O soul: Be subtle in adopting the commendable tool. Once you have found it, manage it well with justice, and seek toil, acquisition, and attainment. Then, when you have achieved self-sufficiency and your wealth has abounded, you ought to sell your tool for the lowest price, triumph with what you have acquired, and depart from the place of acquisition.

O soul: Understand this saying of mine with a sound [disposition]. For one afflicted with yellow bile cannot taste the sweetness of honey nor find pleasure in it; rather, it is the healthy person who perceives its pleasure and tastes its sweetness. Likewise, none takes delight in the Word of Truth except he who perceives its meanings and discerns them through the soundness of his intellect.

As for the intellect that is sickened by ignorance, forgetfulness, sorrow, [sensual] pleasure, and fear—for these are the intellectual diseases—its sickness hinders it and prevents it from tasting the Word and discerning its meanings. So, O soul, represent this testament to yourself and envision it in its true reality.