The sun shines in the east, in the centre of the world, on the
mountains; it hastens summer in that region, and creates good fruits
and potent wines, filling the earth with joy. The same sun shines in
the west, at the ends of the earth; there the country is colder, and
the power of its heat is less, yet nevertheless it produces a great
many excellent fruits; but few wines are found there.
Those men who dwell in the west of their own being, remain in the
outward senses, and by their good intentions, their virtues, and their
outward practices, through God’s grace, they produce abundant harvests
and virtues in various ways, but they seldom taste the wine of inward
joy and of spiritual consolation.
The man who will feel the shining of the Eternal Sun, which is Christ
Himself, will have clear vision, and will dwell on the mountains of
the east, concentrating all his energies and raising his heart towards
God, free and careless as regards joy, sorrow, and all creatures. There
Christ the Sun of Righteousness shines on the free and uplifted heart;
and these are the mountains which I have in mind. Christ, the glorious
sun and the divine brightness, shines and illumines and enkindles by
His inward coming, and the power of His Spirit, the free heart and all
the powers of the soul.
When summer draws near, and the sun rises higher in the heavens, it
draws the moisture of the soil through the roots and the trunk of the
trees, until it reaches the branches, and hence come foliage, flowers,
and fruits. So likewise, when Christ, the Eternal Sun, rises in our
hearts, so that the summer reigns over their adornment of virtues,
He sends His light and His fire into our will, and draws the heart
from the multitude of earthly things, and creates unity and close
fellowship, and makes the heart to grow and become green through inward
love, and to bear the flowers of loving devotion and the fruits of
gratitude and affection, and preserves these fruits in the sorrow and
humility we feel because of our impotence.