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Tuesday, June 9, 2015

The Lover and The Beloved- Part 6

~ 'Say, O Fool, hast thou riches?'  He answered: 'I have my Beloved.'  'Hast thou villas, castles or cities, provinces or kingdoms?' He answered: 'I have thoughts of love, tears, desires, trials, griefs, which are better than kingdoms or empires.'

~ 'Say, O Fool, which of these knows the more of love- he that has joys or he that has trials and griefs?'  He answered: 'There can be no knowledge of love without both the one and the other.'

~ 'Say, O Fool, why defendest thou Love when it thus tries and torments thy body and thy soul?'  He answered: 'Because it increases my worth and my happiness.'

~ For one day the Lover ceased to remember his Beloved, and on the next day he remembered that he had forgotten Him.  On the day when it came to the Lover that he had forgotten his Beloved, he was in sorrow and pain, and yet in glory and bliss,- the one for having forgotten Him, and the other for the joy of the remembrance.

~ The Lover was like to die of joy, and he lived by grief.  And his joys and torments were mingled and united, and became one and the same thing in the Lover's will.  And for this cause the Lover seemed to be living and dying at one and the same time.

~ They asked the Lover: 'What thing is farthest from thy heart?' He answered: 'Indifference.' 'And why so?'  'Because nearest to my heart is love, which is the contrary of indifference.'

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