Where does love drive its value from?
Love is the raison d��tre of this universe.
O my selfish soul! O worldly friend! Love is the raison d��tre of this
universe. It is also the bond between all things, and the light of existence
and its life. Since man is the most comprehensive fruit of existence, a love
so overflowing as to invade the whole universe has been included in the
heart of that fruit, which is its seed or core. One who deserves such an
infinite love may therefore only be one with infinite perfection.
Therefore, O soul and friend, there are in man�s nature two faculties,
one being the means of fear, the other, of love. In whichever case, that
love and fear is felt for either the created or the Creator. Fear of the
created is a painful affliction, and love of the created, a troublesome
pain. For you fear such things or persons that they neither have mercy on
you nor accept your request. If this is so, fear of the created is a painful
trouble. As for love of the created, those you love either do not care for
you, or as is the case with your youth and your possessions, leave you
without saying farewell. Do you not see that ninety-nine percent of lovers
complain of their beloved ones. Because love of the idol-like worldly
beloved from the bottom of one�s heart, which is the mirror of the
Eternally-Besought-of-All, is unbearable in the view of the beloved ones and
therefore rejected. For man naturally rejects and repels what is unnatural
and undeserved. (Banal love is out of question here.) |