O soul: You are guided toward that which is beneficial to you by your harmony with it, and toward that which is harmful to you by your difference from it in essence. Therefore, whatever is beneficial, take it; and whatever is harmful to you, cast it away and beware of it.

O soul: If you resolve to relocate from a dwelling you currently inhabit, then move to a dwelling that is nobler than the first, so that your joy in your relocation may be intensified. For he who moves from a dark, cramped, ruined, and desolate house to one that is radiant, luminous, spacious, and intimate is likely to remain delighted with his move and joyful in his good end.

O soul: Beware of error in your conduct (Siyasa), for the fruit of error is torment itself. Error and lapse yield nothing but more error, lapse, and an evil consequence. Conversely, the fruit of correctness and right guidance is bliss itself; for correctness and right guidance yield nothing but success, guidance, and a good consequence.

O soul: Indeed, he who plants the date palm and excels in tending to it shall eat the ripe and dried dates and praise the outcome of his work. But he who plants the willow and the bramble shall find no fruit; his service and toil will have gone in vain, and he will blame the consequence of his own action.