But that kind of love arises not because you have a beloved; that kind of love arises because you have reached to your very innermost center. It comes out of meditation; that is the missing point. Otherwise, it is a beautiful poetry and what he is saying is significant:

It is to build a house with affection, even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house.

This is the poverty of the poet. Once in a while he makes the effort to reach to the stars but he goes on falling back to the earth again and again. His poetry is mixed – sometimes it reaches to the open sky on the wing and sometimes it creeps on the earth. And unless you are a meditator you will not be able to make the distinction because his words are always beautiful. Just see: he is saying, It is to build a house with affection… but from where are you going to get affection?

And he says: even as if… Remember those two words as if. It is all imagination: even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house. As if? – you are trying to create a hallucination around yourself.

When you see a beautiful sunset you don’t say, “Look, it seems as if the sunset is very beautiful.” Your “as if” is your doubt, your “as if” is simply your inference.

Just think: you love a woman or a man and you say, “It seems as if I love you.” Do you think this is going to convince the woman? If she’s really a woman and not a bogus lady, she is going to hit you hard! As if!

But the difference is clear: the mystic speaks with an authority. The poet, at the most, can speak always rooted in ifs and buts.

There is a great book by a very famous philosopher; its name is As If. The man is sincere. He does not say, “God exists.” He says, “As if… I think God exists.”

Beware of ugly words like as if. Either you love or you don’t love, there is no middle ground.

It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy, even as if your beloved were to eat the fruit.

The words are beautiful but the content, the substance, is on shaky ground. That as if means you are making a castle in the sand, believing that no wind is going to destroy it. But the winds don’t follow your orders.