Heedlessness is blamed by all creeds and sects. It is heedlessness that lies at the root of all failures.

It has been said. When a man heedlessly approaches the Path, the Devil warns him, saying: “I was the Teacher of the celestial Hosts, but I lost that post. Now I guard the Gate of the Path. You may enter with the pass of Devotion only— else will you have to share my fate, being unfit for the Path” …

Everlasting purity is the character of the angel; lifelong transgression is the character of the devil; turning with sorrow from sin to purity is the character of man. Lifelong purity is impossible for man. He is born imperfect, void of reason, with desires (the agents of the Devil) in full sway. Reason (the curb of desires and the light of the angelic essence) developes later—i.e., after the capture of the heart by desires. Hence the necessity of Turning and self-discipline, pari-passu with the development of reason, for the recovery of the heart from desires and the Devil.—Letter 88.