When they spend time in solitude and in silence, people inevitably have to wrestle with their own demons. Indeed, that very phrase to “wrestle with one’s demons” is derived from the fathers and mothers of the desert tradition. They speak quite literally of the forces of evil that will tempt the solitary monk or nun away from their solitude, away from the silence and away from their prayers. It is easy to mock the personification of those forces as “devils,” but anyone who has seriously pursued a life of silence and prayer knows that those forces are powerfully real, whether personified or not.. . . The notion that this silence leads to tranquility is a very modern assumption. The monastic tradition sees any such tranquility as a short-lived consolation to encourage beginners, which will dissipate once the search for God is pursued with real determination and the demons get to work to prevent any further progress.
Abbot Christopher Jamison
Finding Sanctuary, pp.41-42.
