An individual enters the final stages of the Way when the nafs begins to release its grip on the qalb, thus allowing the ruh--which is present in all humanity, but is cloaked in the veil of the self--to absorb the qalb as though it were a drop of dew plunged into a vast, endless sea. When this occurs, the individual achieves fana: ecstatic, intoxicating self-annihilation. This is the final station along the Sufi Way.