Beyond the world of water and clay, after the mountain of the Unseen, we were mixed together like Gog and Magog. All of a sudden, we rose up from there and came down at the call Fall down! From far away we saw the outline of the province existence. From afar, the outskirts of the city and the trees were not apparent. In the same way, during infancy we saw nothing of this world. Little by little that came about. The harm of the bait and the trap gradually came forth to us. The flavor of the bait overcame the suffering of the trap. Otherwise, existence would have been impossible.

Me and Rumi
(The Autobiography of Shams-i Tabrizi)
By William C. Chittick