It is related that Imam Al-Baqir (‘as) said to Jabir:
O Jabir, you should win five matters from the people of your time: They will not know you when you are present (in a gathering), they will not miss you when you are absent, they will not seek your consult when you witness a matter, and they will not listen to you when you provide an opinion.
I advise you to cling to five matters: you should not oppress him who oppressed you; you should not cheat him who cheated you; you should not be angry when you are belied; you should not be happy when you are praised; you should not be miserable when you are dispraised. Think of the dispraise that is said about you. If it is true, then it will be more catastrophic for you to be disregarded by God than being disregarded by people when you decline the right. If it was incorrect, then it will be a reward that you gained without exerting any effort.
You should know that if all the people of your region say unanimously that you are bad, this should not shake you, and if they all say unanimously that you are good, this should not please you and make you one of our followers. To be our follower, you should measure yourself according to the criteria of God’s Book. If you take its path, abstain from what it warns, desire for what it urges, and fear of what it cautions, then you should be stable and glad. In this case, whatever is said against you will not injure you. If you oppose the instructions of the Qur’an, then in what are you proud? The faithful believer should engage himself in fighting against his desires for overcoming his passions. Once, he wins and opposes his passion for God’s sake, and once his passions overcome him. Thus, he follows his whims, but he will live again as God grants him a new life and will remember as God pardons his flaws. As he seeks the refuge of repentance and God-fearing, he will be supplied with guidance and knowledge as much as he fears God. This is because God says:
Surely those who guard against evil, when a visitation from the Shaytan afflicts them, they be-come intelligent, then lo! They see. (7:201).
O Jabir, regard God’s few sustenance as very much so as to be able to thank Him suitably. Regard your many acts of obedience to God as few so as to lower yourself (before God) and seek His pardon. Refute the present evil by the present knowledge. Use the present knowledge for achieving honesty in your deeds. In the honesty of deeds, protect yourself against the great inadvertence through the tension of wakefulness. Bring the tension of wakefulness by the sincerity of fear. Beware of the contentedness of ornamentation with the presence of life. Be careful of the adventures of the whims by referring to the indications of the mind.
Stop at the overcome of the whim by seeking the guidance of knowledge. Spare the well-intended deeds to the Day of Judgment. Push yourself into the fields of satisfaction by guarding against acquisitiveness. Refute the great acquisitiveness by the preference of satisfaction. Obtain the sweetness of abstinence through the disregard of hope. Cut off the causes of avarice with the coolness of despair. Block the path of arrogance with self-realization. Conclude to self-satisfaction by the sound commendation to God.
Seek the physical relaxation through freedom from care. Obtain the freedom from care through fewness of mistakes. Attain soft-heartedness by the very much mentioning of God in seclusions. Get the illumination of heart from the continuance of sadness. Protect (yourself) against the Shai-tan by the honest God-fearing. Beware of the false expectation, because it traps you in serious fear. Adorn for God through sincerity of deeds. Approach God by means of asking for meeting Him as soon as possible. Beware of negligence, because it is an ocean in which the unsuccessful ones will sink.
Beware of inadvertence, because it is the source of hardheartedness. Beware of slowness in matters that are unexcused, because it is the path of the regretful. Remember the past sins through the tense sorrow and the plenty of seeking forgiveness. Meet God’s mercy and pardon by the good review with Him. Seek the aid of the well-intended supplications and the secret beseeching in darkness for achieving the good review with God. Reach the great thankfulness through regarding the little sustenance as great and regarding the many acts of obedience to God as few. Bring the increase of graces through the great thanking. Beg to the great thanking through fearing the vanishing of graces. Seek the continuance of honor through killing avarices. Refute the humility of greed by the honor of despair. Get the honor of despair from the strength of mind. Supply for yourself from this world through the disregard of hope. Take the initiative in seizing the opportunities whenever they are available. No opportunity like the leisure times with good health. Beware of trusting the dishonest. Evil is a custom such as the custom of having food.
Know that no knowledge like seeking safety no safety like the safety of heart, no intelligence like opposing the whims, no fear like the fear of him who avoid sinning, no hope like the hope of the supporter, no poverty like the heart poverty, no richness like self-sufficiency, no strength like overcoming the whims, no illumination like the illumination of conviction, no conviction like belittling the worldly pleasures, no knowledge like self-realization, no grace like good health, no health like supporting for prosperity, no honor like willpower, no abstinence like disregard of hope, no diligence like competition for (attaining) the (highest) ranks, no justice like fairness, no aggression like prejudice, no prejudice like accordance with the whims, no obedience like performing the obligatory rites, no fear like grief, no misfortune like unintelligence, no unintelligence like littleness of conviction, no littleness of conviction like loss of fear, no loss of fear like littleness of grief for loss of fear, no misfortune like belittling the sin and satisfying with the current conditions, no virtue like jihad, no jihad like struggling against the whims, no power like stopping the rage, no disobedience like love of survival, and no humility like the humility of greed.
Beware of the negligence of given opportunities, because it is a field of loss.