The Soul's Attainment...

Each soul's attainment is according to its evolution.

Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:

Opinion is an outcome of mind. It is an outburst of its reasoning and judging
faculty. And so, according to the evolution of a particular mind, its opinion
is. Opinions clash when two people of different stages of evolution express
themselves. Therefore the wise are more reluctant to express their opinion,
whereas for the unwise it is easy. A simpleton is only too glad to express his
opinion uninvited.

Everyone, consciously or unconsciously, is striving after spiritual attainment.
Sometimes he does not take the same way as we do, sometimes his point of view
and his method differ, and sometimes one person attains to spiritual realization
much sooner than another. It may be reached in a day, and another person may
have striven for it all his life and yet not have attained to it. What
determines it? It is the evolution of a particular soul.

Every step one takes in evolution changes one's ideal. In your stage, if you
love a jasmine today, it is possible that in your next step in evolution you may
have grown above it and you love a rose. And it is not necessary that you should
keep to the jasmine when your evolution brings you to the love for the rose --
thus one is kept from progressing.

To the question, "Are you a Christian?", "Are you a Muslim?", "Are you a Jew?",
the Sufi's answer would be 'yes' rather than 'no', for the Sufi opposes no
religion but sympathizes with all. In fact Sufism cannot be called a religion,
for it does not impose either belief or principle upon anyone, considering that
each individual soul has its own principles best suited for it, and a belief
which changes with each grade of evolution. ... A Sufi does not dispute on
spiritual subjects with everyone, for this reason: the spiritual evolution of
each one differs from that of the other, the knowledge of one cannot be the
knowledge of the other, nor is the understanding of one the understanding of the
other. ... at every step in spiritual evolution a person's belief changes until
one arrives at a final belief which words cannot explain.