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’)
