Indeed, the deceiver is one whose nature contains both good and evil, yet shows you the good while concealing the evil until the moment of opportunity and power over you.

I have not seen anyone gain an opportunity from this world without it being followed by distress and pain. This is not the condition of deception on the part of the world; rather, the deception is on the part of man toward himself. This is because the deficient man is the one who deceives and destroys himself, not the world. For the world has already manifested to him all that is within its nature—of bliss and misery alike. Yet, the man of weak intellect was delighted by its bliss and believed it to be eternal, while forgetting and neglecting its misery. Then he says: "The world has deceived me." But what deception has the world practiced upon him? Indeed, he is the one who deceives and destroys himself.

O soul: Let not your character in this world be like that of a child who possesses no intellect; if he is fed and treated with kindness, he is pleased and laughs, but if he is treated with severity, he weeps and becomes angry. Thus, in one moment he is laughing, and the next he is weeping; in one moment he is pleased, and the next he is enraged. These are not the traits of the unique Intellect, but rather common, blameworthy traits.

O soul: The world was only ordered upon these diverse meanings—of good and evil, bliss and misery, hardship and ease—as a warning and an awakening for the soul, and as examples for it to act upon.