On Advice

Become not a lawgiver unto thyself.

- The Paradise of the Desert Fathers

A beginner is by definition inexperienced...the emphasis here being upon experience. And after all, the biblical witness itself is precisely about the actual experience of God. The Bible is not a handbook of theology, it is a record of experiences. Everywhere in the early records of the church we find men and women who are themselves experienced but who seek and follow the advice of others, not trusting in their own judgments. There is not doubt that anyone who lives in solitude must certainly develop their own abilities to take care of themselves. But this does not translate that they trust in their own strengths or notions. Solitude is not license to do as one pleases, much less to admire oneself as having accomplished anything. And most certainly, to set as a goal the following of a rule that one invents for oneself is the most certain way to turn a deaf ear to God.