Great religions often build intricate systems of rules and prohibitions, which are considered their highest achievements. However, these bans can inadvertently generate the very passions they aim to suppress, creating a paradox within spiritual discipline.

"The highest achievement of great religions is the construction of a complex hierarchy of prohibitions. But the ban gives rise to the very passion that it is designed to cure. We accept everything in order to bring the fullness of man closer to the fullness of the universe— even pleasure, the destructive decay of the spirit in pleasure into separate monads." - Lawrence Durrell, Justine