WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.299 God -loving clergy and faithful, the Christian 00:00:04.299 --> 00:00:09.619 life, the robust, orthodox Christian life, we 00:00:09.619 --> 00:00:12.140 all know involves acquiring the mind of Christ. 00:00:12.759 --> 00:00:16.059 It all involves thinking about whatsoever things 00:00:16.059 --> 00:00:19.600 are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever 00:00:19.600 --> 00:00:22.379 things are just, whatsoever things are pure, 00:00:22.739 --> 00:00:25.420 whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things 00:00:25.420 --> 00:00:28.899 are of good report. If there be any virtue and 00:00:28.899 --> 00:00:31.339 if there be any praise, think on these things. 00:00:32.079 --> 00:00:35.979 And it likewise means a deep awareness of the 00:00:35.979 --> 00:00:38.960 revealed truth that out of the heart proceeds 00:00:38.960 --> 00:00:43.719 evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, 00:00:43.939 --> 00:00:48.780 theft, false witness, and blasphemies. Whether 00:00:48.780 --> 00:00:51.020 we live according to the commandments of Christ 00:00:51.020 --> 00:00:54.280 or according to the deceptive thoughts that arise 00:00:54.280 --> 00:00:58.460 in our mind, depends upon how we watch over our 00:00:58.460 --> 00:01:02.420 thoughts. Thoughts are not insignificant. They're 00:01:02.420 --> 00:01:05.200 a matter of spiritual life and death. They're 00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:07.819 a matter of psychological life and death. And 00:01:07.819 --> 00:01:10.439 in the end, they're simply a matter of life or 00:01:10.439 --> 00:01:15.239 death. So the first basic lesson is that the 00:01:15.239 --> 00:01:18.480 thoughts really matter. The way we interpret 00:01:18.480 --> 00:01:26.359 the world really matters. is more powerful than 00:01:26.359 --> 00:01:30.340 any ascetic activity and helps in a more positive 00:01:30.340 --> 00:01:34.060 way. In fact, he maintains that the entire spiritual 00:01:34.060 --> 00:01:37.939 life depends upon the thoughts. Of good reason, 00:01:38.140 --> 00:01:42.599 the Church's liturgical texts frequently contain 00:01:42.599 --> 00:01:45.959 engomia of martyrs, for those saints were able 00:01:45.959 --> 00:01:49.459 to endure a most painful death by remaining courageous 00:01:49.459 --> 00:01:53.150 in thought. Elder Paisius would remark, that 00:01:53.150 --> 00:01:55.810 a person's salvation can be gained or lost quickly. 00:01:56.150 --> 00:01:58.909 It's not just a matter of minutes, but it's a 00:01:58.909 --> 00:02:01.189 matter of seconds, because it's only a matter 00:02:01.189 --> 00:02:04.409 of seconds that the thoughts come to us. The 00:02:04.409 --> 00:02:07.489 second basic lesson, after that they really matter, 00:02:07.650 --> 00:02:10.650 is that there is a common theme to bad thoughts 00:02:10.650 --> 00:02:13.050 and that there's a common theme to good ones. 00:02:13.349 --> 00:02:16.710 And knowing that theme is central. It's really 00:02:16.710 --> 00:02:21.050 a matter of the self or Christ as the love of 00:02:21.050 --> 00:02:23.699 one's life. and as the center of one's life. 00:02:24.240 --> 00:02:27.300 Whatever the passions, whatever the evil thoughts, 00:02:27.560 --> 00:02:30.659 the fathers boil it all down to what they call 00:02:30.659 --> 00:02:35.080 philophthia, the love of self. Saint Basil the 00:02:35.080 --> 00:02:38.360 Great provides perhaps the simplest definition 00:02:38.360 --> 00:02:42.580 of philophthia. He says someone with philophthia 00:02:42.580 --> 00:02:47.560 supposedly loves himself. Whatever that person 00:02:47.560 --> 00:02:51.460 does, whether it's in accordance or in conflict 00:02:51.460 --> 00:02:54.460 with God's commandments, is done for himself 00:02:54.460 --> 00:02:58.879 and with disregard for others. Filoftia thus 00:02:58.879 --> 00:03:03.139 refers to a self -centered motivation, self -centered 00:03:03.139 --> 00:03:06.639 intentions. But the word supposed is significant. 00:03:07.300 --> 00:03:10.960 Filoftia is not even what it seems to be to the 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:13.949 person under its influence. presumably because 00:03:13.949 --> 00:03:17.169 it ultimately fulfills to fail the basic aim 00:03:17.169 --> 00:03:22.169 of bringing benefit to the self. St. Basil contrasts 00:03:22.169 --> 00:03:25.129 philophthia with not being concerned about oneself 00:03:25.129 --> 00:03:29.129 on account of a loving stance with respect to 00:03:29.129 --> 00:03:32.229 Christ, a loving stance with respect to the brethren, 00:03:32.409 --> 00:03:39.370 being philochristos or philadelphos. St. Maximus 00:03:39.370 --> 00:03:42.129 the Confessor narrows St. Basil's definition 00:03:42.129 --> 00:03:48.310 to that of an irrational love for the body. And 00:03:48.310 --> 00:03:50.889 the key word, of course, for St. Maximus is irrational, 00:03:51.469 --> 00:03:54.909 a logos, being without reason, being without 00:03:54.909 --> 00:03:58.650 purpose, being like an animal, and most importantly, 00:03:58.729 --> 00:04:02.409 being apart from the logos of God, God the Word. 00:04:02.770 --> 00:04:06.729 For a human being created in the image of God, 00:04:07.080 --> 00:04:10.659 to act contrary to the logos entails acting contrary 00:04:10.659 --> 00:04:15.539 to one's nature. St. Theodore, the great ascetic, 00:04:15.699 --> 00:04:18.839 he would define philophthia as an impassioned 00:04:18.839 --> 00:04:22.040 disposition towards the love for the body and 00:04:22.040 --> 00:04:25.720 fulfillment of carnal desires. Although philophthia 00:04:25.720 --> 00:04:28.160 involves an irrational attachment to the body, 00:04:28.339 --> 00:04:31.319 the person who would be acting under philophthia 00:04:31.319 --> 00:04:34.259 considers his thoughts and actions to be quite 00:04:34.259 --> 00:04:38.939 reasonable. Peter of Damascus even defines it 00:04:38.939 --> 00:04:41.800 as a love of one's own will and thoughts, which 00:04:41.800 --> 00:04:44.699 is equivalent to a love of pleasure and a love 00:04:44.699 --> 00:04:48.279 of praise. If someone affectionately coddles 00:04:48.279 --> 00:04:51.319 their own preferences, coddles their own opinions, 00:04:51.660 --> 00:04:56.100 that person will naturally, albeit mistakenly, 00:04:56.100 --> 00:04:59.439 consider his will to be right, her thoughts to 00:04:59.439 --> 00:05:02.790 be accurate. because such a perspective is always 00:05:02.790 --> 00:05:06.370 reinforced by the gratifying incentives of pleasure 00:05:06.370 --> 00:05:10.550 and increased self -esteem. St. Theophon the 00:05:10.550 --> 00:05:14.250 Recluse likewise locates Philoptia in a person's 00:05:14.250 --> 00:05:17.230 deeply hidden thought about his own self -importance 00:05:17.230 --> 00:05:20.610 and insistence that everything be as he desires 00:05:20.610 --> 00:05:25.629 it. So, consistently interpreting all thoughts 00:05:25.629 --> 00:05:29.439 through the prism, of love for one's will, love 00:05:29.439 --> 00:05:33.199 for one's thoughts, it gradually makes abnormal 00:05:33.199 --> 00:05:36.600 interpretations seem to be perfectly normal, 00:05:36.959 --> 00:05:40.819 especially when the person fails to ask around 00:05:40.819 --> 00:05:45.420 for feedback from others. Filoftia, for the fathers, 00:05:45.620 --> 00:05:49.959 is an irrationality, but that is really adept 00:05:49.959 --> 00:05:54.019 at appearing rational. Its logic, however, is 00:05:54.019 --> 00:05:56.480 always at odds with the struggle for virtue, 00:05:57.149 --> 00:06:00.230 for Christian virtue, and it leads the believer 00:06:00.230 --> 00:06:03.970 to ascetic sluggishness. St. Gregory of Sinai 00:06:03.970 --> 00:06:07.790 notes that philophthia induces us to choose bodily 00:06:07.790 --> 00:06:10.389 ease rather than virtue -promoting hardship, 00:06:10.610 --> 00:06:14.170 or to regard it as positively good sense not 00:06:14.170 --> 00:06:16.649 to willingly burden ourselves with ascetic labor. 00:06:17.810 --> 00:06:21.250 Irrational philophthia thus has considerable 00:06:21.250 --> 00:06:24.370 persuasive power that appears to be reasonable 00:06:24.370 --> 00:06:27.069 to the individual because it makes him forget 00:06:27.069 --> 00:06:30.269 the deeper eternal meaning of life beyond this 00:06:30.269 --> 00:06:34.509 world. But Philoptia not only obstructs the path 00:06:34.509 --> 00:06:37.970 towards virtue, but it opens the road to vice. 00:06:38.470 --> 00:06:43.470 For this reason, St. John of Damascus calls Philoptia 00:06:43.470 --> 00:06:46.389 the begetter of the vices and the ultimate cause 00:06:46.389 --> 00:06:49.970 of the eight bad thoughts. According to St. Ezekiel, 00:06:50.600 --> 00:06:54.459 These thoughts are self -praise, self -satisfaction, 00:06:54.519 --> 00:06:58.399 gluttony, unchastity, vainglory, jealousy, and 00:06:58.399 --> 00:07:02.439 the crown of these pride. St. Maximus likewise 00:07:02.439 --> 00:07:05.420 notes that Philatia, again this love for self, 00:07:05.699 --> 00:07:10.720 begets the three core passions of gluttony, avarice, 00:07:10.759 --> 00:07:16.120 and vainglory, always justifying their existence. 00:07:16.800 --> 00:07:20.000 Love of body, makes the soul strive to please 00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:22.860 the body by feeding it with a glut of food, by 00:07:22.860 --> 00:07:25.680 protecting it with a surplus of money, and by 00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:30.300 admiring it with an excess of praise. St. Gregory 00:07:30.300 --> 00:07:33.779 of Sinai points out that someone who is ensnared 00:07:33.779 --> 00:07:36.939 by his own philophthia loses his freedom and 00:07:36.939 --> 00:07:39.920 becomes enslaved to sensual pleasures and vanity. 