The experience of a frog is very different from the life of a tadpole. The frog breathes air through lungs, but the tadpole absorbs oxygen through gills. The frog would come to know a very different and wider world than the limited scope of the tadpole. If they were rational creatures, the frog would have a very difficult time trying to explain what the outer world is like above the water. The only way the tadpole could really understand what the frog described is to grow up into a frog, leave the pond, and explore himself.
Be humbled by the realization that when you read the Holy Scripture, the writings of the Fathers, and the lives of the Saints, you only understand partially. You can only fully grasp the depth and height of their descriptions of the spiritual life when you have the same experience of God that they do. The reality of the Kingdom of Heaven is far beyond the capacity of our rational thought or creative imagination. Reading about the spiritual life and work of the Saints is not enough. Read the wisdom of the Saint so that you may follow their path, the Way of Christ, and become like them (which is to join them in being like Christ) through the Divine Grace.
Keep in mind also that you cannot fully convey the meaning of the Way to those who are in the world, separated from Christ and His Church. By communicating the Truth of the Holy Gospel and by inviting them on the Way, you give others an opportunity to know God with their hearts and to personally participate in His salvation.
Read: 2 Corinthians 12.1-6; Colossians 2.1-10
Text copyright © 2018 by Fr. Symeon D. S. Kees