It is one of the traveler’s homes, and that it is a bridge through which he can cross, and that if a person does not purify himself with knowledge, good morals, and the attributes of the highest level of purity, and abstaining from [Page 167 of the Cairo Edition] natural desires that distract from correct vision and the acquisition of divine knowledge, then he begins to embark on that. This is also the reason for the lack of knowledge. By sciences in which deficiency is a flaw in man, I do not mean anything other than the divine sciences. Otherwise, the truth shows that there is never any deficiency, and that man is ever-increasing in knowledge, in terms of what his senses give him and the fluctuations of his conditions in himself and his thoughts. He has more knowledge, but there is no benefit in it, and suspicion, doubt, consideration, and ignorance. Heedlessness and forgetfulness, all of this and the like, does not include knowledge of what you are in by virtue of suspicion, doubt, consideration, ignorance, heedlessness, or forgetfulness, and

[ The Sciences of Manifestation: Its Decrease and Increase ]

As for the deficiency of the Sciences of Manifestation and its increase, man is in one of two states: the emergence of the prophets by means of conveyance or the saints by virtue of prophetic inheritance, as was said to Abu Yazid when he took off his position of authority and said to him, “Come out to my creation in my capacity, and whoever sees you sees me.” He could only obey the command of his Lord, so he took a step towards himself from his Lord and fainted. When the call was answered for my beloved, he had no patience for me, for he was consumed with the truth like Abu Iqal al-Maghribi. He returned to the place of consumption, in which were the souls entrusted to him who supported him. When he was commanded to go out, he returned to the truth.