Guarding the Heart - Watchfulness

To live a God seeking life in this world filled with distractions and temptations we must learn to be watchful always, guarding our heart from all evil thoughts. We are constantly being bombarded by thoughts triggered by our senses. These can tempt us into sinful acts. Our spiritual challenge is to engage in a struggle to eradicate all negative thoughts. We can learn to discipline our mind to become quiet enough so we can reject them when they occur. Jesus tells us to watch and pray (Mat 26:41). Both are essential. We must have a desire to live a Christ like life based on a loving faith so we are motivated to pay attention to our thoughts, desiring to reject those that can lead to sinful action. 

The Jesus prayer is an important discipline than can help us. This is a short prayer that seeks God’s mercy and forgiveness as well as bringing a quietness to the mind. Like any physical exercise program, it is practiced with repetition for periods of time each day until it becomes a prayer that is constantly being repeated in our mind. If we take no remedial action the brain will continue to trigger unending thoughts in response to inputs from our senses. We can easily become like a car without a steering wheel and brakes headed down a winding road at seventy miles an hour.

In addition to an inner effort to control our thoughts though attention and prayer we can become more critical about which life experiences we choose to participate in. This approach controls the kind and amount of stimulation we encounter. This includes entertainment of all forms, friends we associate with, social media we use, and other activities. A quiet spiritual life leads to a quieter mind focused on what God wills for us. Our current world is saturated with pleasure seeking activities. We are also constantly bombarded by advertising all cleverly crafted to stimulate our passions and lead us to engage in more and more of these activities. We should also be careful about idle time and daydreaming.

This spiritual task is to become more aware of our internal state and change our main focus on external events we call our daily life, to what is happening within our soul. In this way we can begin to control our thoughts and make room for an ongoing dialog with God. This will reduce the busyness and stress experienced in daily living.

We must take charge and not let our senses control our activities. We can’t be passive and let all the stimulation of worldly life fill our mind with temptations. We must learn to carryout our responsibilities without the normal bustle and fretfulness. We must become mindful, watchful. For example, we cannot allow any thoughts enter that lead us to anger and resentment. We must develop an internal attentiveness with spiritual vigilance and mindfulness. All this requires a serious effort to guard what impacts the heart of our soul.

The Orthodox way of life involving prayer, fasting, worship and participation in the sacraments will help you. Consult your spiritual father for specific suggestions related to your spiritual condition.

Reference: The Struggle for Virtue, chapter 7, Archbishop Averky

Ten Points for an Orthodox Life

Orthodox Prayer - the Jesus Prayer

Watchfulness - Foundations of Orthodox Spirituality 3

Watchfulness is how the Church Fathers teach us to purify our heart so we can see God as Jesus told us. This is the third video in the series on the foundations of Orthodox spirituality.


Complete series

Becoming Watchful

Do you experience distractions when you try to pray? Do you ever wonder what is the cause of those actions you take that you wish you had not taken? Whether we are in prayer or involved in our daily activities we are misled by thoughts. To counteract this we need to learn the practice of Watchfulness.

What is watchfulness in our Orthodox tradition? It involves a continual guarding or the heart, the center of our soul, from all thoughts that lead us away from God. These thoughts are called "logismoi" in Greek. These are thoughts that mislead us or distract us in prayer. They are not like we normally think of thoughts, but are those that seem to come from nowhere. They are temptations intended to lead us astray. They are not the result of our rational process but come from outside us sent by the devil to lead us away from God.  They are not "our" thoughts. They are directed at "our" weaknesses, our passions, which lead us to sinful activity, away from God. When we sit down for prayer we intend to focus our full attention on God. But against our intention we are bombarded by thoughts that take us away from our prayer and concentration on God. They are coming from without with the intention of disrupting our prayer to keep us separated from God.

The Church Fathers describe differing ways how these work but in general they describe them beginning with an assault, a sneak attack. It may be a thought to get up and do something during prayer. It may be a thought to lash out in anger or to condemn another person. It may be a thought of envy or a desire to possess something that is not ours or we cannot afford. It could be any  number of things depending our our weaknesses.

After this initial assault then if we are not watchful we enter into a dialogue with this thought. We begin to consider how to respond as a result of this thought. This then is followed by a consent, we own the thought as our own and become prepared to act on it. This is when the sin is committed and we become a captive of the thought. 

After we respond to the thought, the next time a similar thought is encountered we are more likely to accept it as our own and respond. The temptation becomes stronger. We become a captive of the logismoi leading us to a bad habit that we call a passion.

