Meditate on what the poet hath written: “Wonder not, if my
Best-Beloved be closer to me than mine own self; wonder at this, that I,
despite such nearness, should still be so far from Him.”... Considering what
God hath revealed, that “We are closer to man than his life-vein,” the poet
hath, in allusion to this verse, stated that, though the revelation of my
Best-Beloved hath so permeated my being that He is closer to me than my
life-vein, yet, notwithstanding my certitude of its reality and my recognition of
my station, I am still so far removed from Him. By this he meaneth that his
heart, which is the seat of the All-Merciful and the throne wherein abideth the
splendor of His revelation, is forgetful of its Creator, hath strayed from His
path, hath shut out itself from His glory, and is stained with the defilement
of earthly desires.
- Baha’u’llah
(‘Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah’)
