It is a central paradox of desert experience that only that which dies can live again. The fundamental rule of the divine life is this: the one who loses, wins. The carefree playfulness and freedom of the Holy One are mysteries entered only on the farside of darkness and death.
Beauty bears within itself every element of happiness, whence its character of peace, plenitude, satisfaction; now beauty is in our very being, we live by its substance. It is the calm, simple and generous stillness of the pool which mirrors the depth of the sky with all its serenity; it is the beauty of the water-lily, of the lotus opening to the light of the sun. It is repose in the center, resignation to Providence, quietude in God.