I Love You, because You are My Self...

Love brought man from the world of unity to that of variety, and the same force can take him back again to the world of unity from the world of variety.

Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:

Sufis take the course of love and devotion to accomplish their highest aim, because it is love which has brought man from the world of unity to the world of variety, and the same force can take him back again to the world of unity from that of variety.

Love is the reduction of the universe to the single being,
and the expansion of a single being, even to God. (Balzac)

Love is that state of mind in which the consciousness of the lover is merged in that of the object of his love; it produces in the lover all the attributes of humanity, such as resignation, renunciation, humility, kindness, contentment, patience, virtue, calmness, gentleness, charity, faithfulness, bravery, by which the devotee becomes harmonized with the Absolute.

As one of God's beloved, a path is opened for his heavenly journey: at the end he arrives at oneness with God, and his whole individuality is dissolved in the ocean of eternal bliss where even the conception of God and man disappears.

Seeing the nature and character of life the Sufi says that it is not very important to distinguish between two opposites. What is most important is to recognize that One which is hiding behind it all.

Naturally after realizing life the Sufi climbs the ladder which leads him to unity, to the idea of unity which comes through the synthesis of life, by seeing One in all things, in all beings. ... in whatever age the wise were born, they have always believed the same: that behind all is oneness, and in the understanding of that oneness is wisdom.

A person who awakens to the spirit of unity, a person who sees the oneness behind all things - his point of view becomes different and his attitude therefore changes.

He no longer says to his friend, 'I love you because you are my friend'; he says, 'I love you because you are my self'