Spiritual life
Using the methods and exercises we have been given to prepare ourselves
October 26th 2025
Many people set out on the spiritual path wanting to undertake great things right away, and as they have no idea of the difficulties involved, accidents and disappointments inevitably follow. If you decide to jump over a great, wide chasm without any previous training, you will fall in, and by the time you climb out—if you ever do—you will be so shaken that you might give up even trying to make the slightest effort again. On the other hand, if you start by learning to jump across a ditch that is two feet wide, and then one that is three feet, and so on, you will go far because, little by little, you will gain confidence in yourself.
The same is true in the spiritual life. I have given you so many methods to practise—words to say, gestures to make, ways of controlling certain impulses—but you do not use these methods because you find them too trivial. And yet, it is precisely these little exercises that will help you to go a long way, whereas grandiose ventures will be your downfall. Many people have wanted to become clairvoyants, magicians, and so on, by throwing themselves into occult practices, and in so doing, have lost their minds!*
* Related reading:
The same is true in the spiritual life. I have given you so many methods to practise—words to say, gestures to make, ways of controlling certain impulses—but you do not use these methods because you find them too trivial. And yet, it is precisely these little exercises that will help you to go a long way, whereas grandiose ventures will be your downfall. Many people have wanted to become clairvoyants, magicians, and so on, by throwing themselves into occult practices, and in so doing, have lost their minds!*
* Related reading:
