precedence over “being.” In the East, by contrast, experience is valued over thought. Rather than the mind, it is the nous of man—described by St. Makarios as the “eye of the heart” and identified by St. Diadochos as the “innermost aspect of the heart”—that is considered the most important element by which a person communicates with God. This crucial element, the center of spiritual intelligence, is all but ignored in Western writings. Western philosophers actually use the word nous, but when they