Chapter 3 Love

Then said Elmetra, please tell us about love. He looked up at the crowd, and the crowd was silent.He said in a loud voice: When love calls you with a wave, follow him, Though his path was hard and steep. When he spreads his wings to embrace you, obey him, Though the blades in his wings may hurt you. Believe him when he speaks to you, Although his voice will shatter your dreams like a wind sweeps away the flowers in the garden. Love can crown you, but it can also crucify you.Though he can make you grow, he can also cut you down. He will climb to your heights and caress your tenderest branches quivering in the sun,

He will also come down to your roots and shake your roots that cling to the earth. Love gathers you together like the sheaf of wheat. He has threshed you and made you naked. He sifts you from the chaff. He grinds you until you are innocent. He kneads you until you are soft. Then he delivered you to the holy fire, and made you the wafer of God's feast. All of this is done by love for you, so that you may be able to comprehend the secrets in your heart, and thus become a small part of the heart of life. But if you seek only love and beauty and love's joy out of fear, Then you'd better hide your nakedness and leave the threshing floor of love,

Step into a world without seasons, where you may laugh, but not all your tears, and cry, but not all your tears. Love gives nothing but itself and takes nothing but itself. Love neither possesses nor is possessed; Because love has itself enough. When you love, you should not say "God is in my heart", but "I am in God". Don't think you can direct love, for love, if it deems you worthy, will direct you. Love has nothing else to ask but to fulfill itself. But if you love, and must desire something, let these be your desires: Melted into a rushing stream, singing its own melody at night.

Experience the pain of too much tenderness. Hurt by your own experience of love. Willingly bleed. Wake up in the morning with a winged heart and give thanks for another loving day; Take a lunch break and meditate on the ecstasy of love; At dusk, return home with gratitude; Before bedtime, pray for the love of your heart, with hymns on your lips.