Chapter 104

The Humble Need Not Fear Delusion

There is nothing to fear from delusion. It happens to those who have become proud… who begin to think that as soon as warmth enters the heart, that is already the end of perfection. But that is only the beginning, and perhaps not a firm one. For both warmth and the calming of the heart can be natural, the fruit of the concentration of attention. But one must labor and labor, wait and wait, until the natural is replaced by the grace-filled. It is altogether better never to think you have achieved anything, but always to see yourself as poor, naked, blind, and good for nothing. (7, 195–196)