A seeker sat before Junaïd and said to him: “O Thou who art free, though a slave of God! Tell me, when can one possess contentment of heart?” “When one has lost one’s heart,” he replied, “through the effect of love.”
Until Thou attainest union with the king of nature, Thou wilt not be able to travel the path of contentment. Should I deem the bewilderment of the atom fitting, because it lacks the strength to endure the sight of the sun? And if the atom be plunged a hundred times in blood, how can it free itself from this bewilderment? So long as the atom remains an atom, it will be nothing but an atom; it is not what it seems to be, it has only an apparent splendour. If it be turned around, it is no longer luminous; yet it is still an atom, and not the sun’s radiant source. That which naturally proceeds from the atom is in truth nothing but an atom; but if the atom lose itself entirely in the sun of immensity, it will share, though but a simple atom, in its eternal duration. Whether the atom be good or evil, even if it struggle for a long time, it will remain only what it was. O atom, Thou wanderest like a drunken and wretched man, until, after turning and turning, Thou art with the sun. I hope, O Thou who art as restless as the atom, that Thou wilt clearly discover Thine own helplessness.
Until Thou attainest union with the king of nature, Thou wilt not be able to travel the path of contentment. Should I deem the bewilderment of the atom fitting, because it lacks the strength to endure the sight of the sun? And if the atom be plunged a hundred times in blood, how can it free itself from this bewilderment? So long as the atom remains an atom, it will be nothing but an atom; it is not what it seems to be, it has only an apparent splendour. If it be turned around, it is no longer luminous; yet it is still an atom, and not the sun’s radiant source. That which naturally proceeds from the atom is in truth nothing but an atom; but if the atom lose itself entirely in the sun of immensity, it will share, though but a simple atom, in its eternal duration. Whether the atom be good or evil, even if it struggle for a long time, it will remain only what it was. O atom, Thou wanderest like a drunken and wretched man, until, after turning and turning, Thou art with the sun. I hope, O Thou who art as restless as the atom, that Thou wilt clearly discover Thine own helplessness.