June 10

…everything may be understood in terms of its purpose….Now the purpose of our life is blessedness or, what is the same thing, the kingdom of heaven or of God. This is not only to behold the Trinity, supreme in Kingship, but also to receive an influx of the divine and, as it were, to suffer deification; for by this influx, what is lacking and imperfect in us is supplied and perfected. And the provision of such influx, of what is needed, is the food of spiritual beings….Such then is our purpose, in so far as we can understand it. We must now see how we can attain it….
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Love of praise and love of material wealth are the progeny of ignorance. Having no experience of true blessings and no knowledge of noetic realities, the soul has adopted such bastard offspring, thinking that riches can supply its needs….Love of praise does not derive from any lack on the part of the body, for it satisfies no physical need. Inexperience and ignorance of primal goodness and true glory give rise to it. Indeed, ignorance is the root of all evils. For no one who has once grasped as he should the true nature of things–from where each thing comes and how it is perverted–can then totally disregard his own purpose and be dragged down to worldly things. The soul does not want a good that is only apparent.