English
On Contentment and the Human Soul
He never knew God, never truly worshipped, who was not content with the fortune and daily bread he was given.
Contentment makes a man rich; go tell this to the greedy wanderer chasing the world.
Find some stillness, you restless soul, for nothing green will grow on a rolling stone.
If you are a person of sense and reason, do not pamper the body, for in feeding it you are killing yourself.
Wise people cultivate their talents; those who pamper the body are thin on merit.
Only that person has learned the ways of a true human who first silenced the dog of his own appetite.
Eating and sleeping alone are the way of beasts; to live only for these is the code of a fool.
How blessed is the lucky one who, in some quiet corner, gathers a provision of true knowledge.
Those to whom the truth of God was revealed never chose falsehood over it.
But when a man cannot tell darkness from light, what difference is a demon's face from an angel's?
You threw yourself into that pit because you failed to tell the trap from the road.
How can a noble falcon soar to the height of the sky when you have tied the stone of greed to its wings?
If you free its wing from the grip of lust, it will fly up to the highest heaven.
By cutting back on your habit of eating, you can make yourself angelic in nature.
The pace of a wild beast never reaches the realm of angels; one cannot leap from the dust straight to the heavens.
First take up a truly human character, and only then set your mind on becoming angelic.
You are mounted, belted, on an unbroken colt; take care that it does not shake off your command.
For if the rein slips from your hand, it will destroy itself and spill your blood.
If you are truly human, eat in measure. So stuffed with belly, are you a person or a jar?
Within you is room for strength, remembrance of God, and the breath of life; you imagine it exists only for bread.
How can remembrance of God fit in a sack of greed? With difficulty the soul stretches out its legs.
Those who pamper the body do not realize that a full stomach is empty of wisdom.
Two eyes and a belly are never filled by anything; better empty than these winding guts.
Like hell, which they fill with fuel yet it still cries out, 'Are there more?'
Your inner Christ is dying of starvation while you are busy fattening the donkey.
Do not buy the world at the price of your faith, you low creature; do not trade the Gospel of Christ for a donkey.
Can you not see that nothing but the greed for food ever lures beast and prey into the snare?
The leopard that lifts its neck proudly over other animals falls into the trap, for food, like a mouse.
Like the mouse: eat its bread and cheese and you fall into its trap and take its arrow.