00:07:40.279 --> 00:07:43.579 This dependence on his own enjoyment and status 00:07:43.579 --> 00:07:47.360 in turn damages the relationships with others, 00:07:47.819 --> 00:07:50.639 since his philophthia embitters him with an envy 00:07:50.639 --> 00:07:54.540 over his brother's prosperity. In a similar manner, 00:07:54.779 --> 00:07:58.180 St. Maximus, the confessor, observes that philophthia 00:07:58.180 --> 00:08:04.040 makes a misuse of the reason to justify cutting 00:08:04.040 --> 00:08:08.019 up human nature into many fragments. Once philophthia 00:08:08.019 --> 00:08:11.120 has convinced a person to view others as thoroughly 00:08:11.120 --> 00:08:14.199 different or separate from him, it makes him 00:08:14.199 --> 00:08:17.959 insensitive as well. Insensitivity to others, 00:08:18.199 --> 00:08:22.379 coupled with a hypersensitivity to satisfying 00:08:22.379 --> 00:08:26.699 one's own desires, are the two aspects of Filoftia 00:08:26.699 --> 00:08:28.699 that give the impression that it's reasonable 00:08:28.699 --> 00:08:32.940 to hate those who thwart our own plans. According 00:08:32.940 --> 00:08:36.100 to Abba Isaiah, Filoftia is what then twists 00:08:36.100 --> 00:08:40.500 a man into an unsociable, even antisocial being, 00:08:40.720 --> 00:08:44.580 bereft of friendship, justice and piety. So the 00:08:44.580 --> 00:08:47.259 fathers, you know, go to great lengths to describe 00:08:47.259 --> 00:08:52.019 this love of self, which of course seems so very 00:08:52.019 --> 00:08:55.019 natural, to show how all the results, of course, 00:08:55.080 --> 00:08:59.659 are actually far from natural, and the ultimate 00:08:59.659 --> 00:09:02.480 result is they destroy friendship, they destroy 00:09:02.480 --> 00:09:05.480 piety, they destroy everything that's good. And 00:09:05.480 --> 00:09:09.659 so having, say, a deep understanding of what's 00:09:09.659 --> 00:09:15.419 the source of, say, of evil thoughts will eventually, 00:09:15.440 --> 00:09:18.340 of course, help the Christian, of course, to 00:09:18.340 --> 00:09:24.019 be able to see the thoughts and to check the 00:09:24.019 --> 00:09:28.100 thoughts. St. John Chrysostom notes that Philoftia 00:09:28.100 --> 00:09:31.100 blindfolds us with blinders that can only be 00:09:31.100 --> 00:09:34.779 removed by those who are hostile to us. Under 00:09:34.779 --> 00:09:37.299 the influence of Philoftia, We do not see our 00:09:37.299 --> 00:09:39.700 own failings, while those who are hostile to 00:09:39.700 --> 00:09:45.220 us often see them quite accurately. Alongside 00:09:45.220 --> 00:09:48.740 of this subjective blindness caused by philophthia, 00:09:48.899 --> 00:09:51.460 there is also a broader forgetfulness that breeds 00:09:51.460 --> 00:09:54.860 philophthia. St. Peter of Damascus observes that 00:09:54.860 --> 00:09:57.559 concern with pleasing the body eventually entangles 00:09:57.559 --> 00:10:01.059 us in worldly concerns, and in this way leads 00:10:01.059 --> 00:10:03.940 us to a complete unawareness of God's gift and 00:10:03.940 --> 00:10:07.470 of our own thoughts. And like matter, St. Maximus 00:10:07.470 --> 00:10:10.970 locates the source of philophthia in the forgiveness 00:10:10.970 --> 00:10:16.169 and forgetfulness of God. Philophthia is obviously 00:10:16.169 --> 00:10:19.769 contrary to how we were meant to be created. 00:10:20.610 --> 00:10:25.450 In a particularly beautiful passage, Abba Isaiah 00:10:25.450 --> 00:10:29.970 writes, Nature did not fashion human beings to 00:10:29.970 --> 00:10:33.529 be like solitary beasts, but rather like a flock. 00:10:33.929 --> 00:10:37.690 of gregarious animals who share the same pastures, 00:10:37.690 --> 00:10:41.169 so that each person would not live only for himself, 00:10:41.409 --> 00:10:45.210 but also for his father and his mother, for his 00:10:45.210 --> 00:10:48.590 siblings, for his spouse, for his children, for 00:10:48.590 --> 00:10:51.409 his other relatives, for his friends, and then 00:10:51.409 --> 00:10:53.889 for his townsmen, for his fellow countrymen, 00:10:54.049 --> 00:10:56.909 then for those living in his part of the world, 00:10:57.110 --> 00:11:00.470 then for all of humanity, and then for every 00:11:00.470 --> 00:11:03.419 aspect of all things. and then for the entire 00:11:03.419 --> 00:11:06.240 world, and then, of course, for God himself. 00:11:07.139 --> 00:11:10.360 So you can see how you start from Filoftia, and 00:11:10.360 --> 00:11:13.240 then you just, the need to expand, and why, of 00:11:13.240 --> 00:11:15.539 course, being in a gathering such as this, where 00:11:15.539 --> 00:11:20.179 we're all gathered together, we're as one body, 00:11:20.240 --> 00:11:24.059 it's one of the antidotes to Filoftia, is, of 00:11:24.059 --> 00:11:28.259 course, coming together as the church. Instead 00:11:28.259 --> 00:11:31.330 of growing, into an ever -enlarging sphere of 00:11:31.330 --> 00:11:34.129 love that eventually encompasses all humanity, 00:11:34.450 --> 00:11:38.509 even as Christ's love embraces all mankind on 00:11:38.509 --> 00:11:42.049 the cross, the soul, distorted by philophthia, 00:11:42.250 --> 00:11:47.090 shrivels up into a pitiful ball of lust, greed, 00:11:47.450 --> 00:11:51.570 and isolation. All the wonderful potential with 00:11:51.570 --> 00:11:55.049 which man was endowed is smothered and distorted 00:11:55.049 --> 00:11:59.090 by being directed to an unworthy aim, leaving 00:11:59.090 --> 00:12:03.669 the human being trapped in a very small, a very 00:12:03.669 --> 00:12:07.730 stifling, and an utterly subjective world of 00:12:07.730 --> 00:12:12.049 their own body. For the holy ascetics, removing 00:12:12.049 --> 00:12:16.570 the loftia transfigures the way a person reasons, 00:12:16.929 --> 00:12:19.490 the way a person desires, the way a person struggles, 00:12:19.789 --> 00:12:23.710 by allowing a worthy goal to be placed before 00:12:23.710 --> 00:12:28.549 each of the soul's faculties. St. Maximus. would 00:12:28.549 --> 00:12:31.850 write, by our intelligence we should be stimulated 00:12:31.850 --> 00:12:34.250 to overcome our ignorance and to seek the one 00:12:34.250 --> 00:12:37.190 and only God by means of a spiritual knowledge. 00:12:37.509 --> 00:12:40.809 Through desire, through a passion of self -love 00:12:40.809 --> 00:12:43.629 which has been purified, we should be drawn to 00:12:43.629 --> 00:12:46.929 longing for the one God, and with a sense of 00:12:46.929 --> 00:12:50.149 power divorced from all tyrannical propensity, 00:12:50.350 --> 00:12:53.889 we should struggle to attain God alone. For these 00:12:53.889 --> 00:12:59.190 three powers of the soul For through these three 00:12:59.190 --> 00:13:02.269 powers, we should actualize the divine and blessed 00:13:02.269 --> 00:13:05.929 love on account of which they exist. So, for 00:13:05.929 --> 00:13:09.610 the fathers fighting Gileftia, it's not a negative 00:13:09.610 --> 00:13:13.590 act, but it's a positive transfiguration of the 00:13:13.590 --> 00:13:17.330 entire man, aimed at nothing less than God, who 00:13:17.330 --> 00:13:20.789 himself is love. When all the soul's faculties 00:13:20.789 --> 00:13:24.269 function naturally, a person is then able to 00:13:24.269 --> 00:13:29.289 see reality as it really is. St. Paisios put 00:13:29.289 --> 00:13:32.210 it in one letter, if we could come out of ourselves 00:13:32.210 --> 00:13:35.529 from our own phileftia, our own love for self, 00:13:35.769 --> 00:13:38.690 we would also break free from the earth's gravity, 00:13:38.769 --> 00:13:41.570 and then we would see everything as it really 00:13:41.570 --> 00:13:45.830 is, with a pure, divine, and penetrating eye. 00:13:46.769 --> 00:13:50.309 When phileftia is absent, it becomes easy to 00:13:50.309 --> 00:13:53.440 conquer the passions. for not the slightest trace 00:13:53.440 --> 00:13:58.659 or form of evil can exist in any way. In place 00:13:58.659 --> 00:14:01.679 of the shifting emptiness of Philoptia, the new 00:14:01.679 --> 00:14:04.059 man in Christ is filled with goodness which is 00:14:04.059 --> 00:14:08.679 stable, permanent, and always the same. So it 00:14:08.679 --> 00:14:14.379 is of interest that Philoptia, love of self, 00:14:14.539 --> 00:14:17.899 is not the same thing as being self -centered. 00:14:18.659 --> 00:14:21.779 Being self -centered It's part of growing up 00:14:21.779 --> 00:14:24.659 as a child and needing to attract the attention 00:14:24.659 --> 00:14:27.960 of others and to provide for one's need and for 00:14:27.960 --> 00:14:31.399 one's safety. In a fallen world that's full of 00:14:31.399 --> 00:14:34.580 dangers, the interpretations of how dangers can 00:14:34.580 --> 00:14:39.019 affect the self are normal. Everyone basically 00:14:39.019 --> 00:14:42.799 responds to life by forming their own personal 00:14:42.799 --> 00:14:45.200 frame of reference that makes connections between 00:14:45.200 --> 00:14:49.600 the self and whatever the self experiences. in 00:14:49.600 --> 00:14:57.399 the environment. Subjective connections then 00:14:57.399 --> 00:14:59.919 coalesce into a person's understanding of what 00:14:59.919 --> 00:15:04.159 the world is and how it operates. So filoftia 00:15:04.159 --> 00:15:09.019 is necessarily egocentric, but egocentricity 00:15:09.019 --> 00:15:12.539 is not necessarily an expression of filoftia. 