Anyone who has ever been in love has had that experience when thinking about the person they love: the sensation of the presence of the beloved can fill up your mental space to such an extent that it will accompany you at every moment and in every situation. When you are in love, this presence settles within you automatically and effortlessly. It can even be reflected around you in the smallest events. If you are not in love, you can still stir up a similar experience by directing your thought toward someone and attempt to develop positive feelings toward them and thereby experience the “presence” of this person. Such experiences are internal and multiform, and can be more or less intense depending in particular on how much attention we pay to them.

The following poem is extracted from the Book of the Kings of Truth, written in 1919 by Ostad Elahi’s father, Hadj Nemat. Composed from more than 15000 verses, this book recounts the life of the saints, prophets, and great spiritual figures of humanity. Narrative sequences alternate with more meditative passages in the form of prayers, [...]

In elaborating proofs for God’s existence, oriental and occidental philosophers alike did not necessarily intend to instil faith in those who were lacking it. When he wrote chapter 1 of Knowing the Spirit, which deals exclusively with this very question, Ostad Elahi was well aware that none of the arguments he presented could actually prove [...]

Generosity, for one who is so inclined by nature or by habit, is relatively undemanding, for it does not require any costly sacrifice. It is quite another matter when ethical concern requires us to renounce a pleasure or craving, or when it runs up against a selfish nature. To overcome such resistance, willpower alone does not always suffice. When self-denial costs us something, we require the aid of a particular type of energy, one that is also known as “grace”.

The purpose of life? To reach perfection, Ostad Elahi answers. To lead your soul to maturity, a state in which you perfectly control your impulses while respecting your very nature. A state that is the prime condition of inner freedom. Granted, perfection is to be attained, but how? Through action, Ostad Elahi insists, and he reminds us that in this matter as in many others, “practice makes perfect.” For while thinking and talking may awaken the desire to change and may help us find ways that can lead to this change, contemplating a virtue is not enough to actually develop one. It is imperative that action take over from words and lead to practice. But not just any kind of practice.