A person’s condition in life, every individual’s environment and condition of life, creates before them an illusion, an intoxication, so that they do not know the condition of those around them, the people of the city in which they live or of the country in which they live. The intoxication not only remains with the person in the wakeful condition but it continues in their dreams, just as the drunken person will dream of the things that have to do with drunkenness. Whether it be joy or sorrow or worry or pleasure, the same will be the condition in the person’s dream. Day and night the dream continues to exist. The continuation of the dream, with some, lasts their whole life, with some the dream lasts a certain time. But humanity loves this intoxication as much as the drunken person loves the intoxication of wine. When a person is seeing something interesting in their dream and somebody else tries to wake the person, even on waking they feel, for a moment, that they should go to sleep and finish that interesting dream. Knowing that it was a dream and that someone is waking them, they still wish to sleep and finish that interesting dream. This intoxication can be seen in all aspects of life. Even in religious, philosophical, and mystical aspects of life, intoxication manifests.
Humanity seeks after subtlety. People wish to know something that they cannot understand; they are very pleased to be told something that reason cannot understand. Give someone the simple truth, and that person will not like it. People want to find before them something that they cannot understand. Teachers like Jesus Christ came to earth and gave the message of truth in simple words. The people of that time said, “This is our book, we know truth already.” But whenever there is an attempt made to mystify people, to tell them of the fairies and ghosts and spirits they are very pleased; they desire to understand what they cannot understand.
But always, what humanity has called spiritual or religious truth has been the key to the ultimate truth, which cannot be seen because of intoxication. Nobody can give this truth to another person. It is in every soul, for the human soul itself is this truth. If anybody can give anything, they can only give the means by which this truth can be known. The religions, in different forms, have different methods. Inspired souls, using these methods, have taught humanity to know this truth, which is naturally in the human soul. However, instead of being benefited by a religion in this way, people have taken only the external part of the religion to be their religion, and have fought with others, saying, “My religion is the only right one, your religion is false.”
Wise ones have always existed. It is said in the Bible that the Wise Men of the East came when Jesus Christ was born to see the child. What does this mean? It means that the Wise have existed at different times. Their life’s mission has been to keep themselves sober in spite of this intoxication from all around, and to help their brothers and sisters to gain this soberness. Among those who have been wise through their soberness, some have shared great inspiration and great power while maintaining control over themselves and over life within and without. It is these wise people who have been called by the name of Saint or Sage or Prophet or Master.
People in the world, through their intoxication, even in following or accepting these wise people, have chosen one of them as “my” prophet or teacher and have fought with others saying, “My teacher is the only true one.” In this way people have shown their intoxication and drunkenness. And as a drunken person would, without any thought, hit or hurt another person who may be different, who thought or felt or did differently, so most of the great people of the world who came to help humanity have been killed, crucified, or hurt and tortured. But they have not complained against it; they have taken it as a natural consequence. They have understood that they were in a world of intoxication or drunkenness, and that it is natural that a drunken person must hurt and harm. This has been the history of the world in whatever part of the world the message of God has been given. In reality, there has been the Message from one source only and that is from God. Under whatever name the wise person gave that message, it was not their message, it was the Message of God.
Those whose hearts had eyes to see and ears to hear, they have known and seen the same messenger, because they have received the Message. Those whose hearts have neither eyes nor ears, they have mistaken the messenger for the Message. They have taken the messenger as being what is important and not the Message. At whatever period that Message came and in whatever form the Message was garbed, it was the only message, the Message of Wisdom.
It seems that the drunkenness of the world has increased and increased to such an extent that it has caused the great bloodshed and disaster that has come about in the world recently, the likes of which cannot be found in the history of the world.[1] This shows that the drunkenness of the world has reached its summit. No one can deny that even now the world is not in its sober condition, even now the traces of that drunkenness can still be found in the unrest of our time, even if the great bloodshed, for the moment, is over.
The Sufi Movement originates from the word Sophia, meaning Wisdom, the Message of Wisdom. Its aim is the same as it has been at all periods of the world’s history. The aim of the Message is to bring about soberness in humanity, to bring about love for your neighbour. No doubt, politics or education or business are the means of bringing people of different races or nations in contact with one another; but the spiritual truth and the understanding of life is the only means of bringing about that kindly feeling in the world, that nothing else can bring. This Message does not work to form an exclusive community, as there are already so many communities fighting against one another. The object of the Message is to bring about a better understanding between different communities in the knowledge of truth. It is not a religion. How can this be a new religion when Jesus Christ has said, “I have not come to give a new law, I have come to fulfil the religion.” The Message is the combination of the religions.
The chief aim of the Sufi Movement is to revive the religions of the world, in this way bringing together the followers of the different religions in friendly understanding and tolerance. All are received with open arms in the Order of the Sufis. Whatever be their religion, to whatever church they belong, whatever faith they have, there is no interference with it. Within the Order of the Sufis there is personal help and guidance in the methods of meditation. There is a course of study to consider the problems of life. And the chief aim of every member of the Order is to do the best in their power to bring about this understanding of the Message so that the whole humanity becomes one single brotherhood and sisterhood in the family of God.
June 21, 1921
[1] Writing in 1921, Murshid is referring to World War I.
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