LOVE

Heres an idea have four boards or recepticles signifying the different kinds of love. For each excert from the writings place it in the recepticle in which it belongs(asking the audience to choose)

Maybe just have two baskets one called fish love the other called real love and one with a big question mark on it. Have a selection of printed cards with statements on them and the audience votes which box it belongs in....

Then afetr the deepening./workshop repeat the excersceise to see if we have changed our minds about any of them.

Dear Friends what is love?????

Loyal Obedient Virtuous Eternal

Lovely Obsessive Voluptous Exciting

Scripts

We each one of us have internalised scripts that we un-conciously follow. These scripts come from traditions.stories, media (films and songs) and our own experiences.

we tend to follow these scripts in our relationships with one amd other and we find oursleves looking for our ideal Prince or Princess.

We have a new Script the Writings and admonitions of Baha'u'llah. IN this script we realise that the predomoinant feature in developing a relatuionshgip is aquiring a deep understanding and recognition of the persons character before ever contemplating a Marriage and an eternal bond with that person. And the physical and intimate part of that relationship comes within the confines of This Fortress of wellbeing.

Baha'u'llah: And when He desired to manifest grace and beneficence to men, and to set the world in order, He revealed observances and created laws; among them He established the law of marriage, made it as a fortress for well-being and salvation, and enjoined it upon us in that which was sent down out of the heaven of sanctity in His Most Holy Book. He saith, great is His glory: “Marry, O people, that from you may appear he who will remember Me amongst My servants; this is one of My commandments unto you; obey it as an assistance to yourselves.”

Now physical intimace dear friend creates a mighty bond between a man and a woman, the females feel this bond greater because naturaly it the females job to raise a child she is the forst educator of the child, so she feels this bond greatly. Now what will happen oif we avail ourselves of physical intimacy before we have investiogated the character of our desired life partner, well we find out all too late that we are not suited, we argue , we differ, and eventually we fall apart accrimoniously. scan the pages of any Celebrity Magazine or web site for an abundamce of failed relationships...the Brad Pits amd the Tom Cruises of this world avow undyeing love for a sppouse then in no time aty alll they are denegrating them piblically and are involved in court dramas over money property and who gets access to the poor children of this doomed relationship.

Baha'u'llah offers a different way. Lets study that!

What is love

Well love is certainly attraction between two bodies, in the realm of Science we talk about attraction, the power of attraction, the force of attraction that exists between electrons and atoms and molecules, the force that causes the moon to be attracted to the earth and the earth to be attracted to the sun and to circle arround it...

Abdul Baha refers to the elements that make upn for example a table...the elements are so attracted to each other that it is not easy to prise them apart....Abdul Baha ststes that this power of attraction between the table is the highest aspect of love in the particular or material world. in essense the molecules of the table stay together and what keeps them together is the moleculse love for one and other....nbow some may say that this is higher tham human love for if we look at some relationships today, you wouldnt be to wrong if you stated that the table may well stay together longer than mr and mrs smith who just got married yesterday....we wouldnt be surprised would be if such was the case.

(show experiment with magnets...power of attraction) (find your selections of the Writings)

The Power of Attraction

Baha'u'llah: that His Call may attract thee to the Summit of transcendent glory and draw thee nigh unto the Station where thou shalt behold thine entire being set ablaze with the fire of the love of God

Excerpt From: Bahá’u’lláh. “Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh Revealed after the Kitáb-i-Aqdas.” iBooks.

Abdul-Baha: O thou who art captivated by the truth and magnetized by the Heavenly Kingdom!

‘Abdu’l-Bahá: If a small number of people gather lovingly together, with absolute purity and sanctity, with their hearts free of the world, experiencing the emotions of the Kingdom and the powerful magnetic forces of the Divine, and being at one in their happy fellowship, that gathering will exert its influence over all the earth.”

Abdul-Baha: The elements which compose wood, mineral, or stone, are held together by the law of attraction. If this law should cease for one moment to operate these elements would not hold together, they would fall apart, and the object would in that particular form cease to exist. The law of attraction has brought together certain elements in the form of this beautiful flower, but when that attraction is withdrawn from this centre the flower will decompose, and, as a flower, cease to exist.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá: O servant of Bahá! Be self-sacrificing in the path of God, and wing thy flight unto the heavens of the love of the Abhá Beauty, for any movement animated by love moveth from the periphery to the centre, from space to the Day-Star of the universe. Perchance thou deemest this to be difficult, but I tell thee that such cannot be the case, for when the motivating and guiding power is the divine force of magnetism it is possible, by its aid, to traverse time and space easily and swiftly. Glory be upon the people of Bahá.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Today the call of the Kingdom is the magnetic power which draweth to itself the world of mankind...

