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Section XVII. It has now become clear, from what I have laid out and explained for whoever reads this book, that every person who held the view that any one of these thirteen pursuits should be practiced —
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— his view is error, not truth — because he required its practice in isolation and abandoned the combining of others with it; and so his goal was distorted and he fell short of reaching his desire.
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— and as I cited earlier from Solomon's saying that everything is crooked and deficient.
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But when all these pursuits are combined together, that is pure truth. And the truth is not to take one thirteenth from each, making them equal parts.
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Rather, take from each kind the measure that is right, as wisdom and Torah require.
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When you gather the scattered points of these thirteen meanings, the distilled essence is: the rational person takes from food, drink, and intercourse what sustains his body and produces his offspring.
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When he finds this from what is lawful, desire is sent upon him to take its share; but if desire is about to go wrong or take something not from what is lawful, he restrains and prevents it.
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If it does not come under control as he wishes, he sends upon it the trait of asceticism until it is ascetic in every pursuit. He preserves what God has given him of wealth and children through the strength of loving them, and builds from the land the measure of what he needs.
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And if greed is about to overpower him and bring him into what is forbidden or wrong, he releases the force of asceticism until he stops. He loves the life of this world for the sake of the next world, since it is its antechamber — not for its own sake.
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He does not desire vengeance or vindication; but if it comes spontaneously, he takes it to uphold the boundaries of religion and be good to people. And he uses no laziness whatsoever.
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Whatever time remains after maintaining his sustenance, he devotes his care to worship and wisdom. When he combines all these actions as we have described, he is praiseworthy in both worlds — as it says: 'Above all that you guard, keep your heart, for from it flow the wellsprings of life' (Prov. 4:23).
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His actions become like compound bodies composed of four natures — each body a proportioned compound — and like medicines where three dirhams total are compounded: the weight of each ingredient being
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— one dirham of one ingredient, four dāniq of another, a half dirham of another, two dāniq of another, one and a half dāniq, one dāniq, and half a dāniq of another. Equal parts are not permissible.