The Book of the Lover and the Beloved

Love came to the Lover, who asked him: ‘What wilt thou?’ And Love replied: ‘I have come to thee that I may nurture and direct thy life, so that at thy death thou shalt be able through my aid to vanquish thy mortal enemies.’

When the Lover forgot his Beloved, Love fell sick; and when he gave himself to overmuch thinking, he himself fell sick, and his Beloved gave him trials, griefs and cares.

The Lover found a man who was dying without love. And the Lover wept that a man should die without love, for the dishonour which it brought to his Beloved. So he asked that man: ‘Why dost thou die without love?’ And he answered: ‘There is none who will give me knowledge of love, or teach me to be a lover.’ So the Lover sighed and wept, and said: ‘Ah, devotion, when wilt thou be great enough to drive away sin, and to win for my Beloved many fervent and ardent lovers who will never shrink from praising His Name?’

The Lover tempted Love to see if he would remain in his heart though he remembered not his Beloved; and his heart ceased to think and his eyes to weep. So his love vanished, and the Lover was perplexed. And he asked all men if they had seen Love.

Love and loving, Lover and Beloved are so straitly united in the Beloved that they are of His Essence, and are one. And this though Lover and Beloved are entities distinct, which agree without diversity of essence. So the Beloved is to be loved above all other objects of affection.

‘Say, O Fool, wherefore hast thou so great love?’ He answered: ‘Because long and perilous is the journey which I make in search of my Beloved, and I must seek Him with great faith, and journey with all speed. And none of these things can be accomplished without great love.’

The Lover watched and fasted, wept, gave alms, and travelled afar that the Will of the Beloved might be moved to inspire His subjects with love to honour His Name; but the Lover considered that water does not by nature grow hot, nor mount on high, unless it be first heated. Therefore he prayed the Beloved that He would deign first to warm him in his journeys, alms and vigils with the heat of love, that he might accomplish his desires.

The Lover met a pilgrim who sang: ‘If the love of the Lover suffices not to move his Beloved to pity and pardon, the love of the Beloved is sufficient to give graces and blessings to His creatures.’

‘Say, O Fool, how canst thou be most like to thy Beloved?’ He replied: ‘By comprehending and loving with all my power the beauties and the perfections of my Beloved.’

They asked the Lover if his Beloved had need of aught. ‘Yea,’ he answered, ‘of those who will love and praise Him, and extol His surpassing worth.’

The Beloved chastened His Lover’s heart with rods of love, to make him love the tree whence He plucks the rods wherewith He chastens His lovers. And this is that tree on which He suffered grief, dishonour and death, that He might bring back to love of Him those lovers whom He had lost.

The Lover met his Beloved, who appeared in power and glory, as One worthy of all honour. And he cried: ‘How strange a thing it is that so few among men revere and know and love Thee as Thou deservest!’ And the Beloved answered him and said: ‘Greatly has man grieved Me; for I created him to revere Me, know Me and love Me, and now, of every thousand, but a hundred fear and love Me; and ninety of these hundred fear Me by reason of the pains of hell, and ten love Me for the sake of the glory hereafter; hardly is there one who loves Me for My goodness and nobility.’ When the Lover heard these words, he wept bitterly for the dishonour paid to his Beloved; and he said: ‘Ah, my Beloved, how much hast Thou given to man and how greatly hast Thou honoured him! Why then has man thus forgotten Thee?’

The Lover was praising his Beloved, and he said that He was transcendent because He is in a place where place is not. And therefore, when they asked the Lover where his Beloved was, he replied: ‘He is, but I know not where; I only know that my Beloved is in my remembrance.’

The Beloved bought a slave that He might show him His graces, and made him to suffer griefs and heavy thoughts, sighs and tears. And He asked him: ‘What wilt thou eat and drink?’ The slave replied: ‘What Thou wilt.’ ‘But what wilt thou?’ ‘My will is as Thine.’ ‘Hast thou then no will?’ asked the Beloved. He answered: ‘A subject and a slave has no other will than to obey his Lord and his Beloved.’

