Today's Beautiful Gem: `The Ascent of Mount Carmel' by St John of the Cross.

"In order to arrive at having pleasure in everything,
Desire to have pleasure in nothing.
In order to arrive at possessing everything,
Desire to possess nothing.
In order to arrive at being everything,
Desire to be nothing.
In order to arrive at knowing everything,
Desire to know nothing.

"In order to arrive at that wherein thou hast no pleasure,
Thou must go by a way wherein thou hast no pleasure.
In order to arrive at that which thou possessest not,
Thou must go by a way that thou possessest not.
In order to arrive at that which thou art not,
Thou must go by a way that thou art not.
In order to arrive at that which thou knowest not,
Thou must go by a way that thou knowest not.

"When thy mind dwells upon anything,
Thou art ceasing to cast thyself upon the All.
For, in order to pass from the all to the All,
Thou hast to deny thyself wholly in all.
And, when thou comest to possess it wholly,
Thou must possess it without desiring anything.
For, if thou wilt have anything in having all,
Thou hast not thy treasure purely in God."

Note: St John of the Cross of Spain, who lived during the age
of Counter-reformation, is a very well-known Christian mystic
writer and is sometimes nicknamed as the Christian Rumi.

Om s'aantih: Peace! - J. K. Mohana Rao

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