The sum of perfection
Remember the Creator,
Forget the creation,
Study the life within,
And reach Love's summation.
St. John of the Cross
*
Truthfulness in Love
The mark of love is, to be in accord with the Beloved, in every matter to walk with Him along His paths, to draw near to Him by every means, and on His course to flee from every matter which does not help him therein.
I said: "Is love according to the number of blessings?" He replied: "The beginning of love is the recollection of blessings: then it proceeds according to the capacity of the recipient, that is, according to his deserts. For the true lover of God loves God both when receiving His blessings, and when His blessings are withheld: in every state he loves Him with a true love, whether He withholds or grants, afflicts or spares him. Love invariable attaches to his heart, according to superfluity. For if love went according to the number of blessings received, it would diminish when the blessings diminish, in times of hardship and when affliction befals. But he is God's lover whose mind is distraught for His Lord, and when he recollects Him, he is bewildered, as though no blessing ever descended on any man, but that it descended on him also. His love for God distracts him from all [concern with] creation. The love of God has banished from his heart all pride, rancour, envy, iniquity, and much that concerns his advantage in the affairs of this world - and how much more the recollection of what concerns him not!
Abu Sa'id al-Kharraz, The Book of Truthfulness (Kitab al-Sidq)
Remember the Creator,
Forget the creation,
Study the life within,
And reach Love's summation.
St. John of the Cross
*
Truthfulness in Love
The mark of love is, to be in accord with the Beloved, in every matter to walk with Him along His paths, to draw near to Him by every means, and on His course to flee from every matter which does not help him therein.
I said: "Is love according to the number of blessings?" He replied: "The beginning of love is the recollection of blessings: then it proceeds according to the capacity of the recipient, that is, according to his deserts. For the true lover of God loves God both when receiving His blessings, and when His blessings are withheld: in every state he loves Him with a true love, whether He withholds or grants, afflicts or spares him. Love invariable attaches to his heart, according to superfluity. For if love went according to the number of blessings received, it would diminish when the blessings diminish, in times of hardship and when affliction befals. But he is God's lover whose mind is distraught for His Lord, and when he recollects Him, he is bewildered, as though no blessing ever descended on any man, but that it descended on him also. His love for God distracts him from all [concern with] creation. The love of God has banished from his heart all pride, rancour, envy, iniquity, and much that concerns his advantage in the affairs of this world - and how much more the recollection of what concerns him not!
Abu Sa'id al-Kharraz, The Book of Truthfulness (Kitab al-Sidq)
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