the qualities accumulated by the soul are brought to perfection.