00:15:12.740 --> 00:15:18.480 In other words, You know, it's possible for someone 00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:21.539 to be concerned with the self, but that's not 00:15:21.539 --> 00:15:27.820 because of self -love. Secondly, egocentricity 00:15:27.820 --> 00:15:30.200 is about a subjective way of relating events 00:15:30.200 --> 00:15:34.120 and persons to the self that may lead to psychopathology, 00:15:34.320 --> 00:15:37.840 whereas philophthia involves a particular kind 00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:41.220 of affectionate relation to the self that leads 00:15:41.220 --> 00:15:44.970 to the enslavement of the passions. And third, 00:15:45.169 --> 00:15:48.110 egocentricity is treated by teaching someone 00:15:48.110 --> 00:15:52.450 to test egocentric conclusions for accuracy and 00:15:52.450 --> 00:15:55.149 to consider the perspectives of others, whereas 00:15:55.149 --> 00:15:59.750 Philoptia is fought by adopting a new hierarchy 00:15:59.750 --> 00:16:03.669 of values that transfigures the believer's relationship 00:16:03.669 --> 00:16:08.210 to God, to himself, and to others. In other words, 00:16:08.210 --> 00:16:11.149 it's about taking the gospel and making the gospel. 00:16:11.769 --> 00:16:14.490 and the teachings of Christ really the center 00:16:14.490 --> 00:16:20.669 of one's life. So if we return to the theme of 00:16:20.669 --> 00:16:23.149 watching over the thoughts in Orthodox Christianity, 00:16:23.289 --> 00:16:27.330 what matters most in terms of thoughts are thoughts 00:16:27.330 --> 00:16:31.330 about what we love. Those are the central thoughts, 00:16:31.490 --> 00:16:33.669 of course, that we're called to take care of. 00:16:33.809 --> 00:16:36.730 And those thoughts can either be love for others, 00:16:36.990 --> 00:16:40.960 love for Christ, or love for self. And when that's, 00:16:40.960 --> 00:16:44.200 of course, based on primary love for self, that's 00:16:44.200 --> 00:16:48.460 where, of course, we'll get into, we'll basically 00:16:48.460 --> 00:16:53.840 be off the path. The Fathers really spell out 00:16:53.840 --> 00:16:56.360 everything in order to show us the way towards 00:16:56.360 --> 00:17:00.360 salvation. That's why they also single out eight 00:17:00.360 --> 00:17:04.420 principal bad thoughts that encompass and engender 00:17:04.420 --> 00:17:07.119 all the other sins that the mind can commit. 00:17:08.129 --> 00:17:11.769 Every Christian, Orthodox Christian, should know 00:17:11.769 --> 00:17:16.309 the eight evil thoughts if the Christian is to 00:17:16.309 --> 00:17:18.910 be able to watch over them. The eight thoughts 00:17:18.910 --> 00:17:23.769 are traditionally gluttony, unchastity, avarice, 00:17:23.950 --> 00:17:29.869 anger, dejection, listlessness, vainglory, and 00:17:29.869 --> 00:17:33.369 pride. Now this traditional order in which the 00:17:33.369 --> 00:17:36.730 thoughts are listed is meaningful. For the Fathers 00:17:36.730 --> 00:17:40.869 teach. That gluttony begets unchastity. That 00:17:40.869 --> 00:17:44.470 unchastity begets avarice. That avarice begets 00:17:44.470 --> 00:17:50.109 anger. That anger begets dejection. Dejection 00:17:50.109 --> 00:17:53.869 begets listlessness. Listlessness begets vainglory. 00:17:53.970 --> 00:18:00.910 And vainglory begets pride. Food, sex, greed, 00:18:01.109 --> 00:18:06.349 feeling frustrated, feeling unhappy. Feeling 00:18:06.349 --> 00:18:10.569 that nothing matters. Feeling the need for praise. 00:18:11.089 --> 00:18:14.829 Feeling the need to be better than everyone else. 00:18:15.150 --> 00:18:17.650 Those are the kinds of thoughts that the Fathers 00:18:17.650 --> 00:18:23.170 instruct all of us to be on our watch for. Knowing 00:18:23.170 --> 00:18:25.390 that these are the areas we need to watch over 00:18:25.390 --> 00:18:30.390 shows us that we need to watch over the intake 00:18:30.390 --> 00:18:34.750 of our food, a wandering eye, a desire for things. 00:18:35.440 --> 00:18:38.579 getting our own way, life having to be on our 00:18:38.579 --> 00:18:44.240 own terms. All of this awareness of these thoughts 00:18:44.240 --> 00:18:46.880 helps us to become the kind of Orthodox Christians 00:18:46.880 --> 00:18:53.680 that, of course, we're the saints. We strive 00:18:53.680 --> 00:18:58.319 to follow. The eight thoughts are really conceptual 00:18:58.319 --> 00:19:02.099 counterparts to specific behaviors. For, as the 00:19:02.099 --> 00:19:05.599 Fathers teach, What the body acts out in the 00:19:05.599 --> 00:19:10.779 world of things, the nous, the eye of the soul, 00:19:10.839 --> 00:19:14.539 the heart, the mind does in the world of conceptual 00:19:14.539 --> 00:19:18.460 images. Hence the thoughts can be also formulated 00:19:18.460 --> 00:19:22.180 simply in terms of behavior, in terms of the 00:19:22.180 --> 00:19:25.039 gluttonous behavior of someone overeating, the 00:19:25.039 --> 00:19:27.599 unchaste conduct of someone having illicit relations, 00:19:28.400 --> 00:19:31.240 the avaricious actions of someone gambling, and 00:19:31.240 --> 00:19:37.940 so forth. Father's connection between thought 00:19:37.940 --> 00:19:42.000 and behavior links kind of the subjective reality 00:19:42.000 --> 00:19:45.200 of the thoughts that we have in our mind with 00:19:45.200 --> 00:19:48.480 concrete actions that others can also observe. 00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:52.980 Furthermore, if bad thoughts can be formulated 00:19:52.980 --> 00:19:56.720 in behavioral terms, then, of course, their antidotes 00:19:56.720 --> 00:20:00.769 can also be formulated in like manner. For example, 00:20:00.769 --> 00:20:03.329 in a text attributed to St. John of Damascus, 00:20:03.529 --> 00:20:06.549 the author notes that gluttony can be corrected 00:20:06.549 --> 00:20:11.450 by self -control, unchastity by desire for God 00:20:11.450 --> 00:20:15.369 and longing for future blessings, avarice by 00:20:15.369 --> 00:20:19.349 compassion for the poor, anger by goodwill and 00:20:19.349 --> 00:20:23.349 love for all men, worldly dejection by spiritual 00:20:23.349 --> 00:20:28.460 joy, listlessness by patience. perseverance and 00:20:28.460 --> 00:20:32.500 offering thanks to God, vainglory by doing good 00:20:32.500 --> 00:20:35.940 in secret and by praying constantly with a contrite 00:20:35.940 --> 00:20:39.779 heart, and pride by not judging or despising 00:20:39.779 --> 00:20:42.940 anyone in the manner of the boastful Pharisee 00:20:42.940 --> 00:20:45.920 and by considering oneself to be the least of 00:20:45.920 --> 00:20:50.259 all. Also note that if the beginning is gluttony 00:20:50.259 --> 00:20:53.599 and the end is pride, in terms of the list of 00:20:53.599 --> 00:20:56.599 the eight thoughts, that means that with a life, 00:20:57.049 --> 00:21:00.730 A simple life of fasting and humility is really 00:21:00.730 --> 00:21:03.809 the perfect combination for success in the Christian 00:21:03.809 --> 00:21:08.650 life. Now, the eight bad thoughts can also be 00:21:08.650 --> 00:21:14.269 framed as mistaken judgments about concepts or 00:21:14.269 --> 00:21:17.329 as misleading impressions about the pleasure 00:21:17.329 --> 00:21:21.769 some perceivable object will bring. For example, 00:21:22.009 --> 00:21:26.319 envy can also be defined as the misbelief that 00:21:26.319 --> 00:21:30.440 it's best to prevail over others. Greed is the 00:21:30.440 --> 00:21:33.259 misbelief that the highest good lies in owning 00:21:33.259 --> 00:21:36.539 things for the sake of possessing them. If we 00:21:36.539 --> 00:21:41.279 use St. Maximus' definition of mistaking judgment 00:21:41.279 --> 00:21:44.740 about concepts to the eight bad thoughts, we 00:21:44.740 --> 00:21:47.019 can similarly express the thoughts in terms of 00:21:47.019 --> 00:21:51.180 particular errors. For example, gluttony, unchastity, 00:21:51.200 --> 00:21:55.130 avarice, anger, vainglory, and pride. involve 00:21:55.130 --> 00:21:58.390 obvious mistakes in judgment that respectively 00:21:58.390 --> 00:22:04.430 transform themselves into excessive eating, sensuality, 00:22:04.430 --> 00:22:09.170 possessions, revenge, one's image or one's self, 00:22:09.369 --> 00:22:11.910 all of them into the highest good, instead of 00:22:11.910 --> 00:22:14.990 the highest good, who is, of course, God himself. 00:22:16.410 --> 00:22:21.029 Sorrow for a being created by a loving God, listlessness 00:22:21.029 --> 00:22:25.730 for a being whose days are numbered, whose life 00:22:25.730 --> 00:22:29.269 is numbered in days, are mis -evaluations at 00:22:29.269 --> 00:22:32.710 an existential level. The value of this way of 00:22:32.710 --> 00:22:35.329 looking at the evil thoughts lies in its emphasis 00:22:35.329 --> 00:22:39.690 on basically personal choice, and that there 00:22:39.690 --> 00:22:44.569 is, it's basically, if we have an improper hierarchy 00:22:44.569 --> 00:22:48.549 of values, those improper values can actually 00:22:48.549 --> 00:22:50.509 support the evil thoughts, so that the evil, 00:22:50.589 --> 00:22:53.380 what the fathers always characterized as, Eight 00:22:53.380 --> 00:22:57.400 evil thoughts actually become eight ways of getting 00:22:57.400 --> 00:23:01.440 ahead in life, which is basically the way, of 00:23:01.440 --> 00:23:04.339 course, the way of the world, which, of course, 00:23:04.400 --> 00:23:10.559 orthodoxy is very much upside down from that 00:23:10.559 --> 00:23:14.359 perspective. One thing that I always note, even 00:23:14.359 --> 00:23:17.819 though the fathers have a beautiful, comprehensive 00:23:17.819 --> 00:23:22.980 way of looking at the thoughts, the Christian 00:23:22.980 --> 00:23:27.359 life. It all always comes down to actually just 00:23:27.359 --> 00:23:32.380 the simple, simple teaching of Christ, loving 00:23:32.380 --> 00:23:39.619 Christ, loving neighbor, and then simply living 00:23:39.619 --> 00:23:44.559 humbly according to the gospel. Now, mistakes. 