Inner peace and quiet is necessary for every person who desires steady progress in the spiritual life.
Hesychius the Priest: "The spiritual life, through which we realize the Kingdom of God, does require a certain forceful effort of the mind. It is impossible for the soul to attain anything spiritual and to do God's will or to be free from inner sin without guarding the mind and the purity of the heart, which is what we call watchfulness. We will travel the road of changing the mind correctly, only if we give attention to the mind in the Name of Jesus with humble watchfulness and powerful prayer. The person who pays no attention to the activity of his mind and to his mind's impassioned thoughts does not really know how to journey on the spiritual path."
Philotheos of Sinai: "The spiritual worker must struggle with his mind toward the goal of being mindful of God... The mindfulness of God is established within us through watchfulness and attention. But for this to happen within us, there is the need of a mental warfare more difficult than any physical warfare. For it is by means of the mind that the spirits of evil wage an invisible war against the soul.But by keeping watch with the mind, we can kill all the sinful spirits and win the war... We must begin this work by exercising self-control with regard to our food, eating and drinking as little as possible. Working with the mind trains and purifies the mind and changes it from an impassioned state to a dispassioned state.Working with the mind is like creating a window full of light through which God enters and reveals Himself. Watchfulness of mind may properly be called a spiritual path leading both to the Kingdom of God within us and that which is to come."
Isaac of Syria: "The beginning of the path of the spiritual life is always to be instructing one's mind in the Word of God and to be withdrawing the mind from worldly distractions in order to recollect the mind into meditation on God. No one can approach God without withdrawing the mind from all worldly affairs... Our mind is very volatile. If it is not secured by some meditation, it never stops wandering around. The mind cannot be kept from wandering without the practice of psalmody and prayer and reading the Divine Scriptures."
Gregory of Sinai: "The mind has within itself a natural power of delusion and can easily build illusionary images of what it desires in those who do not watchfully pay attention, and so cause themselves harm. Memories, too, of good and bad things will often suddenly imprint their images in the mind, and thus entice it to delusion. Then the man to whom this happens enters the realm of dreaming, rather than the quiet silence of a still mind. Always be displeased with such images and keep your mind colorless, formless, and imageless."
Basil the Great: "A mind not carried about by the senses...awakens to God."
Unseen Warfare: "Strive above all things to establish and make firm a peaceful state in your heart. Inner peace and quiet is necessary for every person who desires steady progress in the spiritual life. Gaining inner peace means building a house for the God of Peace... The imagination is a power of the soul which by its very nature has no capacity for entering into the actual realm of union with God."
Diadochos of Photiki: "Spiritual knowledge comes through prayer, deep stillness, and complete detachment."
Theoleptus: "Go, sit still and quietly in your room, and be mindful of God. Withdraw your mind from everything, and give it to God without any speech. Open up your heart to Him; cleave to Him with love. Being mindful of God is the contemplation of God. God attracts to Himself the striving and looking mind, and He illumines that mind with His light and life... The mind, by directing its loving consciousness toward God, in the silence of purely looking, is illumined by Divine Radiance and Being... Thus feeding its love for God and satisfying its yearning for the great goodness pouring out of God, the mind is granted eternal and blessed rest in Him."
Gregory of Nyssa: "The Kingdom of God actually dwells within each and every one of us (Luke 17:21), but it is ignored and forgotten, and choked with the cares and the pleasures of this life. Yet it is readily discovered again when we turn our minds towards it... Man must hold the mind collected inwardly and keep attention within himself if he is to commune with God."
Nicephorus the Solitary: "To be in communion with God, we must detach ourselves and our minds from the preoccupations and cares of the world and strive constantly to keep the attention of our mind focused on the Kingdom of God within us. To enter the Kingdom of God, man must enter the heart and do therein the doing practiced by the fathers."
Barsanuphius: "The inner doing with God alone helps a man grow spiritually; all the external efforts are in vain. Inner doing brings purity of heart; inner doing brings silence of mind; inner doing brings humility; inner doing brings love; inner doing prepares us as the abode of God."
Theophan the Recluse: "Do you seek the Lord? Then seek Him within yourself. The Lord is near to all who call upon Him. Simply fold the wings of the mind and descend into the place of the heart. For everyone who meets the Lord meets Him there."
Evagrius: "Our spiritual nature, which had become dead through wickedness, is raised once more by Christ through the contemplation of all the reality of creation. And through the spiritual knowledge that He gives of Himself, the Father raises the soul which has died the death of Christ... But if you wish to behold God and commune with He Who is beyond sense perception and beyond all conception, you must free your mind from every impassioned thought. The mind that is a slave to passion cannot come to the realm of pure spiritual prayer. For such a mind is dragged about by passionate thoughts, and it cannot remain still and quiet. You cannot attain pure prayer while your mind is occupied with thoughts of material things and cares. For prayer means letting go of all thought and being with God."
Isaac of Syria: "Prayer needs constant exercise if it is to be fruitful... Prayer is to be preceded by solitude, by the withdrawal of all thoughts and everything that is alien to prayer. Solitude is necessary for prayer; and prayer is necessary for one to acquire the love of God within. Love is born of prayer, and prayer is born by remaining in solitude. We all have need of solitude, so that we may more readily be enabled to commune with God."
Maximus the Confessor: "When passions dominate the mind, they separate it from God, binding the mind to material things and preoccupying the mind with them. But when the love of God dominates the mind, it frees the mind from its bonds and enables the mind to rise above the things of the senses and this transitory life. Whatever a person loves, he inevitably clings to, and in order not to lose it he rejects everything that keeps him from the object of his love. So he who really loves God will cultivate pure prayer, driving out every passion that prevents him from attaining it. Love is a holy state of being, which disposes the soul to value the knowledge of God above all created things. We cannot attain a lasting possession of such love while we are still attached to anything worldly. Therefore if someone persists in insulting you, do not allow yourself to be moved out of your state of love... Your state of love will not be lost if, when abused, you bless; when slandered, you praise; when deceived, you show affection. Such love is the way of Christ; if you do not follow this way, you do not share His company. The way of truth is love... Do not lightly dismiss spiritual love, for there is no other road to salvation for human beings. There is nothing greater than divine love. He who possesses love possesses God Himself, because 'God is love.'"
Hebrews 12: "Let us lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the Pioneer and Perfecter of our Faith, Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the Cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him (Gk: "contemplate") Who endured from sinners such hostility against Himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood."
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