Jesus & the Pitcher of Water...

Jesus drank of the water of a limpid rill whose taste was more
agreeable than the dew of the rose. One of his companions filled a
pitcher from this rill, and they went on their way. Jesus, being
thirsty, took a sip of water from the pitcher, but the water was
bitter, and he stopped in astonishment and prayed: "O God, the water
of the rill and the water in the pitcher are the same. Tell me why
the one is sweeter than honey and the other so bitter?" The pitcher
then spoke, and said to Jesus: "I am very old. and I have been
fashioned over a thousand times under the firmament of the nine
cupolas--sometimes as a vase, sometimes as a pitcher and sometimes as
a ewer. Whatever form I took I have always had in me the bitterness
of death. I am so made that the water I hold will always partake of
that bitterness."

O heedless man! Try to understand the meaning of the pitcher.
Strive to discover the mystery before life is taken from you. If
while living you fail to find yourself, how will you be able to
understand the secret of your existence when you die? You
participate in the life of man yet you are only a psuedo man.

--Fariduddin Attar
from The Conference of the Birds
C. S. Nott version