An unfortunate man came by much walking to a deserted place near a dervish and said to him: “O dervish! How fare your affairs?” The devotee replied: “Are you not ashamed (to ask me such a question)? Blush for it. I have remained in this world, which is very constricted for me at this moment, and in which I am cramped.” His interlocutor answered: “You do not speak truly; how can you be cramped in this vast desert?” “If this place were not cramped,” replied the dervish, “would you ever have met me?”
Though a thousand promises be made to you, on this side you will never be given anything but fire as a sign; and what is this fire for you, if not the world? Leave it, then, and, like the lions, beware of approaching it. When you pass beyond it, your heart will return to you and you will arrive at the palace of contentment. There is a fire ahead, and the road is very long: the body is weak, the heart is enslaved, and the soul is apprehensive. As for you, rid yourself of everything and be free in every respect; concern yourself with but one thing. The more of the world you have seen, the more you must withdraw your soul from it; for you possess neither the name of the world nor its trace. Whatever you may have seen, you have seen nothing; whatever else I may say, do not be moved by it.
Though a thousand promises be made to you, on this side you will never be given anything but fire as a sign; and what is this fire for you, if not the world? Leave it, then, and, like the lions, beware of approaching it. When you pass beyond it, your heart will return to you and you will arrive at the palace of contentment. There is a fire ahead, and the road is very long: the body is weak, the heart is enslaved, and the soul is apprehensive. As for you, rid yourself of everything and be free in every respect; concern yourself with but one thing. The more of the world you have seen, the more you must withdraw your soul from it; for you possess neither the name of the world nor its trace. Whatever you may have seen, you have seen nothing; whatever else I may say, do not be moved by it.