Discourse 70

On the measure of our conduct: from the changes of our thoughts, consider. And on the multitude of distinctions, solely by our labors, do not rely childishly, but the measure of our self, know as the wise: from the hidden joy that is perceived in it day by day. And on the precise order of our knowledge. Therefore, remain in your place, my beloved, in tranquility, and see in all the weariness of your labors: and the pressing necessities, and the desolate place of your dwelling, and the precision of your air with the sharpness of your knowledge: and the long duration of your silence, with the many remedies of fasts that from a true physician are prescribed to you, as for the health of a human being who is within. Sometimes from demons, sometimes by means of the illnesses and pains of your body, sometimes by means of the tremors of the movements of your soul in the memories of the blasphemies that are destined for the end. Sometimes again by means of the softnesses and sorrows of grace, trembling and sweet tears and joy of spirit with the rest, so as not to prolong speech. For in all these, do you see the end of your measure that has begun to be sealed? But this: have the pains that have begun become tranquil? Place a sign. And enter within yourself quietly, those which from the pains you see have been effaced before you, those which from them have ceased and vanished completely.

And those who from the beginning began to surpass silence: from the change of your self, and not from the multitude of labors. And from the thought that is learned, and not from the paucity of causes. It is to be sought: behold, you see how all of it is within the measure of your thought, which begins to ascend the living flesh of the being that is the companion of the self: those who from sufferings are pressed in a written manner, and those who in time are time. And of the body, are these: or of the self, or of error? And if, like the sick, they are moved with remembrance in a profound manner, or in a powerful manner stand upon the self? And behold, how, as rulers, or as chosen? And how does the king, that ruler of the senses, look upon them when they strike? Does he bring them near and humble them with his power, or does he not even look upon them again and think? And which are the old boundaries from the ancients, and which are newly formed? And sufferings, by what means are they moved: by images, or by sensation without image, and remembrance without sufferings, and movement without divisions? So that from these again, one can know the measure of the self, where it stands. That first one, and even they do not succeed: for while there is a test for the self, even the powerful one shows over them.

This then is like a demonstrative syllogism: like that which Scripture said, that David sat in his house, and the Lord delivered him from all his surroundings. These: not because of a single passion is it to be understood, but together with the natural passions of desire and wrath, and also the passion of love of praise which forms persons and incites and provokes, and the passion of love of money. Again, when the self participates in the hidden, even in the unseizable practice that is to come. Images of the desires of love of money in the fullness of the tumult of wealth form in the air, and persuade the self to be agitated by them, and they diminish its quiet, along with these others. Not all passions are brought near by the great ones. For there are passions: only constraints burden the self. But weariness and cutting off and oppression: not by the great ones, nor by the gentle ones, but they place only heaviness upon the self. The firmness of the self: is discerned by the victory over those that bring near through struggles. For all these: a certain knowledge and knowers ought to be for a person, that he might perceive in every step he takes: where he arrives, and in what place the self begins to attain. For in the land of the pure, or within from the Jordan, and it was found: also in this.

Or because of the clarity of the soul, knowledge is sufficient for these distinctions; or it distinguishes them profoundly; or it is completely hidden from such things. Can you then, throughout the whole of it, that thoughts begin to be poured out, give place to the mind at the time of prayer? And what earthly affliction disturbs when the thought approaches prayer? Do you perceive within yourself that the power of stillness acts upon the soul with suddenness and a haste not according to the custom of the nature of thought, and is snatched away in its permanence outside of will, with movements not corporeal towards those which have no permission to interpret the senses? It is separated from you by stillness, a joy that silences the tongue by its unchangeable delight, something that flows in its permanence from the heart, a sweetness that gives itself to the whole human being from the beginning, when you are not aware, and falls upon the whole body, a delight and exultation which the tongue born of flesh is unable to utter, so that all earthly things like ashes and dung are considered, even in his memory. This is the first: at the time of prayer and at the time of reading. Again, at other times: from meditation that is pure and with extension, thought meditates and becomes tranquil. This is the last, as in conclusion, beyond these.

And how many times, in the works of the body, and its satiety of the nights in it is evil: between sleep and wakefulness, as one who sleeps while not sleeping, and is awake while not awake, and the relaxation of the whole body is cast down; thus it seems to a man at that time, as if the kingdom of heaven were nothing else but this. And see again, that the power of the soul has strength to cause the forgetfulness of the perceptible memories, by the power of that hope which is fixed in the heart, and strengthens the inner senses with a peace that cannot be disturbed. And that the heart has become accustomed, without the idleness that is upon it, to be separated from earthly things by the prayer that is without ceasing, with our Savior; then knowledge stands at the distinctions of the reading of its own prayer, when it hears: simply, then, it imparts the silence without ceasing, with its constant labors, to these to the soul. And again, they are lost after their finding, from the illumination of the recipients; and again, they are not found for the future. By these, a man is emboldened to say, with the confident testimony of the mind, that which the blessed Paul said: that there is a state without death, and without life, and without those that stand, and without those that are future, with the rest; they are able to be distinguished from the love of Christ.

Or is it the affliction of the body, or wakefulness, or persecution, or hunger, or nakedness, or solitude, or imprisonment, or the sword? Not even the angels of Satan, nor his powers in evil, their tricks. Nor the praise that is abolished by the deceptions of its seductive charms, nor the oppressions and violences by the blows of the magician. If these, my brother, are more and less, do not let them begin in your soul to be seen: your labors and your afflictions and your entire quiet, let it be hidden from the magician. And let it not be that wonders are performed by your hands and the dead are raised; these things are in the measure of something. And it is fitting now that your soul be moved, and that you be pacified with tears for the life-giver of all: that the face of the door be raised from the heart, and the darkness of the clouds of sorrows be removed from the firmament of the inner man, and you be able to see the rising of the day, and not sit in darkness like a dead man forever. A vigil with reading, and place the knees bent in their houses, which are carried, not receiving a reward from those who have done good deeds, these for the one who is sought. For those whom you have, you have; and those again who are found, by these you are able to find them.

And when they are tested in silence together with the labors of these [things], while the mind is not bound by anything and looks outside itself, by the works of excellence that are wrought within, then by those works they can very quickly be perceived by a sure sensation from these [things] that are from the beginning, and they are confirmed, and also concerning the rest. Those who, in the state of silence, received the help of the sweetness of God, do not need much proof. Nor does their soul become sick with the pain of unbelief, like those who are divided concerning the truth. The testimony of their mind suffices for their proof, more than a myriad of words that lack help.