The first and principal thing in the inner life is to establish a relationship with God, making God the object with which we relate ourselves, such as the Creator, Sustainer, Forgiver, Judge, Friend, Father, Mother and Beloved. In every relationship we must place God before us, and become conscious of that relationship so that it will no more remain an imagination; because the first thing a believer does is to imagine.

• He imagines that God is the Creator,
• and tries to believe that God is the Sustainer,
• and he makes an effort to think that God is a Friend,
• and an attempt to feel that he loves God.