Clouds of the intelligible and minds carried away

Their minds are carried away, and because clouds of the intelligible rains are immersed, God sends others to us as meat like dust, until it emerges from our nostrils and until he fills us with sickness and weakness, as the foul-smelling and much-tearing sin seeks.

Those who enjoy worldly things are sick in the soul, therefore they are also in anger and sickness, and in all evils because of their double-mindedness.

Let us become fasting an acceptable fast, not nourishing the mind of the flesh, nor let us become waterless, deprived of spiritual waters, because we do nothing that sweetens the goodness of the Most High.

But the things according to virtue and wisdom, being active and contemplated, sweeten her.

nor let us test him in our hearts—not from the surface, but from the depth of the ruling part concerning the divine power; nor let us ask for foods for our souls—not those according to image, which are nourished from the breads of life, but those changing into flesh, because having suffered with the material, they desire not beneficial and wholesome foods, but pleasant and disease-producing.

But let a table be prepared for us, upon which wisdom puts her own sacrifices and pours her own wine into a bowl.

Nor let anger rise up against us—the spirit of the one exercising power, the deceitful one who proceeds as a witness or scout from the darkness in which we had been hidden, going into the soul through reflection—nor let it become as fire kindled from the burned arrows of the enemy.

But let the gates of heaven be opened for us, the virtues of the intelligible and spiritual things fully displayed, and the evils of Hades and death, which do not prevail.

Those who, according to Peter, ascended to the gates of the daughter of Zion are addressed. The person dwelling in the hidden depths of the heart, made in the image of God, ought to share in the same sustenance as the angels, partaking of the true manna and receiving nourishment from heaven, not from the cursed earth that the sinner consumes in sorrow. Let those who hear these words take on wings, be lifted up, no longer remain in the flesh, but become spiritual beings. For those who hear are the ones