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THE
VALLEY OF CONTENTMENT
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this Valley he feeleth the winds of divine contentment blowing from the
plane of the spirit. He burneth away the veils of want, and with inward
and outward eye, perceiveth within and without all things the day of: "God
will compensate each one out of His abundance." (50) From
sorrow he turneth to bliss, from anguish to joy. His grief and mourning
yield to delight and rapture. Although
to outward view, the wayfarers in this Valley may dwell upon the dust, yet
inwardly they are throned in the heights of mystic meaning; they eat of
the endless bounties of inner significances, and drink of the delicate wines
of the spirit. |
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tongue faileth in describing these three Valleys, and speech falleth short.
The pen steppeth not into this region, the ink leaveth only a blot. In these
planes, the nightingale of the heart hath other songs and secrets, which
make the heart to stir and the soul to clamor, but this mystery of inner
meaning may be whispered only from heart to heart, confided only from breast
to breast. |
I
am silent from weakness on many a matter,
For my words could not reckon them and my speech would fall short.
(52)
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friend, till thou enter the garden of such mysteries, thou shalt never set
lip to the undying wine of this Valley. And shouldst thou taste of it, thou
wilt shield thine eyes from all things else, and drink of the wine of contentment;
and thou wilt loose thyself from all things else, and bind thyself to Him,
and throw thy life down in His path, and cast thy soul away. However, there
is no other in this region that thou need forget: "There
was God and there was naught beside Him." (53) For on this
plane the traveler witnesseth the beauty of the Friend in everything. Even
in fire, he seeth the face of the Beloved. He beholdeth in illusion the
secret of reality, and readeth from the attributes the riddle of the Essence.
For he hath burnt away the veils with his sighing, and unwrapped the shroudings
with a single glance; with piercing sight he gazeth on the new creation;
with lucid heart he graspeth subtle verities. This is sufficiently attested
by: "And we have made thy sight sharp in this
day." (54) |
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| After
journeying through the planes of pure contentment, the traveler cometh
to |
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