Those to whom all this experience is strange may understand by way of our earthly longings and the joy we have in winning to what we most desire- remembering always that here what we love is perishable, hurtful, that our loving is of mimicries and turns awry because all was a mistake, our good was not here, this was not what we sought; There only is our veritable love and There we may hold it and be with it, possess it in its verity no longer submerged in alien flesh. Any that have seen know what I have in mind: the soul takes another life as it approaches God; thus restored it feels that the dispenser of true life is There to see, that now we have nothing to look for but, far otherwise, that we must put aside all else and rest in This alone, This become, This alone, all the earthly environment done away, in haste to be free, impatient of any bond holding us to the baser, so that with our being entire we may cling about This, no part in us remaining but through it we have touch with God.

Καὶ οἷς μὲν ἄγνωστόν ἐστι τὸ πάθημα τοῦτο͵ ἐντεῦθεν ἐνθυμείσθω ἀπὸ τῶν ἐνταῦθα ἐρώτων͵ οἷόν ἐστι τυχεῖν ὧν τις μάλιστα ἐρᾷ͵ καὶ ὅτι ταῦτα μὲν τὰ ἐρώμενα θνητὰ καὶ βλαβερὰ καὶ εἰδώλων ἔρωτες καὶ μεταπίπτει͵ ὅτι οὐκ ἦν τὸ ὄντως ἐρώμενον οὐδὲ τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἡμῶν οὐδ΄ ὃ ζητοῦμεν. Ἐκεῖ δὲ τὸ ἀληθινὸν ἐρώμενον͵ ᾧ ἔστι καὶ συνεῖναι μεταλαβόντα αὐτοῦ καὶ ὄντως ἔχοντα͵ οὐ περιπτυσσόμενον σαρξὶν ἔξωθεν. Ὅστις δὲ εἶδεν͵ οἶδεν ὃ λέγω͵ ὡς ἡ ψυχὴ ζωὴν ἄλλην ἴσχει τότε καὶ προσιοῦσα καὶ ἤδη προσελθοῦσα καὶ μετασχοῦσα αὐτοῦ͵ ὥστε γνῶναι διατεθεῖσαν͵ ὅτι πάρεστιν ὁ χορηγὸς ἀληθινῆς ζωῆς͵ καὶ δεῖ οὐδενὸς ἔτι. Τοὐναντίον δὲ ἀποθέσθαι τὰ ἄλλα δεῖ͵ καὶ ἐν μόνῳ στῆναι τούτῳ͵ καὶ τοῦτο γενέσθαι μόνον περικόψαντα τὰ λοιπὰ ὅσα περικείμεθα· ὥστε ἐξελθεῖν σπεύδειν ἐντεῦθεν καὶ ἀγανακτεῖν ἐπὶ θάτερα δεδεμένους͵ ἵνα τῷ ὅλῳ αὐτῶν περιπτυξώμεθα καὶ μηδὲν μέρος ἔχοιμεν͵ ᾧ μὴ ἐφαπτόμεθα θεοῦ.