Antithetical Qualities

I uproot greed for silver, but plant the root of non-greed, the fruit of love, and the cross of life; a painless life, an envy-free treasure, a carefree heaven, an undiverted sun, immeasurable matter, incomprehensible wealth, a sickle for anxiety, the practice of the Gospels, and an unloosed cosmos. A swift-running combatant.

Sorrow: a dweller in loss, a companion of failure, a forerunner of exile, a memory of kinship, a sidekick of constriction, a fellow-traveler of listlessness, a crime of agitation, a reminder of insolence, and a darkening of the soul, a downfall of morals, a drunkenness of prudence, a sleeping antidote, a cloud of form, a worm of the flesh, a grief of thoughts, a people of captivity.

Joy: the destruction of sorrow, and the thanksgiving of misfortunes, the vision of prayers, and the gladness of labors, the cheerfulness of well-doing, an infusion of renunciation, a vessel of hospitality, a refuge of hopes, food for those practicing asceticism, an exhortation for those mourning, a consolation for tears, a grasp for distress, a breath of love, and a companion of patience.

Anger: a robbery of prudence, a reconstruction of order, a confusion of nature, a wild form, a furnace of the heart, a raging flame, a law of passion, the wrath of the insolent, a mother of beasts, a silent battle, a hindrance to prayer.

Patience: a weapon of prudence, a court for anger, a physician of the heart, an admonition for the rash, a calm for the troubled, a harbor without drought, well-doing for those who grieve, gentleness toward all, blessing the blasphemed, rejoicing when insulted, a comfort for the distressed, a mirror for those hoping, a prize for those being mistreated.

Chapter 4. Acedia: an airy friendship, a wanderer of platforms, a hatred of industry, a battle against stillness, a frenzy of psalmody, a weariness of prayer, a loosening of asceticism, untimely...