Consider a pond, perfectly calm and still. The smallest particle falls into it causing a barely perceptible ripple. If that pond were in any way turbulent or agitated, from within or from above, then that ripple would be lost to the noise. The mind is like this pond: space filled with a medium that flows, and that, when quiet in itself, shows the traces of divine activity. So we have a choice: we either fill that mind with our own furniture – our thoughts and feelings – or we endeavour to empty that mind so that it can become conducive to God.