You may comprehend the measure of your way of life from that which arises in your mind with regard to what is muses on in its thoughts; for which things your nature effortlessly longs, what stirrings are aroused continually, and which are caused by an accidental circumstance; whether your mind has any perception at all of incorporeal thoughts; or whether all its motions are of a material sort; and whether the mind's material quality is something passionate, or only that the thoughts are imprints of the physical aspect of a man's virtuous labor: for the mind involuntarily muses upon the things wherewith it performs the virtues. From these things [last mentioned] the mind, in a wholesome manner, receives the cause of fervor and the gathering of its deliberations, for because of its lack of training the mind, with a good intention, prefers to labor in a corporeal manner, though it does not do so passionately. Observe also whether your mind remains unaffected by hidden confrontations with the imprints of thoughts because of a mightier ardor for the Divine, which is wont to cut off vain recollections.
+St. Isaac the Syrian, from Ascetic Homilies, homily 2.
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