Man's body may be divided into two parts: the head and the body. The head represents Shuhud, the spiritual part, and the body represents Wujud, the material part. In the former, from the crown of the head to the chin is the expressive part; in the latter, the upper half of the body is the expressive part.

Two parts of the body, the brain and the heart, are considered to be the most important factors, for the scientist thinks that the brain thinks and the orthodox believes that the heart feels. In the view of the Sufi, both are wrong in a way and right in a way. In fact, it is not that the brain thinks, but the brain is the means by which the mind distinguishes thought in its concrete form. Just as the piano does not compose, but the composer tries his composition on the piano and makes it clear to himself. It is not the camera, which takes the photograph, but the light and the plate. The camera is the medium for both, and so it is with the brain. By disorder in the brain, the scientist says, man becomes unsound in mind. But the Sufi holds that nothing is wrong with the mind. It is the instrument through which the mind functions that is out of order.

The same misconception exists among those who believe that the heart feels. The heart, being the center of the body, partakes of the effect of the feeling from within – which is the real heart, not the piece of flesh – and it feels suffocated and oppressed. Depression is felt as a heavy load upon the breast. And when the heavy vibrations are cleared, then especially a person has a feeling of joy and his heart is lighter than usual. This explains the Shaqq-i sadr, the opening of Muhammad's breast by the angels, when fear, gloom, bitterness, and conceit were all cleared away before the manifestation of divine revelation. It is as the darkness clearing away at the rising of the sun.

As the brain is the instrument of the mind, which is invisible, and the heart of flesh is the vehicle of the heart within, which is above substance, so it is the illumination of the soul, our invisible being, whose light is reflected within this physical body. When active it beams through the eyes, through the radiance of the countenance, charging the whole environment with a magnetic atmosphere. This light being originated from sound, both light and sound echo in the dome of the temple of this physical body, though neither in reality belongs to it. To the Sufi, the seeker of the self within, they are vouchsafed when he has control over the gateways of this holy temple, the physical body. Then, instead of reflecting outward through the expression, the light and sound both manifest within...