Social Gatheka Number 4

It seems that that which makes beauty is harmony, beauty in itself has no meaning. A certain object which is called beautiful at a certain place and time is not beautiful at another place or at another time.

And so it is with thought speech and action. That which is called beautiful is only so at a certain time and condition, which makes it beautiful. Therefore if one could give a true definition of beauty it is harmony. Harmony is the combination of colors, harmony is the drawing of a design or line, that is called beauty. At the same time a word, a thought, a feeling, an action that creates harmony is productive of beauty.

Now the question is from where comes the tendency to harmony and from where comes the tendency to disharmony? The natural tendency of every soul is towards harmony and the tendency towards disharmony is an unnatural state of mind or affair. And the very fact that it is not natural makes it void of beauty. The psychology of man is such than man responds both to harmony and inharmony. He cannot help it, because naturally he is made so, mentally and physically he responds to all that comes to him, be it harmonious or inharmonious.

And the teaching of Christ, 'resist not evil,' is a hint not to respond to inharmony. For instance a word of kindness, of sympathy, an action of love and affection finds response, but at the same time a word of insult, an action of revolt or hatred, that creates response too, and that response creates more inharmony in the world.

By giving way to inharmony one allows inharmony to multiply. At this time when one sees in the world the greatest unrest and discomfort pervading all over, where does it come from? It seems that it is from the ignorance of this fact that inharmony creates inharmony, and will multiply inharmony.

A person has a natural tendency that if he sees he is insulted, he thinks of the proper way of answering is to insult the other person still more. By this he gets a momentary satisfaction, to have given a good answer, but he does not know what he has done by his good answer. He has given response to that power which came from the other and these two powers, being negative and positive, create more inharmony.

'Resist not evil,' does not mean receive evil onto yourself. 'Resist not evil,' only means this: do not send back the inharmony that comes to you, just as the person playing tennis would send back the ball with his racket. But at the same time, it does not suggest that you should receive the ball with open hands. The tendency towards harmony may be likened to a rock in the sea and each wave comes with all force and yet the rock is still, stands, bears it all, letting the waves beat against it.

By fighting with inharmony one increases it, by not fighting it one does not give fuel to the fire which would rise for destruction and cause destruction. But no doubt, the wiser you become, the more difficulties you have to face in life, because every kind of inharmony will be directed toward you for the very reasons that you will not fight it. But at the same time one must know with all the difficulty you have helped that disharmony, which would otherwise be multiplied, to be destroyed. It is not without advantage, for every time you stand against inharmony you increase your strength, although outwardly it may see a defeat. And as soon as the time is passed the person against whom one has stood firm will realize that it was his defeat.

Life in the world has a constantly jarring effect and the finer you become the more trying it becomes to you. And the time comes that when a person is sincere and good-willing, kind and sympathetic, the worse life becomes for him. But if he is discouraged in it he goes under. If he kept his courage then you find it was not disadvantageous in the end. Because his power will some day increase to that stage, to that degree that his presence, his word, his action will control the thoughts and feelings and actions of all. For he will get that heavy rhythm, the rhythm that will make the rhythm of everybody else follow it. This is the attribute which is called in the east the quality of the master-mind.

But in order to stand firm against the inharmony that comes from without, one must first practice to stand firm against all that comes from within, from one's own self. For our soul itself is more difficult to control than the others. And when one is not able and one fails to control oneself, it is most difficult to stand against the disharmony without.

Now the question is what is it that causes disharmony within oneself? It is weakness. Physical weakness or mental weakness, but it is weakness. Very often therefore one finds that it is bodily illness that causes inharmony and causes inharmonious tendencies. Besides there are many diseases of the mind which the scientist has not yet found. Today in the world there are two things. One thing is that a person who is, too ill, perhaps, is considered as an insane person, and then there are all other illnesses which are not counted at all. These people are counted among the sane people and as notice is not taken of the defects which are of the diseases of the mind, man never has a chance to notice them within himself. He is constantly finding fault with others. If he is in an office, if he is in a good position, if he is at home everywhere he causes inharmony. Nobody knows, for to be treated as insane he must first be called insane.

The health of the mind is a question so little talked about in these days. In fact as there come more solicitors, more lawyers, more barristers, more courts and more judges, so there come more cases. Consequently prisons increase, and what is the outcome? After a person has gone to prison and comes back, he has forgotten where he was. He goes again in the same path. For the disease is not found out. In court a person is judged, but it is not found out what is the matter psychologically, what causes him to do this. One can find in these prisons thousands of people with whose minds there is something the matter. And if for a thousand years they were kept in prison, they would not improve. Nothing but injustice is awarded to them by putting them in prison. It is just like putting a person in prison because his body is ill.

The cause of every discomfort and of every failure is inharmony. And what would be the most useful thing at the present moment in education is to give the sense of harmony, to develop it in children. It will not be so difficult as it appears to bring harmony to their notice. What is necessary is to point out to the youths the different aspects of harmony, in different aspects of life's affairs.

The work of the Sufi Message, a message which is of love, harmony and beauty, is to waken the consciousness of humanity of the true nature of love, harmony, and beauty. And the training which is given to those who become initiated in the inner cult is to cultivate these three things which are principle factors in human life.