“He chastens us a little in order to keep us humble, for He knows how easily our weak human nature changes, how easily it turns towards evil. He treats us with paternal solicitude and chastens us lovingly, so that we may obtain firm wisdom. This is the knowledge of the perfect saints: (it is not as some people explain it, but it has its own special power) to put it simply, one must confess that even when one is at the heavenly height of virtue, it is possible—if God abandons him—for him to fall into the abyss of corruption and debauchery! It is not a matter of just saying this with empty words, but one must really feel this way. But one cannot say this with conviction if one does not first pass through the Babylonian furnace of temptations, and if one’s human nature does not slip by God’s permission, so that he realizes his weak constitution. He then sees with whom he has to wrestle, what the wickedness and malice of his adversary (the devil) is, and how difficult it is to rise after a fall! In brief, this is what ‘know thyself’ means.  When one obtains this knowledge, the Holy Trinity dwells in his heart. Then bliss gushes forth endlessly, and he reaches the point of seeing revelations!”

– ‘Counsels from the Holy Mountain’