על הגירת אברהם ב׳On the Migration of Abraham 2
א׳
1[7] We have now shewn how Moses uses “earth” to represent the body, “kindred” to represent sense-perception, “thy father’s house” to represent speech. The words “Depart out of these” are not equivalent to “Sever thyself from them absolutely,” since to issue such a command as that would be to prescribe death. No, the words import “Make thyself a stranger to them in judgement and purpose; let none of them cling to thee; rise superior to them all;
ב׳
2[8] they are thy subjects, never treat them as sovereign lords; thou art a king, school thyself once and for all to rule, not to be ruled; evermore be coming to know thyself, as Moses teaches thee in many places, saying “Give heed to thyself” (Ex. 24:12), for in this way shalt thou perceive those to whom it befits thee to shew obedience and those to whom it befits thee to give commands.
ג׳
3[9] Depart, therefore, out of the earthly matter that encompasses thee: escape, man, from the foul prison-house, thy body, with all thy might and main, and from the pleasures and lusts that act as its jailers; every terror that can vex and hurt them, leave none of them unused; menace the enemy with them all united and combined.
ד׳
4[10] Depart also out of sense-perception thy kin. For at present thou hast made a loan of thyself to each sense, and art become the property of others, a portion of the goods of those who have borrowed thee, and hast thrown away the good thing that was thine own. Yes, thou knowest, even though all men should hold their peace, how eyes draw thee, and ears, and the whole crowd of thine other kinsfolk, towards what they themselves love.
ה׳
5[11] But if thou desire to recover the self that thou hast lent and to have thine own possessions about thee, letting no portion of them be alienated and fall into other hands, thou shalt claim instead a happy life, enjoying in perpetuity the benefit and pleasure derived from good things not foreign to thee but thine own.
ו׳
6[12] Again, quit speech also, “thy father’s house,” as Moses calls it, for fear thou shouldst be beguiled by beauties of mere phrasing, and be cut off from the real beauty, which lies in the matter expressed. Monstrous it is that shadow should be preferred to substance or a copy to originals. And verbal expression is like a shadow or copy, while the essential bearing of the matters conveyed by words resembles substance and originals; and it behoves the man, whose aim it is to be rather than to seem, to dissociate himself from the former and hold fast to the latter.