In Chapter 14, Poem 21 of Attar's Mokhtar Nameh, the poet expresses a profound sense of helplessness and spiritual bewilderment. Attar uses the vivid metaphor of remaining like a 'ring upon the door' (حلقه بر در) to illustrate his state: even if a thousand doors of opportunity or spiritual understanding were to open for him every day, he remains stuck on the outside, attached to the door but unable to pass through it into the divine mystery. This imagery powerfully conveys the mystic's agonizing realization of his own limitations and the impenetrable nature of the ultimate truth.