We use the Sufi term lataif because it is the same system of centers of subtle physiology, which is different from the Indian chakra system. The chakra system operates with subtle energy, prana or shakti, while the lataif centers operate with essential presence. (See Essence, chapter 2.) The way we activate and use the lataif is not exactly the same as the methods of the Sufis, who themselves use different methods depending on the particular Sufi order or teacher. Some Sufis do not use the lataif system. We use the same color code as the Sufis, because these colors happen to be the colors of the aspects operating through each center. However, the Sufis use the centers as organs of functioning of consciousness, while we activate them primarily to access the essential aspects that operate through them. – The Inner Journey Home, Notes
What we all wish for ultimately is to simply and authentically be. This wish to be ourselves is the true motivation for inquiry. And this impulse, this motivation, is actually an expression of one of the aspects of Essence—the Yellow latifa. As they are needed, the other lataif arise to support this movement in our soul. So, for example, one needs the strength and capacity to engage in one’s spiritual work (the Red latifa), the will to persevere in the face of difficulties, attachments, and conditioning (the White latifa), the perceptual expansion necessary to perceive and understand what one is experiencing (the Black latifa), and the sensitivity to recognize and rest in one’s own true nature (the Green latifa). These fundamental capacities of the soul, which are called the five sacred impulses—I wish, I can, I will, I perceive, and I am—are associated with the lataif.
For this reason, the lataif are the most important essential aspects encountered in the development of the soul. This is true especially in the initial stages of spiritual work as the individual consciousness (the soul) opens up to its essential nature. Lataif is the plural of the Arabic word latifa, which refers to a certain mode of experiencing our consciousness. Latifa or latif (masculine form of the feminine latifa) means literally “subtle, soft, light, delicate, gentle, refined, pure”—all in one unified impression. – A. H. Almaas, Spacecruiser Inquiry: True Guidance for the Inner Journey, Ch. 16
How is the individual to gain the courage to engage in this process of disidentification, given the deep and sometimes terrifying insecurity that is thereby exposed? It is made much easier if there is some support to take the place of the usual ego supports which come through the object relations, such as approval, recognition, social acceptance and success, love and admiration from friends and family for one’s individuality, financial security, and the like. Clearly one’s attachment to these things is very strong. In fact, our observation is that we are willing to perceive these phenomena without using them for ego support or self-esteem only when we have a sense of a more basic, more real support and value. In the process of inner realization this support can be provided by some of the essential aspects. Letting go of ego identifications on a profound level is possible only after the activation of certain essential aspects, primarily those of the five lataif (subtle energy centers in the body) and the aspect of true value. The lataif aspects—strength, will, compassion, enjoyment and intuition—provide the true support of essence which makes it possible to see through ego supports and not compulsively pursue them. The emergence of the aspect of value, for instance, which is the true existential value of Being, makes it possible to see through the ego mechanisms of seeking self-esteem and to become less dependent on them. – A. H. Almaas, The Pearl Beyond Price: Integration of Personality into Being: An Object Relations Approach
Frequently the lataif are referred to as organs of perception and action or as centers of experience and illumination. This is partly because the lataif are not only different forms of consciousness (or manifestations of Essence, in our terminology), but are also subtle centers where these qualities of consciousness operate. In other words—and this is specially true in the Sufi system—“lataif” refers to both the subtle forms of consciousness and their associated centers at the corresponding physical locations. – Spacecruiser Inquiry, ch. 16
The combination of all these factors brings about objectivity. The seven factors—the energy, the determination, the joyfulness, the kindness, the absorption, the peacefulness, and the awakeness—come together in perfect proportion, and exist as one phenomenon, whose quality is objectivity. Objectivity is exactly what is needed to deal with the personality, its basic patterns and its basic tendencies toward grasping and attachment. With objectivity you are not influenced by your superego or your unconscious; what you see is what is there. You are not determined by your past experience, by concepts, or by opinions. Your strength is objective, your will is objective, your joy is objective, your kindness is objective, your peace is objective, your capacity to be absorbed, to be dissolved is objective. Objectivity takes the seven factors to another dimension, another level. The seven factors are called the lataif, the seven elements of subtle consciousness. The energy is the red latifa, the determination is the white latifa, the joy is the yellow latifa, the kindness or compassion is the green latifa, peacefulness is the black latifa, the absorption is the blue latifa, the awakeness that can free us from desires is what we call the clear latifa. The lataif are a very subtle kind of presence; some people say it’s like air, a subtle air that produces those qualities in you. – Diamond Heart Book Two, ch. 1