If you do not realize this explanation of mine, then show me how harmony can exist between your attributes, which I have mentioned, and the attributes of others besides you.

It is impossible, O soul, for the union of two opposing things to be established within a single meaning. Therefore, trust in my word, O soul, and return to what I have inscribed and defined for you; you shall find the truth and triumph with correctness.

O soul: Just as a drowning man is too preoccupied with the water to hunt for fish, so it is with the dweller of this world—if he were to realize the evil of his fall into it, the quest for his soul's salvation would preoccupy him more than its possessions and pleasures.

O soul: While you are in the world of the senses, what you endure from your instruments (the body), their opposites, and their impurities is enough for you. Do not add another person to your instruments, lest you be like a drowning man held pledge in the sea who has carried a stone upon his shoulder. I do not see a drowning man escaping even when he is stripped and bare, so how can he escape if he carries another weight upon his shoulder?

O soul: The treading of the path of salvation on your part depends on what you know and experience. That is because if your knowledge is limited to the objects of sense, then at the time of your transition, you will move toward what you have known, head in its direction, and find joy in it.