According to another authority (=Majma-us-Sâerîn=) there are 356 =Walîs= ever working in the world. When one of them retires, another takes his place, so that there is never any diminution in the number 356. They are made up of 300 + 40 + 7 + 5 + 3 + 1. The =One= is the =Qutub= of the world, the preservation of which is due to His holy existence. If He retired without another to take His place, the world would fall to pieces. When the =Qutub= retires, one of the _Three_ takes His place; one of the _Five_ fills up the gap in the _Three_, one of the _Seven_ fills up the gap in the _Five_, one of the _Forty_ fills up the gap in the _Seven_, one of the _Three Hundred_ fills up the gap in the _Forty_, and a man is posted to the vacancy in the rank of the _Three Hundred_--so that 356 ever continue working in the world, and every spot is blessed by Their auspicious Feet. Their outer life is similar to that of ordinary people, so the latter cannot know Them. Inwardly, They are united with God. Love, Friendship, and the Mysteries have to do with the _within_, not with the _without_. They (the =Walîs=) are too strong to be hindered by earth, water, fire, air, plains and hills. Being in the East, They can see and hear men in the West. They can instantly go from the East to the West, come from the West to the East, go to and come back from =Arsh= (the Divine Throne). Theirs are many superhuman powers of like nature. POLYTHEISM, AND THE FRIENDSHIP OF GOD. Polytheism is twofold:-- (1) The outer, which consists in worshipping a god other than the One Highest God.... (2) The inner, which consists in thinking of a being, other than God, as a helper at the time of need. Some say that to see anything save Him, is polytheism for an Occultist. Some say that to refer to any separated self in any way, to be inclined to do anything with one's own will, and to resort to one's own schemes and plans in any emergency, are all forms of polytheism.... The chosen Friend is he who is of God alone, both without and within. He neither acts nor thinks against [the Divine Will]. He does not mix with the desire-nature, forgets his services in the presence of the Master, and cannot do without Him.... He is so filled with Him in all respects--both without and within--that it is impossible for anything else to enter into him.... He loses his desire, will, and all individual qualities, and exists merely through God's Desire and Will. He gets what he wills--not because he wills anything other than what is God's will, but because his will is one with God's. Nay God unfolds His Will in him.--_Letter 9._ LIGHTS.