The Sharpness of the Senses and the Weakness of the Mind

The modern man no longer flees into the desert, for he has made a desert within himself; yet it is not the desert that saves him, but the truth he sees in it. And this is the truth: your senses are sharp, but your heart is worn down. You see too much, you hear too much, you desire too much, and all these things eat away at your mind like rust eats iron. A wise man once said, “I am entangled by the sharpness of my senses and ashamed of the weakness of my intellect.” The senses are not to blame, but the fact that you have made them kings over your soul. For the modern man has eyes that are never satisfied, ears that never fall silent, tastes that never fast, desires that never sleep — and then he wonders why his mind is weak, scattered, ashamed. The mind is ashamed only when it has lost the kingdom of the heart. When the senses are sharp but the spirit is lazy, man becomes a slave; when the mind is strong but the heart is proud, man becomes a tyrant. But when the mind humbles itself and the heart is cleansed, then the senses grow quiet and man becomes truly human. It is not the phone, nor the city, nor the world that troubles you, but your heart untrained to be silent. It is not the noise of the world that disturbs you, but the noise within. Therefore make yourself a cell in your heart and enter it; close the door of the senses, not by force but through prayer, and you will see that the mind which now shames you will shine like a candle lit in the night. For man is not saved by the sharpness of his senses nor by the power of his mind, but by the humility of the heart — and this humility does not come from the world, but from the cry: Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me! Then the senses will submit, the mind will gather itself, and the heart will know the peace that the world cannot give.