The following brief but very helpful passage was recorded by one of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan’s students.

When a person wishes to keep away from all jarring influences, he had better not try to live. It does not require strength to stand against the jarring influences of life. It is a small piece of wood, little and light, that can rise and fall with the waves, always above them, uninjured and safe. The lighter and smaller man’s ego becomes, the more power and endurance it has.