Veiling Itself with Itself

Just as a poet gives shape to formless imagination, the infinite veils itself with itself by rising as thought and perception. ‘You do not know yourself because you have veiled yourself with yourself’, said Balayani. There is nothing in the infinite other than itself with which it could veil itself. The infinite rises as thought and perception, refracting into apparent multiplicity without ceasing to be itself alone. It consents to this out of freedom, drawing unmanifest potential into form with ‘a local habitation and a name’. In narrowing its attention to know just one thought and perception, it seems to become a finite mind. This creates the wound of separation in each heart. If you, the finite mind, give attention to your essence prior to thought and perception, you stand revealed as the infinite. Truly, you are He, and He is you, without difference – just as limited space is already unlimited space.

Just as a poet gives shape to formless imagination, the infinite veils itself with itself by rising as thought and perception. ‘You do not know yourself because you have veiled yourself with yourself’, said Balayani. There is nothing in the infinite other than itself with which it could veil itself. The infinite rises as thought and perception, refracting into apparent multiplicity without ceasing to be itself alone. It consents to this out of freedom, drawing unmanifest potential into form with ‘a local habitation and a name’. In narrowing its attention to know just one thought and perception, it seems to become a finite mind. This creates the wound of separation in each heart. If you, the finite mind, give attention to your essence prior to thought and perception, you stand revealed as the infinite. Truly, you are He, and He is you, without difference – just as limited space is already unlimited space.