Peace, one and all…
‘God spoke to Moses by inspiration of the heart,
saying, ‘O chosen one, I love you’.
Moses said, ‘O Bountiful One,
tell me what disposition in me is the cause of that,
so that I might increase it’.
God said, ‘You are like a child in the presence of its mother:
when she reprimands it, it still holds tightly to her.
It doesn’t even know that there is anyone in the world except her:
it is afflicted with sorrow by her
but also intoxicated with joy by her.
If its mother gives it a slap,
still it comes to its mother and clings to her.
It doesn’t seek help from anyone but her:
she is all its evil and its good.
Your heart, likewise, in good or evil straits
never turns away from Me.
In your sight all besides Me are as stones and lumps of earth,
whether they be young or old.
Just as You do we worship in yearning entreaty,
so in difficulty we ask help of none but You‘
(Masnavi, 4.2921-2929, trans. Shaykh Kabir Helminski)
