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Wednesday, November 20, 2013

The Lover and the Beloved, Part 2

44.  There are two fires that warm the love of a true Lover: one is of pleasures, desires and thoughts: the other is of weeping and crying, of fear and grief.

45.  The Lover longed for solitude, and went away to live alone, that he might gain the companionship of his Beloved, for amid many people he was lonely.

49.  Whether Lover and Beloved are near or far is all one; for their love mingles as water mingles with wine.  They are linked as heat with light; they approach and are united as Essence and Being.

56.  The heart of the Lover soared to the heights of the Beloved's abode, so that he might not lose his love for Him in the deep places of this world.  And when he reached his Beloved he contemplated Him with joy and delight.  But the Beloved led him down again to this world to make trial of him with tribulations and adversities.

62.  'Say, Fool of Love, if thy Beloved no longer cared for thee, what wouldst thou do?'  'I should love Him still,' he replied.  'Else must I die; seeing that to cease to love is death and love is life.'

63.  They asked the Lover what he meant by perseverance.  'It is both happiness and sorrow,' he answered, 'in the Lover who ever loves, honours and serves his Beloved with courage, patience, and hope.'

65.  They asked the Lover, what he meant by happiness.  'It is sorrow,' he replied, 'borne for Love's sake.'  'O Fool,' they answered, 'what, then, is sorrow?'  'It is the remembrance of dishonor done to my Beloved, who is worthy of all honour.'  And they asked him again: 'What is misery?'  'To get one's desires in this world,' he replied, 'for such fleeting joys are followed by perpetual torment.'

67.  Said the Lover to his Beloved:  'Thou art all, and through all, and in all, and with all.  I would give Thee all of myself that I may have all of Thee, and Thou all of me.'  The Beloved answered: 'Thou canst not have Me wholly unless thou art wholly Mine.'  And the Lover said: 'Let me be wholly Thine and be Thou wholly mine.'  The Beloved answered: 'If I am wholly Thine, what part in Me will thy son have, thy brother, thy sister and thy father?'  The Lover replied: 'Thou, O my Beloved, art so great Whole, that Thou canst abound, and yet be wholly of each one who gives himself wholly to Thee.'

Reference~ Book of the Lover and the Beloved, Ramon Lull