I sit alone apart from all the world
and see before me Him who transcends the world.
I see Him and He sees me;
I love Him and I believe that He loves me;
I am nourished and satisfied only with His vision.
United with Him I go beyond heaven.
All this I know beyond any doubt,
but where my body is I do not know.
I know that He who is immovable descends;
I know that He who is invisible appears to me;
I know that He who transcends all creation
takes me into Himself and hides me in His arms
apart from all the world;
and then I, small and mortal in this world,
I see the Creator of the world within me
and know that I can never die
because I am within all life
and all of life wells up in me.
He is in my heart, He is in heaven;
both here and there He reveals Himself to me
in equal glory.
Saint Symeon (949-1022) was a mystic from the Eastern Orthodox tradition of Christianity. This passage is published in Easwaran’s spiritual anthologies, “God Makes the Rivers to Flow” and “Timeless Wisdom.” The audio recording is by Eknath Easwaran’s wife, Christine Easwaran.