FROM: The Book of Elders

# 15. A brother asked Abba Isaiah. "How does one maintain hesychia in the cell?" The Elder answered, "To maintain hesychia in the cell is to thrust oneself into the presence of God and, to the best of one's ability, to withstand every logismos sowed by the enemy, for that is to flee from the world." The brother said, "What is the world?" and the elder replied, "The is distraction by affairs; the world is to perform what is contrary to nature and to satisfy one's own desires of the flesh; the world is to think that one is remaining in this age; the world is to care for the body rather than the soul and to boast of what you are leaving behind. I did not say this on my own authority; it is the Apostle John who says this: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world." [1 John 2:15]