If we are watchful what are we to do with these thoughts? IGNORE them! The church fathers tell us to simply ignore them. They are like flies that fly around and bother us. We need to brush them away. Watch them come and go without disturbing the mind. They will quickly disappear. We need to think of them as an unwanted salesman who knocks at our door. We do not let him in and do not have a dialogue with him. The same with these thoughts. Do not let them enter into your heart.

Since God demands our whole heart, mind and soul we need to be ever watchful of these temptation that come in the form of thoughts. They are not ours but sent to us to lead us away from God. So just like we are not obligated to let any stranger into our house, similarly we do not have to accept theses thoughts and let them into our minds or enter our heart. To become watchful we must seek God's help to develop this attentiveness and resistance. This is why it is so important for us to stand before God every morning and focus our full being towards Him and engage our mind in prayer focused on God alone.

In prayer we need to practice rejecting all thoughts and develop this mental discipline. To pray we must not be distracted by any worldly thoughts otherwise it is not prayer. To dialogue with God requires our full attention to Him alone.  One of the most powerful prayers is the Jesus Prayer, "Lord Jesus Christ Son of God have mercy on me a sinner." This is a complete prayer. The first part is a confession of faith in the divinity of Christ and the Holy Trinity. The second is a supplication acknowledging our fallen nature, our weakness, our sinfulness and our need to God's mercy.

By repeating this prayer over and over as part of our prayer rule, we learn to concentrate only on the words. In doing this, the prayer becomes a habit and will be with us at all times. It will be there when we receive the tempting thoughts and will help us immediately drive them away. This is a prayer that with practice will be with you the entire day, even while you are working. It will lead you to a life where you act as of God's children. It will enable you to become watchful.

Remember what our purpose is in this life. We are preparing for our Heavenly life to come. We should always be looking forward to the end of our earthly life and think of ourselves as training for this future, our life with God in Heaven. The Jesus prayer is not like yoga or Transcendental Meditation. It is based of the reality of a living relationship with God, the God who revealed Himself to us in His Incarnation, the God who humbled Himself to take on human flesh, to become fully man while yet remaining fully God. He Showed us the Way to become united with Him. He was Crucified, arose to sit at the right hand of the Father in Heaven and opened the gates of Paradise for those who choose to follow Him. This is quite different from Eastern ascetic practices that are centered on oneself and seek a stillness that is identified with an impersonal absolute. As Christians, God has revealed Himself to us in Jesus Christ. We strive to become like Him and out of our love for Him enter into a ongoing dialog with Him. This leads us to a mind that is ever focused not on stillness or emptiness, but on actions that carry out His will, actions that are without sin actions based on love. We are created in His likeness and image and out of his love for us and our love for Him we are destined to be united with Him in eternal life. Watchfulness is key to us realizing our potential. The Jesus Prayer coupled with a life of repentance and participation in the sacramental life of the Church helps us gain the grace of God that enables us to become like Him.

For more on the Jesus prayer go to the website OrthodoxPrayer.org 

Reference: The Hidden Man of the Heart, Archimandrite Zacharias

Can Your Political Views Undermine your Spiritual Growth?

Do you find yourself arguing with the television set, being angered by Facebook political postings, or stupid comments from your friends?  Well consider the following two findings from social research.

1. "Americans cited "hearing about what the government or politicians are doing" as the most frequent daily stressor on their lives, and at a substantially higher rate than the usual annoyances like commuting, chores and general schedule-juggling." (survey conducted by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in partnership with the Harvard School of Public Health and National Public Radio.)

2. "Partisanship “can even undermine our very basic reasoning skills…. [People] who are otherwise very good at math may totally flunk a problem that they would otherwise probably be able to solve, simply because giving the right answer goes against their political beliefs.”" (from Yale law school professor Dan Kahan’s research  paper is called “Motivated Numeracy and Enlightened Self-Government.”)

Apparently when we harbor fixed political beliefs we do not act rationally when we hear talk from others that goes against what we believe.  We will deny facts that are against our beliefs. The bottom line is that we are easily subject to unnecessary stress if we let ourselves engage in such political drama.

The answer is simple, avoid all forms of such dialogue and you will find you will have a more peaceful and loving life.  You will not be so angry, negative, or offensive to others. For most of us one simple action we can take is to not watch cable news.  These channels play to our fears and stroke our latent political beliefs. They pick stories that will arouse our worst instincts and therefore draw your loyal viewship so they can attract advertisers to sell you products and make more profits. They understand how our minds really work (or don't work) and use this knowledge to make greater profits.

