102 GhazzaWs Alchemy of Happiness. 



hating one another, and were ready to slay one another. It 

 was on her account that you rebelled against God, and de- 

 based yourselves to every sort of corruption." And then 

 God will order her to be driven off to hell with her fol- 

 lowers and her lovers. . . . 



Know, that the world consists of a certain number of 

 stages between the world of spirits and the future world. 

 The first stage is the cradle, and the last is the grave, and 

 every period between these is also a stage. Each month 

 represents a league, each hour a mile, and each breath a 

 step. It is always flowing on like running water. Man in 

 his excessive heedlessness thinking himself to be perma- 

 nently established, engages in building up the world : and 

 though he has no assurance of a half-hour of time, he makes 

 preparations for dwelling here for many years, and never 

 once brings himself to make the necessary preparation for 

 dislodging and moving to another land. 



Behold, another likeness of the world. Know, beloved, 

 that the pleasures of the world, and the pains and tribula- 

 tions which are the counterpart to these pleasures in the 

 future world, resemble the man who should eat very largely 

 of rich and delicate food and find great delight therein : 

 but on account of his excesses, he suffers from indigestion, 

 his stomach is irritated, vomiting and sickness ensue and 

 he has a great deal to endure before he can recover his 

 health. He repents of what he has been eating, and in pro- 

 portion as he ate extravagantly, and found enjoyment, he 

 now suffers corresponding pain and disappointment. Now 

 then, in proportion as any one in the world has indulged in 

 the pleasures of life and dissipation, so much the greater 

 will be his anguish and torment at the moment of death. 

 He who possesses gardens and fields, house, lands, and 

 money, servants and horses, will be subject to regret and 

 affliction at death, in proportion to their amount. This 

 misery does not close with death, but on the contrary after- 



