As soon as the soul begins to say 'I' ...

It is when man has lost the idea of separateness and feels himself at one with
all creation that his eyes are opened and he sees the cause of all things.

Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:

Every being and object which is distinctly separate may be called an entity, but
what one calls an individual is a conception of our imagination; and the true
meaning of that conception will be realized on the day when the ultimate truth
throws its light upon life. On that day no one will speak about individuality;
one will say 'God' and no more.

There are many beings, but at the same time there is one, the only Being.
Therefore objects such as streams and mountains are also living, but they only
exist separately to our outer vision. When our inner vision opens then the
separation is shown as a veil; then there is one vision alone, and that is the
immanence of God.

As soon as the soul begins to say 'I' he is exiled from heaven, for all
blessings belong to the state which the soul experienced before he claimed to be
'I', a separate entity, separate from others. It is because of this that man,
whatever his position, whatever his situation in life, is not fully happy. The
trouble of one may perhaps be greater than that of another, but both he who
resides in heavenly palaces and the inhabitant of a grass hut have their
troubles; both have their pain. But man finds the reason for all afflictions in
the life outside him. The Sufi finds it in that one sin: that of having claimed
to be 'I'. With this claim came all the trouble, it continued, and it will
always continue. This sin has such a hold upon the soul that it is just like the
eclipse of the sun, when its light is covered and cannot shine.

There is an innate desire in every human being for knowledge. ... With man this
desire is never satisfied. He always wants to know more. There is ever a
restless craving within him for knowledge. This is because he does not look for
the cause in the right way. He only sees the external causes, and not the cause
underlying the cause, and below that, the primal cause. For example, a man who
has become estranged from his friend only sees perhaps the superficial cause,
and calls his friend unkind; or he may even admit that he himself is at fault,
or he may go still deeper and say that owing to a certain planetary influence
they cannot be friendly. Yet he has not probed the cause of this cause. ...

For this reason the religions taught the God-ideal, that the primal cause might
be sought through the pursuit of God. It is when man has lost the idea of
duality and feels himself at one with all creation, that his eyes are opened and
he sees the cause of everything.