And he said, “or more harsh,” because the stone cannot prevent you from influencing it with a pickaxe, and the heart undoubtedly refrains from influencing you in it, for you have no power over it. That is why the heart is more harsh, meaning it is more abstaining and more ardent, and if you do good on its outward appearance, it is not necessary for his heart to soften toward you, that is for him. It was said that some people broke a hard, dry stone and saw in the middle of that stone a cavity in which was a worm with a green leaf in its mouth that it was eating. It was narrated in the first prophecy that God Almighty had a solid rock under the earth, and in the hollow of that rock was an animal that had no outlet in the rock, and that God had placed food for it in it. He glorifies God and says, Glory be to Him who does not forget me, at the distance of my place.

That is, from the place from which sustenance comes, not at the distance of its place from God. The relationshi