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December 3, 2007
inwardness
All Heaven is within thee, Man,
And all of Hell within thy heart:
What thou dost choose and will to have,
That hast thou wheresoe'er thou art.
Heaven is within thee. Stay! Why runn'st thou here and there?
Thou seekest God in vain seekest thou Him elsewhere.
All thou wouldst have lies now within thee, every whit
'Tis thine—so long as thou dost never strive for it.
Travel within thyself! The Stone
Philosophers with wisest arts
Have vainly sought, cannot be found
By traveling in foreign parts.
Christian, dost thou demand to know
Where God hath set His Throne?
Even there within thyself, where He
Gives birth to thee, His Son.
Though Jesus Christ in Bethlehem
A thousand times his Mother bore,
Is he not born again in thee
Then art thou lost for evermore.
In vain the Cross on Golgotha
Was raised—thou hast not any part
In its deliverance unless
It be raised up within thy heart.
Nothing external to thee, Man,
Can give thee Worth or Dignity:
Fine harness maketh not the horse,
Nor clothes the man's virility.
He who hath honor in himself
Seeketh no honor among men.
Seekest thou honor in the world,
'Tis not thine own but alien.
The Wise Man is that which he hath.
The precious Pearl of Paradise
Wouldst thou not lose, then must thou be
Thyself that Pearl of greatest price.
My Christian, whither runnest thou?
All Heaven within thy heart doth wait.
Why dost thou seek to find it then
By knocking at another's gate?
How is it possible for thee
To feel desire or suffer dearth?
Thou canst be all things in thyself—
A thousand Angels, Heaven and Earth!
God's Kingdom is within ourselves!
If, then, so great a Kingdom be
Already thine, how canst thou fear
The threatening of poverty?
The World doth not imprison thee.
Thou art thyself the World, and there,
Within thyself, thou hold'st thyself
Thy self-imprisoned Prisoner.
Naught is that moveth thee: thou art thyself the wheel
That runneth of itself and never standeth still.
Fetter me with a thousand chains, and though they be
Never so strong, I shall be fetterless and free.
Shut God up in thy heart. Let none else enter there,
So must He always bide with thee and be thy Prisoner.
I am amazed that thou dost yearn
For daylight to appear.
There is no sunset in my soul—
Day is already here.
Angelus Silesius
Posted by amin at December 3, 2007 4:02 PM