על יוסף כ״דOn Joseph 24
א׳
1[143] Since, then, human life is full of this vast confusion and disorder and uncertainty also, the statesman must come forward, and, like some wise expounder of dreams, interpret the day-time visions and phantoms of those who think themselves awake, and with suggestions commended by reason and probability shew them the truth about each of these visions: that this is beautiful, that ugly, this just, that unjust, and so with all the rest; what is prudent, courageous, pious, religious, beneficial, profitable, and conversely what is unprofitable, unreasonable, ignoble, impious, irreligious, deleterious, harmful, selfish.
ב׳
2[144] And he will give other lessons, such as, This is another’s, do not covet it; This is your own, use it but do not misuse it; You have abundance of wealth, give a share to others, for the excellence of wealth consists not in a full purse but in succouring the needy; Your possessions are small, be not jealous of the rich, for envious poverty gets pity from none; You have high reputation and have received honour, be not arrogant; Your fortunes are lowly, let not your spirits sink also; All goes with you as you would have it, be prepared for change; You have made many a trip, hope for a better time, for with men things turn to their opposite;
ג׳
3[145] The sun and moon and the whole heaven stand out in such clear and plain distinctness because everything there remains the same and regulated by the standards of truth itself moves in harmonious order and with the grandest of symphonies; while earthly things are brimful of disorder and confusion and in the fullest sense of the words discordant and inharmonious, because in them deep darkness reigns while in heaven all moves in most radiant light, or rather heaven is light itself most pure and unalloyed.
ד׳
4[146] And indeed if one be willing to look into the inner realities he will find that heaven is an eternal day, wherein there is no night or any shadow, because around it shine without ceasing unquenchable and undefiled beams of light.
ה׳
5[147] And the same difference that there is here in people when asleep and when awake exists in the universe as a whole between the heavenly and the earthly, for the former is kept in unsleeping wakefulness by active forces which do not err or stumble and go always aright, but the earthly life is sunk in sleep, and even if it wake up for a little is dragged down again and falls asleep, because it can see nothing steadily with its soul but wanders and stumbles about darkened as it is by false opinions which compel it to dream, and thus never catching up with realities it is incapable of apprehending anything firmly and securely.