Dream Builders

Imam el-Ghazali relates a tradition from the life of Isa, ibn Maryam.

Isa one day saw some people sitting miserably on a wall, by the roadside.

He asked, "What is your affliction?"

They said, "We have become like this through our fear of hell."

He went on his way, and saw a number of people grouped disconsolately in various postures by the wayside.  He said, "What is your affliction?"

They said, "Desire for Paradise has made us like this."

He went on his way until he came to a third group of people.  They looked like people who had endured much, but their faces shone with joy.

Isa asked them, "What made you like this?"

They answered, "The Spirit of Truth.  We have seen Reality, and this has made us oblivious to lesser goals.

Isa said, "These are the people who attain.  On the Day of Accounting, these are they who will be in the Presence of God."

~Taken from Idries Shah, Tales of Dervishes, p. 181

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