Demolish this house

Demolish this house, for a thousand houses
may be made from this carnelian.
A treasure lies beneath the house,
So don’t stand still, for there is no other way.
Don’t be afraid of destroying the house,
because with its treasure in your hand you can build
a thousand houses without toil and pain.
In the end this house will fall into ruin,
and the treasure beneath it will be revealed;
But it won’t be yours,
since your soul receives that divine gift
as wages for destroying the house.
If it hasn’t done the hard work, it earns nothing:
There is nothing for the human being hereafter
but recompense for that which she has wrought here.

Mathnawi IV, Maulana Jallaluddin Rumi, may Allah sanctify his soul & bless his secret