CHAPTER NINE

O soul: Indeed, among the most difficult and utterly impossible things is for the craft of goldsmithing to be performed with the tools of farming, or the craft of carpentry with the tools of sewing. Every craft has its specific instrument; its work will not be properly executed except by that instrument and no other. Even if a person is skilled in all crafts and utilizes all their tools, it is necessary for him, if he wishes to perform sewing, to cast from his hand the tool of farming and take up for sewing its appropriate instruments. And if he wishes to farm, he must cast from his hand the tool of sewing and take up for farming its appropriate instruments.

Likewise, O soul: it is necessary for whoever wishes to attain the work of Goodness to cast from his hand the instrument of Evil and Ignorance—which is the love of this world and the desire for it.

Whenever you resolve, O soul, to seek Knowledge and Goodness, then drop from your hand the instrument of Evil, just as it has been established in your knowledge that a craft cannot be performed except with its own tools.

Take up for Knowledge and Goodness their appropriate instruments; for whenever you perform them with their own tools, they are accomplished without exhaustion or toil.