from Hazrat Inayat Khan's The Art of Being & Becoming
chapter 9
"In this continual battle of life, the one who stands firm through it all comes out victorious in the end. Even with all power and understanding, if one gives up through lack of hope and courage, one has failed. What brings bad luck in this life, in this battle, is a pessimistic attitude and what helps man to conquer the battle of life, however difficult, is an optimistic attitude....
In this battle, drill is necessary. And that drill is control over one's physical organs and over the faculties of the mind. For if one is not prepared for this battle, however courageous and optimistic one may be, one cannot succeed. Another thing is to know something about warfare: to know when to retreat and when to advance....
Life is such an intoxication that although everybody thinks that he is working in his own interest, hardly one among thousands is really doing so. The reason is that people become so absorbed in what they are trying to get that they become intoxicated by it, and they lose the track that leads to real success...
The thing to do is to look all around, not only in one direction. It is easy to be powerful, it is easy to be good, but it is difficult to be wise - and it is the wise who are truly victorious in this life...One would be surprised if one knew how many people bring about their failures themselves. There is hardly one person in a hundred who really works for his true advantage, although everyone thinks that he does.
The nature of life is illusive. Under a gain a loss is hidden; under a loss a gain is hidden. Living in this life of illusion it is very difficult for man to realize what is really good for him...One cannot be gentle enough, one cannot be sufficiently kind; the more one gives to life, the more life asks of one. There again is a battle.
No doubt the wise gain most in the end, although they have many apparent losses. Where ordinary people will not give in, the wise will give in a hundred times. This shows that their success is very often hidden in apparent failure. But when one compares the success of the wise with that of ordinary people, the success of the wise is much greater.
And there is another person who knows what human nature is, who knows that one has to meet with selfishness and inconsideration everywhere. What does he think of all of it? He thinks it a lot like a lot of drunken people, all falling upon each other, fighting each other, offending each other. Naturally a sober person who is thoughtful will not trouble with those who are drunk...He will tolerate, he will give in, he will understand; for he knows that others are drunk, and he cannot expect better from them.
What is senstiveness? Senstiveness is life itself; and as life has both its good and evil sides, so has sensitiveness. If one expects to have all of life's experiences, these will have to come through sensitiveness...He must be wise as well as sensitive. He must realize before being sensitive that in this world he is among children, among drunken men, and he should take everything, wherever it comes from, as he would take the actions of children and drunken people. Then sensitiveness can be beneficial.
There must be a balance between sensitiveness and will power. Will power should enable one to endure all influences, all conditions, all attacks that one meets from morning till night. Sensitiveness should enable one to feel life, to appreciate it, and to live in the beauty of life...One must acquire a balance between power and wisdom. If power is working without the light of wisdom behind it, it will always fail, because power will prove to be blind in the end. Yet, what is the use of the wise person who has no power of action, no power of thought? This shows that wisdom directs, but that one accomplishes power; that is why both are necessary for the battle of life.
What is most advisable in this life is to be sensitive enough to feel life and its beauty and to appreciate it, but at the same time to consider one's Soul Divine...By practicing this everyday, by forgetting all that is disagreeable, that is ugly, and remembering only what is beautiful and gives happiness, one will attract to oneself all the happiness that is in store."