The Beloved inquired of His Lover if he had patience. He answered: ‘All things please me, and therefore I cannot but be patient, for he who is no more lord of his will can not be impatient.’

Love gave himself to any who would receive him; and since he gave himself to few and inspired few with love, as he was free and had not been constrained, therefore the Lover cried out on Love, and accused him before the Beloved. But Love made his defence and said: ‘I strive not against free will, for I desire all lovers to have the greatest merit and glory.’

There was great strife and contention between Love and the Lover, because the Lover was incensed at the trials which Love made him to bear. And they debated whether Love or the Lover was to blame. So both of them came to the judgment-seat of the Beloved; and He chastened the Lover with griefs and rewarded him with increase of love.

There was a contention whether Love has more of thought than of patience. And the Lover resolved the contention, saying that Love is born of thought and nourished with patience.

The Lover has for neighbours the perfections of the Beloved; and the Beloved’s neighbours are the thoughts of the Lover, and the trials and tears which Love gives him to bear.

The Lover’s will loved to soar on high, that he might have great love toward his Beloved; so he commanded the understanding to soar as high as it might; and the understanding commanded the memory, so that all three mounted to the contemplation of the Beloved’s glories.

The will of the Lover left him and flew to the Beloved. And the Beloved gave it into the captivity of the Lover, that he might use it to love and serve Him.

The Lover said: ‘O let not my Beloved think that I have left Him to love another, for my love has united me to One, and to One alone.’ The Beloved answered and said: ‘Let not My Lover think that I am loved and served by him alone; for I have many lovers who have loved Me more fervently and for longer than he.’

Said the Lover to his Beloved: ‘O my Beloved, that art worthy of all love, Thou hast taught and accustomed my eyes to see and my ears to hear Thy wonders. And these have inspired thoughts which have brought tears to my eyes and griefs to my heart.’ The Beloved answered the Lover: ‘Had I not taught and guided thee so, thy name had not been written in the book of those who shall come to eternal bliss, from which are wiped out the names of such as shall go to eternal punishment.’

In the heart of the Lover gathered the glories and beauties of the Beloved, increasing his thoughts and griefs, so that he had altogether died if the Beloved had increased in him any further the thoughts of His greatness.

The Beloved came to sojourn in the hostelry of the Lover; and His Lover made Him a bed of thoughts, and there served Him sighs and tears; and the Beloved paid His reckoning with memories.

Love put joys and trials together into the Lover’s thoughts, and the joys made complaint of that company and accused Love before the Beloved. But when He had parted them from the sorrows which Love gives to his lovers, behold, they vanished and were gone.

The marks of the love which the Lover has to his Beloved are, in the beginning, tears; then, tribulations; and, in the end, death. And with those marks did the Lover preach before the lovers of his Beloved.

The Lover went into solitude; and his heart was accompanied by thoughts, his eyes by tears, and his body by fasts and afflictions. But when the Lover returned to the companionship of men, these things went no longer with him, and the Lover remained quite alone in the company of many people.

Love is an ocean, its waves troubled by the winds; it has no port or shore. The Lover perished in this ocean, and with him perished his trials, and the work of his fulfilment began.

‘Say, O Fool, what is love?’ He answered: ‘Love is a working together of thought and action towards one end, to which in like manner the Lover’s will also moves; and this is the end, that men may serve and honour his Beloved.’ Think you now that the Lover’s will is in truer harmony with this end when he longs to be with his Beloved, or when he longs to convert to Him many lovers?

They asked the Lover: ‘Who is thy Beloved?’ He answered: ‘He who makes me to love, desire, pine, weep, sigh and suffer, and die.’

They asked the Beloved: ‘Who is Thy Lover?’ He answered: ‘He who fears naught so that he may honour and praise My Name, and who renounces all things to obey My commandments and counsels.’

