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GOD.
153 demonstrated to be true in the case of bliss, and as will be proved to be the case with respect to all other attributes of perfection when the subject turns up for treatment at its proper place, the difference between God and man may be said to consist solely and simply in regard to desire from which God must be perfectly free and in which man is more or less deeply involved. Thus, God is man minus desire, and man is God plus desire. But for this, the soul is a divinity, whole and entire and self-sufficient. Hence the injunction conjointly imparted by all the ancient systems of thought—"Man know thyself."
To sum up: the conception of God is not that of a creator or manager of the world, nor of a being anxious to be worshipped by angels and men, nor yet of a powerful personage engaged in selfish sport and indifferent to the consequences of his acts, but of the perfection of all that is noblest and best in the constitution of Man. Trued ivinity is constituted by perfection in respect of Knowledge and Bliss and Holiness, which are, undoubtedly, the essential and inalienable attributes of each and every soul. Hence the statement::
“He who knoweth his own self knoweth God.”— Sayings of Muhammad.
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