Number 10

Why keep asking where I'm from, where I am, and where I'm bound? I come from the hidden house of pure detachment, from the realm where all things pass away. You argue and dispute, but what else can you do? God said of you, truly: «Man is, above all, quarrelsome.» If the ascetic would open the eye of certainty, he would see from God, through God, and toward God, everything, from the depths of the sea to the highest sky. The Sufi draws a certain purity from his chants and litanies, yet he never reaches the quality and clarity that we possess. Everyone's fate hangs on their piety and their prayers, but the burnt-hearted lover keeps his gaze fixed on the pure gift of grace itself. This is a gathering of the unaware, so let go of your so-called knowledge; become oblivious, for everyone here is oblivious too. He set out to forbid what was wrong, went to the tavern, and in the end pawned his robe for wine. What a master he turned out to be! If for one moment you lean toward these drunkards, in an instant you'll come alive from the breath that «revives the dead.» The Beloved said: I will make you into my own likeness, just as «the King wills for the kingdom to bear this resemblance.» In spite of every envious heart, the Friend will not, at any time, spare even a breath to remember one like Ghasem, except, perhaps, by chance.