8. The soul must be cleansed with the water of humility and self-denial (for water is the most ancient symbol of humility; it allows everything to be done with it, serves in all things and always seeks for itself the lowest places on earth, fleeing the heights) and only then by the spirit of truth, which an impure soul cannot ever conceive. An impure soul is like the night, whereas truth is a sun full of light, which causes to be day all around it.