A philosopher came to an elder in the desert and asked:

— Father, how can the mind know what is beyond the mind?

The elder was silent a moment and said:

— The mind that knows it does not know what it cannot know, knows through unknowing what is not known by knowing. And by not knowing itself as unknowing, it is known, unknown, by the One who knows it.

The philosopher stood with his mouth open and stayed that way a while, not stirring even a single thought. Then he said:

— Father, I understood nothing. My mind has gone blank.

The elder smiled and said:

— Good, now you are ready. Until now it was full of questions, and the One who comes had no way in. Sit down, brother, and drink a cup of water.