Things in the world fall into three categories: inanimate, vegetal, and animal. Now there is for Soul no descending to and joining those [first] two categories, because the soul joins the life of the senses and the harmony of the intellect, and these two are in Man. Indeed, life is the core of Nature, or its quintessence (maghz), while harmony is the core of Intellect. Thus, in view of the fact that the soul borders on one side on intellect and on the other side on nature, and that it has no abode except in between these two, i.e. the life of nature and the harmony of intellect, we have said that it is in the Form of Man that Soul has come down. Understand this!
As for the manner in which Soul comes down in the Form of Man, it is this: at the first stage, [humans] recognize the name of things and the attributes of things from the teaching of mother and father and the verbal instruction (talqīn) of the people among whom they are being brought up. In this regard, humans are of three groups. The first are those who are satisfied with those names and attributes which they have learned through verbal instruction. The second group are those who, having learned names and attributes from the learned, know what legal matters (kārhā-yisharʿī) are obligatory for them. They are cognizant of jurisprudence, dialectical theology, traditions, poetry, parables and whatever is connected to the exoteric (ẓāhir).
Now the third group are those who, not being satisfied with the knowledge of names, attributes and parables, have searched the true meanings and realities from the Lords of Religion (khudāwandān-i dīn). Once they have perceived and understood, their soul is made to master those esoteric Sciences (ʿilmhā-yi bāṭin) and noble Mysteries (sirrhā-yi nīkū). Then, moving onward on the stages of Soul, they will reach the most beautiful of all dwellings, so that Soul will have come down in the Form of Man in perfect completeness, for they remain eternally with this True Knowledge and noble status in everlasting paradise. Understand this!
The Firefight That Impressed the World
