Sahl al-Tustari once met a Sufi in Mecca to whom he gave spiritual counsel. The man replied, ‘O master, I am incapable of this on account of the people.’ Sahl then turned to his disciples and said, ‘a man will not attain to the reality of this affair (i.e. realization) until he has one of two qualities: either people fall away from his sight to such an extent that he does not see anyone in this world except God and himself, aware that no one is able either to harm or benefit him, or his ego (nafs) becomes so insignificant in his own eyes that it does not matter in what state people see him.'
–– Cited by Ibn ‘Abbad of Ronda in Sharḥ al-ḥikam al-‘aṭā‘iyya. Thanks to Ayn Kha
