|Α man takes a walk and sees something. His thoughts say to him, “Go over there and investigate,” and he says to his thoughts, “No! I won’t,” and he cuts off his desire. Again he finds someone gossiping, and his thoughts say to him, “You go and have a word with them,” and he cuts off his desire, and does not speak. Or again his thoughts say to him, “Go up and ask the cook what’s cooking?” and he does not go, but cuts off his desire. Then he sees something else, and his thoughts say to him, “Go down and ask, who brought it?” and he does not ask. A man denying himself in this way comes little by little to form a habit of it, so that from denying himself in little things, he begins to deny himself in great without the least trouble. Finally he comes not to have any of these extraneous desires, but whatever happens to him he is satisfied with it, as if it were the very thing he wanted. And so, not desiring to satisfy his own desires, he finds himself always doing what he wants to. For not having his own special fancies, he fancies every single thing that happens to him. Thus he is found to be without special attachments, and from this state of tranquility he comes to the state of holy indifference.
When God created man, He breathed into him some¬thing divine, as it were a hot and bright spark added to reason, which lit up the mind and showed him the differ¬ence between right and wrong. This is called the conscience, which is the law of his nature. This is compared to the well which Jacob dug and which the Philistines filled up (cf. Gen. 26:15). That is, to this law of conscience adhered the patriarchs and all the holy men of old before the written law, and they were pleasing to God. But when this law was buried and trodden underfoot by men through the onset of sin, we needed a written law, we needed the holy prophets, we needed the instruction of our master, Jesus Christ, to reveal it and raise it up and bring to life through the ob¬servance of the Commandments that buried spark. It is in our power either to bury it again or, if we obey it, to allow it to shine and illuminate us.
St. Dorotheos of Gaza
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