(34) How should love and joy not be there, where life is generated in the very centre or midst of death, and light in the midst of darkness? Question. Thou askest, How comes that to pass? Answer.

(4) Joyless are those worlds called/ Covered with blind darkness. To them after death go those People that have not knowledge, that are not awakened:

(15) Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light.

(15) Now there can be no Meekness without Light, for the Light makes the Meekness, and there can be no Fierceness without the Light, for the Light makes a Longing in the Darkness; and yet there is no Darkness there, but the Longing makes the Darkness in the Will, so that the Will attracts to itself, and impregnates the Longing, so that it becomes thick and dark; for it is thicker than the Will, and therefore it shadows the Will, and is the Darkness of the Will.

(15) As is mentioned before, the eternal Mind stands thus lin the Darkness, and vexes itself, and longs after the Light, to generate that; and the Anguish is the Source, and the Source has in it many Forms, till it reaches the Fire in its Substance, viz. [it has] Bitter, Sour, Hard, Cold, Strong, Darting forth, or Flashing; in the Root of itself sticks the Joy and Pain alike; viz. when it comes to the Root of the Fire, and can reach the Light, then out of the Wrath [or Sternness] comes the great Joy. For the Light puts the stern Form into great Meekness; on the contrary, that Form which comes only to the Root of the Fire, that continues in the Wrath.

(10) The sun does not thine there, nor the moon and the stars, nor these lightnings, and much less this fire. When he shines, everything shines after him; by his light all this is lighted.

(7) Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh.

(132) For when thy light is extinguished, then thou standest in the darkness, and in the darkness the wrath of God is hidden, and so if thou awakenest it, then it burneth in thee.

(45) But what is the Fire? First, there is the Darkness, the Hardness, the eternal Cold, and the Dryness, where there is nothing else but an eternal Hunger. Then how comes the Fire to be? Dear Soul, here [in the Fire's coming to be] the Spirit of God (viz. the eternal Light) comes to help the Hunger; for the Hunger exists also from the Light: Because the divine Virtue beholds itself in the Darkness, therefore the Darkness is desirous [and longing] after the Light; and the Desiring is the Will.

(4) On the fourth day the light rose up, and made its seat in the house of death, and yet death could not, and cannot, comprehend it. As little as the austere birth of God, (which stands in the innermost kernel from whence life existeth), can apprehend the meekness, and the light of the meekness together with the spirit in the meekness, so little also can the dead darkness of this world comprehend the light of nature: no more can the devils either.

(63) And now we long for a little rest but find it not: We follow hard upon and obtain (it) not: And light has vanished from before us, And darkness is our dwelling-place for ever and ever:

(13) Joy and sorrow come and go, and over them I have no control. "Alas! the life of man is but as a stoppage at an inn. He knows that which comes within the range of his experience. Otherwise, he knows not. He knows that he can do what he can do, and that he cannot do what he cannot do. But there is always that which he does not know and that which he cannot do; and to struggle that it shall not be so,—is not this a cause for grief? "The best language is that which is not spoken, the best form of action is that which is without deeds. Spread out your knowledge and it will be found to be shallow."

(16) source of peace and joy to others will be to him a source of misery. He, in whose heart the love of God has prevailed over all else, will derive more joy from this vision than he in whose heart it has not so prevailed; just as in the case of two men with equally powerful eyesight, gazing on a beautiful face, he who already loves the possessor of that face will rejoice in beholding it more than he who does not. For perfect happiness mere knowledge is not enough, unaccompanied by love, and the love of God cannot take possession of a man's heart till it be purified from love of the world, which purification can only be effected by abstinence and austerity. While he is in this world a man's condition with regard to the Vision of God is like that of a lover who should see his beloved's face in the twilight, while his clothes are infested with hornets and scorpions, which continually, torment him. But should the sun arise and reveal his beloved's face in all its beauty, and the noxious vermin leave off molesting him, then the lover's joy will be like that of God's servant, who, released from the twilight and the tormenting trials of this world, beholds Him without a veil.

(33) For he has made the house of light to be a house of darkness, and the house of joy to be a house of mourning, lamentation and sadness; that which was the house of pleasure, delight, vivifying and refreshing, he has made to be a house of thirst and hunger; the house of love to be a house of eternal enmity; and the house of meekness to be a house of knocking, rumbling, thundering and lightning; the house of peace to be a house of lamenting and eternal howling; the house of laughing to be a house of eternal trembling and horror:

(38) What manner of joy this must be, let every soul consider: I, in my corrupted nature, cannot apprehend it, much less can I write it.

(12) And this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

(131) The opposite of light shows what is light, God created pain and grief for this purpose, To wit, to manifest happiness by its opposites. Hidden things are manifested by their opposites; But, as God has no opposite. He remains hidden. God's light has no opposite in the range of creation Perforce "Our eyes see not Him, though He sees us." Discern form from substance, as lion from desert, The sound and speech arise from the thought;

(4) But when the sun has set, and the moon has set, what light does a person here have? ' ' Fire, indeed, is his light/ said he, c for with fire, indeed, as his light one sits, moves around, does his work, and returns/ ' Quite so, Yajnavalkya.

(104) Therein stands life and joy; for the terror or flash riseth up in all the qualities, like the wheel before mentioned which turneth about, and then there all the seven spirits rise up one in another, and generate themselves, as in a circle, and the light is shining in the midst or centre of the seven spirits, and reshineth back again in all the spirits, and all the spirits triumph therein, and rejoice in the light.

(1) After the Valley of Unity comes the Valley of Astonishment and Bewilderment, where one is a prey to sadness and dejection. There sighs are like swords, and each breath a bitter sigh; there, is sorrow and lamentation, and a burning eagerness. It is at once day and night. There, is fire, yet a man is depressed and despondent. How, in his bewilderment, shall he continue his way? But he who has achieved unity forgets aU and forgets himself. If he is asked: 'Are you, or are you not? Have you or have you not the feeling of existence? Are you in the middle or on the border? Are you mortal or immortal?' he will reply with certainty: 'I know nothing, I understand nothing, I am unaware of myself. I am in love, but with whom I do not know. My heart is at the same time both full and empty of love.'