All the prophets from the beginning cry out to my soul, to make herself a virgin and prepare to receive the Divine Son into her most pure womb.
To become a ladder, down which God will descend into the world, and man ascend to God.
To dry up within herself the red sea of the passions of the blood, so that man the slave may cross over into the promised land, the land of freedom.
The Chinese sage admonishes my soul to be calm and motionless and to wait, that the Tao may act within her. Glory be to Lao Tzu, teacher and prophet of his people!
The Indian sage teaches my soul not to fear suffering, but through hard and persevering discipline, through purification and prayer, to rise to the Most High, who will come out to meet her and show her His face and His power. Glory be to Krishna, teacher and prophet of his people!
The royal son of India teaches my soul to empty herself utterly of all the seed and sowings of the world, and to fall away from all the serpentine delusions of powerless and shadowy matter, and to wait, like an empty, calm, pure and blessed Nirvana. Glory be to Buddha, the royal son and inexorable teacher of his people!
The thundering Persian sage says to my soul, that in all the worlds there is nothing but light and darkness, and that the soul must sever herself from darkness as day from night. For the sons of light are conceived of light, and the sons of darkness are conceived of darkness. Glory be to Zoroaster, the great prophet of his people!
The prophet of Israel cries out to my soul: behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, whose name shall be — the God-Man. Glory be to Isaiah, the far-seeing prophet of my soul!
O heavenly Lord, open the hearing of my soul, that she may not turn a deaf ear to the counsels of Thy messengers.
Do not kill your prophets, O my soul, for in their graves lie not they but their murderers.
Wash yourself and make yourself clean; be illumined and clothe yourself in light. Be still in the midst of the surging sea of the world, and keep within yourself the counsels of your prophets. Give yourself wholly to the Most High, and say to the world: I have nothing for you.
Even the most righteous of the sons of men, your faithful ones, are only powerless shadows, who, like righteous Joseph, walk in your shadow. For mortality begets mortality, and not life. Verily I say to you: the men of earth deceive themselves when they say that they give life. They do not give but corrupt; they hurl life down and drown it in the red sea, and wrap it beforehand in darkness and make it a devilish deception. There is no life, O soul, until it comes from the Holy Spirit. Nor is there reality in this world, until it descends from heaven.
Do not kill your prophets, O my soul, for murder is the self-delusion of shadows. Do not kill, for you can kill no one but yourself.
Be a virgin, O my soul, for the virginal soul is the only half-reality in the world of shadows. A half-reality — until God is born within her. Then the soul becomes full reality.
Be wise, O my virgin, and receive with a warm heart the precious gifts of the wise men from the East, intended for your son. Do not look back to the West, where the sun sets, and do not covet gifts illusory and false.