‘Say, O Fool, which is the heavier and more grievous burden - the trials of love, or the trials of those that love not?’ And he answered: ‘Go, ask it of those who do penance for the love of their Beloved, and of those who do penance from fear of the pains of hell.’

The Lover slept, and Love died, for he had naught whereby to live. The Lover wakened, and Love revived in the thoughts which the Lover sent to his Beloved.

The Lover said: ‘The infused science comes from the will, from prayer and devotion; and acquired science comes from study and understanding.’ Which of the two, then, think you, is more proper and more pleasing to the Lover, and which possesses he the more perfectly?

‘Say, O Fool, whence hast thou thy needs?’ He answered: ‘From thoughts, from longing, from adoration, from trials and from perseverance.’ ‘And whence hast thou all these things?’ He answered: ‘From love.’ ‘And whence hast thou thy Beloved?’ ‘From Himself alone.’

‘Say, O Fool, wilt thou be free of all things?’ He answered: ‘Yea, save only of my Beloved.’ ‘Wilt thou be a prisoner?’ ‘Yea, of sighs and tears, thoughts and trials, dangers and exiles, that I may serve my Beloved, for to praise His exceeding worthiness was I created.’

Love tormented the Lover, for which cause he lamented and wept. His Beloved called him to come to Him, and be healed; and the nearer came the Lover to his Beloved, the more grievously did love afflict him; and the more he felt of love and grief, the more he loved, and the more perfectly did the Beloved heal him of his sickness.

Love fell sick, and the Lover tended him with patience, perseverance, obedience and hope. Love grew well, and the Lover fell sick; and he was cured by his Beloved, who made him to remember His virtue and honour.

‘Say, O Fool, what is solitude?’ He answered: ‘It is solace and companionship between Lover and Beloved.’ ‘And what are solace and companionship?’ ‘Solitude in the Lover’s heart, when he remembers naught save his Beloved.’

They asked the Lover: ‘In which is there greater danger, in bearing trials for love’s sake or in enjoying pleasures?’ The Lover took counsel with his Beloved, and replied: ‘The perils which come through pleasures are the perils of ignorance; and those which come through afflictions are the perils of impatience.’

The Beloved gave Love his freedom, and allowed men to take him to themselves as much as they would; but scarce one was found who would take him to his heart. And for this cause the Lover wept, and was sad at the dishonour which is paid to Love by the ungrateful among men and by false lovers.

Love destroyed all that was in the heart of his faithful Lover that he might live and have free course in it; and the Lover would have died had memory not revealed to him his Beloved.

On two things the Lover was wont to meditate: the one was the Essence and the goodness of his Beloved, and the other was his Beloved’s works. He knew not which of these was the more excellent and the more pleasing to the Beloved.

‘Say, O Fool, wouldst thou fain die?’ He answered: ‘Yea, to the pleasures of this world and the thoughts of the unhappy sinners who dishonour and forget my Beloved; in whose thoughts I would have no part nor lot, since my Beloved has no part in them.’

‘If thou speakest truth, O Fool, thou wilt be beaten by men, tormented, mocked, reproved and killed.’ He answered: ‘From those words it follows that if I spoke falsehoods I should be praised by men, served, loved and honoured, and defended by those who despise my Beloved.’

False flatterers were speaking ill of the Lover one day in the presence of his Beloved. The Lover was patient, and the Beloved shewed His justice, wisdom and power. And the Lover preferred to be blamed and reproved in this wise, than to be one of those that falsely accused him.

The Beloved planted many seeds in the heart of His Lover, but one of them only took life and put forth leaf and gave flower and fruit. Think you that from this single fruit may come many seeds?

Far above Love is the Beloved; far beneath it is the Lover; and Love, which lies between these two, made the Beloved to descend to the Lover, and the Lover to rise toward the Beloved. And this ascending and descending is the being and the life of Love - of that Love which makes the Lover to endure pain and which ever serves the Beloved.

