In the dead of night, a Sufi began to weep… He said,
This world is like a closed coffin in which we are shut — and in which, through our ignorance, we spend our lives in folly and desolation. When death comes to open the lid of the coffin, each one who has wings will fly off to eternity. But those without will remain locked in the coffin… So, my friends, before the lid of this coffin is taken off, do all that you can to become a bird of the way to God. Do all you can to develop your wings and your feathers.
So long as we do not die to ourselves, and so long as we identify with someone or something, we shall never be free. The spiritual way is not for those wrapped up in exterior life. Strive to discover the mystery before life is taken from you. If, while living, you fail to find yourself, to know yourself, how will you be able to understand the secret of your existence when you die?
Intoxicated by the wine of Love, from each a mystic silence Love demands. What do all seek so earnestly? ‘Tis Love. What do they whisper to each other? Love. Love is the subject of their inmost thoughts. In love, no longer ‘thou’ and ‘I’ exist — for self has passed away in the Beloved. Nor will I draw aside the veil from Love, and in the temple of my inmost soul, behold a friend — incomparable Love. One who would know the secret of both worlds, will find the secret of them both — is Love.
The whole world is a marketplace for Love — for nought that is from Love remains remote. The Eternal Wisdom made all things in Love. On Love they all depend. To Love all turn. The earth, the heavens, the sun, the moon, the stars — the center of their orbit, find in Love.
By Love are all bewildered, stupified, intoxicated — by the wine of Love.