‘Abdu’l-Bahá: For faith, which is life eternal, is a token of grace and not the result of justice. The flame of the fire of love, in this world of earth and water, burns by the power of attraction and not through human effort and striving, although through the latter one may indeed acquire knowledge, learning, and other perfections. It is the light of the divine Beauty, then, that must stir up and move the spirit through its attractive power.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá: O Thou our Provider! Send down Thine aid, that each one gathered here may become a lighted candle, each one a center of attraction, each one a summoner to Thy heavenly realms, till at last we make this nether world the mirror image of Thy Paradise.

Love is the Secret

Know thou of a certainty that Love is the secret of God’s holy Dispensation, the manifestation of the All-Merciful, the fountain of spiritual outpourings.

Love is heaven’s kindly light, the Holy Spirit’s eternal breath that vivifieth the human soul. Love is the cause of God’s revelation unto man, the vital bond inherent, in accordance with the divine creation, in the realities of things.

Love is the one means that ensureth true felicity both in this world and the next. Love is the light that guideth in darkness, the living link that uniteth God with man, that assureth the progress of every illumined soul.

Love is the most great law that ruleth this mighty and heavenly cycle, the unique power that bindeth together the divers elements of this material world, the supreme magnetic force that directeth the movements of the spheres in the celestial realms.

Love revealeth with unfailing and limitless power the mysteries latent in the universe. Love is the spirit of life unto the adorned body of mankind, the establisher of true civilization in this mortal world, and the shedder of imperishable glory upon every high-aiming race and nation.

Einstein's Letter to his Daughter. (Compare this with Abdul-Baha Love is the secret!) [Story of Albert Einstein at School!] There is an extremely powerful force that, so far, science has not found a formal explanation to. It is a force that includes and governs all others, and is even behind any phenomenon operating in the universe and has not yet been identified by us.

This universal force is LOVE.

When scientists looked for a unified theory of the universe they forgot the most powerful unseen force.

Love is Light, that enlightens those who give and receive it. Love is gravity, because it makes some people feel attracted to others. Love is power, because it multiplies the best we have, and allows humanity not to be extinguished in their blind selfishness. Love unfolds and reveals. For love we live and die. Love is God and God is Love.

This force explains everything and gives meaning to life. This is the variable that we have ignored for too long, maybe because we are afraid of love because it is the only energy in the universe that man has not learned to drive at will.

To give visibility to love, I made a simple substitution in my most famous equation.

If instead of E = mc2, we accept that the energy to heal the world can be obtained through love multiplied by the speed of light squared, we arrive at the conclusion that love is the most powerful force there is, because it has no limits.

After the failure of humanity in the use and control of the other forces of the universe that have turned against us, it is urgent that we nourish ourselves with another kind of energy...

If we want our species to survive, if we are to find meaning in life, if we want to save the world and every sentient being that inhabits it, love is the one and only answer. Perhaps we are not yet ready to make a bomb of love, a device powerful enough to entirely destroy the hate, selfishness and greed that devastate the planet.

However, each individual carries within them a small but powerful generator of love whose energy is waiting to be released.

When we learn to give and receive this universal energy, dear Lieserl, we will have affirmed that love conquers all, is able to transcend everything and anything, because love is the quintessence of life.

I deeply regret not having been able to express what is in my heart, which has quietly beaten for you all my life. Maybe it’s too late to apologize, but as time is relative, I need to tell you that I love you and thanks to you I have reached the ultimate answer!.

Love and Light are intelligible realities !!! 1912

‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The other kind of human knowledge is that of intelligible things; that is, it consists of intelligible realities which have no outward form or place and which are not sensible. For example, the power of the mind is not sensible, nor are any of the human attributes: These are intelligible realities. Love, likewise, is an intelligible and not a sensible reality. For the ear does not hear these realities, the eye does not see them, the smell does not sense them, the taste does not detect them, the touch does not perceive them. Even the ether, the forces of which are said in natural philosophy to be heat, light, electricity, and magnetism, is an intelligible and not a sensible reality. Likewise, nature itself is an intelligible and not a sensible reality; the human spirit is an intelligible and not a sensible reality.

Prayer as a magnet for the Spirit

Baha'u'llah: We entreat God to make thy call a magnet which will attract the embodiments of names in the world of existence that all beings may spontaneously hasten to heed it.

