Brotherhood and Sisterhood Activity
Office of the Brotherhood and Sisterhood Activity, USA
Murshida Nuria Stephanie Sabato, Peshkar
KarimaGita Erickson-Harper, Assistant Peshkar
Beloved Sisters and Brothers,
Hazrat Inayat Khan reminds us, “… the whole nature is made by God, so the nature of each individual is made by himself. And as the Almighty has the power to change His nature, so the individual is capable of changing his nature….”
We are therefore encouraged to remain optimistic in all circumstances and in all conditions of life.
With Sisterly Love and prayers for an enlightened world,
Nuria and KarimaGita
OPTIMISM AND PESSIMISM, Social Gatheka, No 3, Part 3
by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Many in this world prolong their illness by giving way to pessimistic thought. Mostly you will find that those who have suffered for many years from a certain illness, that illness becomes so real that its absence becomes unnatural.
They believe illness to be their nature, and its absence is something they know not, and in that way they keep in themselves that malady. Then there are pessimistic people who think misery is their part in life. They are born to be wretched, they cannot be anything else but unhappy. Heaven and earth is against them. They themselves are their misery, and pessimism belongs to them. Man's life depends upon what he concentrates upon. If man concentrates upon his misery, he must be miserable. If he has a certain habit which he does not approve, he thinks he is helpless before it, for it is his nature. Nothing is man's nature, except what he makes for himself.
As the whole nature is made by God, so the nature of each individual is made by himself. And as the Almighty has the power to change His nature, so the individual is capable of changing his nature if he only knew it. Among all the creatures of this world, man has the most right to be optimistic, for man represents on earth, God; God as Judge, as Creator and as Master of All His Creation. So is man Master of his life, master of his own affairs if he only knew it.