"Being actively united with this entire world, every sinner falls into its broad nets, wraps himself in them, and is so deeply buried that he cannot be seen. A heavy burden lies upon the sinner, that lover of this world, and on each of his members. He has no power to move or stir, not even a little. He cannot do anything that is not in accordance with the spirit of this world. To do otherwise, he must throw off this impossible load. That is why nobody undertakes this backbreaking work. Nobody even thinks about it! Everybody lives on in the same way, moving along the tracks in which he finds himself."
- St. Theophan the Recluse, Turning the Heart to God, p.7 (published separately, this is the second part of The Path to Salvation).