A.1 First Step on Journey the Most Important
For the Manual of Peace, although all of the blessings
are important, all of the latter thirty-seven
hinge on the first. Thus you could say that of all the
blessings the first is the most important. It is like
the first tread of the steps leading into a house. If
you cannot climb this first step, you will spend the
rest of your life at the foot of the staircase with no
way of getting into the house. You can also think of
this blessing “Not Associating with Fools” as being
like the first step on a long journey, without
which the voyage can never begin.