The Advantages of the Desert

As long as there were few living in the desert, a greater freedom was given us in a wider stretch of wilderness. In the seclusion of its larger retreats we were caught up into those heavenly ecstasies. We were not swamped by crowds of brothers coming to visit, nor, through the duty of showing hospitality, weighed down in our thoughts by the distractions of many cares. So long as this was so, I sought out with insatiable desire and with all my heart the peaceful retreats of the desert, and that life which can be compared only to the bliss of the angels. [a]

But, as I said, a larger number of brothers began to seek a dwelling in that desert. By cramping the freedom of the vast wilderness, they not only made that fire of divine contemplation grow cold, but also tangled the mind in many ways in the chains of bodily concerns. So I decided to carry out my purpose in this way of life rather than grow cold in that lofty life by providing for the needs of the flesh. So if that liberty and those spiritual ecstasies are denied me, still, since all care for tomorrow is avoided, I may console myself by fulfilling the command of the gospel, and what I lose in loftiness of contemplation may be made up to me by submission and obedience. For it is a wretched thing for a man to profess to learn some art or pursuit and never to arrive at perfection in it.