Willful action needs an initiative plan and decision, and this depends onthe vitality and activity of the mind. In this respect, among the creatures with which we are familiar, willful action is a trait only peculiar to humanity. God Almighty honored humans with innate free will so that it will serve as an invitation to His

Supreme Will, that is, as an initial means. Free will is a decipherer and a torch; wherever it shines, the Light and Supreme Will of the One Who governs all of creation and space is manifested there as well. People who unify their limited free will with the Supreme Will of the Creator reach infinity with their finite will; they become powerful while they are helpless, strong while impotent; they turn from being a drop into a sea, from an atom into the sun, becoming an entire being when previously they were nothing.

Even though it is limited, human will is a Divine gift from the infinite Will of God to the most distinguished being on the earth. Those who are able to make use of this gift as a key to secret codes can manage to solve the most intriguing matters, to illuminate the darkest points, to open the strongest doors, and obtain the most valuable treasure. Free will does not consist of mere thought, nor is it an action. It is the primary source and bastion of spiritual power, soundness of heart, and physical activity; it is the sole means that opens doors for human beings to attain infinity in spite of their finiteness of opportunity. In the same way that those who are aware of the significance of possessing this means are able to tackle many problems in a single attempt, they can also close the doors of Hell and discover the path of the stars lead to Heaven. Every cause and ideal comes into existence with plans and projects that are put forward by our free will; they overcome the greatest obstacles thanks to the driving force of the will. And then via the mysterious interaction of free will that is related to the upper realms, they are able to attain continuity and become permanent. The distance to the moon was covered on the wings of free will. The peak of Mount Ararat was explored thanks to free will. The oceans, a ground of manifestation for the Supreme Will, were illuminated with this same torch, human free will. In the days to come, a great part of space will become a luminous book for us under its light. People’s observance of a spiritual life, their resistance to the numerous temptations around them and the comprehension of their humanity by overcoming carnal desires is dependent on the language of the free will and its prayers. People who use their free will and establish contact with the Infinitely Merciful Lord rely on His power, come under His protection, and are saved from falling into the abyss of a carnal-centered life. In the same way that every kind of existence and ascension depends on the wings of free will, so too every collapse is closely related to the breaking of those wings. On the one hand, people like Barsisa,1 who sought the highest spiritual ranks was knocked down by a small matter and a moment of heedlessness. On the other hand, the noble Prophet Joseph, while he was surrounded with lust in the palace of the Egyptian vizier, parried all the attacks of his carnal self with a sign of God; in addition to his physical beauty, he acquired a different grandness with his rising soul, and he was exalted to the realms beyond the skies. At every turning point in life, before all demonic events and monsters that lay in wait for a moment of weakness, only the chivalrous souls who are in resonance with the Divine Will, and who rise with the wings of free will, holding the universe in their hands, can resist. Chivalrous souls who are tempered with every new event, they are hardened and made more alert with every calamity and they break out like a storm on the enmities that surround them. The unskilled souls whose thoughts and emotions have not yet settled, who panic at every noise, who are destroyed by the slightest tremor, who are disorientated when they should stand and resist, might temporarily produce flashing lights to dazzle those around them, but they cannot maintain a permanent light or save the masses from confusion.

Not only can they not save anyone, every noise made by such people provokes the opposing ones even more, making conditions worse. If you wish to comply with the conditions of the present time, Become not a fountain, but a whirlpool, A mystery, outwardly narrow, inwardly sublime This is why we need to be vigorous souls with unshakable hearts who yearn for eternity and keep up a never-yielding perseverance. We have no time to lose with those who make mountains out of molehills! What we need today is a meaningful tune from the suffering coral that is deep inside the reef, and to enliven the people on the shore, in spite of the sharks circling around. A tune only to be sensed by the spirit… as quiet as can be and free from pomp. A tune in compliance with the relevant pauses, one to be felt in the hearts… a tune that reflects the striving of those who walk on this blessed path.

