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　Our spiritual goal is to attain "apatheia", a passionless state completely absorbed in the Trinity and no longer controlled by desire. The goal at this level is to enter into union with God through contemplation, and the life that results is one of pure love and active charity.

　...The greatest challenge we face is not lack of belief but the enormous gravity of our egocentric desires. The weight of these desires creats a force on human nature that is virtually impossible to escape. The only means of rescue is found in turning to God, beginning to imitate Christ and starting to progress from the lowest level of reality to the ultimate reality of perpetual divine communion. (p.22 Chapter on Origen)

Origen reminds me that we are never finished in the spiritual life. This life with God is always growing, always deepening, always thickening. How critical this is for the contemporary scene. Today, with few exceptions, we have no serious theology of spiritual growth. Many people are obsessively focused on heaven when they die, and most have simply giving up on any substantial character formation into Christlikeness. .... In short, Origen is inviting us into an ongoing, breathless experience of God's expansive --and ever-expanding-- love.(p.24)