“Everywhere we may turn in the great mystical literature of the world, the love of God is the foremost note of interpretation.
…Together with this primary note of love as essential to the life of God, the mystics of history are very prone to couple the self-giving nature of God’s Life. … God’s giving of Himself is … an abounding and joyous outpouring of His Life.

These marks of divine character … tended to eliminate fear from the mystic’s mind.… Awe, mystery and wonder remain in the hushed spirit that has had a vision of Eternal Reality–and the fuller the vision the greater become the wonder, the mystery and the awe. But it is plainly noticeable that mystical experience usually brings a feeling of security, serenity and joy–a sense of ‘at homeness,’ …in the vast spaces of the world and in the background and forward sweep of time. The soul is no longer frightened, like a lost child. It feels that it ‘belongs.’

– Rufus Jones, Pathways to the Reality of God, 1931.
– Jones, Professor of Philosophy, Havorford College, was a highly influential American Quaker, founder of the American Friends Service Committee, prolific writer.

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“There it was; the true Light coming into the world – the genuine, perfect, steadfast Light – that illumines every person.”
…to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the authority to become the children of God…”

– John 1, from verses 9 & 12