John Esselmont: Many find a difficulty in believing in the efficacy of prayer because they think that answers to prayer would involve arbitrary interference with the laws of nature. An analogy may help to remove this difficulty. If a magnet be held over some iron filings the latter will fly upwards and cling to it, but this involves no interference with the law of gravitation. The force of gravity continues to act on the filings just as before. What has happened is that a superior force has been brought into play—another force whose action is just as regular and calculable as that of gravity.

Adib Taherzadeh: The power which can be generated in the heart of the believer, when he is freed from all desire and turns to God with songs of praise and glorification, is beyond the comprehension of man. Suffice it to say that many heroes of the Faith have derived their courage and steadfastness from this source.

FISH LOVE

A Rabi is out walking and he sees a young boy clearly engaged in eating a plate of fish. The Rabi says,

‘Young man. Why are you eating that fish?’ The young mans says, ‘Because I love fish.’

He says, ‘Oh. You love the fish. That’s why you took it out of the water and killed it and boiled it...Don’t tell me you love the fish. You love yourself, and because the fish tastes good to you; therefore, you took it out of the water and killed it and boiled it.’

So much of what is love is fish love. A Young man and a young woman fall in love. What does that mean? That means that he saw in this woman someone who he felt could provide him with all of his physical and emotional needs, and she felt in this man somebody she feels that one day she might write, yes that was love, but each one is looking out for their own needs.

It’s not love for the other. The other person becomes a vehicle for my gratification.

Too much of what is called love is fish love. An external love is based not on what I’m going to get but what I’m going to give. People make a serious mistake in thinking that you give to those whom you love, and the real answer is you love those to whom you give.

The point is if I give something to you, I’ve invested myself in you. Now there’s part of me in you that I love.

True love is a love of giving, not a love of receiving.

An even higher plane of love is not just seeing yourself in the other person, but as Abdul-Baha tells us...seeing God in the other person! See the fourth kind of love!

Shoghi-Effendi: There is very little Divine love in the world to-day, but a great deal of intellectual reasoning, which is an entirely different thing, and springs from the mind and not the heart.

To love One Self is that bad....

Do thou reckon thyself only a puny form when within thee the universe is folded?

a true knowledge of your own selves - a knowledge which is the same as the comprehension of Mine own Being.

Turn thy sight unto thyself, that thou mayest find Me standing within thee, mighty, powerful and self-subsisting

True loss is for him whose days have been spent in utter ignorance of his self.

O army of God! Whensoever ye behold a person whose entire attention is directed toward the Cause of God...he will forever gleam brightly out of the skies of eternal grace. But if he show the slightest taint of selfish desires and self love, his efforts will lead to nothing and he will be destroyed and left hopeless at the last.

The Four Kinds of Love Spoken of by Abdul-Baha.

1. The love that God has for His Essence. (This could be according to Bahai Scripture...the love that the Male essence has for the Female essence of God....in the heat of this love all creation comes into being!) 2. The Love that God has for His Creation 3. The Love God's Creation has for God its Creator. 4. The love Humanity has for Humanity ( This can be broken down further into The love an Individual has for all of humanity....or a sub category or group of humanity. And the love an individual has for another individual, and this may be further broken down into Family Love, platonic love, and romantic love. The first two categories are immutable. However the last two are subject to change.

Its obvious from experience that the love of humanity for humanity is subject to change, hostilities develop between nations and races and religions. Also the love of the family can change into hostility. How often de we see sisters and brothers who have fallen out and won't speak sometimes unto death. Also Romantic love is subject to change. As Abdul-Baha has stated at one time a couple pledge unending love for each-other...then a few months or years or decades later that may curse each-other and shun each others company. What a power is love! It is the most wonderful, the greatest of all living powers.

There are four kinds of love. (in full) The first is the love that flows from God to man; it consists of the inexhaustible graces, the Divine effulgence and heavenly illumination. Through this love the world of being receives life. Through this love man is endowed with physical existence, until, through the breath of the Holy Spirit—this same love—he receives eternal life and becomes the image of the Living God. This love is the origin of all the love in the world of creation.

The second is the love that flows from man to God. This is faith, attraction to the Divine, enkindlement, progress, entrance into the Kingdom of God, receiving the Bounties of God, illumination with the lights of the Kingdom. This love is the origin of all philanthropy; this love causes the hearts of men to reflect the rays of the Sun of Reality.

