As far as spirituality goes, a purely theoretical approach to principles, detached from actual practice, will not do. Not only is it inefficient, it constitues a genuine impediment to spiritual progress: that of smugness or spiritual “superioritism”. Professor Bahram Elahi spells this out in the following excerpt from a lecture given at the Sorbonne (Paris) [...]

If ethics is about principles, practicing ethics is about method. In this field, we can assume that not just any method will do. So we have to figure out which method will be the most efficient to get us closer to our goal of progressing towards spiritual perfection.
For the purposes of this post, I will assume that the reader is familiar with the various psychological forces at play in the paradigm of the process of perfection, and in particular with the concept of imperious self (IS), which may be defined as an impulsive force systematically opposed to spiritual progress. The IS is protean—it creeps in through the cracks created by our moral faults or lack of attention. It takes on different looks depending on the person and the circumstances. One day it will oppose itself to your spiritual work head-on, and the next, like a chameleon, it will pass itself as a spiritual thought and deceive your reason.

Every being is created for the purpose of reaching a state of complete fulfilment, i.e., perfection. In order to achieve this goal, all beings must undertake the process of perfection, which provides their lives with ethical and spiritual meaning.
Perfection concerns all beings, without exception. Ostad Elahi divides beings into several categories: minerals (in general, all things said to be inanimate), plants, animals, and human-animals. Every being that exists is a creature inasmuch as it results from a series of causes, the first of which is the Creator. The purpose of creation, according to Ostad Elahi, is the return to the origin. “Everything that exists emanates from Him, and everything returns to Him at the end of its process of physical and spiritual maturation called the process of perfection.” Once it has reached its perfection, a being can fully benefit from the potential for happiness for which it was created.

Prof. Elahi regularly lectures in Europe and North America. In October 2010, his talk in Paris focused on two key concepts in Ostad Elahi’s thought: self-knowledge and Perfection. Self-knowledge refers to active, concrete, in vivo knowledge of the powers that constitute our being, a knowledge that becomes more refined through the practice of true ethics, based on correct divine principles. According to Prof. Elahi, everything else results from this, including the level of development reached by the “metabrain”, as well as the understanding and freedom that one can enjoy here and in the other world.

The idea of a self-transformative process leading to a better self is probably at the root of spirituality. It suggests the possibility of a higher form of happiness, inseparable from a state of moral perfection, an accomplished wisdom synonymous with true and perfect humanity. This lecture presents a summary of Ostad Elahi’s thoughts on what he calls the process of spiritual perfection. A process that fulfills the purpose of every being, which is to return to its Origin and thus reach the state of Perfection; it is driven by precise laws and dependent on specific means, such as human beings’ voluntary efforts to shape their thought and develop divine virtues.