44 Preface فَلَمّا نَسوا ما ذُكِّروا بِهِ فَتَحنا عَلَيهِم أَبوابَ كُلِّ شَيءٍ حَتّىٰ إِذا فَرِحوا بِما أوتوا أَخَذناهُم بَغتَةً فَإِذا هُم مُبلِسونَYusuf AliBut when they forgot the warning they had received, We opened to them the gates of all (good) things,1 until, in the midst of their enjoyment of Our gifts, on a sudden, We called them to account, when lo! they were plunged in despair!Learning the inner truth of ourselves and the world presupposes a certain advanced stage of sensitiveness and spiritual development. There is a shallower stage, at which prosperity and the good things of life may teach us sympathy and goodness and cheerfulness like that of Mr. Cheeribyles in Dickens. In such cases the Message takes root. But there is another type of character which is puffed up in prosperity. For them prosperity is a trial or even a punishment from the higher point of view. They go deeper and deeper into sin, until they are pulled up of a sudden and then instead of being contrite they merely become desperate.