Because we are now mastered by the passions and succumb to a host of temptations we cannot in our age attain those states that characterize sanctity I mean... - real spiritual contemplation of the divine light, - an intellect free from fantasy and distraction, - the true energy of prayer ceaselessly flowing from the depths of the heart, - the souls resurrection and ascension, - divine rapture, the soaring beyond the limits of this world, - the minds ecstasy in spirit above all things sensory, - the ravishment of the intellect above even its own powers, - the angelic flight of the soul impelled by God towards what is infinite and utterly sublime. The intellect - especially in the more superficial among us - tends to picture these states prematurely to itself, and in this way it loses even the slight stability God has given it and becomes altogether moribund. Hence we must exercise great discrimination and not try to pre-empt things that come in their own good time, or reject what we already possess and dream of something else. For by nature the intellect readily invents fantasies and illusions about the high spiritual states it has not yet attained, and thus there is no small danger that we may lose what has already been given to us and destroy our mind through repeated self-deception, becoming a day-dreamer and not a hesychast. St Gregory of Sinai On Commandments and Doctrines, Warnings and Promises
Posted on: Mon, 30 Jun 2014 10:24:05 +0000
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