4 reasons to misconceptions concerning motivating thoughts

There are four reasons for the misconceptions concerning motivating thoughts, and when they are removed, one will know [which] motivating thoughts are beneficial and [which] are harmful. Only then can one seek the former and flee from the latter.

The first of these reasons is a weakness of certainty (yaqīn) about matters relating to the Afterlife, or about those who report about that.

The second is a lack of knowledge through which the attributes of the soul and its character traits are known, which is seeking what is beneficial and fleeing from what is harmful.
When these are not known, the ego confuses what is beneficial with what is harmful (and vice versa) as a way of seeking what it desires and avoiding what disagrees with its base desire.

The third cause is pursuing one’s base desire even when one knows that this will cause one to err from God’s path, and [despite knowing] that, whoever errs from His path will receive a severe chastisement.
Even then, the ego may overpower a person to the point where he loses control over it because he has not bridled it by means of God-fearingness (taqwā), and has let it be used to indulge its desires.
When this happens, the foundations of God-fearingness are unsettled and darkness seeps into the heart (qalb). The heart then does not have enough light with which to ward off the darkness of the ego, thus allowing the ego to overpower him.

The fourth cause is love of the world due to its glory and wealth—not inasmuch asit leads a person to desires, but because it leads him to seek exultation through riches and status in the eyes of people.

Whoever has been spared from these four [reasons] becomes strong in faith and perfected in his knowledge of the ego and its character traits.
He has bridled his ego through God-fearingness (taqwā) and has perfected his renunciation in this world, with all its wealth and glory.