Love is the mystic path...

Bowl of Saki, September 17, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:

Mystics of all ages have not been known for their miraculous powers or for the
doctrines they have taught, but for the devotion they have shown throughout
their lives. The Sufi in the East says to himself, Ishq Allah Ma'bud Allah,
which means 'God is Love, God is the Beloved', in other words it is God who is
Love, Lover, and Beloved. When we hear the stories of the miraculous powers of
mystics, of their great insight into the hidden laws of nature, of the qualities
which they manifested through their beautiful personalities, we realize that
these have all come from one and the same source, whether one calls it devotion
or whether one calls it love.

Love is that state of mind in which the consciousness of the lover is merged in
that of the object of his love; it produces in the lover all the attributes of
humanity, such as resignation, renunciation, humility, kindness, contentment,
patience, virtue, calmness, gentleness, charity, faithfulness, bravery, by which
the devotee becomes harmonized with the Absolute. As one of God's beloved, a
path is opened for his heavenly journey: at the end he arrives at oneness with
God, and his whole individuality is dissolved in the ocean of eternal bliss
where even the conception of God and man disappears.