The Thieves and the Sand

Some thieves make a practice of searching out the hidden treasures of the people in the houses they mean to rob. In the dark of night they sprinkle little grains of sand with careful hands, and they find the hidden treasures they cannot see by the tinkling sound the treasures give back as the sand falls on them. So they come to sure knowledge of each object and each metal, which in a way betrays itself by the sound drawn from it. In the same way these spirits, to explore the treasures of our heart, scatter over us the sand of certain evil suggestions. When they see some bodily feeling arise that matches the character of the suggestion, they recognize, as if by a kind of tinkling sound coming from the inmost depths, what is stored up in the secret chamber of the inner man.