8. The Angel-Man
8. 如天使之人

The Hindu word deva denotes an angel-man, and the Sufi term for this is Farishtakhaslat. Every soul has as its first expression angelic life, and therefore it is not surprising if man shows angelic traits in his life, for it is in the depth of his soul. The soul coming through different spheres and planes of existence partakes of different attributes; and the attributes of the lower world become so collected and gathered around the soul, that it almost forgets its very first experience of itself, its purest being. The soul that through all the worldly experiences has a tendency to turn towards its origin, its angelic state, shows a different character from the general characteristics of human beings. This soul shows the tendency of the compass, that always points in a certain direction, whichever way it is moved or turned; and it is the same with a soul whose nature it is to be pointing to the origin and source from which every soul comes.

印度語中的 deva 一字，指的就是「如天使之人」，而在蘇菲傳統裡對應的術語是 Farishtakhaslat。每一個靈魂在最初的表達，都是一種「天使性的生命」，所以人若在一生中展現出一些天使般的特質，並不令人意外——因為那就深藏在靈魂的最深處。靈魂穿行於不同的層界與存有平面時，會沾染、領受各種不同的屬性；而來自較低世界的那些屬性，漸漸在靈魂周圍積聚、籠罩，以至於靈魂幾乎忘了自己最初對自己的經驗——那個最純淨的存有狀態。那種靈魂，即使在經歷了世間種種經驗之後，仍具有一種傾向：要回到自己的源頭、回到那天使性的狀態。這樣的靈魂，其呈現出來的性格，就會與一般人共同具備的人性特質不同。這種靈魂顯出一種如同羅盤一般的傾向——無論你怎麼轉動它、帶它走向哪一邊，它總是指向同一個方向；而本性就是不斷指向「一切靈魂所出發的源頭與本源」的靈魂，也是如此。

Now this soul may have the same tendency from childhood and through youth, and when grown-up it may still have the same tendency; it may develop it more and more, but this tendency is born with the soul and its magnetism is great. It attracts every other soul, because it is in contact with its real self, and that real self is the real self of every soul which it contacts; and therefore it acts as a magnet towards these souls. Deva is the name of this pure kind of human soul.

這樣的靈魂，從童年、少年一路到成人，可能都帶著同樣的傾向；隨著成長，它也可能讓這個傾向愈來愈被發展出來。但這個傾向本身是與靈魂同時出生的，而它所帶的磁性極強。它會吸引其他所有的靈魂，因為它始終與自己的「真實自我」保持接觸，而這個真實自我，同時也是所有被它觸及之靈魂的真實自我。因此，它對那些靈魂而言，就像一個磁石一樣。Deva，就是用來稱呼這一類純淨人類靈魂的名字。