The spiritual or supernatural life is the true life of man. His soul or spirit is the principal and ruling part of his being, as it is the more noble part. By the spirit man knows God; by it he is capable of being united to God and, as it were, transformed into Him; whilst, on the other hand, the animal and sensitive part is only the instrument which the soul uses in order to know and rule the material world which is so much inferior to itself. The ascetical life shows that man is not of this world, but of heaven; that he is not for this world, but for Him Who is the Author of man and of the world. The supernatural man as an eagle leaves the earth and soars towards heaven; he desires nothing of this world, he seeks nothing of it, because he feels that he is better than it, and is destined for better things. Before a man reaches the perfection of the spiritual or supernatural life, it behoves him to labour much, to fight hard, because the sensitive part is entirely inclined to creatures, and it does not freely and easily follow the spirit ascending to God, but does so only by force and pressure.