This allegory from Jami's Haft Awrang (Section 37) presents a paradoxical figure: a 'living-hearted' one (zende-del) who abandons the company of the spiritually withered living and takes up residence among the graves of the dead. When an inquirer questions this behavior, he explains that the truly noble and the pure-natured lie beneath the soil, while those who still walk upon the earth are inwardly 'dead-hearted.' Underlying the tale is the Sufi doctrine of companionship (sohbat): intimacy with the withered and dead-hearted breeds spiritual deadness, whereas communion with pure souls yields the spirit of eternal subsistence (baqa). Reading the word of annihilation (fana) from each tablet of dust, the seeker turns away from social esteem and toward inner transformation.