For example...

For example, however much we want to have presence of mind in prayer, that is to say, however much we want to keep this student present at the top of the class of prayer, we cannot. All at once, we understand that the prayer has reached its end, and that the student was absent during the whole period. The Prophet makes an elegant comparison in this matter.

He compares the heart - the heart of someone who is overcome by his imaginative powers to a feather which is hanging from a tree in a desert, and which every breath of wind blows to and fro.

The wind drives the feather recklessly in every direction: “Now left, now right, with a hundred diversities. In another tradition (the Prophet said) Deem this heart to be as the water boiling in a cauldron from the f ire. At every time the heart has a different resolution.

Or does this condemnation in the face of the imaginative faculty stem from rawness and immaturity? Those who become whole, the people of wilayah, are they powerful enough to subjugate this force? The second alternative is correct; one of the duties of man is to gain mastery over the capriciousness of his imagination.

If not, this power of Shaytan (Satan) will give a quality of chance to Allah and to travelling this way to nearness, and will cancel and ruin all the power and ability in man's being.