106 AN INTRODUCTION TO SUFI DOCTRINE

who supposes that he possesses these truths and adheres
to them only in his mind, as if will had no part to play
in relation to them. The will must become “poor” in
relation to God, or in other words it must conform to
spiritual virtue, which represents a sort of latent con-
centration of the soul and so forms a solid and natural
basis for directly operative concentration having as its
aim to pierce the veil of a consciousness continually
absorbed by the current of forms, ¢ Spiritual virtue
(al-ihsan),” said the Prophet, “is that thou shouldest
adore God as if thou didst see Him and, if thou dost
not see Him, He none the less sees thee.”

According to the particular nature of the * path *’—
and ‘“there are as many paths as there are human
souls’”'—doctrinal understanding plays a part of greater
or lesser importance. A very extensive learning in
matters of doctrine is not called for; understanding
must develop in depth and not in superficial extent.
For one who aspires to gnosis what matters most is that
he should be as conscious of the deep meaning of the
rites he carries out as his intuition will permit of. In
this domain a purely quantitative effort and a blind
effort of will cannot attain to anything, for knowledge
can only be attained by that which is of the same nature
as knowledge.

To this it must be added that in spiritual practices
there are always elements which, so to speak, offer no

1. This Arab saying should not be taken quite literally. It only means
that the diversity in individual natures leads to a diversity of spiritual methods.
The various types of mind can always be classified in" a certain number of
categories.