' Ignoring the Divine '...

A child wrenched young from home and brought up during many years at a distance will fail in knowledge of its father and of itself:

the souls, in the same way, no longer discern either the divinity or their own nature; ignorance of their rank brings self-depreciation;

they misplace their respect, honouring everything more than themselves;

all their awe and admiration is for the alien, and, clinging to this, they have broken apart, as far as a soul may, and they make light of what they have deserted;

their regard for the mundane and their disregard of themselves bring about their utter ignoring of the Divine.



-- Enneads, V.1.1.
Plotinus