Lesson One



The desire and enthusiastic draw between lover and beloved is due to “love”. And love in its own lofty state is beyond doubt and in sanctuary of Its own vision, holy clear/hidden from any inward or outward existence. [1]

Yes! Indeed to manifest Its perfection, since because it is Its own vision, Its attributes viewed by Itself in the mirror of lover & Beloved (in love). And manifest Its own elegant goodness to Itself.

And it is from this relation between beholder and one-who-is-being-watched that lover & beloved extracted. And words like seeker and sought-after created.

Inner essence being ornate and beautified by the outward appearance so that the name Beloved announced. [2]

The mirror of “being-in-love” brought about the love, so that lover (facing this mirror and in love) can browse to study one’s own personal beauty... and from It i.e. Creator “being loved” brought about the mirror of “Beloved” so that looking upon it (by the lover) reveals the attributes and names of the Creator. And if It Faces these two mirrors, though It is only one, each mirror reflects a different face. 





[[1] Magnetism has no existence that we can tangibly access; instead we understand the pull or the force that attracts Iron to magnets. It is this draw or the pull, which is constant, and unbreakable that signifies our concept of magnetism. The same is true about love. Love is the constant and unbreakable magnetism between the lover and beloved and nothing of its nature is manifest or clear to us except like the pull between the metal and magnet, the pull and enthusiasm between the lover and beloved.  Love is a monolith i.e. the Creator is its owner and all things, in different forms, gravitate towards each other in some form of loving. There is no mother-child love or man-woman love, its all the same love, same source. It is in our mind that we categorize love and lovers, but in a Sufi’s mind love is from Creator and at this statement a Sufi stops.


[2] Have you ever asked why so many flowers, so many birds, so many celestial structures so many people and beautiful things? Life on this planet could have been sustained without the incredible array of varieties and creations, which are still unaccounted for by science fort the most part. Why? Araqi says that this incredible explosion of beautiful things around us is the announcement of the love from Beloved for all of us! Like an outward cloak which although hides the Creator inside, at the same time is a shroud made from everything and all things beautiful to dazzle the eyes and busy the minds to wonder to conclude: we are loved by the Beloved and we are in love with It even if we are not aware.




© 2008-2002,  Dara O Shayda