The true knowledge of God is hidden in Man, and when the window of the heart through which a human soul, views life in the world, is darkened from without by the hand of God, it is in order that it may become as a mirror in which man can see himself ; for when it is entirely covered upon the outer side it reflects the real or inner Self, the «Father in Heaven»; but when there is no such darkening, then only those things which the mind creates can be seen.

The darkening is in response to the desire of the soul for the Light of Truth ; such a covering obscures all images passing upon the outer side, thus making the heart of man like unto a mirror whose reflecting surface, facing inward -or Godward- can reflect nothing but God. Here the analogy breaks down because the heart is a living mirror, and when it has been made capable of reflecting God in the inner life it can at the same time reflect Him upon the outer life, and the light of this reflection becomes a powerful ray which, when turned upon the transitory things of earth, has the effect of making them invisible; so that the heart in which God is mirrored sees only God, either in the inner or the outer life.

Give to my heart Oh ! God, the Searchlight of the Open Vision, that when it falls upon Thy Beauty, all else may become shadow.