In his existence he is non-existent, and in his non­existence he has existence. That is to say, if he val­ues himself and attributes existence to himself, he is in the darkness of non-existence as great as the uni­verse. That is, if he relies on his individual existence and is unmindful of the True Giver of Existence, he has an individual light of existence like that of a fire-fly and is submerged in an endless darkness of non-existence and separation. But if he gives up ego­tism and sees that he is a mirror of the manifesta­tions of the True Giver of Existence, he gains all beings and an infinite existence. For he who finds the Necessary Existent One, the manifestation of Whose names all beings manifest, finds everything.

The four steps in this way of impotence, poverty, compassion, and reflection have been explained in the twenty-six Words so far written, which are con­cerned with knowledge of reality, the reality of the Shari'a, and the wisdom of the Qur'an. So here, we shall allude briefly to only one or two points, as fol­lows:

This path is shorter, because it consists of four steps. When impotence causes a person to give up the soul, it turns him directly to the All-Powerful

One of Glory. Whereas, when a person on the way of ecstatic love, the swiftest way, gives up the soul, his way directs him to a temporary {mecazt) beloved. Only when he discovers the beloved's impermanence does he turn to the True Beloved.

Also, this path is much safer, because the ravings and high-flown claims of the soul are not present on it. For apart from impotence, poverty, and defect, the soul possesses nothing so that it oversteps its mark.

Also, this path is much broader and more univer­sal. For in order to attain to a constant awareness of God's presence, a person is not compelled to ima­gine the universe to be condemned to non-existence and to declare: "There is no existent but He," like those who believe in the Unity of Existence, nor to suppose the universe to be condemned to imprison­ment in absolute oblivion and to say, "There is noth­ing witnessed but He," like those who believe in the Unity of Witnessing. Rather, since the Qur'an has most explicitly pardoned the universe and released it from execution and imprisonment, the person on this path disregards the above, and dismissing beings from working on their own account and employing them on account of the All-Glorious Creator, and in the duty of manifesting the Most Beautiful Names and being mirrors to them, he con­siders them from the point of view of signifying something other than themselves; and being saved from absolute heedlessness, he enters the divine presence permanently; he finds a way leading to the Almighty God in everything.