What is the spiritual angle here? Spiritually, when we are aroused by anger and feel stress we are separated from God. The solution our Church Fathers tell us is to become watchful about what we let enter into our heart. Our sinful tendencies come from the thoughts that enter our minds and we choose to engage with them. Once we engage these thoughts we are led to some kind of action. The source of sin is thoughts.

The skill to stop such a chain of events is called watchfulness. This requires a well disciplined mind and God's grace which comes from regular prayer. Whenever we sincerely call on the name of Jesus we have the power to ignore thoughts and instead direct our attention to God and what He wills for us.

The challenge for a life lived according to God's will is developing a life of continual prayer so we will always have God on our mind. We need to be able to at any time stop and say, "Lord have mercy", or to recite the Lord's Prayer, "Our Father..."

Fr Dimitru Staniloae tells us: "Guarding thought... consists of a continual reciting of the name of God in the mind... nothing but a concentrated uninterrupted prayer..."
This is the meaning of Saint Paul's teaching on unceasing prayer.

Pray without ceasing...test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. (1Thess 5:17, 21,22)  Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer... (Romans 12: 9,12)

I have found that the most powerful way to develop this discipline is by following the practices of the Orthodox Church, especially the practices of the Jesus Prayer and regular fasting.

Make a simple choice. Turn off all the political talk shows and news programs that stimulate your anger and stress about political affairs. Instead take this time to engage in prayer each and every day. Learn about the practice of the Jesus Prayer. Try it for three months, reciting "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner," over and over for twenty minutes each day. Begin to follow the prescribed fasts of the Church, including the Wednesday and Friday fasts, and read the daily Scripture readings that you can have sent to you via email from the Archdiocese Department of Internet Services.

If you do, you will find you will be on a path to spiritual renewal and you will begin to seek for a spiritual father for further guidance.

We are all free to hold whatever political views we choose. That is not the issue being addressed. God loves Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians and Independents. We are also free to have whatever religious views we chose. If we claim to be Orthodox Christians, we must be careful not to let our political beliefs override our rational thought process and undermine our peace of mind and heart. We must remain free of anger and stress so we are able to hear God's will and act with His love and our love for our neighbors. Watchfulness, prayer and fasting can help us develop the ideal of continual prayer that Saint Paul asks of us and bring us peace and love.

Advice on Dealing with Stray Thoughts in Church

One of the problems we all face is the tendency for our minds to take over while we are in church where we are supposed to be in prayer. This happens to all of us as it i the nature of our mind to be always active unless we command through our soul to stop.   This part of our mind is part of the body and needs to be controlled by the higher part of our being.


Here is some advice from Saint Theophan the Recluse:
First we are to pray as follows:

Pray with sincere warmth, with an outpouring before God, with feelings of contrition, humility and reverential fear and with diligent petitions for your spiritual needs.

When we even approach prayer in church with this attitude we will still be faced with stray thoughts.  Here is how how recommends to deal with them

As soon as you notice your thoughts have left church, turn them back and do not ever allow yourself consciously to daydream or to stray in thought...  When the thoughts stray unbeknownst to you, this is also a small sin; but when you begin wandering off in thought purposely while you are in church , this is as sin...It is like a man who has gone to the king in order to ask him for something who then begins to make faces and fidget in the king's presence, without paying any attention to him...  With respect to thoughts there are these two rules: 1) As soon as you notice this straying, turn the thoughts back, and 2) do not consciously allow the thoughts to wander.

A remedy against straying thoughts is mental attention, attention to the fact that the Lord is before us and we are before Him.... The attention is attached to the Lord by fear of God and by the desire to please God.  From these come warmth of the heart, which draws the attention to the One Lord... Without labor and mental effort you will not attain anything spiritual...

Reference: The Spiritual Life, pp 151-152 

Guarding the mind- Knocking on the Door of the Heart

To guard the mind requires that we know Christ's presence in our heart.  Once we know this presence, we can bring our innocent thoughts to Christ.  But first, our heart needs to be opened.  Until it is open, Fr. Dimitru Staniloae says,

we must knock at its door, with thoughts sacrificed to Christ, with the hope that we will gain the awareness of His presence and by this our heart will be opened.

He also says that we don't have a full feeling of His presence at first.  We will experience gradual progress in this. We must be persistent and have patience.


The whole notion about guarding the mind is dependent on us being able to bring our thoughts to the door of the heart.  Therefore it is also called watching of the heart.


