Page:Alchemyofhappiness en.djvu/119

Rh light upon the nature of the way of life, and upon the true condition in which man is placed. They point out the means and methods by which the slave of desire may secure a change of his vicious inclinations, and by which the disordered soul may obtain a pure and virtuous character. They set forth the transitory nature of the world and the shame and sin of being attached to it. They endeavor to persuade men that the design of their entrance into the world is that they may love and know God; and they strive to turn them away from following the world, by giving them ideas of the joys and rest of the other world, and of the delight and preciousness of the vision of the beauty of the Lord, that so they may live as pilgrims to eternity. The whole reason why the apprentice loves his master, and every disciple loves his teacher, and why the wise and excellent love the experienced Sheikh whose lessons they hear, or love the doctors of the law and the saints of olden time is that they have been beneficent, and have supplied their wants.

In matters pertaining to the world, beloved, the necessities of man are of such kinds that there is no occasion for our entering into any details. Do you not realize for instance, through how many hands the food you put into your mouth passes, before it is brought to you, and how many persons have been employed in the service of preparing it for you? And man has, in short, the same kind of need of helpers in his clothing, home, and in all the arts and trades, as has before been mentioned. He needs, also, the winds and rain, the sun and moon, the earth and sky, as we find in the verses of Sheikh Saadi:

The clouds, wind, moon, sun and stars are working ever: Therefore if a loaf of bread comes into your hands, eat it not without gratitude.