00:23:45.759 --> 00:23:51.259 Mistakes happen when a person is not adept at 00:23:51.259 --> 00:23:54.039 working with the appropriate standard, or when 00:23:54.039 --> 00:23:57.619 interference prevents or distracts a person from 00:23:57.619 --> 00:24:00.819 using it. Since the standard of the gospel is 00:24:00.819 --> 00:24:03.819 a given for the ancients, they emphasize the 00:24:03.819 --> 00:24:07.019 problem of what they call mixed signals, that 00:24:07.019 --> 00:24:10.119 is, the coexistence of ideas that conceal the 00:24:10.119 --> 00:24:12.700 eight bad thoughts so that the latter will slip 00:24:12.700 --> 00:24:16.859 by unnoticed. For example, the thought of gluttony 00:24:16.859 --> 00:24:19.859 is often camouflaged by the reasonable pretext 00:24:19.859 --> 00:24:22.700 of preventing bodily illness. The thought of 00:24:22.700 --> 00:24:26.859 avarice is disguised by prudent concerns about 00:24:26.859 --> 00:24:30.279 old age. In other instances, the thought is not 00:24:30.279 --> 00:24:33.259 camouflaged, but the attention shifts to another 00:24:33.259 --> 00:24:36.359 issue that eclipses the bad thought that's already 00:24:36.359 --> 00:24:39.640 present. For example, with the thought of fornication, 00:24:39.640 --> 00:24:42.240 the conviction that fleshly impulses will not 00:24:42.240 --> 00:24:45.160 subside make room for the belief that only by 00:24:45.160 --> 00:24:49.069 satisfying them will a person have relief? In 00:24:49.069 --> 00:24:51.309 all these examples, which are basically taken 00:24:51.309 --> 00:24:55.029 from Evagrius, a person who has made the mistake 00:24:55.029 --> 00:24:58.170 of acting on one of the bad thoughts has previously 00:24:58.170 --> 00:25:02.150 accepted permission -giving beliefs that seem 00:25:02.150 --> 00:25:06.769 to be reasonable, that feel compelling. So the 00:25:06.769 --> 00:25:09.730 monastic fathers point out that these beliefs 00:25:09.730 --> 00:25:15.059 are really sly self -dispensations. So the believer 00:25:15.059 --> 00:25:18.440 will recognize, they point it out so the believer 00:25:18.440 --> 00:25:21.319 will recognize them, be able to judge them with 00:25:21.319 --> 00:25:24.559 increased objectivity, and by the grace of God, 00:25:24.700 --> 00:25:30.220 avoid making such mistakes in judgment, not seeing 00:25:30.220 --> 00:25:32.619 the evil sin, one of the evil sins that are present, 00:25:32.900 --> 00:25:38.380 leading them to sin itself. The classical patristic 00:25:38.380 --> 00:25:42.400 list of the eight evil thoughts, it's meant to 00:25:42.400 --> 00:25:46.119 provide the believer with a set that's easily 00:25:46.119 --> 00:25:50.319 remembered set of mutually exclusive but collectively 00:25:50.319 --> 00:25:54.720 exhaustive categories that can be an aid or standard 00:25:54.720 --> 00:25:58.660 for diagnosing our own thoughts. The additional 00:25:58.660 --> 00:26:01.740 knowledge, in turn, should clarify the believer's 00:26:01.740 --> 00:26:05.200 choice about accepting a thought, rejecting it, 00:26:05.339 --> 00:26:09.339 or acting over it. Watching over the thoughts 00:26:09.339 --> 00:26:12.559 means an awareness of the dangers of self -love. 00:26:13.049 --> 00:26:16.309 And it means an awareness of the eight evil thoughts, 00:26:16.470 --> 00:26:18.849 which could also be called the eight crafty thoughts. 00:26:19.609 --> 00:26:22.650 It's also necessary, of course, to cultivate 00:26:22.650 --> 00:26:26.210 good thoughts, that whatsoever things are true. 00:26:26.769 --> 00:26:29.750 According to St. John Chrysostom, this entails 00:26:29.750 --> 00:26:33.990 musing on virtue and on whatsoever is pleasing 00:26:33.990 --> 00:26:38.650 to the faithful and to God. St. Isaac the Syrian 00:26:38.650 --> 00:26:41.690 notes that the remembrance of the virtues is 00:26:41.690 --> 00:26:44.509 a better way to elude the passions than resistance. 00:26:45.950 --> 00:26:50.049 Conscientious reflection on virtues alters the 00:26:50.049 --> 00:26:52.930 way people interpret and thus respond to situations. 00:26:53.670 --> 00:26:57.450 For example, if Christians who often reflect 00:26:57.450 --> 00:26:59.829 on the virtue of speaking truthfully encounter 00:26:59.829 --> 00:27:04.569 a situation where it would be tempting to tell 00:27:04.569 --> 00:27:08.970 a half -truth or lie to save face, the previous 00:27:08.970 --> 00:27:12.329 reflection on the virtue of honesty will nevertheless 00:27:12.329 --> 00:27:17.150 be enough to help them admit the truth. In like 00:27:17.150 --> 00:27:20.470 manner, those who frequently ruminate on patristic 00:27:20.470 --> 00:27:23.769 advice about fighting anger will be that much 00:27:23.769 --> 00:27:26.910 more apt to apply that advice in a time of need. 00:27:27.369 --> 00:27:32.940 By daily, for monks, for example, Often the fathers 00:27:32.940 --> 00:27:35.980 will talk about how losing the first zeal. And 00:27:35.980 --> 00:27:38.220 so there's a need for a monk, even all through 00:27:38.220 --> 00:27:40.519 his life, to remember the zeal when he first 00:27:40.519 --> 00:27:43.160 entered the monastery. Or for a priest to remember 00:27:43.160 --> 00:27:46.119 the zeal that was present at that first liturgy 00:27:46.119 --> 00:27:49.000 that the priest celebrated as a priest. And that 00:27:49.000 --> 00:27:52.839 remembrance itself strengthens. That's basically 00:27:52.839 --> 00:27:55.319 a watching over a good thought, a cultivating 00:27:55.319 --> 00:28:01.299 a good thought, which then allows for... for 00:28:01.299 --> 00:28:05.920 further faults that are pleasing to God. Fathers 00:28:05.920 --> 00:28:09.460 say, by reflecting on the bold deeds of the fathers, 00:28:09.640 --> 00:28:12.000 the martyrs discovered within themselves the 00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:15.000 courage to fight in like manner for the brave 00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:18.900 and steadfast mind riveted to religious meditations 00:28:18.900 --> 00:28:24.619 endures. So the active cultivation of good thoughts 00:28:24.619 --> 00:28:28.359 provides a believer with a corrective lens for 00:28:28.359 --> 00:28:31.730 properly viewing the world, even as the passions 00:28:31.730 --> 00:28:35.509 and the bad thoughts distort what a person sees. 00:28:35.970 --> 00:28:39.569 According to St. Bartholomew, good thoughts are 00:28:39.569 --> 00:28:42.170 like pigments that the believer applies to the 00:28:42.170 --> 00:28:45.690 painting of the heart and thereby makes it difficult 00:28:45.690 --> 00:28:50.470 for clashing colors to be added. Together with 00:28:50.470 --> 00:28:53.589 musing on the beauty of virtue, the cultivation 00:28:53.589 --> 00:28:57.549 of good thoughts also entails pondering just 00:28:57.549 --> 00:29:00.990 on the basic truths of revelation and the human 00:29:00.990 --> 00:29:04.190 predicament. St. John Chrysostom points out the 00:29:04.190 --> 00:29:10.069 value of this kind of theoria is not merely intellectual 00:29:10.069 --> 00:29:15.069 and didactic. Those who unremittingly remember 00:29:15.069 --> 00:29:18.829 God not only choose to do what is right, but 00:29:18.829 --> 00:29:22.089 are also remembered by God, who then gives them 00:29:22.089 --> 00:29:24.890 the strength, gives them the grace to accomplish 00:29:24.890 --> 00:29:30.609 it. As an aid to the faithful, the Holy Fathers 00:29:30.609 --> 00:29:34.470 prepared lists of edifying topics to be sown 00:29:34.470 --> 00:29:37.730 in the soil of the believers' hearts. For example, 00:29:37.890 --> 00:29:40.910 St. Gregory of Sinai advises cultivating thoughts 00:29:40.910 --> 00:29:44.769 about God, the angelic ranks, created being, 00:29:45.190 --> 00:29:47.950 the incarnation, the universal resurrection, 00:29:48.430 --> 00:29:51.730 the second coming, the eternal punishment, and 00:29:51.730 --> 00:29:56.319 the kingdom of heaven. I recall nuns that I knew 00:29:56.319 --> 00:29:59.180 in Greece, they would always be thinking about 00:29:59.180 --> 00:30:01.880 their angels, and that their angels were watching, 00:30:02.019 --> 00:30:10.220 and they found it extremely helpful in their 00:30:10.220 --> 00:30:15.460 life as nuns. St. Peter of Damascus mentions 00:30:15.460 --> 00:30:19.480 that the above subjects In his list, but he also 00:30:19.480 --> 00:30:22.940 adds other topics such as the flux of time, the 00:30:22.940 --> 00:30:25.799 trials of human life, the soul's plight after 00:30:25.799 --> 00:30:29.079 death, our faults, and God's bounty towards us. 00:30:29.839 --> 00:30:33.440 The finality of these considerations kind of 00:30:33.440 --> 00:30:36.359 form a bedrock that helps stabilize the human 00:30:36.359 --> 00:30:42.740 mind. They moreover establish firm beliefs about 00:30:42.740 --> 00:30:46.930 human finitude, value. and responsibility that 00:30:46.930 --> 00:30:49.049 powerfully shape the way people view themselves, 00:30:49.430 --> 00:30:54.569 their world, and, of course, their future. Just 00:30:54.569 --> 00:30:58.930 take the thought about, say, the soul's plight 00:30:58.930 --> 00:31:02.109 after death. If you have that thought, then you 00:31:02.109 --> 00:31:05.450 have a thought about gluttony. Automatically, 00:31:05.450 --> 00:31:07.190 that thought of gluttony, or that thought of 00:31:07.190 --> 00:31:10.609 avarice, or that thought of despair, it's weakened 00:31:10.609 --> 00:31:14.440 by another thought that's actually... And you 00:31:14.440 --> 00:31:17.279 can almost take any good thought, any thought 00:31:17.279 --> 00:31:22.200 about the gospel, any thought about Christ's 00:31:22.200 --> 00:31:26.299 mercy towards us, his love towards us, the closeness 00:31:26.299 --> 00:31:28.799 of the mother of God to us, her protecting veil 00:31:28.799 --> 00:31:33.480 that shelters us, even just hearing those words, 00:31:33.559 --> 00:31:39.599 and then despair, anger, they don't have, they 00:31:39.599 --> 00:31:46.039 kind of, that lack of kind of, It kind of gets 00:31:46.039 --> 00:31:50.559 innerviated from within by these, of course, 00:31:50.579 --> 00:31:54.400 this cultivation of good and blessed thoughts. 