An outpost without gates is an eye of the needle, an entrance to heaven ... Thousands of roads lead to those non-existent roads.. Piles of good intentions are on the sides of these roads, and one can see on the gates that this place is created by love and that one has to leave hope to enter here. But beware your desires, doubts and fear will close the gates, and you will stay on the side where hell is, forever
The fearful and distrustful are tempters whose purpose is to confuse the pilgrim's spirit by making him go astray. Both had their tongues torn out with hot tongs as punishment for the sin of despondency.
The narrow gate is a metaphor for the fact that excesses will spoil everything. You need to go on the road at a minimum and try to solve all your problems with a minimum of funds. Faith the size of a mustard seed is enough to plant a barley seed and grow the Kingdom of heaven. The narrow gate is a symbol of restraint, when a person pacifies the greedy hunger of his pride and directs his demon to the right path.
Man comes to the realization of truth and God through contemplation. something that can't be. Truth is a miracle. To realize the truth, you need to see a miracle.
What is revelation? Contemplation of a miracle, awareness of the reality of the existence of a miracle. A miracle is an impossible thing, which manifests itself in reality, becomes possible. Contemplation of a miracle fills a person's heart with hope and joy. A miracle is a very small detail that changes everything. A miracle is a small paradigm of the eye of a needle, through which the picture of the world changes diametrically.
You should look under your feet. Back and far ahead should be cast momentary glances. Imagine you're driving. You can not constantly look over the horizon or in the rearview mirrors. Peripheral vision is good, but everything needs a measure.
A person is cleansed from passions or conscious works, or involuntary sorrows. In other words, either the person himself consciously begins to walk the true path, or he will be guided, motivated by sorrows, pain, suffering and illness.
Your mistake, that is, your sin, is that you are afraid of being alone, you are afraid that you alone will not cope. You have no faith. You don't believe that God is always with you and helping you. When you don't believe in yourself, you don't believe in God.
The silent one is very busy guarding his soul, carefully ensuring that nothing superfluous darkens his soul with temptation. The silent mind is like an attentive Guardian, cutting off predators at the gates of the soul.
What does it mean to satisfy hunger? A well-fed belly is deaf to learning. Fed laziness to love and work. A well-fed person wants to sleep and he falls asleep.
No need to run anywhere. The idea that we are late for something is a false idea of fear, which makes us run through the swamp of despondency, which sucks us into the quagmire.
There is a good road around despondency swamp. Normal heroes always go around, and abnormal people greedily crave feats, are late somewhere and try to take a shortcut. Fake heroes are cowardly, fear of the whip makes them choose the short and fast path. Fear and despondency are allies. Fear drives its victims into the trap of the swamp of despondency, where despondency devours them.
Normal heroes always go around, because for them the main thing is the goal, and not their own vanity or other motives. Vanity demands feats, but the real hero loves art, not himself in art.
Normal heroes always take a detour because they don't take the easy way out. It seems the short way is the easy way, as flies on the sticky fall into this trap of the ignorant, the cowards and the proud.
A happy person is a person filled with joy. Joy is God. An unhappy person is like a dusty dirty mirror, unable to contain the reflection of divine grace and the joy of the real world. The dusty Mirror is clouded by passions and ignorance. Obscuration makes the soul blind.
You see danger, danger is a lion. The ignorant man sees lions and is afraid. An experienced person knows that lions are chained and therefore is not afraid of them. If you don't touch the Lions and don't go near them, you'll be safe.
Life is a danger. The Blind are unaware of the danger and therefore careless. Those who are burned, they know about the danger, but do not see it and therefore are constantly tense and live in paranoia. Courageous people know about the danger, see it, but are not afraid, because experience tells them that lions are chained.
The vainglorious climb the mountain, and think themselves kings of the mountain. The smart one will not go uphill, the smart one will go around the mountain, because he has subdued his vanity and understands that the point is to follow his true goal, and not to climb mountains like a mountain goat.
Vice is a dream. Vice is like the bower of Oblivion, where man falls asleep and finds his doom. In Oblivion, a person forgets his true goals and, stopping, dies. Movement is life, life needs goals. In the dream of vices, a person forgets about his true goals and goes astray.
Vainglory climbs a hill where there is a gazebo of Oblivion, where you can fall asleep and not wake up. In fact, this gazebo is a test of copper pipes. Vainglorious thinks that he has reached the goal and has become King of the mountain. Vainglorious thinks it's time to relax and unwind. The vain man falls asleep and finds in the dream of Illusions and vices his doom.
I don't think fear needs to be conquered. Fear must be respected. Fear is a lion on a leash. More that fear can be admired and admired. However, I do not recommend that you ignore fear or put your hand in the lion's mouth.
The idol built a palace on the mountain. The idol built Bowers on the mountainside so that those climbing the mountain could rest. The idol is beautiful, no one has seen it, but everyone talks about it and everyone praises it. The idol is very sticky. You stick to the idol like a fly in jam. The essence of an idol is to detain you and distract you from your true purpose. The essence of an idol is to steal time. An idol is one of the devil's masks. Then all illusions will be dispelled. Then you finally get off the idol. Then you will realize how much time you have lost on the idol and you will be overcome with sadness and horror.
Lord of the city Perdition insists on Pilgrim's return, and says: "I will forgive you everything, only serve me, but if you go further to your goal and leave me, you will perish in terrible torment." Moreover, the idol shames and blames the pilgrim, instilling a sense of guilt and claiming that he is a traitor, a reptile and a scoundrel.
A man sells his soul to the devil out of youth and inexperience. And inexperience does not depend from experience. Abaddon, Lord of the city He is ashamed of his former slave, that he deceived him and now wants to betray him, he says: "I'll forgive everything, just serve me." However, it should be understood that Abaddon is a serpent tempter, whose purpose is to darken and dazzle souls with brilliance, preventing them from seeing the true light and following the true path to the kingdom of heaven.
The fiends of hell harm only the wicked, but do not touch the Saints. A man who has subdued his pride is safe. The meaning of the activity of the angel of the abyss, the Lord of the devil, is to pacify the pride of people and turn the life of the proud into hell.
You can compare Apollo and Apollyon (aka Abaddon and Lucifer). In some circumstances, Apollo is beautiful, but his complacency and narcissistic pride sooner or later generates a crisis when he turns into a hell fiend.
The pit into which the Blind Man Falls is the aimlessness of pleasure, and the swamp of the swamp is an attempt to get out of the pit. Slough is the Depression of the lack of joy of Vice.
People who do not love themselves remind me of the demon Asmodeus, who does not show his true face, does not wear animal masks. Proud people like to wear masks of dogs, cats, monsters, rabbits, foxes, wolves, etc.
The silver mine is a metaphor for easy and Fast Money. Silver mines are a trap that kills its victims either by falling into the abyss and rubble, or by suffocating gas, from which the head turns, and the person also falls into the abyss.
Vertigo success is dangerous because you lose your balance and fall into the abyss. Vertigo from success it is an expansion and inflation of consciousness, like a flood and loss of control over oneself. The river forgets its purpose of flowing into the ocean and, yielding to the temptation of the flood, turns into a swamp.
Doubt and fear hold you in thrall to despair. Do not believe, do not be afraid and do not ask hope for anything, it will free you from the slavery of despair.