Discourse 45

Advice full of profit. There is no good movement that is not from the gift of the Most High that falls upon the heart. And there is no evil thought that is not, as it were, from the passions that approach the soul. The person who has attained the knowledge of his weakness has attained the limit of humility. The tranquility of the favors of God towards the person: a heart that is moved by the reception of constant grace. The tranquility of the passions before the soul: a movement of righteousness that constantly dwells in the heart. For all the weaknesses of the person, God provides. For the person who is constant, He makes to increase. He does not permit that He not be pleased with him. The soul that is far from all the light of knowledge is found in these movements. The mouth that is constant gives thanks: it receives blessing from God. And the heart that is constant in the reception of grace: grace is able to dwell in it. Before grace, humility is poured out. And before discipline, the course of patience. That which is raised up by knowledge in its contemplation is healed by blasphemy. And that which is made great by the excellence of labor is made small by humility. And that which is esteemed by wisdom is cast down among deep pits. The person who is far from all remembrance of God, that one who is astray in his heart concerning the governance of his neighbor, with the evil of forgetfulness. That one who honors every person with the remembrance of God is able to be a helper to every person, by the hidden sign of God.

...who expels the Spirit over the oppressed: he is able to bear his own fruit. He who gives his mind to the aid of his neighbour: the mind of God takes his place. He who accuses his brother for his own evils: he is able to accuse God of his own. He who corrects his brother with signs: he heals his own evil. He who accuses him with a complaint: he increases his own blemishes. He who heals his brother in a domestic manner: concerning the depth of his love he makes known. And he who spreads out the eye of his companions: the power of his envy he reveals. The height of humility covers: it is a wise physician. And he who heals the eyes of many: he is truly a despiser. The sign of compassion: forgiveness of every transgression. And the sign of evil intention: changes of words that are the prey of the foolish. He who brings near discipline without medicine: he drives with love. And he whose pursuit is set on vengeance: he is empty of love. God drives with love: and not like vengeance, far be it! Because he desires to heal his image: and he does not hold anger, for the rebellious sacrifice from correction. Because it is not vengeance that pursues itself. This is the life of love. And the discipline of love: because it is correction. And for retribution: it is not struck by evil. The righteous one who is firm: resembles God. He does not drive a stake for a human: because he pursues his own folly. But either he himself is corrected: or others are instructed. For that which changes from this: has no discipline.

...who expels the Spirit over the oppressed: he is able to bear his own fruit. He who gives his mind to the aid of his neighbour: the mind of God takes his place. He who accuses his brother for his own evils: he is able to do this: as in a likeness, the Spirit presses upon it, the thought that he has of God is always. He who, like a seeker, desires to see, while he endures affliction, he who sets up without goodness, accuses him. He has mercy on that source of love, and the sea that is full of goodness, in which recompense is found. The mind of his thought: for the sake of that which is of the evil ones. And if not, the honour of freedom would be cast away, lest even with tears it heal us. The boundary of freedom is by their actions: the power of shamelessness makes loquacity grow. And also this: to the greatness of his goodness it bows. Not as one who desires to rejoice for his own sake, but as one who, for the sake of the righteous deeds of his works, when everything is his own, he does not love to think of his own, but as one who, for our own sake, is delighted. According to the goodness of a man, he is purified for God. And according to his being raised to his knowledge, freedom of the soul is approached. He who, because of the recompense that is future, is benefited by the beautiful things: the night is much for change. He who, the power of his knowledge purifies him: by the vision of the love that he has for God, even his flesh is divided, not by his mind is he exalted, and not from abundance is he disturbed.

...who expels the Spirit over the oppressed: he is able to bear his own fruit. He who gives his mind to the aid of his neighbour: the mind of God takes his place. He who accuses his brother for his own evils: he is able to purify his mind from the debts that he owes to God. This one descends into the depth of humility in his body and his soul. Before a person approaches knowledge, he is humbled and humiliated in his conduct. But when he approaches knowledge, all his humility is humbled, and however much he is humbled, the ascent of knowledge does not cease until that world of glory comes, and he receives the reward of his wealth. How much is a person completed towards God: he goes after him. But in the world of truth, he shows his face to him, not his essence. How much is he adorned and refined in his visions: it is the wonder of the vision that he sees, like an image that is shown by a mirror. There, however, he sees the revelation of truth. A fire that catches dry wood: it is difficult to extinguish. And the fervour for God, which falls into a heart that is separated from the world, its kindling is not extinguishable. And it is sharp, even more than fire. Wine, when its strength is in the veins, the firm certainty of everything is lost. And the remembrance of God, when it takes root in the soul, it conceals the recollection of visible things from the heart. The thought that finds the wisdom of the Spirit is like a ship that finds a well-equipped harbour in the midst of the sea.

...who sits in her: he passes him from this world and brings him to the island of the world to come. For thus is the perception of future things in this world: like a small island in the midst of the sea. And whoever approaches her is no longer tossed by the waves of the merchants of time. When a merchant has completed his business, he hastens to his home. And the monk, as long as the business of his labor remains unfinished, is distressed to depart from the body. But when he perceives in himself that his business is finished and he has received his profit, he yearns for the world to come. The merchant, as long as he is at sea, trembling seizes his limbs; lest the wave capsize him and the hope of his labor be drowned. And the monk, as long as he is in the world, anxiety holds his labor; lest the storm rise against him and the work from youth to old age be lost. The merchant looks to the dry land; the monk to the time of his death. The sailor looks to the star when he sails in the midst of the sea; and he directs his ship toward its destination, that it may show him the harbor. And the monk looks to prayer: she directs his discipline, that his conduct may be directed to the harbor. The monk looks to prayer at all times, that she may show him the island where he may moor his ship from anxiety. And from there, from time to time, he makes provisions and directs himself again to another island.