Fr Dimitru says,

Standing watch at the door of the heart, the mind does nothing but keep itself from going astray, because the heart is after all nothing but the depths of the mind.

Think about how often our minds go astray. How often by our immersion in our ego needs we ignore this place of the heart.  The mind never stops and our actions seemingly spinout of the control of our highest values. We need to be ever vigilant.

Mark the Ascetic says,

The mind must keep vigil over the heart and guard it with all watchfulness, trying to penetrate into its innermost and undisturbed chamber, where there are no winds of evil thoughts... to be vigilant over the heart and go ever deeper into it and to approach God alone, with out becoming disgusted with the toils of attention and persistence.

We have to train the mind to be the supervisor and to watch the thoughts as they enter.  At the same time to be aware of the presence of Christ within us, in the heart.  Then our thoughts can be presented to Christ as a discipline.


Fr Dimitru says this is how it works,

First a simple thought appears in the consciousness.  Immediately somewhere on the periphery an evil thought shows itself, with the tendency of monopolizing the simple thought.

But often this watchful defense fails.  We allow our thought to become associated with to a desire.


Fr. Staniloae says,

The mind forgets itself for a little and lets itself be touched by the gentle breeze which is coming from the aroused appetite; it finds that it was robbed of its simple first-born thought and was bitten by the passions.

Even when we let our guard down allowing a thought that arouses our passions, our approach is to still refer this thought to God in our heart.  We must now call on Him with all our power––"Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy."


We may also experience the first thought as a direct attack and not an innocent thought.  We need to develop that capacity to recognize it as a direct attack at the very beginning. 


For Dimitru says,

It must however, be unmasked at the start, so that we will scarcely be able to escape. 

He then tells us that this calls for a special spiritual sensitivity which is gained only through steady practice and much effort to cleanse ourselves from the passions.


The challenge is developing continual prayer so we will continually have God on our mind. We need to be able to at any time stop and say, Lord have mercy, or to recite the Lord's Prayer, Our Father...


Dr Dimitru concludes this topic as follows.

Guarding thought... consists of a continual reciting of the name of God in the mind, in the seeking of the heart, or in concentrating within it.  But nothing but a concentrated uninterrupted prayer...

This is the meaning of Saint Paul's teaching on unceasing prayer.

pray without ceasing...test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. (1Thess 5:17, 21,22)  Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer... (Romans 12: 9,12)

This seems to be be an advanced spiritual practice demanding lots of self-control, a life of repentance, and significant progress in mastering the passions.


reference: Orthodox Spirituality, pp 163 - 167

Guarding the Mind - Watchfulness - Getting at the Root

Engaging in spiritual disciplines such as fasting, we develop the will to exercise self-control over our passions.  But the real cure is to eradicate the root––to get rid of the passionate thoughts.


Fr Dimitru Staniloae tells us that passionate thoughts are put into our consciousness by Satan. He attacks where we are weak by amplifying patters that have been etched in our brain by previous behaviors. We also have good thoughts that come from the spirit. But they too can be transformed into passionate thoughts. Our passionate thoughts come from connections with our biological being and its desires. The challenge is to connect the good thoughts which come from God to oppose the ones that arouse our passions.


Our aim is dispassion.  Dispassion is the dominance of the good thoughts which are calm and peaceful.  It is where we overcome our automatic responses to our desires or passions.


Mark the Ascetic says,

We must bring any good thought that arises within us––just as soon as it appears––to Christ as a sacrifice.

 In this way it is protected and not likely to be polluted with thoughts which amplify our passions. Think of this as a shepherd tending his flock of sheep.


Evagarius says,

The thoughts of this world, the Lord has given to a man like sheep, to a good shepherd... . So the anchorite must keep this flock day and night so that no lamb be seized by wild beasts, or by thieves... . Thus if the thought about our brother is spun around in us and enveloped in hate, we should know that a beast has gotten hold of it.

So, let your simple thoughts be directed to Christ, bringing them to Him as a sacrifice. In this way we create a shield to protect us.


Fr. Dimitru says,

The guarding of the thoughts is a shield which the mind itself produces.  Of course the mind can't be stopped from working continually.  Therefore we must supervise it continually. The purpose of this watchfulness is twofold: When the thought is received we should see that either it develops into a devout one and creates an association with pious ones, or that with the appearance of other thoughts as the beginning of still more, we should see from the first moment that they are directed to the safe channel. This is a narrow way, a way sustained by a continual effort which at the beginning is very hard, but in time also becomes easier.

