Spiritual life
Apply simple methods every day
Novices in the spiritual life often plunge headlong into schemes that are too ambitious, and this inevitably leads to accidents or disillusionment. If at your first attempt you try to jump a chasm that is too wide, you will fall in and by the time you climb out – supposing you ever manage to do so – you will have had such a shock that you might refuse to undertake anything else, however modest. But if you start by jumping only one or two feet and increase this day by day, you will gradually gain confidence and end by clearing an immense width. The same thing applies in the spiritual life. I have already given you so many methods – a few words to say, a simple gesture to make – but you do not use these methods, they seem too paltry. And yet it is precisely simple methods such as these that can prepare you for great achievements,* whereas spectacular beginnings only end in disaster. In their desire to become clairvoyant or to obtain other psychic powers without delay, many people start dabbling in occult practices and the consequences are disastrous!
* Related reading:
The Book of Divine Magic (eBook)
Daily Meditations 2023 (eBook)