In Section 1 of the Eighth Discourse of Asrar Nameh, Attar outlines the Sufi doctrine of evolutionary ascent. He describes the sequential progression of existence from the mineral realm (معادن/جمادی) to the vegetative state (نبات), then to the animal kingdom (حیوان), and finally to humanity (انسان), which culminates in the prophets. This description of the soul's journey through material and spiritual stages is a key thematic precursor to similar evolutionary concepts later explored by Rumi.

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## Original content
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چرا بودی چو بودی کارت افتاد 
چه گویم عقبه دشوارت افتاد
ترا چه جرم کآوردندت ای دوست 
تویی در راه معنی مغز هر پوست
معادن مغز ارکانست لیکن 
نباتست آنگهی مغز معادن
وزو مغز نبات افتاده حیوان 
وزان پس مغز حیوان گشت انسان
ز انسان انبیا گشته خلاصه 
وزیشان سید سادات خاصه
ازین هفت آسمان در راه معنی 
بباید رفت تا درگاه مولی
همی هرچه از کمال اصل دورست 
ازو طبع حقیقت بین نفورست
جمادی بودهٔ حیی شدی تو 
کجا لاشی بدی شیئی شدی تو
چنان خواهم که بر ترتیب اول 
نداری یک نفس خود را معطل
ز رتبت سوی رتبت می نهی گام 
برون می آیی از یک یک خم دام
نهادت پر گره بندست جان را 
از آن جان می نبینی آن جهان را
نهادت پر گره کردند از آغاز 
به یک یک دم شود یک یک گره باز
چه دانی ای به زیر کوه زاده 
که تو زیر چه باری اوفتاده
کسی را زیر کوهی پروریدند 
به زیر بار کوهش آوریدند
جهانی بار بر پشتش نهادند 
به زیر بار کوهش خوی دادند
مه از کوهست بار او و او مور 
همه آفاق خورشیدست او کور
چو برگیرند ازو بار گران را 
به یک ساعت ببیند آن جهان را
شکیبائی بجان او درآید 
همه عالم نشان او برآید
چو نور جاودان آید به پیشش 
فرو ماند عجب آید ز خویشش
به دل گوید که چون گشتم چنین من 
ز شک چون آمدم سوی یقین من
منم این یا نیم من اینت بشگفت 
که نور من همه آفاق بگرفت
چو نابینای مادرزاد ناگاه 
که یابد نور چشم خود به یک راه
چو بیند روشنایی جهان او 
چگونه خیره ماند آن زمان او
ترا همچون سرآید زندگانی 
در آن عالم به عینه هم چنانی
از آن تاریک جا چون دور گردی 
قرین عالم پر نور گردی
عجب ماتی درآن چندان عجایب 
غریبت آید آن چندان غرایب
همی چندان که چشم تو کند کار 
همی خورشید بینی ذره کردار
در آن حضرت که امکان ثبوتست 
فلک چون دستباف عنکبوتست
کجا آنجا وجود کس نماید 
نمد چون در بر اطلس نماید
به پیش آفتاب عالم آرای 
کجا ماند وجود سایه بر جای
از آن پس پرده هستی درآید 
سر از رفعت سوی پستی درآید
همی چندانک کردی نیک و بد تو 
همه آماده بینی گرد خود تو
اگر بد کردهٔ زیر حجابی 
وگرنه با بزرگان هم رکابی
به نیکی و بدی در کار خویشی 
همه آیینهء کردار خویشی
اگر نیکست و گر بد کار و کردار 
شود در پیش روی تو پدیدار

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## English translation
Why did you come to be? Since you came to be, your task has begun;
What can I say? A difficult obstacle has fallen to you.

What is your crime that they brought you, O friend?
You are, on the path of meaning, the kernel of every shell.

Minerals are the kernel of the elements, but
Then plants are the kernel of minerals.

And from that, the kernel of plants became animals,
And after that, the kernel of animals became human.

From humans, the prophets became the essence,
And from them, the Master of Masters specifically.

From these seven heavens, on the path of meaning,
One must go until the threshold of the Lord.

Whatever is far from the perfection of the origin,
The truth-seeing nature is averse to it.

You were inanimate, you became living,
Where you were nothingness, you became a thing.

I desire that, according to the original order,
You do not leave yourself idle for a single breath.

You step from rank to rank,
You come out of every single bend of the snare.

Your nature is a fetter full of knots for the soul,
Because of that, O soul, you do not see that world.

They made your nature full of knots from the beginning,
With every single breath, a single knot is opened.

What do you know, O one born under the mountain,
Under what burden you have fallen?

They raised someone under a mountain,
They brought him under the burden of a mountain.

They placed a world of burden on his back,
They accustomed him to being under the burden of the mountain.

His burden is greater than a mountain and he is an ant,
All horizons are the sun, and he is blind.

When they lift the heavy burden from him,
In one hour he sees that world.

Patience enters his soul,
The whole world becomes his sign.

When the eternal light comes before him,
He remains bewildered, he is amazed at himself.

He says to his heart, 'How did I become like this?
How did I come from doubt to certainty?'

Am I this, or am I not? This is wondrous,
That my light encompassed all horizons.

Like someone born blind, suddenly,
Who finds the light of his eyes all at once.

When he sees the brightness of the world,
How bewildered he remains at that time.

When your life comes to an end like this,
In that world you will be exactly like that.

When you become distant from that dark place,
You become a companion of the world full of light.

You are wondrously amazed among so many wonders,
Those many marvels seem strange to you.

As far as your eyes can work,
You see the sun acting like a speck.

In that Presence where there is possibility of permanence,
The firmament is like the hand-weaving of a spider.

How could anyone's existence show there?
How could felt show next to satin?

Before the world-adorning sun,
How can the existence of a shadow remain in place?

After that, the veil of existence falls away,
The head comes down from loftiness to lowliness.

However much good and bad you have done,
You see it all ready around you.

If you have done bad, you are under a veil,
And if not, you are riding alongside the great ones.

In good and bad, you are in your own work,
You are entirely the mirror of your own deeds.

Whether your work and deeds are good or bad,
They will appear before your face.

بخش ۱ - المقاله الثمانیه / Section 1 - The Eighth Discourse

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