A Sufi heard, as he walked, the cries of a man who had lost a key and was saying: “Has anyone found a key here? My door is shut, and I am in the dust of the road. If my door remains shut, what must I do? Must I continue to torment myself? What, then, must I do?”
“Why grieve?” said the Sufi to him; “since you know your door, remain beside it, though it be shut. If you sit for a long while beside that closed door, there is no doubt that someone will at last open it for you. Your affair is easy, and mine is difficult, for my soul is consumed by its bewilderment. My affair has neither head nor foot; there is neither door nor key. Would to God that I could hasten away and find the door open or shut!”
“Why grieve?” said the Sufi to him; “since you know your door, remain beside it, though it be shut. If you sit for a long while beside that closed door, there is no doubt that someone will at last open it for you. Your affair is easy, and mine is difficult, for my soul is consumed by its bewilderment. My affair has neither head nor foot; there is neither door nor key. Would to God that I could hasten away and find the door open or shut!”
Man has only imagination as his portion; no one knows the true state of things. To him who says to you, “What shall I do?” say, “Do not do what you have done; do not act as you have acted until now.”
He who enters the valley of bewilderment enters, at every instant, into a pain sufficient to afflict a hundred worlds. But how long shall I endure affliction and disturbance of mind? Since I have lost my way, where shall I direct my steps? I know not; but would to God that I did! And if I knew, I should be in a state of bewilderment! Here man’s lament is an act of thanksgiving, infidelity has become faith, and faith infidelity.
He who enters the valley of bewilderment enters, at every instant, into a pain sufficient to afflict a hundred worlds. But how long shall I endure affliction and disturbance of mind? Since I have lost my way, where shall I direct my steps? I know not; but would to God that I did! And if I knew, I should be in a state of bewilderment! Here man’s lament is an act of thanksgiving, infidelity has become faith, and faith infidelity.