1. The Learner: Lord, I am still much in need of greater grace, if I am to reach that state where no one and nothing in all creation can bar my advance. As long as anything holds me back, I cannot fly freely to you. To fly freely—that was his desire, the man who said, Had I but wings, I cry, as a dove has wings, to fly away and find rest!¹ Who is more at rest than the man who is "clearsighted" ? What greater freedom is there than to desire nothing upon earth? A man should therefore rise above all that is created, and, leaving himself completely behind, see with rapt eyes that there is no comparison between creatures and you, the Creator of them all. Unless a man has disentangled himself from all things created, he will not be free to make for the things of God. That is why you find so few contemplatives; there are not so many people who can cut themselves off completely from things created and doomed to pass away.
2. It needs a good deal of grace to lift the soul up so far that it is carried higher than itself; but unless a man is lifted up in spirit, free of all attachment to creatures and completely united to God, nothing he may know or possess is of much consequence. Anyone who esteems as valuable anything apart from God, the only, the boundless, the eternal good, will long remain small in soul and rise very little above the earth. Whatever is not God is nothing, and as nothing we ought to reckon it. There is a world of difference between the wisdom of a devout man enlightened by God, and the knowledge of a learned and studious man of letters. Knowledge which streams into the soul from above by the outpouring of God's grace is of a far nobler kind than that which is painfully put together by the efforts of man.
3. You can find a lot of people who long to be contemplatives, but they take no trouble to adopt the practices essential for such a state. It is a great obstacle if we set great store by outward signs and things that affect the senses, and yet hardly bother to bring under stricter control our unruly impulses. By what spirit are we led, I wonder, what are we aiming at, we who would like to be called spiritual men? The trouble we go to, the drudgery we put up with, for the sake of the most ephemeral and unrewarding causes! Yet when it comes to our inner life, how seldom do we give it a thought, how seldom keep our senses completely under control!
4. The sad truth is that after a little time given to meditation we rush straight away and plunge into our outward life, never thinking to weigh on the delicate scales of conscience all that we do. We do not consider where our affections lie, nor grieve for the sinful imperfection of all our actions. No creature on earth but had lost its true direction;² that was why the great flood came upon them. When our inner longings are full of corruption, the actions to which they give rise must also be corrupted. That is a sign of our lack of inward strength; only from a pure heart comes its natural fruit, a good and holy life.
5. People are concerned to know the greatness of a man's achievements; they are not so interested in assessing the underlying goodness of his life. Is he brave, wealthy, good-looking? Is he a good writer, a good singer, a good worker? Those are the questions they ask. He may be humble, patient, gentle, and live a devout inner life, but you won't get many people to mention any of that. Nature looks at a man from the outside; Grace turns its gaze inward. Nature often makes mistakes; Grace trusts in God, fearing to be deceived.
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¹ Psalms 55:6
² Genesis 6:12
2. It needs a good deal of grace to lift the soul up so far that it is carried higher than itself; but unless a man is lifted up in spirit, free of all attachment to creatures and completely united to God, nothing he may know or possess is of much consequence. Anyone who esteems as valuable anything apart from God, the only, the boundless, the eternal good, will long remain small in soul and rise very little above the earth. Whatever is not God is nothing, and as nothing we ought to reckon it. There is a world of difference between the wisdom of a devout man enlightened by God, and the knowledge of a learned and studious man of letters. Knowledge which streams into the soul from above by the outpouring of God's grace is of a far nobler kind than that which is painfully put together by the efforts of man.
3. You can find a lot of people who long to be contemplatives, but they take no trouble to adopt the practices essential for such a state. It is a great obstacle if we set great store by outward signs and things that affect the senses, and yet hardly bother to bring under stricter control our unruly impulses. By what spirit are we led, I wonder, what are we aiming at, we who would like to be called spiritual men? The trouble we go to, the drudgery we put up with, for the sake of the most ephemeral and unrewarding causes! Yet when it comes to our inner life, how seldom do we give it a thought, how seldom keep our senses completely under control!
4. The sad truth is that after a little time given to meditation we rush straight away and plunge into our outward life, never thinking to weigh on the delicate scales of conscience all that we do. We do not consider where our affections lie, nor grieve for the sinful imperfection of all our actions. No creature on earth but had lost its true direction;² that was why the great flood came upon them. When our inner longings are full of corruption, the actions to which they give rise must also be corrupted. That is a sign of our lack of inward strength; only from a pure heart comes its natural fruit, a good and holy life.
5. People are concerned to know the greatness of a man's achievements; they are not so interested in assessing the underlying goodness of his life. Is he brave, wealthy, good-looking? Is he a good writer, a good singer, a good worker? Those are the questions they ask. He may be humble, patient, gentle, and live a devout inner life, but you won't get many people to mention any of that. Nature looks at a man from the outside; Grace turns its gaze inward. Nature often makes mistakes; Grace trusts in God, fearing to be deceived.
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¹ Psalms 55:6
And I say, "O that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest;
² Genesis 6:12
And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.
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