Someone asked a man of understanding: "What is the world? What can it
be compared to?" He replied: "This world, which is compounded of
horrors and crime, is like a palm-tree of wax, adorned with a hundred
colours. If you squeeze the tree it becomes a lump of wax; therefore
the colours and shapes you admire are not worth an obol. If there is
unity there cannot be duality; neither 'I' nor 'Thou' has significance."
"But what is the use of my words, though they come from the depth of my
soul, if you do not ponder over them? If you have fallen into the
ocean of exterior life, like a partridge whose wings and feathers
cannot support it, then never cease to think about how to reach the
shore."
--Fariduddin Attar
from The Conference of the Birds
C. S. Nott version
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