"There was a learned man who desired that God would teach him the truth. After many years, a voice of God came to him and said, "On a certain street, you shall meet a man who will show you the way to blessedness."
When he went down the street, he found a poor man covered with dirt. He greeted the poor man, "God give you a good day." The poor man answered, "I have never had a bad day."
The learned man said, "God give you good luck." The poor man said, "I have never had ill luck." "May you be happy." "I have never been unhappy." The learned man said, "Pray explain this to me for I can not understand it."
The poor man answered, "If I am hungry, I praise God. If the weather is foul, I praise God. Even when I am wretched and despised, I praise God. For I have never had an evil day."
Finally the man shot back at the poor man, "But if God should cast you into hell, what would you do then?" The poor man answered, "If God cast me in hell, I will have two arms to embrace him. One arm of true humility I will lay beneath him and with the right arm of love, I will be united with him since I have two arms to embrace him.
I should so embrace God that He would have to go to hell with me. And I would rather be in hell and have God, then in heaven and not have God."
Then the Man finally understood that true abandonment with utter humility is the nearest way to God" (Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism, p.209).
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