How Can We Guide Self-Discipline Without Falling into Extremes?

To avoid excess and deficiency, the human soul must be brought into a state of full health and balance.

Just as food that is too salty and food with too little salt are both unpleasant to a healthy palate, so every form of excess or deficiency is intolerable to a person of sound taste.

Any inclination toward excess or deficiency is a sign that the heart is ill. The heart is fully healthy only when guided by reason and accompanied by noble virtues. The path of the Two Weighty Things ensures that reason governs the heart and preserves its health. Just as balancing the body’s temperament ensures health and the proper functioning of the human nervous system and sense of taste, balancing the soul’s temperament is likewise a vital factor in bringing one’s devotional conduct into balance.

The fundamental aim is to establish the stature of servitude to God upon the Straight Path. The order of justice and fairness must be set within the human being, so that their spiritual journey remains safe from every deviation toward excess or deficiency. Among the simple prescriptions for attaining this lofty and momentous goal is the precious saying of our master, Imam Ali, peace be upon him. The edifice of faith must always stand firm within the human soul. We must therefore give constant attention to its four pillars, and among them to the pillar of justice, which preserves a person’s balance on the Straight Path and safeguards them from slipping toward either extreme.

«الإیمان على أربع دعائم على الصبر و الیقین و العدل و ...
...و العدل منها على أربع شعب على غائص الفهم و غور العلم و زهره الحکم و رساخه الحلم فمن فهم علم غور العلم و من علم غور العلم صدر عن شرائع [الحلم‏] الحکم و من حلم لم یفرط فی أمره و عاش فی الناس حمیدا و ...»

Nahj al-Balagha (edited by Subhi Salih), p. 474

Faith rests on four pillars: patience, certainty, justice, and striving...

Justice, in turn, rests on four pillars: deep insight, profound knowledge, sound judgment, and steadfast forbearance. Whoever thinks deeply reaches the depths of knowledge; whoever reaches the depths of knowledge drinks from the pure spring of the law; and whoever is forbearing does not go to excess in their affairs and lives among people with a good name.

Nahj al-Balagha, translated by Dashti, p. 629