This is an advanced step and requires preparation and a life dedicated to Christ with continual repentance. More on this to come.


Ref: Orthodox Spirituality, p 158 - 162

Interaction of Heart and Mind in Prayer

" All these evil things come from within and defile a man."  

Jesus Christ (Mark 7:23)

Maintaing attention is a central part of prayer. Watchfulness is essential. We find our mind is continually influenced by thoughts which pollute our heart. These are not necessarily temptations that come from our external environment but are our reactions to external factors. The thing that we need to gain control over is our inward reactions that generate thoughts and bound up our heart

Saint Theophan  says,

"The mind's thoughts are all directed toward this earth, and there is no way to raise them to heaven.  Their object is vain, sensual, sinful. You have seen how fog drifts along the valley.  This is a precise picture of our thoughts. They all crawl and drift along the earth. In addition to this downward drifting, they constantly seethe, not standing still in a single place; they jostle each other, like a swarm of mosquitoes in the summer. In addition, they are always in motion.

Beneath these there lies the heart. It is from the thoughts that blows are continually struck in the heart and corresponding actions of the heart.  from this is joy, anger, envy, fear, hope, pride, despair––they arise in the heart one after the other. There is no stopping them; just as with the thoughts, there is no order whatsoever. The heart continually trembles from the emotions like an aspen leaf."

Our challenge in prayer is to cut off these thoughts.  

Elder Nikodim says, 

"When the mind is pure, then the heart will be pure. And when the heart is pure, then the mind will also be pure."

When we have mastered this we will find the mind becomes a true partner in our prayer.


Fr. Sophrony says,

"The mind becomes all ears and eyes, and sees and hears every extrinsic thought approaching from without, before it can invade the heart.  Praying the while, the mind not only refuses to admit extraneious thoughts into the heart but positively throusts them aside and preserves itself from association with them." 

Knowing the interaction between the mind and the heart is an important discovery to make about our inner life. 


See Christ the Eternal Tao pp 363-365.

Keep Inner Stillness

Good advice from Metropolitan Jonah about watchfulness, an essential skill for the Orthodox Way of Life.

"…One of the things which is so difficult to come to terms with is the reality that when we bear anger and resentment and bitterness in our hearts, we erect barriers to God’s grace within ourselves. It’s not that God stops giving us His grace. It’s that we say, “No. I don’t want it.” What is His grace? It is His love, His mercy, His compassion, His activity in our lives. The holy Fathers tell us that each and every human person who has ever been born on this earth bears the image of God undistorted within themselves. In our Tradition there is no such thing as fallen nature. There are fallen persons, but not fallen nature. The implication of this truth is that we have no excuses for our sins. We are responsible for our sins, for the choices we make. We are responsible for our actions, and our reactions. “The devil made me do it” is no excuse, because the devil has no more power over us than we give him. This is hard to accept, because it is really convenient to blame the devil. It is also really convenient to blame the other person, or our past. But, it is also a lie. Our choices are our own.

"On an even deeper level, this spiritual principle – do not react – teaches us that we need to learn to not react to thoughts. One of the fundamental aspects of this is inner watchfulness. This might seem like a daunting task, considering how many thoughts we have. However, our watchfulness does not need to be focused on our thoughts. Our watchfulness needs to be focused on God. We need to maintain the conscious awareness of God’s presence. If we can maintain the conscious awareness of His presence, our thoughts will have no power over us. We can, to paraphrase St. Benedict, dash our thoughts against the presence of God. This is a very ancient patristic teaching. We focus our attention on the remembrance of God. If we can do that, we will begin to control our troubling thoughts. Our reactions are about our thoughts. After all, if someone says something nasty to us, how are we reacting? We react first through our thinking, our thoughts. Perhaps we’re habitually accustomed to just lashing out after taking offense with some kind of nasty response of our own. But keeping watch over our minds so that we maintain that living communion with God leaves no room for distracting thoughts. It leaves plenty of room if we decide we need to think something through intentionally in the presence of God. But as soon as we engage in something hateful, we close God out. And the converse is true – as long as we maintain our connection to God, we won’t be capable of engaging in something hateful. We won’t react…"

He says, "If we can maintain the conscious awareness of His presence, our thoughts will have no power over us."  This is the key.  We are controlled by our thoughts and must learn to take action to control them.  Think about this: Where do they come from? Why are we so inclined to act on them.  We can learn through the practice of the ascetic disciplines and by asking for God's help in prayer overcome our tendency to simply react. Once we can maintain a continual awareness of His presence they will lose their power.


