Description
Path of the Seeker, Book Two
The Lifted Veil, Wine from the Tavern
The Notebook, A Biographical Portrait of the Author
by Nargis Jessie Dowland
Each of us is a seeker traveling on a unique but shared pilgrimage through life, passing through desire and purpose, illusion and truth, suffering and pleasure, through the self-created landscapes of our own thoughts, guided into realms of beauty and spirit by the voice and presence of the Beloved that are found within our hearts. In this volume the traveler progresses through inner realms of spiritual experience, encountering the joy of new discoveries while living a balanced and productive life in this world. Path of the Seeker, Book Two includes two shorter works: “The Lifted Veil” and “Wine from the Tavern,” as well as Nargis Dowland’s personal notebook containing her inspirational reflections, accounts of some of her visits with her Sufi teacher, Hazrat Inayat Khan, and some of Inayat Khan’s own recorded words. Also included is a biographical portrait of the author researched and compiled by Nancy Barta-Norton.
Read excerpts from Path of the Seeker, Book Two:
“Through the unreal, seek the real through the shadows, realize the light. From the clouds of illusion that cover you, lift your eyes, that the sacred sun may illumine your way.”
“All humanity is seeking happiness, but in order to be happy, one must be harmonious. This a person can only achieve by obeying the law of rhythm. Every situation in life has a beginning, a zenith, and an end; and unless humans understand and allow themselves to respond to this rhythmic vibration, or, as one terms it, obey the will of God, they cannot know happiness. When they refuse to go with the ebb and flow of life’s tide, they are overwhelmed by its waves. Everything that life brings has a measure of time for its unfoldment and fulfillment, and after fulfillment must be loosed and let go. The secret of harmony lies in the knowledge of this truth.
All things must change; every moment the pattern alters, that life as a whole may become complete. Change is the law of life; nothing can remain without movement and live. When rhythm ceases, life ceases.
Of course, it is very natural that when one feels pleasure in any particular condition, one should try to make it permanent, because one is ignorant of the real nature of harmony. One does not know that by holding any experience longer than its appointed time, its measure becomes unbalanced and the rhythm lost, thus making it out of tune with one’s environment and bringing sorrow and disappointment instead of happiness. A flower, if kept beyond the moment of its zenith, will begin to wither. If fruit is left upon the tree after the time of its perfection, it will decay.
The true harmonious life can only be realized by the recognition of the mystic teaching that what is held is lost, and whoever would gain life must lose it.”
