A: There is the path of the saint and the path of the master, and a way to reconcile the two paths. The saint says that all emotions have existence and being-ness, therefor they must be part of the divine being, who is the One and Only Being. Hazrat Inayat Khan says, "To repress desire is to suppress a divine impulse." We have to have this feeling in order to fully appreciate the heart. Without this profound respect for emotion we would begin to categorize emotions into good and bad, acceptable and unacceptable. In trying to shut down one emotion we would shut down the whole heart which is full of emotions.

But the master says, in the words of Hazrat Inayat Khan, "Before uttering a word, a man should think what effect it might have on the atmosphere, upon the person, on the whole of life. Every word is a materialization of thought; it has a dynamic power. If one considered it one would find that every little thought, every little feeling, every movement one makes, even a smile, or a frown, such a small thing has its effect. If one knew the effect of every cause before bringing that cause into thought, speech, or action one would become wise.

"Generally man does everything mechanically, influenced by the conditions of the moment, by anger or depression; so every man in life lives a life without control, in other words, without mastery. What we learn through spiritual knowledge is to gain mastery, to learn what consequences our actions will bring. It is something to strive after, and in this is the fulfillment of God's purpose.

How do we integrate these two approaches? First, by honoring the feeling of our emotions and trying to understand what message they bring from our hearts. Never judge an emotion as "negative." Consider that every emotion that arises in our heart arose first in the Universal Heart which our own heart reflects. Second, by harnessing the power of the emotion and using that power to express what we choose to represent. If in anger we throw something across the room and break it, are we excused by saying, "I was angry?" It does not repair it. It would be better if we channeled the power of that anger into a task that is worthy of us, perhaps something that we find hard to do otherwise.

Emotion arises in our hearts because it is always there. All emotions are present in the depth of the heart, all the time. But in the depth they are merged into an integrated experience. All the emotions are present there at once, a state of perfect balance in the emotions called "peace." The emotions become more separated as they get closer to the surface of the heart, which is the mind. We cannot stop the emotions of our hearts, nor would we want to. But we can control how we express those emotions.