A Sufi came to see Shabli, his teacher, weeping bitterly.
"Why are you weeping?" Shabli asked him.
"I had a friend whose beauty filled my heart. He died yesterday. Now I feel as if I will die of grief today."
"Grieve not! You enjoyed that friendship while it lasted. You must seek another," Shabli said. "But this time, take as your friend one who will not die, and then you will have no cause to grieve. This attachment to what is mortal will always end in grief. Go seek your beloved in that place beyond which there is no beyond."
Inspired by: The Conference of the Birds by Farid Ud-Din Attar, translated by S. C. Nott
Notes: This is in section 25: An Anecdote of Shabli. You can read more about Shabli at Wikipedia. I have adapted this saying attributed to him: "O people! I go to place beyond which these is no beyond. I go to the south and the north, to a place beyond which is there is no beyond. Everything that I saw after that I could see in one hair of my little finger."
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