The third is the love of God towards the Self or Identity of God. This is the transfiguration of His Beauty, the reflection of Himself in the mirror of His Creation. This is the reality of love, the Ancient Love, the Eternal Love. Through one ray of this Love all other love exists.

The fourth is the love of man for man. The love which exists between the hearts of believers is prompted by the ideal of the unity of spirits. This love is attained through the knowledge of God, so that men see the Divine Love reflected in the heart. Each sees in the other the Beauty of God reflected in the soul, and finding this point of similarity, they are attracted to one another in love. This love will make all men the waves of one sea, this love will make them all the stars of one heaven and the fruits of one tree. This love will bring the realization of true accord, the foundation of real unity.

But the love which sometimes exists between friends is not (true) love, because it is subject to transmutation; this is merely fascination. As the breeze blows, the slender trees yield. If the wind is in the East the tree leans to the West, and if the wind turns to the West the tree leans to the East. This kind of love is originated by the accidental conditions of life. This is not love, it is merely acquaintanceship; it is subject to change.

Today you will see two souls apparently in close friendship; tomorrow all this may be changed. Yesterday they were ready to die for one another, today they shun one another’s society! This is not love; it is the yielding of the hearts to the accidents of life. When that which has caused this ‘love’ to exist passes, the love passes also; this is not in reality love.

Love is only of the four kinds that I have explained. (a) The love of God towards the identity of God. Christ has said God is Love. (b) The love of God for His children—for His servants. (c) The love of man for God and (d) the love of man for man.

These four kinds of love originate from God. These are rays from the Sun of Reality; these are the Breathings of the Holy Spirit; these are the Signs of the Reality.

Real Love

The real and great love is the love of God. That is holy above the imaginations and thoughts of men.****

The spiritual love of God maketh man pure and holy and clotheth him with the garment of virtue and purity. And when man attacheth his heart wholly to God and becometh related to the Blessed Perfection, the divine bounty will dawn. This love is not physical, nay, rather, it is absolutely spiritual.****

The essence of love is for man to turn his heart to the Beloved One, and sever himself from all else but Him, and desire naught save that which is the desire of his Lord.

Love gives life to the lifeless. Love lights a flame in the heart that is cold. Love brings hope to the hopeless and gladdens the hearts of the sorrowful.

In the world of existence there is indeed no greater power than the power of love. When the heart of man is aglow with the flame of love, he is ready to sacrifice all—even his life. In the Gospel it is said God is love.

The Creation as an act of love

O SON OF MAN! I loved thy creation, hence I created thee. Wherefore, do thou love Me, that I may name thy name and fill thy soul with the spirit of life.

O SON OF MAN! Veiled in My immemorial being and in the ancient eternity of My essence, I knew My love for thee; therefore I created thee, have engraved on thee Mine image and revealed to thee My beauty.

O SON OF BEING! Love Me, that I may love thee. If thou lovest Me not, My love can in no wise reach thee. Know this, O servant.

O SON OF SPIRIT! My claim on thee is great, it cannot be forgotten. My grace to thee is plenteous, it cannot be veiled. My love has made in thee its home, it cannot be concealed. My light is manifest to thee, it cannot be obscured.

Baha'u'llah: The world of existence came into being through the heat generated from the interaction between the active force and that which is its recipient. These two are the same, yet they are different... Such as communicate the generating influence and such as receive its impact are indeed created through the irresistible Word of God which is the Cause of the entire creation, while all else besides His Word are but the creatures and the effects thereof.

God is a jealous God

James 4:5 He [God] yearns jealously over the spirit which He has made to dwell in us.

O SON OF THE WONDROUS VISION! I have breathed within thee a breath of My own Spirit, that thou mayest be My lover. Why hast thou forsaken Me and sought a beloved other than Me?

O SON OF DUST! All that is in heaven and earth I have ordained for thee, except the human heart, which I have made the habitation of My beauty and glory; yet thou didst give My home and dwelling to another than Me; and whenever the manifestation of My holiness sought His own abode, a stranger found He there, and, homeless, hastened unto the sanctuary of the Beloved. Notwithstanding I have concealed thy secret and desired not thy shame.

O My Friend in Word! Ponder awhile. Hast thou ever heard that friend and foe should abide in one heart? Cast out then the stranger, that the Friend may enter His home.

O Son of Earth! Wouldst thou have Me, seek none other than Me; and wouldst thou gaze upon My beauty, close thine eyes to the world and all that is therein; for My will and the will of another than Me, even as fire and water, cannot dwell together in one heart.

