FIFTH POINT

The things among these beings man imagines to be hostile and foreign, and lifeless and lost as though orphans or dead, the light of belief shows to him as friends and brothers, as living, and as glorifying God. That is to say, a person who looks with the eye of heedlessness supposes the beings in the world to be harmful like enemies, and he takes fright; he sees things as foreign. For in the view of misguidance, there are no bonds of brotherhood between the things of the past and those of the future. There is only an insignificant, partial connection between them. As a consequence, the brotherhood of the people of misguidance is only for one minute within thousands of years.

In the view of belief, all the heavenly bodies appear as living and as familiar with one another. Belief shows each of them to be glorifying its Creator through the tongue of its being. It is in this respect that all the heavenly bodies possess a sort of life and spirit according to each. There is no fear and fright therefore when the heavenly bodies are considered with this view of belief; there is familiarity and love.

The view of unbelief sees human beings, powerless as they are to secure their desires, as ownerless and without protector; it imagines them to be grieving and sorrowful like weeping orphans on account of their impotence. The view of belief on the other hand, sees them as living creatures; not as orphans but officials charged with duties; as servants glorifying and extolling God.

SIXTH POINT

The light of belief depicts this world and the hereafter as two tables displaying numerous varieties of bounties from which a believer benefits through the hand of belief, his inner and external senses, and his subtle, spiritual faculties. In the view of misguidance, the sphere from which a living being may benefit diminishes and is restricted to material pleasures. While in the view of belief, it expands to a sphere which embraces the heavens and the earth. Yes, a believer considers the sun to be a lamp hanging in the roof of his house, and the moon to be a night-light. They thus become bounties for him, and the sphere from which he benefits is broader than the heavens. With the eloquent verses,