“The natural state of man, since we have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and have fallen out of paradise, is the divine Law which was given to us in writing after that exile. Every man desiring salvation has to fight with the passions: thrashing and opposing, fighting and being fought against, winning and suffering defeat. And in general, he has to struggle in order to stay within the divine laws of nature.”
(Elder Joseph the Hesychast in ‘Monastic Wisdom’)