Thus is the discipline of the solitary: as long as he is in this life, he passes from island to island, and from knowledge to knowledge. And like the changes of islands, he encounters changes of knowledge, until he ascends from the sea, and his discipline takes hold in that city of truth, so that its inhabitants are no longer tossed about in it, but each one is extended according to his own courses. Blessed is the one whose discipline was not shaken in the great sea! Blessed is the one whose ship was not broken, and who reached the harbor while it was still intact! The naked sailor sinks in the midst of the sea, like one who finds the pearl. And the wise naked monk wanders in the desert, that he might find the pearl—Jesus Christ in his person. And when he has found her, he no longer stands with her for anything. The pearl is guarded by virtues, and the delight of the solitary is in stillness. The virgin is perfected by struggles, and the thought of the monk is by prayers. The bird flies from every place to its nest, that it might make its nest in houses. And the discerning monk hastens to his cell, that he might make within it the fruits of life. The serpent, when its whole body is compressed, is on guard with its head. And the wise solitary is on guard against all evils through his faith, which is the head of his life. The cloud hides the sun.

and much discourse concerning the soul, which begins to shine in the contemplation of prayer. That separation which is called "the desert": at that time it rejoices and is delighted, as the saying of the wise: when the soul separates itself from the places of the world and goes to dwell in a desert place. And the soul of the solitary: at that time it receives heavenly joy, when it distances itself from worldly affairs and goes to dwell in places of peace, and there it completes the time of its departure. For it is said concerning that separation which is called "Seres": that wherever its scent goes, the whole of it is drawn after it in the sweetness of the desert, until by the sweetness of its limbs it loses its life and falls dead. To this is likened the desire of the soul: that when that heavenly sweetness falls upon it from the words of God, through the sensation of the air, the whole of it goes after it, until it loses its bodily life and leaves the body from its vitality, and is elevated to it from life. It exchanges its life of this world for that which lives corporeally. But not like the distinction of the intellect: for that which distinguishes from the intellect by the sensation of God. But until the first leaves do not fall, it does not put forth new fruits.

and the solitary, until his heart is not filled with the memories of his former [state], he does not put forth new shoots, through Jesus Christ. The Spirit: it hears the fruits. And the Spirit of God: to the fruits of the self. That radiance which is received in it by the spiritual pearl: from the air it receives its fullness, as the word says. And until then, the flesh is dead. And the heart of the solitary, until it receives the heavenly fullness through thoughts, his labor is still dead, and there is no sweetness in his radiance. The fruits of trees are bitter and sour in taste, and they are not fit for eating until the sweetness from the sun falls upon them. And the first labors of repentance are very bitter and sour, and they do not benefit the solitary until that sweetness falls upon them, which is theoria, which sweetens the heart from earthly things, and his standing goes astray. A dog that licks a file drinks from its own blood, and does not know its own harm, because of the sweetness of the moment. And the solitary bows down to drink a vain glory from his own life, and does not perceive his own harm, because of the sweetness of the hour. The glory of the worldly is like a rock that is hidden in the sea, and is not known to the sailor until the ship is wrecked upon it, and it breaks its mast, and is filled with water.

It is said concerning the Fathers: that by his hand all the passions again turn back into the soul, those which at one time had been purified and had gone out of it. A small cloud covers the sun, and after it the sun is very bright. A small cutting covers the self, and the joy after it is more radiant. A singer who sings with the mouth: from the sound of his strings it is not restrained; and when he ceases his song, the belly is more hungry. The sweetness of words without deeds does not satisfy; and when a man makes use of them, he is more ashamed. Just as a man cannot drink wine and not emit a smell from his mouth, so a man cannot drink spiritual intoxication in his conduct, and the change of his wills is not perceived by the wise. A heart that receives the heavenly seed: it is changed in its speech, changed in its thought, changed in its conduct, changed in its perceptions; and in everything that is its own, it is changed from the rest of ordinary men. And like a man who was asleep and awake from sleep: to the mystical words in the Scriptures, without prayer and the petition of help from God, he does not approach, when he says: Lord, give me to receive the perception of the power that is in them. The keys of the concepts of truth in Scripture: prayer, prostrate yourself before her, for she is it.

When you wish to approach God with your heart: first show him love through bodily practices. From here is the beginning of the way. For the heart approaches God in a great manner through the ladder of the steps of the thought of joy, and the cessation of labors. Even the Lord: from here he laid the foundation for perfection. Consider the darkness of the soul as the beginning: darkness upon darkness, the thickness of speech, and the cause of the first for the second. Even words without limit, darkness-makers. The soul is greatly perplexed by excessive thickness, even if it is the fear of God that is the preparation and the armor of approach. Consider the agitations of the mind as the darkness of the soul. Darkness in the soul, then, is from lack of order in behaviors. Measure and sacrifice in behavior: the enlighteners of thought and the guides of the mind. When thought is confused from lack of order, it becomes dark. And when it is dark, the soul is troubled. Silence comes from order. And light is born from silence in the soul. And from silence, a joyful air in thought. By the measure of the heart's approach to wisdom, so does it receive joy in God. The distinction of the wisdom of the spirit from that of the world: you perceive in your soul. By that which: silence rules over your soul.

In this, then, the source of silence shall be. And after the first finding, you will be filled with much humility, and with haste, and with a disturbance that rules over all your thoughts and your members that have been agitated, and they cease from agitation and commotion. After the second finding, you will await hope at your gate, and thoughts that are ineffably varied, and a turning of the air, and your senses that are agitated and attentive.