Κεφ. ΠΓ'

The Clarity of Freedom

The mind gains the ability to discern the tactics of spiritual enemies only after it has achieved freedom from the passions.

While the mind is fighting against the passions, it will not perceive the principles at work in that battle, for it is like someone fighting in the dark. But once it has attained freedom from the passions, it will easily recognize the enemies’ tactics.¹²

Read the original Latin

Ὁ νοῦς τὸν ἐμπαθῆ πόλεμον πολεμῶν οὐ θεωρήσει τοὺς λόγους τοῦ πολέμου· τῷ γὰρ ἐν νυκτὶ μαχομένῳ ἔοικεν· ἀπάθειαν δὲ κτησάμενος, ῥᾳδίως ἐπιγνώσεται τὰς μεθοδείας τῶν πολεμίων.

Notes

1 ↩Here λόγους means the underlying principles or causes of the conflict, not spoken words.
2 ↩Rendered as “freedom from the passions”: the ascetic state in which disordered passions no longer govern the mind, rather than emotional numbness.

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