VI SELF-ABANDONMENT

p. 143

p. 144

139 (I. 24)
THOU MUST BE NAUGHT, WILL NAUGHT

If thou art Somewhat to thyself, If Somewhat thou dost love and will, If Somewhat knowest, Somewhat hast— Thou carriest thy Burden still.

140 (I. 58)
SELF-SEEKING

If seeking God thou seekest Rest, Then is thy reckoning out of trim: God's hireling art thou, not His child, Thou seekest thine own Self, not Him.

141 (II. 57)
MAN MUST GROW FREE FROM HIMSELF

Grow free from self, from all created things grow free, Then God will graft His Godlike nature on to thee.

142 (I. 143)
'TIS SELFHOOD THAT DAMNS

Could but the Devil quit his His-ness, thereupon The Devil thou wouldst see sitting upon God's throne

p. 145

143 (V. 32)
SELFWILL RUINS ALL

If even in Christ himself there were Selfwill at all, Despite his Blessedness, believe me, he would fall.

144 (I. 138)
THE MORE THOU GOEST OUT, THE MORE GOD COMETH IN

The more thyself out of thyself Thou canst dischannel and outpour, The more must God flow into thee With all His Godhead more and more.

145 (II. 140)
SELF-NULLIFYING

Naught bringeth thee beyond thyself So surely as Self-nullity: The more thou canst annul thyself The more thou hast of Deity.

146 (II. 136)
ABANDONMENT

Go out—and so God goeth in; Die to thyself—thou hast begun To live to God; Be not—He is; Do naught—His bidding's done.

p. 146

147 (V. 220)
HOW GOD IS FOUND

Seekest thou God, then must thou, Man, First lose thy Self-identity, Nor ever find again the trace Of Self in all eternity.

148 (V. 186)
OWNHOOD IS THE CAUSE OF ALL EVIL

Communion engendereth Peace;  But Ownhood giveth rise To Persecution, War and Strife,  And all Calamities.

149 (V. 238)
"MINE" AND "THINE" ARE DAMNABLE

Two words, and nothing else in all the world, combine To plunge thee into Hell—two hateful words, Mine, Thine.

150 (II. 72)
HE WHO CAN SING WITH THE ANGELS

He who can soar above himself  One instant at the most, He too can sing the Gloria  With the angeleic host.

p. 147

151 (V. 33)
WHEN GOD MOST DELIGHTS TO BE WITH US

God, whose extreme delight it is  To dwell with thee, doth come Most willingly into thy house  When thou art not at home.

152 (I. 46)
THE BLESSED UNTHING

I am a blessed Thing if I Can but unthing myself, forgo All my community with things, My cognizance of things unknow.

153 (I. 92)
HE WHO IS WHOLLY DEIFIED

Who is as were he not, nor yet had come to be, He is become—O Happiness!—sheer Deity.

154 (IV. 139)
THE HAPPY DROWNING

If thou dost sail thy little ship Upon the Sea of Deity, It were indeed a happy chance Shouldst thou be drowned in that great Sea.

p. 148

155 (II. 92)
THE MYSTICAL ABANDONMENT

Abandonment ensnareth God: But the Abandonment supreme, Which few there be can comprehend, Is to abandon even Him.

156 (VI. 172)
IN THE SEA NO DROP IS DISTINGUISHABLE

If thou canst designate a drop Lost in the Sea's immensity, Then wilt thou in the Sea of God Divine my soul's identity.

157 (II. 25)
THOU MAKEST THY OWN DISQUIET

Thee into thy disquiet nor God nor Creature brings, Thou dost disquiet thyself caring for many things.

158 (III. 177)
THE LONG MARTYRDOM

The Martyrs fare exceeding well: Swift passage through the mortal fires, Then God's embrace. But we lifelong Are martyred. How?—By our Desires.

p. 149

159 (I. 158)
WHO DRINKETH THE SPRING OF LIFE?

Fain wouldst thou drink the Spring of Life?  Then must thou first Sweat out, whilst here upon this earth,  Thy proper thirst.

160 (II. 197)
SELF-ABNEGATION

Lord, take the Crown away! I know not aught of Mine: How can it rightly then be mine and yet not Thine!

161 (V. 229)
MEASUREMENT IS THE FALL

Take not the measure of thy goodness—it is gone As soon as it is self-confessed and thought upon.

162 (II. 133)
RESIGNATION

Should God forbid me Heaven, it pleaseth me as well Here to abide on earth or take my place in Hell.

p. 150

163 (V. 367)
READY FOR ALL

He is the proper Hero who remains unshaken Whether by God befriended or by God forsaken.

164 (V. 105)
HEAVEN CAN BE STOLEN

Who, hidden, doeth good; secret, bestoweth wealth: He is a Master-thief and stealeth Heaven by stealth.

165 (I. 39)
IMPERFECT ABANDONMENT

His Self is not all given to God who cannot dwell Even in Hell itself and find in Hell no Hell.

166 (VI. 170)
TWO WAYS OF LOSING ONE'S SELF

So I may yet be lost? O ay! If lost in death, loss limitless. But if thou lose thyself in God Thy loss is then all happiness.