Farming in this world depends on four things, and a harvest is gathered and taken into the barn as a result of water, earth, air, and light. God’s farming also depends on four things: faith, hope, love, and knowledge. Faith is the earth in which we take root. Hope is the water with which we are nourished. Love is the air through which we grow. Knowledge is the light by which we [ripen]. Grace exists [in four ways. It is] earthly; it is [heavenly]…the highest heaven….

(8) The inner work is first of all the work of God's grace in the depth of the soul which subsequently distributes itself among the faculties of the soul, in that of Reason appearing as Belief, in that of Will as Love, and in that of Desire as Hope. When the Divine Light penetrates the soul, it is united with God as light with light. This is the light of faith. Faith bears the soul to heights unreachable by her natural senses and faculties.