The Words | GLEAMS | 758
(724-779)

Sometimes the Absence of Bounty Is Bounty

Memory is a bounty, but for an immoral person at times of misfortune, for-getfulness is preferable.

Forgetfulness is also a bounty; it allows one to suffer the pains of only one

day; it makes one forget the accumulated sorrows.

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All Misfortunes Have Sides Which Are Bounty

O you smitten by misfortune! Within the misfortune is a bounty. Look closely and you will see it!

Just as in everything is a degree of heat, so in every calamity a degree of bounty is to be found. Think of a worse calamity, then see the extent of the bounty in the lesser one,

And offer abundant thanks to God. For if you're scared by exaggerating it, and whine and complain, it will grow.

And as it grows it will worsen. If you are anxious, it will double. Its image in your heart will turn into fact.

It will learn from reality, then turn on you and start striking your heart...

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Don't Appear Important, Or You'll Be Put Down

O you with an inflated ego and conceited head! You should understand this rule: in the social building of the human community, everyone has a window, called a rank, in which to see and be seen.

If the window is larger than a person's stature and worth, he will stretch and lengthen through pride. But if the window is smaller than his stature and aspiration, he will bend and bow down out of modesty.

In the mature and perfected, the measure of greatness is smallness. While in the faulty, the measure of littleness is bigness.

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