by Hazrat Inayat Khan
There are three ways of seeking God in the human heart.
The first way is to recognize the divine in every person and to be careful of every person with whom we come in contact, in our thought, speech, and action. Human personality is very delicate. The more living the heart, the more sensitive it is. But that which causes sensitiveness is the love-element in the heart, and love is God. The person whose heart is not sensitive is without feeling; his heart is not living, it is dead. In that case the Divine Spirit is buried in his heart.
A person who is always concerned with his own feelings is so absorbed in himself that he has no time to think of another. His whole attention is taken up with his own feelings. He pities himself: he worries about his own pain, and is never open to sympathize with others. He who takes notice of the feeling of another person with whom he comes in contact, practices the first essential moral of the heart.
The next way of practicing this religion is to think of the feeling of the person who is not at the moment before us. One feels for a person who is present, but one often neglects to feel for someone who is out of sight. One speaks well of someone to his face, but if one speaks well of someone when he is absent, that is greater. One sympathizes with the trouble of someone who is before one at the moment, but it is greater to sympathize with one who is far away.
And the third way of seeking God in the human heart is to recognize in one's own feeling the feeling of God; to realize every impulse of love that rises in one's heart as a direction from God; realizing that love is a divine spark in one's heart, to blow that spark until a flame may rise to illuminate the path of one's life.
-- HIK, Volume 9, "The Religion of the Heart"
If there is any moral principle that we bring, it is this: that the whole of humanity is like one body, and any organ of that body which is hurt or troubled can indirectly cause damage to the whole body. And as the health of the whole body depends upon the health of each part, so the health of the whole of humanity depends upon the health of every nation. Besides, to those who are awakening and feel that now is the moment to learn more of the deeper side of life, of truth, we extend a helping hand without asking to what religion, sect, or dogma they belong. The knowledge of the heart is helpful to every person, not only in living his life rightly but in regard to his own religion. We do not call a man away from his belief or Church: we call him to live it. In short, this is a movement intended by God to unite humanity in brotherhood and in wisdom.
-- HIK, Volume 9
What is our moral? Every religion, every creed, has certain moral teachings: that this particular principle is right, and that particular principle is wrong. But for us, no principle or action is in itself labelled as being either; it is its application which makes it right or wrong. The light which guides us on the path is our own conscience, and harmony is the justification which guides us onward step by step to our idealized goal. To harmonize with oneself is not sufficient; one must also harmonize with others in thought, speech, and action; that is our attitude.
The highest heaven is our own heart, and that which man generally knows as love, to us is God. Different people have thought of the Deity as the Creator, as the Judge, as the King, as the Supreme Being; but we call him the Beloved. Are there any dogmas, are there any rituals or ceremonies which we adhere to? There is nothing which restricts us. At the same time we are free to make use of any ritual, any ceremony that we thinks suited to our purpose.
-- HIK, Volume 9, "The Ideal"