dge) the progress of the pilgrims is
in proportion to their innate powers. In the path traversed by Abraham
the Friend of God, can a feeble spider keep pace with an elephant? Let
the gnat fly as hard as he may, he will never keep up with the wind.
Thus the degrees of knowledge attained to by the initiated are
different; one only reaches the entrance of the temple, while another
finds the Divinity who dwells in it. When the Sun of Knowledge darts its
rays, each is illumined in proportion to his capacity, and finds in the
contemplation of the truth the rank which belongs to him. He sees a path
lie open before him through the midst of the fire, the furnace of the
world becomes for him a garden of roses. He perceives the almond within
the shell, that is to say, he sees God under the veil of all apparent
things. But for one happy man who penetrates into these mysteries, how
many millions have gone astray? Only the perfect can dive with success
into the depths of this ocean.

"(4) In the fourth valley (of independence) thou hast done with
everything but God. Out of this disposition of mind, which no longer
feels the need of anything, there rises a tempestuous hurricane, every
blast of which annihilates whole kingdoms. The seven seas are then no
more than a pool of water; the seven planets are a spark; the eight
paradises are only a single curtain; the seven hells a mass of ice. In
less time than it takes the greedy crow to fill its crop, out of a
hundred caravans of travellers there remains not one alive.

"(5) The Valley of Unity which succeeds to that of Independence, is the
valley of privation of all things and reduction to unity, that is to
say, the attainment of a degree of spirituality, in which the Divine
Essence, apart from every attribute, is the object of contemplation.

"(6) In the sixth valley, that of Amazement, the pilgrim's lot is to
suffer and to groan; each breath he draws is like a sword; his days and
nights are passed in sighs; from each of his hairs distils a drop of
blood, which, as it falls, traces in the air the letters of the word
"alas!" There he remains in a state of stupefaction, and finds his way
no more."

To make the meaning of "Amazement" clearer, Attar gives the following
allegory. He supposes that the young companions of a princess wished one
day to amuse themselves at the expense of a slave. They made him drink
wine in which they had dropped a narcotic drug, and when he was asleep
had him