On the right side of Love stands the Beloved, and on the left side is the Lover; and thus he cannot reach the Beloved unless he pass through Love. And before Love stands the Beloved, and beyond is the Lover; so that the Lover cannot reach Love unless his thoughts and desires have first passed through the Beloved.

The Beloved clothed Himself in the garment of His Lover, that he might be His companion in glory for ever. So the Lover desired to wear crimson garments daily, that his dress might be like that of his Beloved.

‘Say, O Fool, what did thy Beloved before the world was?’ He answered: ‘My Beloved loved, because of His manifold properties, eternal, personal, and infinite, in which are Lover, Love and Beloved.’

The Lover wept and was sad, when he saw how the unbelievers were losing his Beloved through ignorance; but he rejoiced in the justice of his Beloved, who punishes those that know Him and are disobedient. Which, think you, was greater, his sorrow or his joy? And was his joy greater when he saw his Beloved honoured than his sorrow at seeing Him despised?

The Lover contemplated his Beloved in all the variety and harmony of His virtues; and again in the contrariety between virtue and vice; and again in His Being and perfection, which have greater harmony between themselves than non-existence and imperfection.

The variety and harmony which the Lover found in the Beloved revealed to him His secrets, to wit, His plurality and unity, to the greater concordance of essence without contrariety.

They said to the Lover: ‘Corruption is contrary to being, as generation, which is opposed to it, is the contrary of non-existence. If it were eternally corrupting and corrupted, it would be impossible that non-existence or end should harmonise with corruption.’ By these words the Lover saw in his Beloved the principle of eternal generation.

If that which increases the love of the Lover for his Beloved were falseness, that which diminished it would be truth. And if this were so, it would follow that there would be a want of the great and the true in the Beloved, and that there would be harmony in Him between the false and the mean.

The Lover praised his Beloved, and said that if in Him were the greatest degree of perfection and the greatest possible freedom from imperfection, his Beloved must be simple, pure and present in essence and operation. And while the Lover praised his Beloved thus, there was revealed to him the Trinity of his Beloved.

In the numbers 1 and 3 the Lover found greater harmony than between any others, because by these numbers every bodily form passed to existence from non-existence. And the greatest harmony of number, the Lover thought, was in the Unity and the Trinity of his Beloved.

The Lover extolled the power, the wisdom and the will of his Beloved, who had created all things, save only sin; so that, but for His power and wisdom and will, had nothing existed. And neither the power, the wisdom nor the will of the Beloved are an occasion of sin.

The Lover praised and loved his Beloved, for He had created him and given him all things; and he praised and loved Him too because it pleased Him to take his form and nature. And it may be asked, Which had more of perfection, his praise or his love?

Love tempted the wisdom of the Lover, and asked him whether the Beloved showed the greater love in taking his nature, or in redeeming him. And the Lover was perplexed, and replied at last that redemption was destined to put away unhappiness, and the Incarnation to bring about bliss. And this reply provoked the question again: ‘Which was the greater love?’

The Lover went from door to door asking alms to keep in mind the love of his Beloved for His servants, and to practise the virtues of poverty, humility and patience, which are well-pleasing to the Beloved.

They asked pardon of the Lover, for the love of his Beloved; and the Lover not only pardoned them but gave them himself and his goods.

With tears in his eyes the Lover described the Passion and the pains which his Beloved bore for love of him; and with sad and heavy thoughts he wrote down the words which He uttered; and by mercy and hope he was comforted.

The Beloved taught His Lover how to love; and Love intruded him in speech; and Patience, to bear afflictions for the love of Him to whom he had given himself to be a servant.

The Beloved asked men if they had seen His Lover, and they asked Him: ‘What are the qualities of Thy Lover?’ And the Beloved said: ‘My Lover is ardent yet fearful; rich and yet poor; joyful, sad and pensive; and every day he grieves because of his love.’

They asked the Lover: ‘Wilt thou sell thy desire?’ He answered: ‘I have sold it already to my Beloved, for such a price as would buy the whole world.’

