A man standing on the seashore sees the immense expanse of water, but his eyes can embrace only a small part and cannot reach its limit. In the same way a man who, through contemplation, is given to see the limitless ocean of Divine glory and to see God himself with the eyes of his mind, sees God and the infinite vastness of His glory, though not the whole as it really is, but only as much as is possible for him.

St. Symeon the New Theologian
“Practical and Theological Precepts” from The Philokalia