Don't break away from the shell if the raindrop hasn't yet become a pearl. ~ Rumi

The reflection cast from good friends is needed
until you become, without the aid of any reflector,
a drawer of water from the Sea.

Know that the reflection is at first just imitation,
but when it continues to recur,
it turns into direct realization of truth.

Until it has become direct realization,
don't part from the friends who guide you

Don't break away from the shell
if the raindrop hasn't yet become a pearl.

~ Rumi
Mathnawi II: 566-568
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Daylight"
Threshold Books, 1994