O Children of Negligence and Passion! Ye have suffered My enemy to enter My house and have cast out My friend, for ye have enshrined the love of another than Me in your hearts. Give ear to the sayings of the Friend and turn towards His paradise. Worldly friends, seeking their own good, appear to love one the other, whereas the true Friend hath loved and doth love you for your own sakes; indeed He hath suffered for your guidance countless afflictions. Be not disloyal to such a Friend, nay rather hasten unto Him.

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In the world of existence there is indeed no greater power than the power of love. When the heart of man is aglow with the flame of love, he is ready to sacrifice all—even his life.

Do not be content with showing friendship in words alone, let your heart burn with loving kindness for all who may cross your path.

Deal ye one with another with the utmost love and harmony, with friendliness and fellowship ... This goal excelleth every other goal, and this aspiration is the monarch of all aspirations.

For I say unto you that He has chosen you to be His messengers of love throughout the world

The Bab: Oh God My God My Beloved My Hearts desire!

Bahá’u’lláh: O people of Bahá! Ye are the dawning-places of the love of God and the daysprings of His loving-kindness. Defile not your tongues with the cursing and reviling of any soul, and guard your eyes against that which is not seemly.

The Valley of Love (in its entirety)

and be dissolved in the fire of love. In this city the heaven of ecstasy is upraised and the world-illuming sun of yearning shineth, and the fire of love is ablaze; and when the fire of love is ablaze, it burneth to ashes the harvest of reason.

“O ye moth-like lovers of His light! Brave every danger, and consecrate your souls to its consuming flame.”

The Eagle of Love

And if, confirmed by the Creator, the lover escapes from the claws of the eagle of love, he will enter THE VALLEY OF KNOWLEDGE and come out of doubt into certitude, and turn from the darkness of illusion to the guiding light of the fear of God. His inner eyes will open and he will privily converse with his Beloved; he will set ajar the gate of truth and piety, and shut the doors of vain imaginings.

Live free of love, for its very peace is anguish; Its beginning is pain, its end is death. Peace be upon him who followeth the Right Path! (Bahá’u’lláh, The Seven Valleys, p. 41)

Love is a veil betwixt the lover and the beloved.

The Heart is Gods Home

O SON OF BEING! Thy heart is My home; sanctify it for My descent.

O SON OF DUST! All that is in heaven and earth I have ordained for thee, except the human heart, which I have made the habitation of My beauty and glory;

The lover and the Beloved

O ye beloved of God! O ye children of His Kingdom! Verily, verily, the new heaven and the new earth are come. The holy City, new Jerusalem, hath come down from on high in the form of a maid of heaven, veiled, beauteous, and unique, and prepared for reunion with her lovers on earth. The angelic company of the Celestial Concourse hath joined in a call that hath run throughout the universe, all loudly and mightily acclaiming: ‘This is the City of God and His abode, wherein shall dwell the pure and holy among His servants. He shall live with them, for they are His people and He is their Lord.’

Rejoice, then, O ye beloved of the Lord and His chosen ones, and ye the children of God and His people, raise your voices to laud and magnify the Lord, the Most High; for His light hath beamed forth, His signs have appeared and the billows of His rising ocean have scattered on every shore many a precious pearl.

Messengers of love

Try with all your hearts to be willing channels for God’s Bounty. For I say unto you that He has chosen you to be His messengers of love throughout the world.

SONGS ABOUT LOVE Cant buy me love-Beatles All you need is love-Beatles Every Body Gotta Love Somebody-Steve Day Every day Baha'u'llah I love you more and more (Traditional) Show love(Broadcast on Radio)-Steve Day Dont take our Love away(From Tabriz to the Siyah-Chal )-Steve Day 18 souls (The Letters of the Living)-Steve Day O God my God, my Beloved my hearts desire. - The Bab Its My Lord (whos gonnal love me love me for my own sake...??)

An excersise..listen to this are all the aspects of love mentioned good? F#m C#7 F#m D7 Love is real, real is love G A7* D F#m Love is feeling, feeling love Em7 A7* Dx2
Love is wanting, to be loved F#m C#7 F#m D7 Love is touch, touch is love G A7* D F#m Love is reaching, reaching love Em7 A7* Dx2 Love is asking, to be loved

    F  G         Dx2

Love is you, you and me Em G Dx2
Love is knowing, we can be

    F#m C#7       F#m  D7

Love is free, free is love G A7* D F#m Love is living, living love Em7 A7* Dx2 Love is needing, to be loved

RUMI In your light I learn how to love. In your beauty, how to make poems. You dance inside my chest where no-one sees you, but sometimes I do, and that sight becomes this art.

Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.

Two, there are who are never satisfied -- the lover of the world and the lover of knowledge.

I love myself I love you. If I love you I love myself.

Baha'u'llah: My love is in thee, know it, that thou mayest find me near unto thee.

Love is difficulties

The more difficulties one sees in the world the more perfect one becomes. The more you plough and dig the ground the more fertile it becomes. The more you cut the branches of a tree the higher and stronger it grows. The more you put the gold in the fire the purer it becomes. The more you sharpen the steel by grinding the better it cuts. Therefore, the more sorrows one sees the more perfect one becomes… Therefore I am happy that you have had great tribulations and difficulties…. Strange it is that I love you and still I am happy that you have sorrows. Abdu’l-Baha, Star of the West, Volume 8, p. 41.

Rumi: If you are irritated by every rub, how will you be polished?

EXTRA WRITINGS

“Say: O ye lovers of the One true God! Strive, that ye may truly recognize and know Him, and observe befittingly His precepts.”

“Arise, O Muhammad, for lo, the Lover and the Beloved are joined together and made one in Thee.”

“Behold how the manifold grace of God, which is being showered from the clouds of Divine glory, hath, in this day, encompassed the world. For whereas in days past every lover besought and searched after his Beloved, it is the Beloved Himself Who now is calling His lovers and is inviting them to attain His presence.”

“Ye know full well how hard it is for this Youth to allow, though it be for one night, the heart of any one of the beloved of God to be saddened by Him.”

Excerpt From: Bahá’u’lláh. “Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh.” iBooks.

I have breathed within thee a breath of My own Spirit, that thou mayest be My lover

Whither can a lover go but to the land of his beloved

the lover who crieth not out from the depths of his heart until he gazeth upon the beauty of his beloved

Close one to the world and all that is therein, and open the other to the hallowed beauty of the Beloved.

“The steed of this Valley is pain; and if there be no pain this journey will never end. In this station the lover hath no thought save the Beloved”

“How shall a curtain part the lover and the loved one? Not Alexander's wall can separate them!46”

“O friend, the heart is the dwelling of eternal mysteries, make it not the home of fleeting fancies”

There was once a lover who had sighed for long years in separation from his beloved, and wasted in the fire of remoteness. From the rule of love, his heart was empty of patience, and his body weary of his spirit; he reckoned life without her as a mockery, and time consumed him away. How many a day he found no rest in longing for her; how many a night the pain of her kept him from sleep; his body was worn to a sigh, his heart’s wound had turned him to a cry of sorrow. He had given a thousand lives for one taste of the cup of her presence, but it availed him not. The doctors knew no cure for him, and companions avoided his company; yea, physicians have no medicine for one sick of love, unless the favor of the beloved one deliver him.

At last, the tree of his longing yielded the fruit of despair, and the fire of his hope fell to ashes. Then one night he could live no more, and he went out of his house and made for the marketplace. On a sudden, a watchman followed after him. He broke into a run, with the watchman following; then other watchmen came together, and barred every passage to the weary one. And the wretched one cried from his heart, and ran here and there, and moaned to himself: “Surely this watchman is Izrá’íl, my angel of death, following so fast upon me; or he is a tyrant of men, seeking to harm me.” His feet carried him on, the one bleeding with the arrow of love, and his heart lamented. Then he came to a garden wall, and with untold pain he scaled it, for it proved very high; and forgetting his life, he threw himself down to the garden.

And there he beheld his beloved with a lamp in her hand, searching for a ring she had lost. When the heart-surrendered lover looked on his ravishing love, he drew a great breath and raised up his hands in prayer, crying: “O God! Give Thou glory to the watchman, and riches and long life. For the watchman was Gabriel, guiding this poor one; or he was Isráfíl, bringing life to this wretched one!”

Indeed, his words were true, for he had found many a secret justice in this seeming tyranny of the watchman, and seen how many a mercy lay hid behind the veil. Out of wrath, the guard had led him who was athirst in love’s desert to the sea of his loved one, and lit up the dark night of absence with the light of reunion. He had driven one who was afar, into the garden of nearness, had guided an ailing soul to the heart’s physician. Now if the lover could have looked ahead, he would have blessed the watchman at the start, and prayed on his behalf, and he would have seen that tyranny as justice; but since the end was veiled to him, he moaned and made his plaint in the beginning. Yet those who journey in the garden land of knowledge, because they see the end in the beginning, see peace in war and friendliness in anger.