Why the Desert?

“The stillness of the desert provides man with the fittest atmosphere for . . . far from the noise of the world, man implores the help of God and concentrates all his powers so as to erase his passionate attachment to the outside world, overcome his intellect’s fragmentation, and achieve spiritual balance. Thus man, ‘having entered wholly within himself,’ becomes aware of himself and awaits within himself the coming of God and the divine transformation” (Mantzaridis [1984] The deification of man, p. 85).