A distinguished man said to a dervish: “O my brother! How do you pass your time?”—“I dwell,” he replied, “in a bathhouse; there my lips are dry and my garment wet, and I dare not cut bread to eat, for fear my neck should be cut.”
If thou seekest a moment’s ease in this world, thou must fall asleep or repeat what thou shalt have seen in a dream. Yet take great care in seeking happiness, so that thou mayest bravely reach the far side of the Sirat Bridge. Contentment is not to be found along the road of the world, for it is nowhere there. So long as the concupiscent soul exists like a blazing fire, the heart is not content; and if thou traversest the world for some personal affair, none shall bear witness to thy satisfaction.
If thou seekest a moment’s ease in this world, thou must fall asleep or repeat what thou shalt have seen in a dream. Yet take great care in seeking happiness, so that thou mayest bravely reach the far side of the Sirat Bridge. Contentment is not to be found along the road of the world, for it is nowhere there. So long as the concupiscent soul exists like a blazing fire, the heart is not content; and if thou traversest the world for some personal affair, none shall bear witness to thy satisfaction.