In the evening the star-dust blazes above my head, and I feel the abyss over which my life hangs. And with trembling of soul I stretch out my hands to Thee and cry: O Lord, the terrible world has closed round me on every side, as a sandy desert closes round a small, too small oasis.
I shall not be able to hold my ground, unless Thou uphold me with Thy strength. The sand will cover over my green meadow, will choke the spring in the meadow, and above the palms hills of sand will rise. And beneath the sand a heart will turn to ashes, a heart that loved Thee, and the ashes will cling to the hooves of camels. And the sand will stop up a mouth that knew only one song, the song to Thee the Almighty. And out of a million years of life one day of life will be erased, as though it had never been at all. And the heavy chariot of the universe will rumble on, not grieving that it has turned one day of life into one grain of sand.
But Thou art mightier than the world, O Lord my God, and Thou wilt lend Thy servant the flaming sword of the Cherubim, with which I shall beat back the world's assault upon my life.
I shall not be saved if I am merely equal in power with the world, still less if I am weaker than the world. He who is equal to the world does not withstand the world, nor does the world fear him; and him who is weaker than itself the world teaches from childhood to prepare his own grave. But I shall be saved only if I am stronger than the world, and overcome the world.
My self-delusion presents the world to me as a terrible power. When self-delusion dies in me and truth dawns, I see and know that one drop of Thy living fire is stronger than a universe of ashes. Nor has the whole universe strength to feed a single blade of grass, unless it receives it from Thee.
He who is born of Truth and sent by Truth easily overcomes the world. The world slips away before Him like a shadow before the sun.
Fear of the world is the day-and-night food of those who have severed themselves from Truth. Created by the world, they have become the world's puppets, with which the world plays as a child with its toys. The children of Truth are born of Truth, and they do not fear the dead-created.
Help me, O my God, to overcome the world within me, and I shall easily overcome the world outside me.
I shall not grow proud over victory against the world, for the victory is Thine and not mine.
I shall let Thee increase, while I decrease, and like a child I shall hold fast to the hem of Thy garment.
I shall let Thy Word take up its dwelling in my body, and I shall drive out of myself all the powerless words learned from the world. Thy Word is innocence, and wisdom, and power. It will destroy the creature in me, and will help my birth.
A body into which the Word of God takes up its dwelling is no longer a body created by the world, but one conceived and begun of the Holy Spirit. My soul, enslaved by the world, wove me a slavish body as well. Therefore both my soul and my body tremble in fear of the world.
Illumine my soul, O my Light-Being God, and it will take courage and be freed from the world. And it will be a sonlike soul, which will know how to weave a sonlike body, a temple of the Son of God.
When the star-dust blazes above my head, I call Thee to my help, O my Most Holy God, and I am not afraid of all the worlds, as a son is not afraid of the servants in the house of his father.