In Chapter 12, Poem 20 of Attar's Mokhtar Nameh, the poet illustrates the severe spiritual danger of the ego ('meni' or 'I-ness'). The poem emphasizes the necessity of 'fana' (annihilation of the self), arguing that possessing even a single 'atom' of ego is a personal hell so immense that it surpasses traditional concepts of divine punishment, requiring a complete shedding of selfhood to progress spiritually.