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If the memory is recollected (silent and empty) as to both heavenly and earthly things, there is no entry for evils, distractions, fancies, or vices-all of which enter through the wandering of the memory.

For, after all the efforts of the soul, it cannot by its unaided labors make itself fitted for union with God in love. God must take it to Himself into His own hands and purify it in the dark fire.

Pay no attention to the affairs of others, whether they be good or bad, for besides the danger of sin, this is a cause of distractions and the lack of spirit.

The very pure spirit does not bother about the regard of others or human respect, but communes inwardly with God, alone and in solitude as to all forms, and with delightful tranquility, for the knowledge of God is received in divine silence.

Since the things of the world cannot enter the soul, they are not in themselves an encumbrance or harm to it; rather, it is the will and appetite dwelling within that cause the damage when set on these things.

Those who walk in the love of God seek neither their own gain nor their reward, but only to lose all things and themselves for God; and this loss they judge to be their gain.

For this reason, the purer, simpler, and more perfect the general knowledge is, the darker it seems to be and the less the intellect perceives.

Let the soul, then, be 'enclosed' without anxiety. He who, when the doors were shut, entered bodily among His disciples and said 'Peace be with you' in an unexpected and inconceivable way, will enter spiritually into the soul when it keeps the door of its powers closed-that is, memory, understanding and will.

The soul is wearied and fatigued by its desires… the (desires) disturb it, allowing it not to rest in any place or in any thing whatsoever.… the desires and indulgence in them all cause it greater emptiness and hunger.

It is best to learn to silence the faculties and to cause them to be still so that God may speak.

He (God) lives in some as though in his own house, commanding and ruling everything; and in others as though a stranger in a strange house, where they do not permit him to give orders or do anything.

As soon as natural things are driven out of the enamored soul, the divine are naturally and supernaturally infused since there can be no void in nature.