is a boon, and whom I am duty-bound to obey, to gather for him the difficult questions concerning fundamental principles and unravel the obscurities that have baffled men of reason. He thinks well of me, believing that I have reached the furthest bounds of inquiry and attained the utmost limits of reflection. Yet perhaps he has mistaken swelling for stoutness and blown where there is no tinder.

By my life, I have toured all the seats of learning,
And cast my gaze among those landmarks;
Yet I saw only a bewildered man, his hand upon his chin,
Or one tapping his tooth in remorse.

Every intellect has its path and field of exploration—its own Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary—and every foot has its stopping place and range—its furthest limit. Upon reaching that limit and halting there, the thinker initially supposes that beyond his own station there is nowhere for subtle thought to roam, nor above his own rank any further reach for the rays of insight. In the end, however, he becomes certain that the flight of thought concerns only things possessing magnitude, whereas the Divine Majesty cannot be encompassed by vision, though He encompasses all vision.”