' God is Within '...

Ennoble our Soul... There are ages of aristocracy and there are ages of democracy of all kinds, not only in regard to government but also in regard to religion. There is however no doubt that the aristocratic form of religion has always been misused. This happens when the religious authority turns religion into a means, an instrument to keep the people under a certain law for worldly purposes. Then naturally that aristocracy breaks down and there comes a time of democracy. And it is necessary that religious democracy should come, because it is in religious democracy that fulfillment of the religious ideal lies. Religious democracy means that no one should ever think that he is human while someone else is divine and that God is in heaven, unattainable, imperceptible, and far away from his soul. He must realize that divinity is in his soul, that God is within him, that his soul can expand because he is not different from God, nor is God different from him. Only the danger of democracy is when it comes too soon, before a person is ripe, then it brings disaster; for man’s natural progress is to follow his highest ideal, but when he is blinded by the spirit of democracy he becomes so agitated that he wishes to break that ideal. He comes down instead of going up....The main purpose of life is to ennoble our soul. From The Teachings Of HAZRAT INAYAT KHAN Selected & Arranged By HAZRAT PIR VILAYAT INAYAT KHAN