"The solution to the problem of the day is the awakening of the consciousness of humanity to the divinity of mankind." --PVK

THE HUMAN SOUL is continually seeking to realize its true being and fulfill its purpose in life. This can be seen not only in each individual's yearning to realize to the fullest the potentialities inherent in his or her being, but also in the unfoldment of our collective being towards the highest expression of human existence.

The consciousness of humanity is awakening to the interrelatedness of all life, and this is reflected in the new holistic understanding of the universe emerging in all spheres of human experience today. We can see this trend in the growing concern for the ecological balance of our planet, interest in holistic health, a deeper social conscience concerned with the plight of suffering people all over the earth, and a growing awareness of the one underlying truth brought forth through all the religious traditions.

At the same time, recent scientific discoveries are disrupting established concepts and models of the universe. In physics, biology, medicine, and psychology the very foundation of our notions about life is being superseded by the realization that we are both a fraction of the universe linked with all other fractions by resonance, and also the totality, as every cell of ours contains the code of the whole universe.

This view, in fact, corroborates the vision of the mystics throughout history who have peered beyond the frontiers of their separate and limited personal perspective to encompass the vaster reality of the whole. This is the way of the Sufi, which views life in the light of the one essence behind the surface of life, that essence which is revealed by all the religions.

Sufism was brought to the West from India by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan, who founded the Sufi Order in the West in 1910. Thus, the ancient wisdom derived from the rich spiritual traditions of the East is merged with the attitude of the West in its tradition of logic and technology, in order to bring about the true union of the human family.

Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, eldest son and successor of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan, is continuing this line of guidance for the evolving world.

He is bridging and integrating the different forms of knowledge in the light of an awakened vision of the fulfillment of God's purpose for creation. In our time the realization of the mystic incorporates the dimension of a collective awakening.

The total being that we are is experiencing a new step in the evolution of life on our planet. What Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan calls "the awakening of the soul of humanity to the consciousness of the divinity of man " is something that is happening on a large scale and we are part of it.

Consequently our meditation can no longer be confined within our person, even to liberate ourselves from one person, because together we constitute a reality that is more than the sum of the parts...

This is God being born in our midst, in the convergence of our souls. The most meaningful thing in life is that something is gained by existence, by the interfacing of us. The heavens are enriched by the experience of the earth; in other words, God is enriched by His experience in becoming man.

Thus, the new orientation of the Sufi is emphasized in Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan's teaching on the art of personality and God's fulfillment in existence in and through man.

The purpose of man is like the horizon: the farther he advances, the farther it recedes. There comes a time when one discovers a cosmic purpose beyond one's personal purpose. This realization was outlined by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan as the motto of this age: "the awakening of humanity to the divinity of man."

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