Ghazzali's Alchemy of Happiness. 



45 



gry, your stomach craves food, and that if you are cold, 

 you desire clothing; but other animals also understand 

 these things. 



However, that knowledge of the soul which leads to the 

 knowledge of God, is not of this kind. The knowledge 

 which you need to possess is, to know what you are ; how 

 you are created ; whence you are ; for what you are here ; 

 whither you are going ; in what your happiness consists, 

 and what you must do to secure it ; in what your misery 

 consists, and what you must do to avoid it. And further, 

 your internal qualities are distributed into animal, feroci- 

 ous, demoniacal and angelic qualities. You need to know, 

 therefore, what qualities predominate in your character, 

 and in the predominance of which your true happiness 

 consists. If your qualities are chiefly animal, the essence 

 of which is to eat and drink, you will day and night seek 

 after these things. If your qualities are of the ferocious 

 kind, the essence of which is to tear and rend, to injure 

 and destroy, you will act accordingly. If you are endowed 

 chiefly with the qualities of devils, which consist in evil 

 machinations, deceit and delusion, then you should know 

 and be aware of it, that you may turn towards the path of 

 perfection. And if you possess angelic qualities, whose 

 nature it is to worship God in sincerity and continually to 

 await the vision of His beauty, then like them you should un- 

 ceasingly, resting neither day or night, be zealous and strive 

 that you may become worthy of the vision of the Lord. For 

 know, O student of the mysteries ! that man was created 

 to stand at the door of service in frailty and weakness, 

 and wait for the opening of the door of spiritual union, and 

 for the vision of beauty, as God declares in his holy word : 

 " I have not created the genii and men except that they 

 should worship me." 1 



'S. 51 : 56. 



