p. 71.

"The Science of the Sufis," says the Moslem author, "aims at detaching
the heart from all that is not God, and at giving to it for sole
occupation the meditation of the divine being. Theory being more easy
for me than practice, I read [certain books] until I understood all
that can be learned by study and hearsay. Then I recognized that what
pertains most exclusively to their method is just what no study can
grasp, but only transport, ecstasy, and the transformation of the soul.
How great, for example, is the difference between knowing the
definitions of health, of satiety, with their causes and conditions,
and being really healthy or filled. How different to know in what
drunkenness consists--as being a state occasioned by a vapor that rises
from the stomach--and BEING drunk effectively. Without doubt, the
drunken man knows neither the definition of drunkenness nor what makes
it interesting for science. Being drunk, he knows nothing; whilst the
physician, although not drunk knows well in what drunkenness consists,
and what are its predisposing conditions. Similarly there is a
difference between knowing the nature of abstinence, and BEING
abstinent or having one's soul detached from the world.--Thus I had
learned what words could teach of Sufism, but what was left could be
learned neither by study nor through the ears, but solely by giving
one's self up to ecstasy and leading a pious life.

"Reflecting on my situation, I found myself tied down by a multitude of
bonds--temptations on every side. Considering my teaching, I found it
was impure before God. I saw myself struggling with all my might to
achieve glory and to spread my name. [Here follows an account of his
six months' hesitation to break away from the conditions of his life at
Bagdad, at the end of which he fell ill with a paralysis of the
tongue.] Then, feeling my own weakness, and having entirely given up my
own will, I repaired to God like a man in distress who has no more
resources. He answered, as he answers the wretch who invokes him. My
heart no longer felt any difficulty in renouncing glory, wealth, and my
children. So I quitted Bagdad, and reserving from my fortune only what
was indispensable for my subsistence, I distributed the rest. I went
to Syria, where I remained about two years, with no other occupation
than living in retreat and solitude, conquering my desires, combating
my passions, training myself to purify my soul,