‘Preach, O Fool, speak concerning thy Beloved; weep and fast.’ So the Lover renounced the world, and went forth lovingly to seek his Beloved, and to praise Him in those places wherein He was dishonoured.

The Lover builded a fair city wherein his Beloved might dwell; of love, thoughts, tears, complaints and griefs he builded it; with joy, devotion and hope he adorned it; and with justice, prudence, faith, fortitude and temperance he furnished it.

The Lover drank of love at the fountain of the Beloved, and there the Beloved washed the Lover’s feet, though many a time he had despised and forgotten His greatness, and the world had suffered thereby.

‘Say, O Fool, what is sin?’ He answered: ‘It is the turning and directing of the intention away from the final Cause and Intention for which all things have been created by my Beloved.’

The Lover saw that the world was created so that eternity should be more in harmony with his Beloved, who is Infinite Essence of greatness and all perfection, than with the world, which is a finite quantity; and therefore the justice of his Beloved was before time and finite quantities were.

The Lover defended his Beloved against those who said that the world is eternal, saying that the justice of his Beloved would not be perfect, if He restored not to every man his own body, and for this no place or material order would suffice; nor, if the world were eternal, could it be ordered for one end only; and yet, if it were not so ordered, there would be wanting in his Beloved perfection of wisdom and will.

‘Say, O Fool, wherein is the beginning of wisdom?’ He answered: ‘In faith and devotion, which are a ladder whereby understanding may rise to a comprehension of the secrets of my Beloved.’

‘Where then have faith and devotion their beginning?’ He answered: ‘In my Beloved, who illumines faith and nurtures devotion.’

They asked the Lover: ‘Which is greater - the possible or the impossible?’ He answered: ‘The possible is greater in man, and the impossible in my Beloved, since power and possibility are in agreement, and impossibility and actuality.’

‘Say, O Fool, which is the greater - difference or harmony?’ He answered: ‘Save in my Beloved, difference is greater in plurality, and harmony in unity; but in my Beloved they are equal in plurality and in unity.’

‘Say, O Lover, what is true worth?’ He answered: ‘It is the opposite of this world’s worth, which false and vainglorious lovers desire; for they go after worth and achieve only worthlessness.’

‘Say, O Fool, hast thou seen one without his reason?’ He answered: ‘I have seen a lord of the Church, who had many cups on his table, and many plates and knives of silver, and in his chamber had many garments and a great bed, and in his coffers great wealth - and at the gates of his palace but few poor.’

‘Knowest thou, O Fool, what is evil?’ He answered: ‘Evil thoughts.’ ‘And what is loyalty?’ ‘It is fear of my Beloved, born of charity and of shame which men reproach.’ ‘And what is honour?’ He answered: ‘It is to think on my Beloved, to desire Him and to praise His glorious Name.’

The Lover went one day into a cloister, and the monks inquired of him if he, too, were a religious. ‘Yea,’ he answered, ‘of the order of my Beloved.’ ‘What rule dost thou follow?’ He answered: ‘My Beloved’s.’ ‘To whom art thou vowed?’ He said: ‘To my Beloved.’ ‘Hast thou thy will?’ He answered: ‘Nay, it is given to my Beloved.’ ‘Hast thou added aught to the rule of thy Beloved?’ He answered: ‘Naught can be added to that which is already perfect. And why,’ continued the Lover, ‘do not you that are religious take the Name of my Beloved? May it not be that, as you bear the name of another, your love may grow less, and, hearing the voice of another, you may not catch the voice of the Beloved?’

The trials and tribulations that the Lover endured for love’s sake made him weary and apt to be impatient; and the Beloved reproved him, saying that he whom either trouble or happiness affected thus knew but little of love. So the Lover was contrite and wept, and he begged his Beloved to restore his love again.

