על החלומות, ספר א מ״בOn Dreams, Book I 42
א׳
1[242] For “pillar” is a symbol of three things, of standing, of dedicating, of inscription. The standing and inscription have been made clear, but the dedicating demands explanation.
ב׳
2[243] The whole heaven and the whole world is an offering dedicated to God, and He it is who has created the offering; and all God-beloved souls, citizens of the world, consecrate themselves, allowing no mortal attraction to draw them in the opposite direction, and they never grow weary of devoting and sanctifying their own imperishable life.
ג׳
3[244] Foolish is the man who dedicates a pillar not to God but to himself, erecting what pertains to creation with its tossing this way and that, and holding worthy of laudatory inscriptions things which, richly deserving to be denounced and reproved, had better never have been made subjects for inscriptions at all, or if once so made have been forthwith erased.
ד׳
4[245] This is why the holy word says expressly “Thou shalt not erect a pillar to thyself” (Deut. 16:22); for in reality nothing human does stand, even though some falsely say so till they burst.
ה׳
5[246] Nay, they do not only think that they are firmly established but also that they deserve honours and inscriptions, being oblivious of Him Who is alone deserving of honour and really stands. For when they turn away and stray out of the course which leads to virtue, sense-perception, the woman inherent in their nature, makes them stray still more, and forces them to run aground.
ו׳
6[247] Wherefore shattered to pieces like a ship, the whole soul is set up after the fashion of a pillar. For the sacred records say that Lot’s wife having turned to what was behind her became a pillar of salt (Gen. 19:26).
ז׳
7[248] And that is fit and natural, for if one has not a clear view of what is farther on, of what is worth seeing and hearing, of virtues, that is to say, and virtuous actions, but turns round to look at what is behind and at his back; if he pursues the deafness of glory, the blindness of wealth, the stupidity of bodily robustness, and the empty-mindedness of external beauty, and all that is akin to these, he will be set up as a soulless pillar, with its substance streaming down from it; for salt has no firmness.