Fear of God

Meaning

Fear of the Lord is the qualification of the person whom God teaches the best way in the short Psalm 25 motto. Here fearing is reverent religious orientation under divine instruction, not alarm about apparatus, poison or financial loss. The question-and-answer form makes God the teacher rather than treating fear as a self-sufficient method. The aligned English retains the personal question and the promise of instruction. Positioned at the opening of Part One, the motto frames the way to the art as dependent on the seeker’s relation to God before the subsequent discussion of knowledge and work.