142 Ghazzali's Alchemy of Happiness. 



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 dis- 

 ordered 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 les- 

 sons 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 neces- 

 sities 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 pre- 

 paring 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. 



And after we have eaten our food, how many agents we 

 need to digest it, and to convert it into fat, milk and blood. 



