O my Beauty, the universe is illuminated by You-
filled with light.
Yet neither the sky nor the earth can see it fully.
Rumi, quoted in: Helminski, Kabir (2000). The Rumi Collection. P.105.
God is beautiful and loves beauty. Hadith, quoted after: Novak Philip, The World's Wisdom, P.322.
One thing I ask of the Lord, it is the one thing I seek: that I may dwell in the house of my Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in his temple. Ps 27:4
Now all things are beautiful because You have made them, but behold, You are inexpressibly more beautiful, who made them all. St. Augustine, Confessions, XIII.20
O Son of Man! Veiled in My immemorial being and in the ancient eternity of My essence, I knew My love for thee: therefore I created thee, have engraved on thee Mine image and revealed to thee My beauty. Baha'u'llah, The Hidden Words, 3.
Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror. Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet, P.78.
O Uncreated Beauty, whoever comes to know You once cannot love anything else. I can feel the bottomless abyss of my soul, and nothing will fill it but God himself. I feel that I am drowned in Him like a single grain of sand in a bottomless ocean. Faustina Kowalska, The Diary, 343.
(...) I am yours, completely Yours, and I wish to disappear in You, O Jesus, I wish to be lost in Your divine beauty. (...) Faustina Kowalska, The Diary, 507.
(...) Oh soul, you will find no beauty outside of God. (...). Faustina Kowalska, The Diary, 833.
I love, that is why I am so beautiful. You also love and you will be beautiful. Our Lady of Medjugorie, March 25, 1985. Words from Heaven, P.76.
I am beautiful because I love. If you want to be beautiful, love. There is no one in the world who does not desire beauty. Our Lady of Medjugorie, March 25, 1985. Words from Heaven, P.380.
When you pray, you are much more beautiful, like flowers, which after the snow, show their beauty and all their colors become indescribable. Our Lady of Medjugorie, December 18, 1986. Words from Heaven, P.77.
When the Holy One, praised by He, created Adam, he showed him all the trees in the Garden of Eden, telling him, "Behold, my works are beautiful and glorious; yet everything which I have created is for your sake. Take care that you do not corrupt or destroy my world." Talmud, quoted after: Novak Philip, The World's Wisdom, P.217.
(...) My yearning has loosened the veil hiding Beauty. She is now mine - but alas, my own sight is there blocking the view. The beat of my own heart sounds in my ear. The wish to live as others do has long been silenced. What does their world have to offer? - nothing but the echo of voices yelling, "more, more." Ghalib (1797-1869), a mystic in Rumi's lineage, quoted after: Novak Philip, The World's Wisdom, P.330.
This world is nothing more than Beauty's chance to show Herself. And what are we? Nothing more than Beauty's chance to see Herself. For if Beauty were not seeking Herself we would not exist. Ghalib (1797-1869), a mystic in Rumi's lineage, quoted after: Novak Philip, The World's Wisdom, P.330.
The beauty of God is vast. To enjoy flowers for their loveliness is good, but far greater is to see behind their purity and beauty the face of God. Paramahansa Yogananda, Man's Eternal Quest, P.29.
My father is a tailor; when he has made some article of clothing, and someone says to him "a fine garment, well made" my father is pleased. So also is our Heavenly Father pleased when we graciously and gratefully admire the beauty of His creatures. Theresa Neumann, quoted in: Thomas Merton, Run to the Mountain, P.285.
The Only Teaching.
For lovers, the only teaching is the beauty of the Beloved:
their only book and lecture is the Face.
Outwardly they are silent,
but their penetrating remembrance rises
to the high throne of their Friend.
Their only lesson is enthusiasm, whirling, and trembling,
not the minor details of law.
Rumi, Mathnawi III, 3847-3819, translated by Kabir and Camille Helminski, quoted in: "The Rumi Collection," Shambhala, Boston & London, 2000, p. 32.
Know, son, that everything in the universe
is a pitcher brimming with wisdom and beauty.
The universe is a drop of the Tigris of His Beauty,
this Beauty not contained by any skin.
His Beauty was a Hidden Treasure so full
it burst open and made the earth
more radiant than the heavens.
Rumi, Mathnawi I, 2860-2862, quoted in: Helminski, Kabir (2000). The Rumi Collection. P.61.
That which God said to the rose,
and caused it to laugh in full-blown beauty,
He said to my heart,
and made it a hundred times more beautiful.
Rumi, Mathnawi III, 4129, quoted in: Helminski, Kabir (2000). The Rumi Collection. P.86.
The radiance of divine beauty is wholly inexpressible: words cannot describe it, nor the ear grasp it. To compare the true light to the rays of the morning star or the brightness of the moon or the light of the sun is to fail totally to do justice to its glory and is as inadequate as comparing a pitch-back moonless night to the clearest of noons. Abba Philimon (VI-VII Century C.E.), quoted in: (1981). The Philokalia. Vol. II., P.356.
I sit in a fairly dark room with no external windows. Outside is one of the most beautiful views on Athos. Yet I prefer to be here for the moment. Perhaps it reflects more my own reality. All that beauty does tell something of God. Yet, in fact, God is nothing like it. In the darkness of my soul he dwells, and I wait for the dark ray of that resplendent Divine Light so to possess my mind that nothing else will be able to take me from his Presence. Pennington, Basil. (1978). O Holy Mountain! Journal of a Retreat on Mount Athos. P.217.
(…) The cure for me was His beauty, the remedy – for me was to love. Rabia (c.717-801), quoted in: Ladinsky Daniel (2002). Love Poems from God. Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West. P.9.
I know how it will be when I die, my beauty will be so extraordinary that God will worship me. He will not worship me from a distance, for our minds will have wed, our souls will have flowed into each other. How to say this: God and I will forever cherish Myself. Rabia (c.717-801), quoted in: Ladinsky Daniel (2002). Love Poems from God. Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West. P.18.
It was easy to love God in all that was beautiful. The lessons of deeper knowledge, though, instructed me to embrace God in all things. St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226), quoted in: Ladinsky Daniel (2002). Love Poems from God. Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West. P.52.
Dear God, please reveal to us your sublime beauty that is everywhere, everywhere, everywhere, so that we will never again feel frightened. My divine love, my love, please let us touch your face. St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226), quoted in: Ladinsky Daniel (2002). Love Poems from God. Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West. P.56.
Last updated: 2008/10/28
See the related subjects: Attributes, Harmony, Holiness, Nature, Purity.