Most people who are drawn to the path of Sufism and become disciples of a master have, in fact, an image of the master in their minds, expecting the master to act according to this subjective image of theirs. If, after a while, they come to conclude that the master is not acting according to their mental image, they decide to leave this master, because, from their point of view, the master has not performed according to their expectations, and in point of fact they expect the master to be the disciple of their own mental image, otherwise they conclude that he or she is not a good master.

Such disciples—and, indeed, they are the majority—used to be called 'drawn-and-blown' disciples, referring to the story in which a certain master performed the miracle of bringing a bird to life, whereby many disciples were 'drawn' to him.

Seeing the increase in the number of disciples, the master decided to test them and so one day he broke wind. All the would-be disciples left in disgust, 'blown' away, as it were. So, in effect, they were 'drawn and blown'.

As Rumi puts it:

Their sleeping and eating are in their imagination;
their desiring and rejecting are based on imagination.
Their war and their peace are no more than imagination;
their fame and their shame are built on imagination.

For ages the saying has been 'The master's infidelity is the disciple's faith,' meaning that if the master says something contrary to the disciple's beliefs or does something against the disciple's wishes, and the disciple remains loyal to him, it is proof that the disciple truly has faith in the master. There are very few disciples in the school of Sufism who love their master as he is and not as they would like him to be. For this reason, a true Sufi is a rare thing in this world.

Most come through their imagination and leave through their imagination.