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AN INSTRUCTION TO PUT THE CARNAL SELF IN ITS
PLACE:
IS MAN HIMSELF THE ORIGIN OF HIS OWN CAPACITY AND VIRTUES?
In the Name of God the Merciful the
Compassionate.
Do not reckon those who rejoice in
what they have brought and love to be praised for what
they have not done-do not reckon them secure from
chastisement; rather, there is a painful chastisement
for them.
O foolish soul delighted with self-pride,
enamored of fame, fond of being praised, and peerless in
egotism!
Suppose it is a just claim that its tiny
seed is the agent of a fig tree with all its fruits, and that
it is the dry branch of the vine which produces tens of
bunches of grapes hanging from it. Suppose that those who
benefit from them should respect and praise the branch and the
seed. Then you might have the right to be proud and conceited
about the gifts-abilities, the physical features, etc.-which
were given to you. Whereas in fact you deserve to be
constantly chided because you are not like the seed and the
branch. Since you have the faculty of will, you reduce the
value of those gifts through your pride; through your conceit,
you damage them; through your ingratitude, you nullify them;
and in appropriating them to yourself, you usurp them.
Your duty is not to be self-proud, but to
be thankful to God. What is fit for you is not to seek fame
but humility, and to feel shame (for your deficiencies). Your
right is not praise but repentance, and to seek forgiveness
(for your faults). Your perfection lies not in
self-centeredness, but in attributing every good to God.
You soul in my body, you resemble “nature”
in the outer world. Both of you were created to receive good
and be the thing to which evil is referred. That is, you are
not the agent and the origin, rather, you are the recipient,
the means, and the ground or the scene. You can, O my soul, be
effective only in that you cause an evil because you do not
accept the good coming from the Absolute Good. You and the “natural
causes” were created as veils, so that things that are
apparently ugly, the beauty of which is not visible, should be
attributed to you, and you should be the means of the Most
Holy Divine Essence being acknowledged free of defect. You, my
carnal soul, have taken an attitude completely contrary to
your duty of creation. Although, out of your incompetence you
have changed good into evil, you act as though you were a
partner to your Creator. That means one who adores himself and
one who adores nature is extremely foolish and a great
wrongdoer.
Do not say: “I am an object of Divine
manifestations. One who receives and reflects Divine beauty
becomes beautiful.” For, since that beauty has not taken on
a perpetual form in you, you may be an object reflecting it
only for a short time.
Also, do not say: “Among people I was
chosen. All these results, all the works I have produced are
shown through me. I have some merit that God chose me to
manifest some of His Names through.” No! God forbid! God has
caused you to produce those works because you are more
bankrupt and more needy of them than everyone else and more
afflicted with intellectual and spiritual shortcomings.
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Last Updated on November 14, 2000
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