—accounts whose full description would be interminable—and their traces are plainly visible in the world; such matters are recognized by careful reflection, as has been set forth elsewhere. Our purpose here, however, is simply to present the various doctrines people hold regarding worship. For these men, the furthest they reach in matters of devotion, morals, and practical wisdom is to say that the soul, in terms of its operative faculty, possesses desire and anger, and, in terms of its cognitive faculty, possesses contemplation.
They say: the perfection of desire is chastity; the perfection of anger is forbearance and courage; and the perfection of the contemplative faculty is knowledge. Maintaining a mean in all of this, steering between excess and deficiency, is what they call justice.
Yet everything they mention about action pertains only to what is recommended; they have failed to affirm the soul’s distinctive attribute—love of God and affirmation of His oneness. Indeed, they have not even grasped this, for their knowledge of God is scant and mixed with much falsehood, as has been explained elsewhere. Now, love of God and His oneness is the very goal in which the soul’s rectitude lies; it is to worship God alone with no partner. The soul can attain neither soundness nor perfection except through this; without it, it is corrupt and devoid of rectitude, as has been detailed above.