The Mahdi Times The Mahdi Times Issue #24 November 2014 | Page 23

If one cometh unto thee for council,
let him speak freely,
that the thing for which he hath
come to thee may be done.
If he hesitates to open his heart to
thee, it is because thou, the judge,
doeth the wrong.
Repeat thou not extravagant speech,
neither listen thou to it, for it is the
utterance of one not in equilibrium.
Speak thou not of it, so that he before
thee may know wisdom.
Silence is of great profit.
An abundance of speech profiteth
nothing. Exalt not thine heart above
the children of men, lest it be brought
lower than the dust.
If thou be great among men, be
honoured for knowledge and
gentleness.

If thou seeketh to know the
nature of a friend, ask not
his companion,
but pass a time alone with
him. Debate with him,
testing his heart by his
words and his bearing.

He liveth in death.
It is therefore his food.
The wise man lets his heart overflow
but keeps silent his mouth.
O man, list to the voice of wisdom;
list to the voice of light.
Mysteries there are in the Cosmos
that unveiled fill the world with their
light. Let he who would be free from
the bonds of darkness first divine the
material from the immaterial,
the fire from the earth; for know ye
that as earth descends to earth,
so also fire ascends unto fire and
becomes one with fire.
He who knows the fire that is within
himself shall ascend unto the eternal
fire and dwell in it eternally.
Fire, the inner fire, is the most potent
of all force, for it overcometh all
things and penetrates to all things of
the Earth. Man supports himself only
on that which resists.
So Earth must resist man else he
existeth not.
All eyes do not see with the same
vision, for to one an object appears of
one form and color and to a different
eye of another. So also the infinite fire,
changing from color to color,
is never the same from day to day.

That which goeth into the store-house
must come forth and the things that
are thine must be shared with a
friend.

Thus, speak I, THOTH, of my wisdom,
for a man is a fire burning bright
through the night; never is quenched
in the veil of the darkness, never is
quenched by the veil of the night.

Knowledge is regarded by the fool as
ignorance and the things that are
profitable are to him hurtful.

Into men's hearts, I looked by my
wisdom, found them not free from the
bondage of strife.