Beginnins are the places where endings are revealed,so that whoever begins with God ends up with Him.

He is the one you love and rush to in whatever occupies you, and He is the one you prefer in whatever you turn away from.

Whoever is certain that God seeks him is sincere in seeking Him. He who knows that all matters are in God's hands is recollected through trust in Him. Indeed, it is inevitable that the pillars of this world's house of existence be destroyed and that its precious things be stripped away. For the intelligent man is more joyous over the permanent than he is over the evanescent. His light rays out, glad tidings have come to him. Thus, he turns away from this world, takes no notice of it, shuns it altogether. He does not therefore take it as a homeland, nor does he turn it into a home, but rather, while in it, he arouses his fervor towards God and seeks His help in going to Him. His determination, a riding mount, is restless and ever on the move till it comes to kneel down in the presence of the Holy (hadrat al-quds) on the carpet of intimacy, the place of reciprocal disclosure (al-mufataha), confrontation (al-muwahaja), companionship (al-mujalasa), discussion (al-muhadatha), contemplation (al-mushahada), and viewing (al-mutala'a)

The Presence is the nesting place of the hearts of initiates: they take refuge in it and dwell in it. Then, when they descend to the heaven of obligations and the earth of varied fortune, they do so with authority (al-idhn), stability(at-tamkin), and profundity of certitude (al-yaqin). For they have not so descended to obligations through improper conduct of forgetfulness, nor to fortune through passion and pleasure; but instead, they have entered therein by God and for God and from God to God.

"And say: My Lord, make me enter a truthful entering, and make me go forth a truthful going forth, (Quran 17:80) so that i will see Your strength and power when You make me enter, and will submit and conform myself to You when You make me go out. Give me an authority from You, an ally that helps me or that helps others through me, but not one that goes against me; one that helps me against self regard and extinguishes me from the realm of my senses.

Intimate discourses:

'My God, from the diversity of created things, and the changes of states, I know that it is Your desire to make Yourself known to me in everything so that i will not ignore You in everything.'

'My God, whenever my miserliness makes me dumb, Your generousity makes me articulate, and whenever my attributes make me despair, Your grace gives me hope.'

(excerpts taken from Kitab Al-Hikam)