00:31:57.319 --> 00:31:59.900 Although the subjects on the patristic lists 00:31:59.900 --> 00:32:02.779 are worthy of cultivation, the particular needs 00:32:02.779 --> 00:32:05.440 and spiritual maturity of individual Christians 00:32:05.440 --> 00:32:08.599 dictate which thoughts should be emphasized. 00:32:08.700 --> 00:32:12.240 For example, St. John Cashin prefers the love 00:32:12.240 --> 00:32:15.069 of virtue, and the love for God, to the fear 00:32:15.069 --> 00:32:19.009 of hell, as motives for the Christian life. Consequently, 00:32:19.250 --> 00:32:23.430 he advised keeping the love of the Lord at the 00:32:23.430 --> 00:32:26.089 immovable center of the mind. And, of course, 00:32:26.109 --> 00:32:28.250 if you think of what was the opposite problem, 00:32:28.369 --> 00:32:30.130 which is Philadelphia, the love of self at the 00:32:30.130 --> 00:32:32.769 center of the mind, putting the love of, of course, 00:32:32.769 --> 00:32:37.289 Christ at the center of the mind is the antidote. 00:32:37.950 --> 00:32:41.349 St. John Climacus likewise praises the sublimity 00:32:41.349 --> 00:32:43.369 of thinking about the love of God, the kingdom 00:32:43.369 --> 00:32:47.130 of heaven, the zeal of the martyrs, but he also 00:32:47.130 --> 00:32:50.329 notes that the universal effectiveness of reflecting 00:32:50.329 --> 00:32:54.150 on one's departure, the last judgment, and eternal 00:32:54.150 --> 00:32:58.049 retribution. In other words, although love of 00:32:58.049 --> 00:33:01.609 God is the most exalted of subjects, the harsh 00:33:01.609 --> 00:33:05.450 reality of death can soften even the most insensitive 00:33:05.450 --> 00:33:09.119 souls. encouraging to turn away from arrogance, 00:33:09.619 --> 00:33:12.720 from vain thoughts, from inordinate desires, 00:33:13.279 --> 00:33:17.819 as well as to follow the ascetic life. St. Theophon 00:33:17.819 --> 00:33:21.059 the Rectus advises the believer to reflect upon 00:33:21.059 --> 00:33:24.319 the above subjects upon waking from sleep and 00:33:24.319 --> 00:33:27.480 to repeat a scriptural verse, such as, Where 00:33:27.480 --> 00:33:31.000 shall I go? It is appointed unto men once to 00:33:31.000 --> 00:33:37.480 die, but after this the judgment. The daily cultivation 00:33:37.480 --> 00:33:42.700 of good thoughts or theoria complements that 00:33:42.700 --> 00:33:47.359 everyday practice of the virtues by further altering 00:33:47.359 --> 00:33:49.440 the faithful's interpretation of the world around 00:33:49.440 --> 00:33:53.640 them. When people ponder on virtue, patristic 00:33:53.640 --> 00:33:56.460 advice for fighting the passions, the achievements 00:33:56.460 --> 00:33:59.500 of the saints, and the history of salvation as 00:33:59.500 --> 00:34:01.420 well as their own future death and judgment, 00:34:02.039 --> 00:34:04.859 They make the image of God in the soul shine 00:34:04.859 --> 00:34:08.119 with particular radiance. Not only is their inner 00:34:08.119 --> 00:34:11.260 life nourished by the truth of the gospel, but 00:34:11.260 --> 00:34:14.119 their inner vision is clarified by the light 00:34:14.119 --> 00:34:17.659 of Christ that exposes the falsehood of the passions 00:34:17.659 --> 00:34:20.179 as well as the treachery of beliefs stemming 00:34:20.179 --> 00:34:24.159 from selfishness, irresponsibility, and ingratitude. 00:34:25.139 --> 00:34:29.199 In watching over the thoughts, thinking upon 00:34:29.199 --> 00:34:32.570 good thoughts, is greatly strengthened, of course, 00:34:32.570 --> 00:34:35.650 by reading and the study of spiritual books. 00:34:36.250 --> 00:34:39.489 Spiritual reading consolidates what the believer 00:34:39.489 --> 00:34:42.090 learns during the divine services and the mystery 00:34:42.090 --> 00:34:46.809 of confession. Spiritual reading is such an important 00:34:46.809 --> 00:34:49.389 facet of the Christian life and the health of 00:34:49.389 --> 00:34:54.389 the soul that St. Ignatius Branshaninov begins 00:34:54.389 --> 00:34:57.570 his advice to monks with an exhortation on studying 00:34:57.570 --> 00:34:59.989 the gospel and ingraining the commandments of 00:34:59.989 --> 00:35:02.550 Christ in the mind so that the monastics might 00:35:02.550 --> 00:35:05.670 put them into practice. St. Phaethon de Retrus 00:35:05.670 --> 00:35:09.409 likewise emphasizes practical and purpose -laden 00:35:09.409 --> 00:35:11.670 aspect of reading when he advised a believer 00:35:11.670 --> 00:35:14.829 who has finished perusing a text to persuade 00:35:14.829 --> 00:35:18.090 himself not only to think exactly like that, 00:35:18.210 --> 00:35:23.400 but also to feel also so. We can see the difference 00:35:23.400 --> 00:35:27.800 if you simply go online and read a news article. 00:35:28.039 --> 00:35:32.519 Maybe read two pages of a news article and then 00:35:32.519 --> 00:35:35.300 read two pages of something that's spiritual, 00:35:35.480 --> 00:35:39.039 something about the soul. The kind of thoughts 00:35:39.039 --> 00:35:42.300 that happen afterwards are very different. The 00:35:42.300 --> 00:35:48.780 way the soul feels. Spiritual reading, it's not... 00:35:49.150 --> 00:35:53.710 It's not really an option for the Orthodox Christian. 00:35:54.150 --> 00:35:57.789 The Orthodox Christian always needs to have some 00:35:57.789 --> 00:36:03.510 spiritual book by their bedside to at least something. 00:36:03.650 --> 00:36:06.969 You can see, thoughts are simple. It could even 00:36:06.969 --> 00:36:10.070 be a paragraph. It doesn't have to be 30 pages, 00:36:10.150 --> 00:36:14.750 40 pages. Although generally it's true that actually 00:36:14.750 --> 00:36:22.269 more is usually better. But you can say a paragraph 00:36:22.269 --> 00:36:32.170 so that it doesn't sound so scary. So, for the 00:36:32.170 --> 00:36:37.170 Holy Fathers, for the Holy Fathers, the spiritual 00:36:37.170 --> 00:36:39.610 benefits of reading sacred texts are manifold. 00:36:40.070 --> 00:36:43.090 The reading of Scripture protects the faithful 00:36:43.090 --> 00:36:46.829 from sin, for it both makes them more sensitive 00:36:46.829 --> 00:36:50.340 to spiritual matters, and it arms them with expertise 00:36:50.340 --> 00:36:53.679 about how to withstand and overcome temptations. 00:36:54.199 --> 00:36:58.699 It also strengthens faith. It steadies a wandering 00:36:58.699 --> 00:37:03.500 mind. It gives rise to pious thoughts. It illumines 00:37:03.500 --> 00:37:06.940 the heart, and it guides believers towards virtuous 00:37:06.940 --> 00:37:10.820 behavior. St. Athanasius the Great notes that 00:37:10.820 --> 00:37:13.889 constant rumination on the law of the Lord is 00:37:13.889 --> 00:37:16.789 a necessary form of spiritual exercise that should 00:37:16.789 --> 00:37:19.269 be practiced regularly so that good thoughts 00:37:19.269 --> 00:37:23.010 might lead a person to acts of virtue. When believers 00:37:23.010 --> 00:37:27.849 daily read familiar teachings with the same eagerness 00:37:27.849 --> 00:37:30.250 and thirst for sanctifying knowledge that they 00:37:30.250 --> 00:37:32.349 had when they encountered those teachings for 00:37:32.349 --> 00:37:35.329 the first time, then even the purposes of their 00:37:35.329 --> 00:37:38.150 hearts and the wanderings of their imagination 00:37:38.150 --> 00:37:42.929 are sanctified. St. Niles the Ascetic said frequent 00:37:42.929 --> 00:37:47.070 reminders of good examples carve similar images 00:37:47.070 --> 00:37:50.829 within the soul. The ascetic fathers even maintained 00:37:50.829 --> 00:37:54.829 that extensive spiritual reading can heal a person's 00:37:54.829 --> 00:37:58.090 evil memories by imprinting in the mind the remembrance 00:37:58.090 --> 00:38:01.670 of the good, thereby purifying memories of the 00:38:01.670 --> 00:38:05.570 passions and distancing the soul from distressing 00:38:05.570 --> 00:38:09.530 recollections. Spiritual reading, moreover, fills 00:38:09.530 --> 00:38:13.050 the soul with incomprehensible wonder and divine 00:38:13.050 --> 00:38:18.110 gladness. The Holy Fathers recommend reading 00:38:18.110 --> 00:38:21.250 the saints' writings with the diligence of a 00:38:21.250 --> 00:38:24.289 zealous student who pays attention to every word 00:38:24.289 --> 00:38:27.989 to discover spiritual treasures embedded in sacred 00:38:27.989 --> 00:38:32.030 texts. As St. John Chrysostom notes, one sentence 00:38:32.030 --> 00:38:35.869 often supplies those who receive it with ample 00:38:35.869 --> 00:38:40.190 provision for their entire life. Since the faithful 00:38:40.190 --> 00:38:42.769 read Scripture and the writings of the saints 00:38:42.769 --> 00:38:45.369 with an awareness that through these texts God 00:38:45.369 --> 00:38:48.309 may be speaking to them, it follows that they 00:38:48.309 --> 00:38:51.809 also read these texts humbly and prayerfully. 00:38:52.230 --> 00:38:55.489 In terms of practical instruction, St. Theophany 00:38:55.489 --> 00:38:59.489 of Recluse advises believers to empty their mind, 00:38:59.690 --> 00:39:03.889 open their hearts, and pray to God before attentively 00:39:04.429 --> 00:39:08.949 and slowly reading sacred texts. St. Ignatius 00:39:08.949 --> 00:39:12.489 Francianino advises monks to study works for 00:39:12.489 --> 00:39:15.349 those living in community, such as the Discourses 00:39:15.349 --> 00:39:18.469 of Abba Dorotheus, the Catechetical Homilies 00:39:18.469 --> 00:39:21.710 of St. Theodore the Studite, the Ladder of St. 00:39:21.809 --> 00:39:24.969 John of Sinai, before reading texts written for 00:39:24.969 --> 00:39:28.230 solitaries, such as the Ascetic Homilies of St. 00:39:28.409 --> 00:39:38.099 Isaac the Syrian. the Philokalia of St. Nicodemus 00:39:38.099 --> 00:39:43.380 and Macarius of Corinth. St. Nicodemus himself 00:39:43.380 --> 00:39:46.320 advises those sick with the thoughts to read 00:39:46.320 --> 00:39:49.619 sacred books, especially St. Ephraim, the Ladder, 00:39:49.639 --> 00:39:52.900 the Evergetinos, the Philokalia, and other books. 