In Chapter 18, Poem 3 of Attar's Mokhtar Nameh, the poet explores the spiritual obstacle of the ego (نفس) and worldly attachment. Attar uses the metaphor of the 'painting' (نقش) to represent the superficial, material world and the ego, contrasting it with the 'Painter' (نقاش), which represents the divine Creator. The poem warns that as long as the soul is preoccupied with the illusion of the self and the painting, it will fail to pursue the Infinite or attend to the divine secret of its Creator.