A valuable and wise counsel is not to take people and the world for granted or expect them to come up to one's expectations, otherwise one will be disappointed and suffer. This wisdom hides within it an insight into the fact that we do not belong to this physical, transient world. We cannot settle in this abode, we cannot rely on it. As we have seen earlier, there are constant uncertainties in this world, yet we seek certainty here and now.
The resolution of this contradiction can only come about if we recognize that permanency and reliability belong to another dimension or zone of experience. That dimension transcends time and space, for anything that exists in this world is subject to time and space, and is therefore inherently changeable - and thereby unreliable and uncertain.
We have seen that the world and its uncertainties are the fuel which propel the rocket of the self to search for the hidden dimension of certainty and inner security. The self, after disappointment with the world, may journey towards an appointment with discovery of itself. When the self discovers itself, self-knowledge is granted, and the natural world outside will never be taken for granted.
The Qur'an says, "Surely they are at loss who feel safe from Allah's plots". It is self deception if one thinks he has certainty where it concerns the affairs of this life, for no one is safe from change.
from The Journey of the Self by the Sufi Master - Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri
