Patience

Patience is a tree that grows within us and produces not one fruit, but four fruits: wisdom, joy, peace and victory. Patience requires energy as well as the co-operation of the body, the vital and the mind. Without patience, the mind works automatically, like a machine. It moves by compulsion, not by choice. It is restless; it darts here and there. The body may be inert, but the mind is constantly roaming. There can be no peace without patience.

Patience is not inertia. Inertia is a negative and destructive way of approaching the Truth. It is stagnant, and that which is stagnant eventually leads to destruction. But patience is dynamic; it always goes forward towards the goal. Patience has the steady movement of growth and is always accompanied by peace. This peace can never be mistaken for inertia which is always accompanied by restlessness.