12. World Reconstruction (2), Part 1
Beloved Brothers and Sisters,
What is needed for the reconstruction of an unhealthy condition in the world? Hazrat Inayat Khan encourages us, “to understand that religion of religions and that philosophy of philosophies, which is self-knowledge. We shall not understand the life outside if we do not understand ourselves.” May this teaching and his words from the prayer “Khatum” draw us toward greater understanding.
“Disclose to us Thy Divine Light
Which is hidden in our souls
That we may know and understand Life better.”
With Loving Regards and Prayers for an enlightened world,
Our Workers
Social Gatheka no. 12, Part 1, World Reconstruction (2)
by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Now looking at the question from a philosophical point of view. What is construction, what is reconstruction? A construction is that which is made already. A child born is a construction. But after a disorder in the health or in mind, there comes again a need of reconstruction. In the English language there is an expression: "To pull oneself together." The reconstruction of the world today means for the world to pull itself together. The education, the political, the social condition, the financial condition, religion, all those things which made civilization, seem to have scattered and in order for these things to come together there must be a secret of life to be studied. What is the secret of healing power? The secret is to make oneself strong enough to pull oneself together. And that is the secret of the life of the mystic. The world has lost its health, and when one can picture the world as an individual, one can see what it is to lose one's health. It is just like illness in the life of an individual. And as for every illness there is a remedy, so for every disaster there is a reconstruction.
But now there are different ideas that people have. There is the pessimist, he says, "Well, if the world has got to this state of destruction, who can help it, how can it be helped?” It is like an ill person who says, "Well, I have been so ill, I have suffered so much, I do not care. How can I be well now? It is almost too late." In that way he holds his disease and he keeps it, he cherishes it, although he does not like it. And then there is a curious person, who is very much astonished to see the newspaper and see that this money has gone up and that money has gone down, and to see that there is the probability of a war, there may be another war, and he will excite his friends about it.
Then there is another person who says, "Some committees must be formed, there must be some societies, some leagues, some congresses must be formed, we must do something definite." And in this way there are now so many societies and congresses formed and discussing, and so many more meetings, so many more discussions. But there seems to be no end to the discussions and disputes in order to find out the ways and means how the condition must be bettered.
I do not mean to say that any effort in whatever form made towards the reconstruction or towards the betterment of conditions is not worth while, however small. But what is most needed for us is to understand that religion of religions and that philosophy of philosophies, which is self-knowledge. We shall not understand the life outside if we do not understand ourselves. It is the knowledge of the self that gives the knowledge of the world. The politician, the statesman, however qualified, will dispute about things for years and years, he will never come to a satisfactory conclusion unless he understands the psychology of life and the psychology of the situation. And so the educationist will try a new scheme and will never come to a satisfactory conclusion, unless he has the psychological knowledge of life, which will teach him the psychology of human nature, what is the manner to solve the problem.
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