Allah, Glorified and Exalted, has informed us that the earth lies low and subdued; then He sends water upon it, and it quivers, swells, and clothes itself in ornament and splendor. Just so with the being fashioned from that earth: when his allotted share of divine enablement reaches him, he too is stirred to life and beauty.

Fire, on the other hand, is by nature prone to rise and wreak corruption, yet once it dies down it becomes the most paltry and abject of things. The creature made from it is the same: ever wavering between arrogant elevation when it flares and writhes, and utter baseness when it subsides and grows still.

Blameworthy traits follow the nature of fire and those created from it, whereas noble traits follow the nature of the earth and those created from it. Thus, whoever enjoys lofty aspiration and a humbled soul is marked by every beautiful quality, while he whose aspiration is low and whose soul is overbearing is branded with every vile quality.

Section

The highest aim can be attained only through lofty aspiration and a sound intention; anyone who lacks the two will find the way barred.

When aspiration is lofty, it attaches itself exclusively to that aim and nothing else. When intention is sound, the servant treads the path that leads to it. Intention isolates the road for him, and aspiration isolates the object sought. Once both the goal and the path to it have been singled out, reaching it becomes inevitable.

If, however, his aspiration is base, it clings to base matters and not to the highest aim; and if his intention is unsound, the road he travels will never bring him to it.

Everything, then, revolves around the servant’s aspiration and intention: they together constitute both his object and his path. Their perfection, however, depends on his abandoning three things: the habits, conventions, and man-made usages that people have introduced.