A water-carrier laden with water saw another water-carrier before him, and at once asked him for water. But the latter said to him, “O thou who art ignorant of spiritual things! Since thou thyself hast water, why dost thou not drink of it?” The other replied, “Give me water, thou who possessest spiritual knowledge, for I am disgusted with my own water.”
Adam’s heart was sated with old things, and this it was that emboldened him to reach out for wheat, a thing new to him. He sold all the old things for a little wheat; he sold all that he had for wheat. He became one-eyed. The pain of love rose from his heart to his head; love came and knocked for him upon the door with its hammer. When he was annihilated in the splendour of love, old things and new things vanished at once, and so did he himself. When nothing was left to him, he acted without anything; what he possessed, he staked for nothing. But it is granted neither to me nor to everyone to become disgusted with oneself and die utterly to oneself.
Adam’s heart was sated with old things, and this it was that emboldened him to reach out for wheat, a thing new to him. He sold all the old things for a little wheat; he sold all that he had for wheat. He became one-eyed. The pain of love rose from his heart to his head; love came and knocked for him upon the door with its hammer. When he was annihilated in the splendour of love, old things and new things vanished at once, and so did he himself. When nothing was left to him, he acted without anything; what he possessed, he staked for nothing. But it is granted neither to me nor to everyone to become disgusted with oneself and die utterly to oneself.