For me one of the most important practicers, in addition to regular Confession and partaking of Holy Communion, is daily prayer with the practice of the Jesus Prayer. This can leads one to continual prayer and this ever consciousness of Him.

Metropolitan Jonah of the OCA  (The Orthodox Church of America)

Source:  

Grumbling

Have you noticed how often we find ourselves grumbling about this or that?  It seems that it is our nature to complain about something.


Archimandrite Seraphim Aleksiev writes,

Grumbling is like the autumn hoarfrost which, when it falls, destroys all the labors of the gardener.  Few people realize how bad grumbling is for the soul.  Almost everyone considers it to a small sin, but even though it seems so, it has very grievous consequences.  In the autumn before the hoarfrost falls, the experienced gardeners notice the signs of the coming cold weather and urge their young helpers to gather the peppers and the tomatoes.  the young ones laugh: "Why should we gather them? the weather is still so nice!"  Then the next morning they see th first frost has come over the gardens.  they pick up a pepper and take a bite to taste it, but it is as bitter as poison and cannot be eaten.  Thus their small carelessness has destroyed all their labors.  In the same way grumbling withers all the virtues of the soul and makes bitter and useless the fruits of suffering.

Why is this so dangerous?  God gives us difficulties and problems to help us come closer to Him.  This is His only aim.  He wants us to be united with Him. But when something is not just how we like it, we grumble instead of giving thanks to God.  You see, we turn away from Him rather than towards Him to seek strength and direction.  This is the danger of all our grumbles. When we grumble we have separated ourselves from God.  When we grumble we are not pleasant to others.  As Alekiev says, "grumbling withers all the virtues of the soul."

Not grumbling, but patience in suffering––this is what God wants from us.  "In your patience possess ye your souls" (Luke 21:19), the Savior has instructed us, because "we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22).  Into this Kingdom of God one cannot enter with pride which teaches us to grumble, but with humility which makes us patient.  There are no greater teachers of patience that sorrows.  This is precisely why God sends us suffering: so that we will humble ourselves before Him.  No one has been saved by pride, because "God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble" (1 Peter 5:5). The doors of the  Kingdom of Heaven are too low and narrow for the proud to enter through them; only those humbled by the sufferings of life can go through them freely.

I cant tell you how often my wife and I will find ourselves in the car on the way to church grumbling about so many little things.  When we are lucky, one of us catches our plight and says, "Let's thank God."  This always awakens us to our sorrowful state.


A good exercise is to examine your grumbles––just for one day.  Look at what it is you grumble about and reflect on why God set this discomfort in front of you.  See if you can find a way to give thanks to God for all He sends you. How can you draw strength from your relationship with Him. I think you will find this to be  a rewarding exercise.


Remember, God did not promises us that we would not have difficulties.  But He did promise that He would give us help and comfort.

“In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

Ref: The Meaning of Suffering and Strife & Reconciliation, p 35, 39


More on the Orthodox Way of Life

Getting Help in our Battle with Thoughts

As several of you have pointed out in earlier discussions, controlling our thoughts is not a easy task.  Assuredly, if we can do it, our mind becomes clearer, quieter and we are better able to discern.  As a  result we can become more holy.  True prayer demands a silent mind free of thoughts so we can listen to the wordless voice of God that comes from our heart.  It is in this way that we can do the will of God. But being able to control our thoughts is something that seems to elude us.  It is something that we cannot do by ourselves. We need help.

Saint Heychius tells us,
The spirit cannot conquer a demonic fantasy by its own unaided powers, and should never attempt to do so... The demons are a sly lot: they pretend to be overcome and thin trip us up by filling us up with self-esteem.  But when we call upon Jesus Christ, they do not dare to play their tricks with us even for a second." (Philokalia vol 1, p. 166)

Those of us who have tried to master our thoughts can affirm that, no matter how much we progress, we are either defeated by more thoughts that gain our attention, or we begin to think about how well we have mastered our control of thoughts.  As soon as we begin to think about how well we are doing we have lost the battle.

The key is what Saint Heychius tells us – we must call on Jesus Himself for help.

Saint Theophan the Recluse tells us,
Whenever we appeal directly to the Lord with fear, reverence, hope and faith in His complete activity without entering into a verbal battle with the passionate thought, the passionate thought then moves away from the mind's eye, which is fixed on the Lord.  When it is cut off from the mind through such attention, the passionate thought departs of its own accord...

