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Section II.
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I should make clear that the harms of this exclusive choice are not minor but severe — as I will illustrate.
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I say: some chose wandering in the mountains, and it drove them to obsessive distraction;
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some chose eating and drinking, and it led them to disease;
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some chose amassing wealth, which made them prey for others; some chose vengeance, and ended by turning all of these things against themselves; and similar matters — as I will explain in the body of this maamar, with God's help.
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But I premise this here by saying: for this reason, one requires wisdom to guide and direct a person always — as it says: 'In your walking, it shall guide you' (Prov. 6:22).
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The fundamental principle here is that a person is master over his character traits and exercises sovereignty over what he loves and what he dislikes.
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For each trait has its proper domain where it should be deployed; when one sees the occasion that calls for a given trait, he releases it to the degree that is fitting, until that action is complete.
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And when he sees the occasion that calls for restraining that trait, he restrains it until that moment passes. And all of this —
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— all of this is accomplished through discernment: the capacity to release a trait whenever one wishes and to restrain it whenever one wishes.
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As it says: 'Better slow to anger than a hero, and one who rules his spirit than one who captures a city' (Prov. 16:32).
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I previously noted that the soul has three faculties: desire (shahwa), anger (ghaḍab), and discernment (tamyīz).
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As for the faculty of desire: it is what draws a person toward food, drink, intercourse, pleasing sights, beautiful vistas, pleasant scents, and soft garments.
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As for the faculty of anger: it is what drives a person toward audacity, boldness, obstinacy, indignation, vengeance, arrogance, and the like.
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As for the faculty of discernment: it is what judges the other two faculties with equity.
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Whenever either faculty — or any of its branches — is provoked, the faculty of discernment takes it up for examination and scrutiny.
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If it sees that both its beginning and its outcome are sound, it gives assent — and how much more so when it sees the outcome to be praiseworthy.
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If it sees in either side of a matter — or in any of its ramifications — some harm, it signals its abandonment.
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Any person who follows this principle — whose discernment rules over his desire and anger — is disciplined with the discipline of the wise, as it says: 'The fear of the Lord is the discipline of wisdom' (Prov. 15:33).
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But any person whose desire or anger rules over his discernment is not disciplined; and if one presumes to call this state 'discipline,' it is the discipline of fools — as it says: 'The instruction of fools is folly' (Prov. 16:22), and also: 'Correction is unpleasant for one who forsakes the way' (Prov. 15:10).