00:39:53.320 --> 00:39:57.219 Although the advice differs of these two saints, 00:39:57.579 --> 00:40:00.960 both monastic masters emphasize that the selection 00:40:00.960 --> 00:40:04.420 of spiritual books is neither a haphazard process 00:40:05.039 --> 00:40:08.659 nor an academic exercise, but it's purposeful 00:40:08.659 --> 00:40:12.739 and practical, and an endeavor that should ideally 00:40:12.739 --> 00:40:15.719 be done under the direction of the believer's 00:40:15.719 --> 00:40:20.500 spiritual father. So, knowledge about Filoftia, 00:40:20.619 --> 00:40:24.139 knowledge about the eight evil thoughts, knowledge 00:40:24.139 --> 00:40:28.199 about the cultivation of good thoughts, can be 00:40:28.199 --> 00:40:33.039 helpful. But all this knowledge, of course, at 00:40:33.039 --> 00:40:36.590 times, can be forgotten at the time of the struggle. 00:40:37.010 --> 00:40:41.769 Knowledge is never enough. The human will needs 00:40:41.769 --> 00:40:45.389 the support of divine grace. Monastic fathers 00:40:45.389 --> 00:40:48.389 acknowledge the difficulty of the struggle against 00:40:48.389 --> 00:40:51.329 the thoughts, but they assure the believer that 00:40:51.329 --> 00:40:56.869 it's always a struggle towards salvation. Abba 00:40:56.869 --> 00:40:59.849 Zosimus used to say that without the presence 00:40:59.849 --> 00:41:02.630 of temptation and thoughts, one could not become 00:41:02.630 --> 00:41:07.039 a saint. Sometimes the Father suggests a methodological 00:41:07.039 --> 00:41:09.840 approach to this struggle. For example, St. John 00:41:09.840 --> 00:41:12.659 Chrysostom recommends working for one month on 00:41:12.659 --> 00:41:14.900 one set of virtues and next month on another. 00:41:15.260 --> 00:41:18.400 A similar approach can be seen in St. Nicodemus 00:41:18.400 --> 00:41:21.780 of the Haggirite, who advised about preparing 00:41:21.780 --> 00:41:24.519 for confession in terms of recalling sins committed 00:41:24.519 --> 00:41:27.219 in thought, word, and deed during the span of 00:41:27.219 --> 00:41:30.099 a month, during the span of a week, and then 00:41:30.099 --> 00:41:33.849 during the span of a single day. The Fathers 00:41:33.849 --> 00:41:37.530 also stressed a streamlined approach to dealing 00:41:37.530 --> 00:41:41.389 with the thoughts by focusing primarily on becoming 00:41:41.389 --> 00:41:46.349 humble -minded. The virtue of humility is capable 00:41:46.349 --> 00:41:50.269 of protecting the believer from sundry thoughts 00:41:50.269 --> 00:41:53.389 that can damage the inner world. For example, 00:41:53.389 --> 00:41:56.849 someone who feels humbled will avoid not only 00:41:56.849 --> 00:41:58.610 getting the appearance of critical thoughts, 00:41:59.019 --> 00:42:01.500 but also the temptation to weave such thoughts 00:42:01.500 --> 00:42:04.320 at the instigation of others. If that person 00:42:04.320 --> 00:42:06.980 happens to hear someone being criticized, he'll 00:42:06.980 --> 00:42:09.360 use criticism to humble himself even further. 00:42:09.880 --> 00:42:13.139 As a help to avoid ranting about what others 00:42:13.139 --> 00:42:15.840 have done, the father suggests that the believers 00:42:15.840 --> 00:42:19.019 striving for humility recall that such inner 00:42:19.019 --> 00:42:22.960 tirades make him resemble the demons who in this 00:42:22.960 --> 00:42:26.400 wise torment themselves and others. To avoid 00:42:26.400 --> 00:42:29.760 acting with pride, the Christian should refrain 00:42:29.760 --> 00:42:35.320 from reacting before reflection and prayer. A 00:42:35.320 --> 00:42:38.739 further patristic counsel for acquiring a humble 00:42:38.739 --> 00:42:41.760 outlook so crucial to the battle against the 00:42:41.760 --> 00:42:45.619 thoughts consists in simply being skeptical about 00:42:45.619 --> 00:42:48.400 one's initial judgment regarding another person 00:42:48.400 --> 00:42:53.239 or regarding a situation. Elder St. Paisius suggests 00:42:53.239 --> 00:42:56.480 saying to oneself, I don't always think correctly. 00:42:57.239 --> 00:43:00.320 I often make mistakes. How about when I had this 00:43:00.320 --> 00:43:02.780 thought, which turned out to be off the mark? 00:43:02.900 --> 00:43:05.920 Or when I misjudged my number in this way, but 00:43:05.920 --> 00:43:09.639 it didn't turn out to be such. Therefore, I shouldn't 00:43:09.639 --> 00:43:13.360 listen to my thoughts. In monasticism, where 00:43:13.360 --> 00:43:16.440 special opportunities for training and humility 00:43:16.440 --> 00:43:19.460 are available, the novice learns to distrust 00:43:19.460 --> 00:43:21.579 his thoughts by asking his elder about them. 00:43:22.260 --> 00:43:27.019 Abba Dorotheos relates, how he would think about 00:43:27.019 --> 00:43:29.860 doing something, but at times be disinclined 00:43:29.860 --> 00:43:33.139 to bother his elder. In such times as this, he 00:43:33.139 --> 00:43:36.500 would say to himself, curse you, your prudence, 00:43:36.500 --> 00:43:39.119 your knowledge, and whatever you know, you know 00:43:39.119 --> 00:43:41.880 from the demons. Then he'd go and he'd ask the 00:43:41.880 --> 00:43:44.340 elder for his counsel, and the elder's counsel 00:43:44.340 --> 00:43:47.139 would actually be just exactly what he had thought 00:43:47.139 --> 00:43:51.420 about. But then he told himself, yes, he says, 00:43:51.539 --> 00:43:54.440 now it's good and from the Holy Spirit, but earlier 00:43:54.440 --> 00:43:58.059 it was from your passionate state. Obviously, 00:43:58.099 --> 00:44:02.119 the issue is not the truth value or the utilitarian 00:44:02.119 --> 00:44:05.400 benefit of a given thought, but about the acquisition 00:44:05.400 --> 00:44:09.139 of humility that can transfigure the entire thought 00:44:09.139 --> 00:44:14.119 process and open one to the grace of God. St. 00:44:14.199 --> 00:44:17.900 Bartholomew and John situate this practice in 00:44:17.900 --> 00:44:20.409 the biblical tradition, stating that to seek 00:44:20.409 --> 00:44:23.409 the counsel before acting is to fulfill the law 00:44:23.409 --> 00:44:27.150 and the prophets, because by so doing a person 00:44:27.150 --> 00:44:30.170 manifests in his life humility of Christ, who 00:44:30.170 --> 00:44:33.889 took on the form of the servant. You know, on 00:44:33.889 --> 00:44:36.590 the Holy Mountain, they often stress about the 00:44:36.590 --> 00:44:39.489 great importance of obedience. You know, obedience 00:44:39.489 --> 00:44:42.250 is life, disobedience is death. But what does 00:44:42.250 --> 00:44:46.969 obedience mean? And it simply starts with just 00:44:46.969 --> 00:44:51.300 asking. Just asking, is this right? Just asking, 00:44:51.400 --> 00:44:55.440 is this what I should do? And rather than simply 00:44:55.440 --> 00:44:57.699 accepting the first thought that comes to oneself 00:44:57.699 --> 00:45:01.300 and that this is truly good, I think this actually 00:45:01.300 --> 00:45:06.599 applies for everyone. I mean, as a bishop, I 00:45:06.599 --> 00:45:09.800 may think, well, maybe I should make this decision 00:45:09.800 --> 00:45:12.880 at the diocese. But I ask someone. If it's a 00:45:12.880 --> 00:45:15.219 big problem, I ask his beatitude. I may call 00:45:15.219 --> 00:45:20.840 a brother bishop. But also in doing so, there's 00:45:20.840 --> 00:45:24.820 a humility present. And when that humility is 00:45:24.820 --> 00:45:27.619 present, then it's no longer all about the self. 00:45:27.960 --> 00:45:30.059 And again, back to Philadelphia, and just the 00:45:30.059 --> 00:45:36.139 self making the decision by itself. There are 00:45:36.139 --> 00:45:39.380 some more distinctions to consider in watching 00:45:39.380 --> 00:45:43.239 over the thoughts. But the primary one, the final 00:45:43.239 --> 00:45:45.559 one I'd like to talk about tonight, is between 00:45:45.559 --> 00:45:50.000 thought as a temptation to sin, and as a sinful 00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:55.239 state. Following Stoic tradition, Origen calls 00:45:55.239 --> 00:45:58.739 the initial response to temptation what he calls 00:45:58.739 --> 00:46:01.699 a pre -passion, before something becomes a passion, 00:46:01.880 --> 00:46:07.159 propachos. That is an involuntary and hence sinless 00:46:07.159 --> 00:46:11.099 inclination towards an irritating stimulus. Without 00:46:11.099 --> 00:46:14.239 pre -passion, temptation would be an impossibility. 00:46:14.840 --> 00:46:17.579 For Didymus the Blind, Of course, the temptation 00:46:17.579 --> 00:46:21.099 of Christ demonstrates that pre -passion is a 00:46:21.099 --> 00:46:24.699 sinless state. But there is a point when a sinless 00:46:24.699 --> 00:46:28.539 pre -passion becomes a sin of thought. St. Jerome 00:46:28.539 --> 00:46:31.260 writes, God does not punish the first or the 00:46:31.260 --> 00:46:34.320 second stimuli of thoughts that the Greeks call 00:46:34.320 --> 00:46:38.500 propathias, and that no man can be without. But 00:46:38.500 --> 00:46:40.980 he does inflict punishment if someone decides 00:46:40.980 --> 00:46:43.940 to do what has been thought. In his commentary 00:46:43.940 --> 00:46:47.800 on Matthew, St. Jerome notes that a person turns 00:46:47.800 --> 00:46:51.500 a thought into an emotion when he assents to 00:46:51.500 --> 00:46:55.159 a thought and wills it. In this way, the neutral 00:46:55.159 --> 00:47:00.800 pre -passion becomes a blameworthy passion. Thus, 00:47:00.800 --> 00:47:03.239 for St. Jerome, sin begins with the use of the 00:47:03.239 --> 00:47:06.679 will in a mental act of decision and judgment. 