Just now I read a letter from Shkarvan[31] that medical help does
not appear to him like a boon, that the lengthening of many empty
lives for many hundred years is much less important to him than the
weakest _blowing_, as he writes, (a puff) on the spark of divine
love in the heart of another. Here then in this _blowing_, lies the
whole art of education. But to kindle it in others, one must kindle
it in oneself.
8) To love means to desire that which the beloved object desires.
The objects of love desire opposing things, and therefore, we can
only love that which desires one and the same thing. But that which
desires one and the same thing is God.
9) Man beginning to live, loves only himself, and separates himself
from other beings in that he constantly loves that which alone
constitutes his being. But as soon as he recognises himself as a
separate being, he recognises also his own love, and he is no longer
content with this love for himself and he begins to love other
beings. And the more he lives a conscious life, the greater and
greater number of beings he will begin to love, though not with such
a stable and unceasing love as that with which he loves himself, but
nevertheless, in such a way that he wishes good to everything he
loves, and he rejoices at this good, and suffers at the evil which
tries the beloved beings, and he unites into one all that he loves.
As life is love, why not suppose that my “self,” that which I consider
to be myself and love with a special love, is perhaps the union I
made in a former life of things which I loved, just as I am making
a union of things now. The other has already taken place and this
one is taking place.
Life is the enlargement of love, the widening of its borders, and
this widening is going on in various lives. In the present life,
this widening appears to me in the form of love. This widening is
necessary for my inner life and it is also necessary for the life of
this world. But my life can manifest itself not only in this form.
It manifests itself in an innumerable quantity of forms. Only this
one is apparent to me.
But in the meantime, the movement of life understood by me in this
world, through the enlargement of love in myself and through the union
of beings through love, produces at the same time other effects, one
or many, unseen by me. As for instance, I put together 8 toy cubes
to make a picture on one side of them, not seeing the other sides
of the constructed cubes, but on the other sides are being formed
pictures just as regular, though unseen by me.
(All this was very clear when it came into my head, and now I have
forgotten everything and the result is nonsense.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account