PRELEST – (plane) Spiritual deception, when a person strives for a high spiritual state or spiritual visions without having been purified of passions and relying on his own judgment. To such a one the devil grants great “visions.”
Another more common, less spectacular form of spiritual deception, which offers to its victims not great visions but just exalted “religious feelings.” This is when the heart desires and strives for the enjoyment of holy and divine feelings while it is still completely unfit for them.