On the sequence of ways by which the mind is steered towards the glorious things pertaining to God.

and (as a result of) the batterings and the discipline (effected) by spiritual struggles and conflicts | a certain power accompanying the mind is perceptibly born. | And this power (in turn) gives birth in the mind to joy at all times | and by means of joy a person will approach that purity of the thoughts | which is called ‘the pure sphere of the natural state’. | Then, by means of purity, this person is held worthy of the operation of the Holy Spirit | once he is first purified, then he is sanctified. | On occasion this may happen in the middle of reflection on whatever he is occupied with | by means of some luminous stirring that transcends the flesh | when he acquires an inner stillness in God | a semblance of the future state (which consists) in a continual and ineffable rest in God. | 18.3, p. 96