Question:
What is the relationship between the act of breathing and spiritual abilities?
Answer:
Life and all emotions, feelings, inner states, perceptions, thoughts, and every interest related to life continue to exist only as long as the movement of breath continues. Life depends on breath.
If we reflect on the patterns of breathing, we find that every living creature has a continuous and established system of breath. But every species has a specific interval for its breaths. For example, if a human heart beats seventy-two times within a fixed span through the process of breathing, the heartbeat of a goat will be different, and that of an ant will be entirely different.
If a device could be invented that measures the breath of a tree, then the rhythm of its breath would be different from that of a speaking creature. And if we created a device that could record the pulse of a mountain, it would differ from the pulse that works within a tree.
Everyone knows that one breath comes in and one breath goes out. We take air in and we release it. We also know that in a state of calm, breath has a certain balance. In contrast, during worry, sorrow, or agitation, breathing changes. For example, if someone becomes frightened, the heartbeat accelerates, and at the same time the breathing becomes rapid.
Breath has two aspects:
One aspect is inhalation, through which we absorb oxygen.
The second aspect is exhalation, through which we release carbon dioxide.
There is another subtle point here: when we inhale, something inside us burns. The oxygen spread in the air enters through our breath and burns inside, just as fuel burns inside a vehicle. We also observe that the burned waste exits the body. This process continues from birth to death.
Now we explain this on the pattern of spirituality:
According to the command of Allah, everything comes from Allah and returns to Him.
When we inhale, our attention turns inward.
When we exhale, our interests remain connected with the external world and the sensory system of flesh and blood.
The senses have two directions:
One direction binds us to time and space.
The other direction frees us from time and space.
The direction that frees us from time and space dominates us during sleep. When we sleep, our conscious senses are suspended and the hold of time and space is lifted from us. When we awaken, the senses freed from time and space become temporarily separated from us.
According to the command of Allah, sleep and wakefulness are two aspects of life.
Human life is composed of two sets of senses:
One is the day or wakefulness, and the other is the night or dream.
In the senses of night, every living creature becomes free from time and space.
In the senses of day, every living creature becomes confined within time and space.
Life is sustained by breath, and breath has two directions:
Inhalation brings us closer to our soul,
and exhalation brings us closer to those senses that distance us from the recognition of the soul.
When we close our eyes or keep them open and focus with full concentration on one point, the duration of inhalation increases. Meaning, our conscious attention turns toward the soul.
By Khawaja Shamsuddin Azeemi RA