00:47:06.960 --> 00:47:12.000 But the decision is actually not always so straightforward. 00:47:12.920 --> 00:47:15.460 According to Evagrius, a decision is made when 00:47:15.460 --> 00:47:19.139 a person lingers on a harmful thought. Lingering 00:47:19.139 --> 00:47:22.300 implies immoderately indulging on a bad thought 00:47:22.300 --> 00:47:24.940 that should be spat out as soon as it touches 00:47:24.940 --> 00:47:28.460 the mind. According to St. Mark the Ascetic, 00:47:28.639 --> 00:47:32.320 if a person experiences pleasure or anger while 00:47:32.320 --> 00:47:35.179 dallying with a thought, then there also exists 00:47:35.179 --> 00:47:37.739 an attachment that stems from one's free choice. 00:47:38.539 --> 00:47:40.980 He also views the appearance of images accompanying 00:47:40.980 --> 00:47:44.880 thoughts as indicative of inner ascent. The saint 00:47:44.880 --> 00:47:47.820 discerns that being emotionally distressed over 00:47:47.820 --> 00:47:50.579 a bad thought, rather than being pleased by it, 00:47:50.699 --> 00:47:53.420 indicates that the thought was generated against 00:47:53.420 --> 00:47:57.699 the will and can easily be eradicated. Because, 00:47:57.719 --> 00:47:59.719 of course, for the fathers, the three sources 00:47:59.719 --> 00:48:01.659 of the thoughts are, of course, the thoughts 00:48:01.659 --> 00:48:07.159 that simply arise just from... the human organism 00:48:07.159 --> 00:48:10.340 and what they consider, of course, natural thoughts. 00:48:10.880 --> 00:48:13.119 You know, you haven't eaten for four hours and 00:48:13.119 --> 00:48:15.659 you'll think about eating. That's simply a natural 00:48:15.659 --> 00:48:18.179 thought. But then there are demonic thoughts, 00:48:18.460 --> 00:48:22.079 which, of course, are evil thoughts. And then 00:48:22.079 --> 00:48:24.739 there are, of course, good thoughts, angelic 00:48:24.739 --> 00:48:27.380 thoughts. One of the fathers talks about the 00:48:27.380 --> 00:48:31.360 example of gold. You say the word gold, and gold 00:48:31.360 --> 00:48:36.389 is just neutral. It can't be neutral. But if 00:48:36.389 --> 00:48:38.389 someone looks at it and thinks of it, yes, with 00:48:38.389 --> 00:48:41.130 gold I can acquire this and that, and it turns 00:48:41.130 --> 00:48:44.530 into avarice, then, of course, that concept has 00:48:44.530 --> 00:48:47.190 become, of course, an evil thought. Whereas if 00:48:47.190 --> 00:48:49.309 you say this gold that God has providentially 00:48:49.309 --> 00:48:51.789 strewn throughout the mountains so that we can 00:48:51.789 --> 00:48:55.809 build, make, fashion a beautiful chalice for 00:48:55.809 --> 00:48:58.090 the temple of the Lord is an angelic thought. 00:48:59.170 --> 00:49:06.579 So, of course, it has to do with, you know, Basically, 00:49:06.579 --> 00:49:09.039 the origin of the thought and kind of the direction 00:49:09.039 --> 00:49:13.340 that the thought is moving. After the distinction 00:49:13.340 --> 00:49:21.260 between temptation and sin and thought, the ancient 00:49:21.260 --> 00:49:24.139 ascetics instruct the faithful to the obvious 00:49:24.139 --> 00:49:26.639 but crucial difference between sin and thought 00:49:26.639 --> 00:49:29.699 and sin and deed, as well as the need to prevent 00:49:29.699 --> 00:49:33.269 the former from slipping into the latter. Origen 00:49:33.269 --> 00:49:36.769 viewed sin in thought as tolerable and treatable, 00:49:36.889 --> 00:49:39.690 but sin in word and deed is dangerous and difficult 00:49:39.690 --> 00:49:44.050 to cure, if not incurable. For this reason, when 00:49:44.050 --> 00:49:47.030 a wise person is disturbed by a storm of thoughts, 00:49:47.190 --> 00:49:49.550 he keeps that tempest of the mind hemmed in, 00:49:49.690 --> 00:49:52.289 neither uttering a word nor moving a muscle. 00:49:52.590 --> 00:49:57.889 So the exemplary behavior of the wise demonstrates 00:49:57.889 --> 00:50:01.420 that an initial sinful thought can be arrested 00:50:01.420 --> 00:50:05.900 by an act of will. Origen suggests that by some 00:50:05.900 --> 00:50:09.019 introspection, anyone can come to see the possibility 00:50:09.019 --> 00:50:12.679 of such resistance. He writes, if someone says 00:50:12.679 --> 00:50:15.039 that it's impossible to resist what comes from 00:50:15.039 --> 00:50:18.099 the outside, then pay attention to his own passions 00:50:18.099 --> 00:50:20.239 and movements in order to see if his governing 00:50:20.239 --> 00:50:24.059 mind is somehow approving, consenting, or being 00:50:24.059 --> 00:50:29.119 inclined to that thing. As an aid to self -observation, 00:50:29.739 --> 00:50:33.260 The Church Fathers outlined in varying degrees 00:50:33.260 --> 00:50:38.420 of detail the processes whereby a temptation 00:50:38.420 --> 00:50:42.340 becomes a sin in thought and then a sin in deed. 00:50:42.699 --> 00:50:46.099 Their ultimate aim was, of course, to help faithful 00:50:46.099 --> 00:50:50.019 avoid sinful actions, acquire compunction, attain 00:50:50.019 --> 00:50:54.079 purity of heart, and discover the kingdom. St. 00:50:54.179 --> 00:50:57.250 Mark the Ascetic queries, If someone has not 00:50:57.250 --> 00:51:00.610 perceived this general process of sinning, when 00:51:00.610 --> 00:51:03.030 will he pray about it and be cleansed from it? 00:51:03.210 --> 00:51:05.650 So that's why, of course, knowing the stages 00:51:05.650 --> 00:51:11.789 leading from thought to the action is kind of, 00:51:11.789 --> 00:51:16.269 I would say, the final piece of knowledge that's 00:51:16.269 --> 00:51:19.590 needed to start watching over the thoughts. The 00:51:19.590 --> 00:51:22.429 standard patristic account of the process of 00:51:22.429 --> 00:51:27.880 sin is enshrined in Balastha, Bossomon's commentary 00:51:27.880 --> 00:51:30.519 on the fourth canon of the Council of Neo -Caesarea, 00:51:30.840 --> 00:51:33.639 the Fathers say that there are four degrees of 00:51:33.639 --> 00:51:38.940 sin. Provocation, struggle, assent, and act. 00:51:39.159 --> 00:51:42.380 The first two of these are not subject to punishment, 00:51:42.599 --> 00:51:45.780 but the other two call for penance. In other 00:51:45.780 --> 00:51:48.860 words, there are three stages in the mind before 00:51:48.860 --> 00:51:52.539 turning to one in action. St. Augustine of Hippo 00:51:52.539 --> 00:51:55.849 and Gregory of Rome provide... slightly different 00:51:55.849 --> 00:51:58.230 descriptions of the three stages as being that 00:51:58.230 --> 00:52:01.570 of suggestion, pleasure, and assent, with pleasure 00:52:01.570 --> 00:52:05.230 replacing struggle. Blessed Augustine gives the 00:52:05.230 --> 00:52:07.789 example of a person who's fasting. If that person 00:52:07.789 --> 00:52:11.349 sees food, the suggestion, his appetite will 00:52:11.349 --> 00:52:14.170 be aroused, the pleasure, and then he may decide 00:52:14.170 --> 00:52:16.690 to go and eat the assent unless reason holds 00:52:16.690 --> 00:52:20.090 him back. St. Maximus the Confessor describes 00:52:20.090 --> 00:52:23.670 the three stages as a memory bringing a thought 00:52:23.670 --> 00:52:27.210 into the mind. The arousal of a passion by lingering 00:52:27.210 --> 00:52:30.489 on the thought and then the mental ascent to 00:52:30.489 --> 00:52:35.090 the passion. Other fathers refer to these stages 00:52:35.090 --> 00:52:38.269 but emphasize the interaction between the devil 00:52:38.269 --> 00:52:42.170 who initiates the process and the individual 00:52:42.170 --> 00:52:46.369 who mingles or couples with demonic provocation 00:52:46.369 --> 00:52:48.889 for the sake of self -indulgence or vainglory. 00:52:50.030 --> 00:52:54.650 St. John Climacus defines the first stage. pros 00:52:54.650 --> 00:52:58.690 voli, as a simple conception or an image of something 00:52:58.690 --> 00:53:00.989 encountered for the first time in the heart. 00:53:01.889 --> 00:53:04.829 In a text attributed to St. John of Damascus, 00:53:04.929 --> 00:53:08.230 we are given the scriptural example of a provocation 00:53:08.230 --> 00:53:10.650 as a suggestion coming from the enemy, like, 00:53:10.730 --> 00:53:14.969 do this, do that, as our Lord experienced when 00:53:14.969 --> 00:53:18.150 he heard the words, command these stones become 00:53:18.150 --> 00:53:22.880 bread. St. Maximus and Ilias the Presbyter notes 00:53:22.880 --> 00:53:25.179 that provocation takes place in the imagination. 