The act of calling on the Lord for help plants a more powerful thought in our mind and forces the one we want to ignore into the background.  Without attention given to the thought and given instead to God asking for His help, it disappears.  The demon trying to plant the unwanted thought in us is defeated. This is one reason why the practice of the Jesus Prayer is so important.  God helps us counteract unwanted thoughts when we call on His Name.

Saint Theophan uses an example of a legend he knew of.
An elder lived in the desert of silence.  The demons visibly attacked him, and began dragging him our of his cell so as to completely drive him out of the desert.  The elder himself began fighting back at them, but they moved him and had already dragged him right up to the very door.  Just a bit more, and they would have turned him out.  Seeing his extreme danger, the elder called out, "Lord Jesus Christ! Why have you abandoned me?  Help me, Lord!"  As soon as he called out, the Lord appeared immediately and chased away the demons, and said to the elder, "I did not abandon you, but because you did not call on me and thought you could cope with the demons yourself, I did not come to your help.  Call on me, and you will always receive ready help."  After saying this, the Lord disappeared.  this incident is a lesson not just to the elder, but to all of us: Do not struggle with passionate thoughts through your own spiritual altercations with them, but turn immediately to the Lord with prayers against them. (The Spiritual Life, p. 246)


A final thought from Saint Theophan
Lasting purification of the thoughts is a gift from God, but this gift is not given without intensifying one's personal labors.  While you will not achieve anything just by your own labor, God will not give you anything if you do not labor with al your might.  This is the fundamental law. (The Spiritual Life, p. 210)

More in the next post on the Power of the Name.

Watchfulness and The Divine Light - Beware of Delusion

Watchfulness involves lifting our thoughts to the spirit through our ability to observe them without being moved to any action.  This spirit within us is seen as the true way of knowing and the only faculty to know God.

Jesus says, "The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness." (Matt 6:22-23)

What is the meaning of the passage? He is saying that this spirit is also light.  When have clear sight we can see, and when we can see, our whole being is filled with light.

In His Life is Mine, Archimandrite Sophrony describes his experience with the light of spirit and gives us some cautions.  He writes, "The world of mental contemplation is essentially a radiant one.  Our mind is created in the image and after the Primal Mind––God.  Light is natural to it since it was made in the image of Him Who is Light unoriginate." (p 155)

Hieromonk Damascene points out that we need to be careful when we think of this light.  He sys, "This is where many who have practiced watchfulness have fallen into delusion over the centuries."  The key in his view is having purity of intention when we enter within.  If our intention is to be spiritual we are in great danger.  On the other hand if it is to deal with our shortcomings so we can perfect ourselves to follow more closely the commandments of God, then we are on safe ground.  If through our own effort we come onto the experience of this inner light of spirit we will continue to worship ourselves and worse, think we are in fact God.

Achimandrite Sophrony had this experience in his spiritual journey where he was involved with various forms of eastern meditation.  He writes,

"Attaining the bounds where day and night come to an end, man contemplates the beauty of his own spirit which many identify with Divine Being.  They do see a light but it is not the True Light in which there is no darkness at all.  It is the natural light peculiar to the mind of man created in God's image.

The mental light, which excels every other light of empirical knowledge, might still just as well be called darkness, since it is the darkness of divesture and God is not in it.  And perhaps in this instance more than any other we should listen to the Lord's warning, 'Take heed therefore that the light which is within you be not darkness.'"

To avoid this danger, absolute humility is necessary.  Fr.Sophrony writes,

"Since those who enter for the first time into the sphere of the silence of the mind experience a certain mystic awe, they mistake their contemplation for mystical communion with the Divine, whereas, in reality, they are still within the confines of created human nature.  The mind, it is true, here passes beyond the frontiers of time and space, and it is this that gives it a sense of grasping eternal wisdom.  This is a far as human intelligence can go along the path of natural development and self-contemplation...

"Dwelling in the darkness of divestiture, the mind knows a peculiar delight and sense of peace... Clearing the frontiers of time, such contemplation approaches the mind to knowledge of the in-transitory, thereby possessing man of new but abstract cognition.  Woe to him who mistakes this wisdom for the knowledge of the true God, and this contemplation for a communion in Divine Being.  Woe to him because the darkness of divestiture on the borders of true vision becomes an impenetrable pass and a stronger barrier between himself and God than the darkness due to the uprising of gross passion, or the darkness of obviously demonic instigations, or the darkness which results from loss of grace and abandonment by God.  Woe to him, for he will have gone astray and fallen into delusion." (pp 155-56) 

