On the Anniversary of Hazrat Inayat Khan's Death (called by Sufis his URS, or "wedding")

 

<< There comes a time in the life of a man when he can see some good in the worst man in the world. And when he has reached that point, though the good were covered with a thousand covers, he would put his hand on what is good, because he looks for good and attracts what is good. >>
                                                                                     – Hazrat Inayat Khan

Pir-O-Murshid said words to the effect that "there is not a hair’s breadth of  difference between good and evil". I think he must have meant good and evil persons. This is related to our Lord's injunction not to judge, lest we be judged. Hazrat Inayat Khan says the same thing, when he observes that  << No one can speak ill of another without making it his own; because the one speaking ill of others is ill himself.  >>  And thus, there is really no moral difference between condemner  and condemned.

Human beings have a deep-seated inclination to criticize others and excuse themselves: to behold the speck in the eye of the brother while ignoring the log in their own. This is part of the illusion known as Samsara; perhaps it is the essence of that illusion. With practice, this propensity turns into the widespread madness in which I project all my own failings onto others. Eventually, in order to the rid the world of this evil, I have to kill the others. Thus,  as Starets Sophrony  said,” the absolute precondition of peace in this world is the profound recognition of one's own sin." This fact is also behind the Orthodox communion prayer, in which those about to receive communion describe themselves, individually, as "the chief of sinners".  If beholding the speck leads ultimately to death, so noticing the log leads to life.

But this does not mean that there is no difference between good and evil. After all, condemning others is worse than not doing so. (That is the whole point!) It does mean that there is very little difference between good and evil persons, from the divine point of view. Let me dare to suggest that from that point of view, persons are seen for what they are as opposed to what they are not. Human persons are the image of God, perfectly good. God does not behold distortion and disfiguration of the image. God sees what is; what is not, God does not see. Perhaps this is what the prophet meant, who said God is "of purer eyes than to behold evil and cannot look on iniquity " (Habakuk 1:13).

So, from the divine point of view, there is little to choose between – say – Adolf  Hitler and Mother Teresa, as human beings created in the image of God. This is not to say that there is no difference in their effect on the world. Love is good; malice is bad. But only God can know the inner conditions, motivations, and intentions of human beings. As the hadith puts it:

Every man acts according to his own understanding, and God alone knows who is rightly guided.