‘Say, O Fool, what is love?’ He answered: ‘Love is that which throws the free into bondage, and to those that are in bonds gives liberty.’ And who can say whether in love there is more of liberty or of bondage?

The Beloved called His Lover, and he answered Him, saying: ‘What wilt Thou, O my Beloved, Thou who art the sight of my eyes, thought of my thoughts, love of my love and sum of my perfections, - yea, and the source of all my beginnings?’

‘O my Beloved,’ said the Lover, ‘I come to Thee, I walk in Thee, for Thou dost call me. And I greet Thee with Thine own Sign, by which I hope for eternal life and eternal blessing.’

The Lover cried aloud and said: ‘Fire gives warmth, its heat gives lightness, and that lightness draws on high. And in like manner love inflames the thoughts, gives lightness and draws on high. And one love unites three things, binding them securely the one to the others.’

They asked the Lover: ‘What is the world?’ He answered: ‘It is a book for such as can read, in which is revealed my Beloved.’ They asked him: ‘Is thy Beloved, then, in the world?’ He answered: ‘Yea, even as the writer is in his book.’ ‘And wherein consists this book?’ He answered: ‘In my Beloved, since my Beloved contains it all, and therefore is the world in my Beloved rather than my Beloved in the world.’

‘Say, O Lover, who is he that loves and seems to thee as a fool?’ The Lover answered: ‘He that loves the shadow and makes no account of the truth.’ ‘And whom dost thou call rich?’ ‘He that loves truth.’ ‘And who is poor?’ ‘He that loves falsehood.’

They asked the Lover: ‘Is the world to be loved?’ He answered: ‘Truly it is, but as a piece of work, for its artificer’s sake, or as the night by reason of the day which follows it.’

The Lover cried out to his Lord concerning his Beloved, and to his Beloved concerning his Lord. And the Lord and the Beloved said: ‘Who is this that makes division in Us, that are One only?’ The Lover answered and said: ‘It is pity, which belongs to the Lord, and tribulation, which comes through the Beloved.’

The Lover was in peril in the great ocean of love, and he trusted in his Beloved, who came to him with troubles, thoughts, tears, sighs and griefs; for the ocean was of love.

The Lover rejoiced in the Being of his Beloved, for (said he) from His Being is all other Being derived, and by It sustained, and made subject and constrained to honour and serve my Beloved. By no being can He be condemned or destroyed, or made greater or less.

‘What is the Being of thy Beloved?’ He answered: ‘It is a bright ray throughout all things, even as the sun which shines over all the world. For if it withdraw its brightness, it leaves all things in darkness, and when it shines forth it brings the day. Even more so is my Beloved.’

‘My Beloved is one, and in His unity my thoughts and my love are united in one will; my Beloved’s unity is the source of all unities and all pluralities; and His plurality of all pluralities and unities.’

‘O Beloved, by Thy greatness my desires, my thoughts and my afflictions are made great; for so great art Thou that all things which have remembrance and joy and understanding of Thee are great; and Thy greatness makes all things small which are contrary to Thy honour and commandments.’

‘Thou knowest my sinfulness, O Beloved; be merciful, then, and pardon. Thou knowest better than I who Thou art; yet even I know Thy pardon and love, since Thou hast awakened in me contrition and pain, and the desire to die a shameful death that Thy Name may be thereby exalted.’

‘Thy power, O Beloved, can save me through Thy goodness, mercy and pardon, yet it can condemn me through Thy justice, and my failures and imperfections. But let Thy power work its will in me, for it is wholly perfection, whether it bring salvation or eternal punishment.’

‘O Truth that I love, visit my contrite heart, draw water from mine eyes, that my will may love Thee; and since Thy truth, O Beloved, is sovereign, draw truth from my will, that I may honour Thy Name, and cause it to hate my shortcomings.’

The Lover gazed at the rainbow, and it seemed to him as though it were of three colours. And he cried: ‘O marvellous distinction of three, for the three together are one! And how can this be in the image, unless it be so of itself, in truth?’