There is no defeat more terrible than the defeat of the human heart driven wild by its desire of a mystical mirage. What makes this defeat so cruel is the inexorable complacency of the teachers of the spiritual life who insist that “if you have not found God it is because you have refused Him something. You have not consented to pay the price.” As if union with God were something put up for sale in monasteries like ham or cheese, a kind of secret bargain offered to men on the contemplative black market—offered to this or that unfortunate buyer at the precise moment when his pockets were empty.
