The Alchemy of Happiness

On knowledge of the soul, and how knowledge o? thb soul is the key to the knowledge oy gob.

O seeker after the divine mysteries! know thou that the door to the knowledge of God will be opened to a man first of all, when he knows his own soul, and understands the truth abont his own spirit, according as it has been revealed, “he who kuo ws himself knows his Lord also/9 And God proclaims in his hoty book: “We will display our miracles in the different countries of the world, till it shall .be demonstrated to them that the Koran is the truth,” that is, let us show men in the visible world, and in their own souls, the wonderfulness of our works and the perfection of our power, that they may learn to know that the Lord God is Almighty and true, and that everything else besides is vanity.

O seeker of the mysteries! since there is nothing nearer to thee than thyself, and that still with thy soul aloue,thou canst not discriminate anything, and art impotent to find out and know thyself, in what way canst thou become acquainted with anything else, and with that which is even separate from thyself? And how should’st thou be able to comprehend God, who in his nature cannot bo comprehended, and of whose absolute essence it is not possible to give thee any explanation. If thon shonld’st say, “I perfectly know myself/’ we reply, that we have no donbt that what yon are acquainted with is your own hand and foot, with your eye and mouth, and animals even have this Hod of knowledge. Yon know also that if yon are hungry, your stomach craves food, and that if you are cold, you desire clothing; but other animals also understand these things.