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Al-Ghazzali - The Alchemy of Happiness – 01 Introduction

KNOW, O beloved, that man was not created in jest or at random, but marvellously made and for some great end.

Although he is not from everlasting, yet he lives for ever; and though his body is mean and earthly, yet his spirit is lofty and divine.

When in the crucible of abstinence he is purged from carnal passions he attains to the highest, and in place of being a slave to lust and anger becomes endued with angelic qualities. Attaining that state, he finds his heaven in the contemplation of Eternal Beauty, and no longer in fleshly delights.

The spiritual alchemy which operates this change in him, like that which trans­mutes base metals into gold, is not easily dis­covered, nor to be found in the house of every old woman.

It is to explain that alchemy and its methods of operation that the author has undertaken this work, which he has entitled, The Alchemy of Happiness.

Now the treasuries of God, in which this alchemy is to be sought, are the hearts of the prophets, and he who seeks it elsewhere will be disappointed and bankrupt on the day of judgment when he hears the words, “We have lifted the veil from off thee, and thy sight to-day is keen.”

.........This alchemy may be briefly described as turning away from the world to God, and its constituents are four:

1. The knowledge of self. [know thyself]

2. The knowledge of God.[Ultimate intelligence]

3. The knowledge of this world as it really is.[Reality]

4. The knowledge of the next world as it really is.[Map of Egg]

We shall now proceed to expound these four constituents in order.