CHAPTER FOUR

O soul: Indeed, the realm of nature consists of purity and turbidity. Drink of its turbidity before its purity; for thus should one who seeks happiness discipline the soul with this governance.

Know that drinking of purity after turbidity is better than drinking of turbidity after purity. Do not be deceived by the existence of purity in the realm of nature; for if purity is found within it, it is not so in reality—because that which has no permanence contains no [true] purity, but is entirely turbid and dross.

I have only struck a parable for you. If you desire the pure and wholesome thing, then seek it outside the world of generation and corruption. For if you seek it in its proper source, you shall find it; but if you seek it elsewhere, you shall lose it. And if you lose your quest and your purpose eludes you, sorrows and poverty will cling to you, leading you to a sickness that brings death to the intellectual life and eternal existence.

O soul: This vessel you have boarded in this vast sea is but frozen water, composed by accident. Soon the sun shall rise upon it, and it will dissolve back into its element, leaving you sitting upon the surface of the water—if sitting is even possible for you—seeking a vessel and finding none, except for what you have acquired through the excellence of your swimming and the quality of your guidance.