The present edition of this book, which consists of a collection of lectures delivered by Hazrat Inayat Khan during the years 1918-1920, is the fifth, the first having appeared in 1921.

As the title of the book suggests, its contents are varied. Some of the subjects have also been discussed in other volumes in this series, namely in Mental Purification (Vol. IV) and The Alchemy of Happiness (Vol. VI), but mostly in another form or context.

Eleven hitherto unpublished lectures have been added to the twenty-nine which were included in the earlier editions.