156 They asked the Fool by what signs his Beloved might be known. He answered: ‘By mercy and pity, which are essentially in His Will, without mutation or change.’
157 Such was the love which the Lover had to his Beloved, that he desired the good of all above the good of each, and for his Beloved to be everywhere known and praised, and desired of all the world.
158 Love and Indifference met in a garden, where the Lover and the Beloved were talking in secret. And Love asked Indifference why he had come to that place. ‘That the Lover may cease to love,’ he replied, ‘and the Beloved to be honoured.’ The words of Indifference were greatly displeasing to the Beloved and the Lover, and their love was increased, that Indifference might be vanquished and destroyed thereby.
159 ‘Say, O Fool, in which dost thou take the greater pleasure—in loving or in hating?’ ‘In loving,’ he replied, ‘for I have only hated that I may the better love.’
160 ‘Say, O Lover, which dost thou strive to understand the better—falsehood or truth?’ He answered: ‘Truth.’ ‘And why so?’ ‘Because I understand falsehood that I may the better understand truth.’
161 The Lover perceived that he was loved by his Beloved, and he inquired of Him if His love and His mercy were one and the same thing. The Beloved affirmed that in His essence there was no distinction between His love and His mercy. Therefore said the Lover: ‘Why, then, does Thy love torment me, and why does not Thy mercy heal me of my griefs?’
162 The Lover desired to go into a far country to do honour to his Beloved, and he wished to disguise himself that he might not be taken captive on the way; but he could not hide the tears in his eyes, nor his pale and drawn face, nor the thoughts, complaints and sighs, the sorrow and grief of his heart. And so he was taken captive on the journey and delivered to the tormentors by the enemies of his Beloved.
163 Imprisoned was the Lover in the prison of Love. Thoughts, desires and memories held and enchained him lest he might flee from his Beloved. Griefs tormented him; patience and hope consoled him. And the Lover was dying, but the Beloved revealed to him His Presence, and the Lover revived.
164 The Lover met his Beloved, and he knew Him and wept. The Beloved reproved him, because he wept not until he knew Him. ‘How didst thou know Me,’ He asked, ‘since thine eyes were not already wet with tears?’ And the Lover answered: ‘By memory, understanding and will, through which, as soon as the eyes of my body saw Thee, my love was increased.’
165 ‘What meanest thou by love?’ said the Beloved. And the Lover answered: ‘It is to bear on one’s heart the sacred marks and the sweet words of the Beloved. It is to long for Him with desire and with tears. It is boldness. It is fervour. It is fear. It is the desire for the Beloved above all things. It is that which causes the Lover to grow faint when he hears the Beloved’s praises. It is that in which I die daily, and in which is all my will.’