What the prophet further said: “When I proceeded on the way,[132] and had left the mountains of Mecca, I saw a wanderer following my steps, who called out: ‘Stop!’ But Jabrííl said: ‘Hold no conversation; go on.’ I went on.” By this the power of the imgination is indicated; that is: when I became free of the sight of my limbs and every thing belonging to me, and yielding no more to sensuality, and thus proceeded, the power of imagination, upon my steps, called out to me to stop; for the power of imagination is dextrous, and certainly is great, exerting itself in all affairs, and serves in lieu of intellect to all animals; but it is not right to allow imagination too much liberty, because it then descends to an equality with animals, and disorders its noble nature; further, whoever is assisted by the grace of God, follows not, on all occasions, the imagination. As to what the prophet said: “Behind me called out a woman, deceitful and beauteous: ‘Stop until I join thee!’ Jabrííl also said: ‘Go on, and beware of stopping:’” this means the power of imagination, which is deceitful and bedecked, resembling a woman, to whom most natures are inclined, and who keeps men in her bondage; besides, whatever she does, is all art, without foundation, and contaminated by fraud and deception; nay, the very business of women is artifice and fiction: the power of imagination is not otherwise seductive. To continue: the lies and false promises of women being so many lures, they render mankind their slaves with their show, and never keep their faith; so that all they affect turns out to be futile. Thus, when a man follows the steps of imagination, he never attains true intelligence, as he always remains upon the track of outward ornament and in the bondage of corporeal appearance, without reality. “And as to what the prophet stated: When I went on, Jabrííl said: ‘If thou hadst waited until she had joined thee, thou wouldst have become a friend of the world,’” this means: that worldly affairs are without reality, brittle and soon decaying, and that worldly occupations have a value but in conjunction with the views of a future state; inasmuch as occurrences and appearances are a deception, and are esteemed as adjuncts to the secrets of a high intelligence; and whoever devotes himself to the former rests behind the higher intelligences, and, in the illusion of vanity, rests imprisoned in the pitfall of ignorance.