00:53:25.900 --> 00:53:28.500 Thus the first stage involves the appearance 00:53:28.500 --> 00:53:32.039 of thoughts, images, and possible courses of 00:53:32.039 --> 00:53:35.860 action, real or imaginary, appearing or being 00:53:35.860 --> 00:53:39.539 engendered in the heart. Because they appear 00:53:39.539 --> 00:53:41.820 in the heart, provocations touch the core of 00:53:41.820 --> 00:53:44.099 the human person, and because they are often 00:53:44.099 --> 00:53:47.150 clothed in the imagination, they do so where 00:53:47.150 --> 00:53:50.849 the heart is actually most vulnerable. St. John, 00:53:51.030 --> 00:53:54.449 the abbot of Sinai, defined the next stage, the 00:53:54.449 --> 00:53:59.050 struggle, as a conversation, what has been presented, 00:53:59.170 --> 00:54:03.050 accompanied by the passion or dispassion. In 00:54:03.050 --> 00:54:05.829 other words, an individual who converses with 00:54:05.829 --> 00:54:08.369 a thought will either couple with it by deliberately 00:54:08.369 --> 00:54:11.630 dallying with it in a pleasurable manner or wrestle 00:54:11.630 --> 00:54:14.719 with it by resisting it. Although pleasure indicates 00:54:14.719 --> 00:54:17.239 an initial movement towards assent and sorrow 00:54:17.239 --> 00:54:19.820 suggests an initial movement towards rejection, 00:54:20.239 --> 00:54:23.719 sometimes one's feelings are quite mixed. St. 00:54:23.820 --> 00:54:26.420 Gregory the Dialogist puts it, often when the 00:54:26.420 --> 00:54:29.420 heart is tempted, it experiences delight in the 00:54:29.420 --> 00:54:32.019 sinfulness of the flesh, but resists this same 00:54:32.019 --> 00:54:35.320 sinfulness in its judgment. Thus, in one's secret 00:54:35.320 --> 00:54:37.380 thoughts, the heart is both saddened by what 00:54:37.380 --> 00:54:41.500 pleases it and pleased by what saddens it. In 00:54:41.500 --> 00:54:44.440 other words, The tempted feel torn in opposite 00:54:44.440 --> 00:54:48.619 directions, self -indulgence, vainglory, clamor 00:54:48.619 --> 00:54:52.260 for pleasure, whereas the wiser conscience exhorts 00:54:52.260 --> 00:54:54.900 the tempted to preserve the soul as the dwelling 00:54:54.900 --> 00:54:58.159 place of God. And so you can see in the midst 00:54:58.159 --> 00:55:01.880 of the tempting thoughts, having the strength 00:55:01.880 --> 00:55:05.320 of actually cultivating good thoughts, or simply 00:55:05.320 --> 00:55:07.699 having an awareness of, well, this is phileftia, 00:55:07.820 --> 00:55:09.559 or an awareness that this is one of the evil 00:55:09.559 --> 00:55:13.070 thoughts. how that makes that struggle, which 00:55:13.070 --> 00:55:15.809 is a struggle that everyone goes through anyway, 00:55:16.070 --> 00:55:22.670 that much easier. Remaining in the stage of struggling 00:55:22.670 --> 00:55:25.889 with a provocation for extended interval is not 00:55:25.889 --> 00:55:29.750 without danger. Real time spent in an imaginary 00:55:29.750 --> 00:55:32.889 world surrounding the thought gives the thought 00:55:32.889 --> 00:55:36.610 the semblance of reality, and it grooves a channel 00:55:36.610 --> 00:55:38.969 in the mind through which similar thoughts will 00:55:38.969 --> 00:55:42.760 tend to flow. In this way, habit -forming passions 00:55:42.760 --> 00:55:46.280 come into existence. At this point, the person's 00:55:46.280 --> 00:55:49.920 thought can become the person's tyrant in a process 00:55:49.920 --> 00:55:53.320 that the fathers call captivity, a forcible and 00:55:53.320 --> 00:55:56.599 involuntary rape of the heart. The final stage, 00:55:57.000 --> 00:56:05.679 consensus, can be defined as an approval of the 00:56:05.679 --> 00:56:08.300 passionate aspect of the thought. in which the 00:56:08.300 --> 00:56:10.840 mind enjoys bending down towards what it envisions. 00:56:11.179 --> 00:56:14.679 At this point, a person plans how to commit sin 00:56:14.679 --> 00:56:17.719 in practice and step -by -step transforms the 00:56:17.719 --> 00:56:20.760 thought into deed. Although detailed planning 00:56:20.760 --> 00:56:23.820 intimates decision -making and control, the person 00:56:23.820 --> 00:56:26.619 may well feel like he's being captive and being 00:56:26.619 --> 00:56:29.960 dragged to the act. St. Gregory the Dialogist 00:56:29.960 --> 00:56:33.760 views this consent as a sin not of the thought, 00:56:33.800 --> 00:56:37.059 but of deed. For although the circumstances bring 00:56:37.059 --> 00:56:40.780 a delay that outwardly defers to sin, the will 00:56:40.780 --> 00:56:43.639 has already accomplished it inwardly by that 00:56:43.639 --> 00:56:47.000 act of the conscience. As thoughts become obsessional 00:56:47.000 --> 00:56:50.800 and habitual, so behaviors become addictive and 00:56:50.800 --> 00:56:53.960 unexamined, leading the unfortunate soul to a 00:56:53.960 --> 00:56:56.280 lack of repentance that paves the way to hell. 00:56:57.239 --> 00:57:00.079 Repelling bad thoughts from the start is like 00:57:00.079 --> 00:57:03.019 driving out wild beasts, so that one's vineyards 00:57:03.019 --> 00:57:06.519 and fruits can be protected. If a person converses 00:57:06.519 --> 00:57:08.480 with the thoughts, even without experiencing 00:57:08.480 --> 00:57:11.820 pleasure, the vineyard is placed in jeopardy. 00:57:11.940 --> 00:57:14.960 And although the fruit of the vineyard is still 00:57:14.960 --> 00:57:18.860 unharmed, wild boars have been allowed to enter 00:57:18.860 --> 00:57:22.619 therein. If the individual enjoys conversing 00:57:22.619 --> 00:57:24.880 with the thoughts, yet does not consent to them, 00:57:24.900 --> 00:57:27.320 the boars not only come to the vineyard, but 00:57:27.320 --> 00:57:31.099 also begin feeding on the grapes, those godly 00:57:31.099 --> 00:57:33.949 thoughts of humility. gratitude, and love that 00:57:33.949 --> 00:57:36.429 are the very spiritual aim of the vineyard of 00:57:36.429 --> 00:57:39.869 the mind. And when a scent takes place, the more 00:57:39.869 --> 00:57:43.630 the boars move about, freely devouring at will. 00:57:44.909 --> 00:57:48.250 In terms of sin, according to the ecclesiastical 00:57:48.250 --> 00:57:51.889 canons, a person will not be tried for being 00:57:51.889 --> 00:57:54.190 provoked by a thought and struggling with it, 00:57:54.230 --> 00:57:56.889 but he will be judged for consenting to a thought 00:57:56.889 --> 00:57:59.849 and subject to punishment for putting it into 00:57:59.849 --> 00:58:04.750 practice. Monastic literature often has a higher 00:58:04.750 --> 00:58:10.610 standard for that. Given the detrimental effects 00:58:10.610 --> 00:58:12.949 of following a provocation to its bitter end, 00:58:13.130 --> 00:58:17.690 the Fathers advised cutting off the bud by rebutting 00:58:17.690 --> 00:58:20.789 it or viewing it dispassionately, as well as 00:58:20.789 --> 00:58:23.690 simply by invoking the name of the Lord Jesus, 00:58:24.070 --> 00:58:27.739 St. John. Cassian suggests keeping watch over 00:58:27.739 --> 00:58:30.059 the head of the serpent, the first inkling of 00:58:30.059 --> 00:58:32.239 the pernicious thoughts by which the serpent 00:58:32.239 --> 00:58:34.760 tries to creep into our soul and striking it 00:58:34.760 --> 00:58:38.380 down. The earlier a person rejects a bad thought, 00:58:38.559 --> 00:58:41.739 the less he will be harmed by it. Nevertheless, 00:58:42.119 --> 00:58:44.880 rejecting the thought at any stage before putting 00:58:44.880 --> 00:58:48.039 it into action has its value. The corollary to 00:58:48.039 --> 00:58:50.360 this action is the principle that repentance 00:58:50.360 --> 00:58:53.900 should be in accord with how far one proceeds 00:58:53.900 --> 00:58:57.860 through the stages. Thus, St. Gregory Dialogist 00:58:57.860 --> 00:59:00.760 counsels, those who mourn over transgressions 00:59:00.760 --> 00:59:03.500 in thought are to be exhorted to consider carefully 00:59:03.500 --> 00:59:06.159 to what extent they have fallen into sin, so 00:59:06.159 --> 00:59:09.219 they may be lifted up by an amount of weeping 00:59:09.219 --> 00:59:11.599 that is commensurate with their downfall that 00:59:11.599 --> 00:59:14.519 they are already inwardly aware of. Otherwise, 00:59:14.659 --> 00:59:20.139 if contemplated evils torment them too little, 00:59:20.239 --> 00:59:24.139 they will be led on to the perpetration of deeds. 00:59:25.199 --> 00:59:28.539 So, patristic instruction concerning the thoughts, 00:59:28.739 --> 00:59:31.659 it's practical, it's theoretically consistent, 00:59:32.119 --> 00:59:35.739 and it's readily understandable. But it's also 00:59:35.739 --> 00:59:40.219 based on careful observations and time -tested 00:59:40.219 --> 00:59:44.159 approaches that are known to bring results. Obedience 00:59:44.159 --> 00:59:46.900 to Christ's commandments and the struggle to 00:59:46.900 --> 00:59:50.559 attain humility by reproaching oneself, by questioning 00:59:50.559 --> 00:59:53.550 one's thoughts. and seeking advice are actions 00:59:53.550 --> 00:59:56.130 that weaken the hold the thoughts have over a 00:59:56.130 --> 01:00:00.449 person. Knowledge about when and how a provocation 01:00:00.449 --> 01:00:03.170 or suggestion becomes a sin of thought increases 01:00:03.170 --> 01:00:06.929 the believer's introspective awareness, as well 01:00:06.929 --> 01:00:09.869 as their sense of responsibility for the development 01:00:09.869 --> 01:00:13.349 of thoughts. Thus, this knowledge increases the 01:00:13.349 --> 01:00:15.550 probability that they will rest of that thought 01:00:15.550 --> 01:00:21.139 at an early stage of development. Knowledge and 01:00:21.139 --> 01:00:24.820 practice are inseparable. One learns in order 01:00:24.820 --> 01:00:29.400 to do, and in doing, one learns. The examined 01:00:29.400 --> 01:00:33.719 life for the Orthodox Christian is truly a life 01:00:33.719 --> 01:00:37.460 worth living. As Orthodox Christians, we have 01:00:37.460 --> 01:00:40.320 the tools, we have the teachings, and through 01:00:40.320 --> 01:00:42.539 the Holy Mysteries, we have the grace for something 01:00:42.539 --> 01:00:46.400 truly wonderful to take place in each of our 01:00:46.400 --> 01:00:51.199 lives. For human beings, Love God and loving 01:00:51.199 --> 01:00:54.000 neighbor with all one's heart, striving to be 01:00:54.000 --> 01:00:57.380 free of filthia, striving to see bad choices 01:00:57.380 --> 01:01:01.400 as bad choices, to see evil thoughts as evil 01:01:01.400 --> 01:01:03.960 thoughts for what they are, is what can lead 01:01:03.960 --> 01:01:08.340 us to actually make wise choices in life. Holiness 01:01:08.340 --> 01:01:12.500 is not the prerogative of monks alone. Our treasures 01:01:12.500 --> 01:01:15.659 are for all. We simply need to make use of them 01:01:15.659 --> 01:01:20.460 with humility, with fasting, With love, above 01:01:20.460 --> 01:01:21.679 all, with love.