elf is
ever the same and unchanged. Consider how the human intellect develops and
weakens, and may at times come to naught, whereas the soul changeth not.
For the mind to manifest itself, the human body must be whole; and a sound
mind cannot be but in a sound body, whereas the soul dependeth not upon
the body. It is through the power of the soul that the mind comprehendeth,
imagineth and exerteth its influence, whilst the soul is a power that is
free. The mind comprehendeth the abstract by the aid of the concrete, but
the soul hath limitless manifestations of its own. The mind is
circumscribed, the soul limitless. It is by the aid of such senses as
those of sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch, that the mind
comprehendeth, whereas, the soul is free from all agencies. The soul as
thou observest, whether it be in sleep or waking, is in motion and ever
active. Possibly it may, whilst in a dream, unravel an intricate problem,
incapable of solution in the waking state. The mind, moreover,
understandeth not whilst the senses have ceased to function, and in the
embryonic stage and in early infancy the reasoning power is totally
absent, whereas the soul is ever endowed with full strength. In short, the
proofs are many that go to show that despite the loss of reason, the power
of the soul would still continue to exist. The spirit however possesseth
various grades and stations.

As to the existence of spirit in the mineral: it is indubitable that
minerals are endowed with a spirit and life according to the requirements
of that stage. This unknown secret, too, hath become known unto the
materialists who now maintain that all beings are endowed with life, even
as He saith in the Qur'an, "All things are living."

In the vegetable world, too, there is the power of growth, and that power
of growth is the spirit. In the animal world there is the sense of
feeling, but in the human world there is an all-embracing power. In all
the preceding stages the power of reason is absent, but the soul existeth
and revealeth itself. The sense of feeling understandeth not the soul,
whereas the reasoning power of the mind proveth the existence thereof.

In like manner the mind proveth the existence of an unseen Reality that
embraceth all beings, and that existeth and revealeth itself in all
stages, the essence whereof is beyond the grasp of the mind. Thus the
mineral world understandeth neither the nature nor the perfections of the
vegetable world