Note

1. Barsisa was a saintly recluse whom Satan led astray with a beautiful woman.

O worshipper of causes! Imagine that you see a splendid palace being built of different, marvelous jewels. However, some of these jewels can be found only in China, others in only Andalusia or Yemen, and still some others only in Siberia. Would you not say that only one who controls and owns the whole world, who can have anything he wants brought to him whenever he wants it, can build that palace? 

[its jewels”particles or atoms”are gathered from many worlds: the worlds of spirits and symbols; the Supreme Preserved Tablet¹ and from the worlds of air, water, earth, light, and fire]. Human needs are infinite, and human desires encompass the heavens and Earth. As human beings have connections with everything in this world and the Hereafter, they have no right to pray and worship that which is not the One Who

dominates Earth and the heavens and holds the reins of the world and the Hereafter.

Second Sign

O my heart. The most ignorant people are those who do not recognize the sun while seeing its image in a mirror, but rather love the mirror and seek to preserve it so that they can hold onto the sun permanently. If only they understood that the sun does not perish or disappear when the mirror does, they would direct their love only to the sun itself. A reflection does not depend on the mirror for its permanence; rather, the mirrors permanence depends on it, whereas the original object is self-subsistent. The permanence of the mirrorsliveliness and its shining [with the sun in it] are possible only through the permanence of the suns manifestations and the mirrors facing the sun.

Your heart is like that mirror, and the love of permanence implanted in your nature must be directed only to what is manifested in it. So, say: O Permanent One, You are the Permanent, and turn to Him so that you may become permanent. Then let mortality do as it wishes, for we do not mind whatever befalls us.

Third Sign

Know, my friend, that the All-Wise Creator has implanted within human nature a strange characteristic: Since the world cannot contain you, you frequently utter, as if in a suffocating dungeon, a sound of disgust. Yet something as small as a mustard seed, a cell, a memory, or a minute of time so absorbs you that you are lost in it and passionately attracted to it. The Creator has given you such faculties that some of them would not be satisfied even if they could swallow the world. Others are bored with microscopic particles and cannot tolerate even a hair out of place. You know that your eye cannot work properly if there is a hair in it.

Be alert and careful of what you do so that you will not ruin yourself and your most subtle faculties. An (unlawful) morsel or a word, an (illicit) glance, beckoning, or kiss can ruin you. Everything has an aspect of non-existence that can ruin and swallow you. Look at the mirror in your hand, and see how the sky and its stars are contained in it. See how the Truth inscribes most of your acts or deeds and even most of your life in your mustard seed-sized memory. Glory be to Him, the All-Powerful, the Self-Subsistent.

Fourth Sign

O you who worship the world! Your private world is a narrow, grave-like place. But since its walls are made of glass, and therefore reflect one within the other as far as the eye can see, you see it as spacious, as wide as a town. With respect to this worldly lifes material dimension, the past (the right wall) has finished and the future (the left wall) does not exist. However, as your worlds two mirror-like walls face each other, they come together at the point of your present time and make it difficult for you to distinguish between what is real and what is reflected [in them].

The line of your present extends into [your past and future] and becomes an area. When misfortune moves you, you strike your head against the walls, suffer disappointment, and lose sleep. You see your world as narrower than a grave and a bridge, and your life moves faster than a river and even lightning.

Since this is the nature of worldly life, and of life lived on the level of the flesh and animals, free yourself of animality, leave corporeality behind, and enter the level of life of the heart and spirit! You will find therein a sphere of life and a world of light more broad than the world that you imagined to be so broad. The key to that world is to make the heart utter the sacred words: There is no god but God, which express the mysteries of Divine Unity and knowledge of God, and to make the spirit work them.

Footnote

1. The Supreme Preserved Tablet: This Tablet contains the originals of everything in Divine Knowledge, as well as the principles and laws of creation, and never changes. It has two aspects. One is known as the Supreme Preserved Tablet (85:22), and the other as the Manifest Record (36:12). The Quran states: Nothing befalls us save that which God has decreed or preordained for us (9:51), such as our complete personal characteristics, particularities, and future life-history, and: All moving creature on Earth and flying creatures are communities like humanity. God has neglected nothing in the Record (6:38).