sentences:  Even such thinkers as opposed the ascetic view could not extricate themselves entirely from the meshes of Neoplatonic mysticism, which beheld in the flesh or in matter the source of evil.Thus Abraham ben Ḥiyya strongly refutes the Neoplatonic conception of evil as being identical with matter, and maintains against BaḦya that indulgence in fasting and other modes of penitence is not meritorious, since only he who is ruled by his lower desires may resort to asceticism as the means of curbing his passion and disciplining his soul, whereas the really good should confine himself to such modes of abstinence as are prescribed by the Law.Nevertheless, Abraham b. Ḥiyya claims a higher rank for the saint who, secluded from the world, leads a life altogether consecrated to the service of God.