He tells us that the experience the Uncreated Light of the Divinity is given to us only by special action of God.  To go beyond the limits of mind and receive this gift, demands humility.  We must not seek a spiritual light, silence or peace when we practice watchfulness.  We seek silence in our mind so we can hear the direction that God is giving to us. Gods voice is still and small. (1Kings 19:12)  We can only hear and discern what he is telling us by lifting ourselves above the distraction of random thoughts that are continually invading our mind.  Jesus says, "Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice." (John 18:37)

We must remember His important words, "Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord," will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he who does the will of my Father Who is in heaven.  Many will say to me in that day, "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonderful works in Your name?" And then I will declare to them, "I never knew you: depart from me, you who work iniquity." (Matt 7:21-23)  What he is really saying here is that YOU did know Him when He says "I never knew you." Hieromonk Damascene says, "In effect he is saying, "You andI never developed a relationship because you were always listening to your thoughts, emotions and desires rather than to me.  You did not learn to distinguish my wordless voice from all the other voices in your head."

This is the aim of watchfulness and silence of the mind.  We seek God's voice directing us.  We develop the virtue of discernment.  We find ourselves in relationship with HIm, and unite our will to His.  Yes, we may experience the light of the mind and if it be God's will we may also experience His Uncreated Light.  We need to be careful not make the aim this light as we will be deluded and risk making ourselves God.

Message: Keep your intentions pure!

See The Tao of Christ pages 326-331

Non-Action is Essential for Spiritual Growth

Non-Action is a state of selflessness and self-abandonment.  It is when we give up our total dependence on our own thinking and analysis for our actions and instead rely on direction from God. Hieromonk Damascene says, "When we catch ourselves trying to solve our personal problems with our minds, we realize the futility of this enterprise and give up the Problems to the Personal Absolute.  We cease trying to be our own savior, and we commend ourselves to the mercies of our true Savior."

This notion of non-action is one of the primary reasons people fail in their spiritual life.  It is because they are trusting and relying on themselves.  Abba Dorotheos says, "I know of no fall that does not come from trusting one's own judgment" (Discourses and Sayings p. 126)  Hieromonk Damascene points out, "Even if a self-opinionated person calls upon Christ to save him, he is still seeking salvation on his own terms and in his own time (which usually means immediately).  He makes his petitions or demands in order to feel better and make his path easier, rather than to know objective truth and be united with his Creator, which is the very purpose of his existence."

How do we practice Non-Action?
Hieromonk damascene advises,
"We must come before our Creator and Savior without an preconceived opinions.  We must seek salvation on His terms and in His time, even if it requires that we endure worse suffering that we knew before!"  
We cannot expect Him to relieve us of all our burdens now and once-for-all.  We must trust that He will continually save us, perfect us through His grace step by step, as long as we submit ourselves to His will.

Hieromonk Damascene says,
"In letting go of our will to prevail through ambitious striving, we find that the will of our Creator is accomplished naturally and spontaneously through us.... When we do His will instead of our own, good appears of its own accord, flowing effortlessly into our life.  There is no frustration, no dissatisfaction.
On practicing non-action, we do not try to heal ourselves; rather we allow ourselves to be healed...  We find that our problems find their own solution, spontaneously"


This idea of Non-Action does not mean we do not have any thoughts.  Any attempt attempt to stop our thinking is but another prideful effort.  What is needed is to develop the ability to observe our thoughts, seeing how they often represent our selfish needs and desires.  In observing them, we become watchful and they then end without impacting our action.

This way of Non-Action is the natural way to spiritual healing.

Adapted from Christ the Eternal Tao by Hieromonk Damascene, pp 322-324

Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down

Why is it we spend so much time thinking about what has already happened or about what may possibly happen sometime in the future? Are these thoughts nothing but our own created world? Don't they frequently lead us to worries and anxiety? When we are absorbed in these thoughts where is God?

Especially in this difficult economic climate we find ourselves worrying about many things. As one of many possible recent examples, I have had several people approach me seeking advice about how to deal with the possibility of foreclosure on their house. They were extremely frightened. One was frightened about his inability to support his family and possibly losing his marriage. Another was a builder fretting about losing his equity and his reputation necessary for access to loans in the future to continue his business. Both built dreadful scenarios in their heads about possible consequences that might befall them in the future.  Their anxiety was so great that they could not think clearly about what they needed to do today: i.e. talk to bank about alternatives, talk to parents about assistance, and for the builder, become creative in dealmaking. They were so stressed that even feared sharing their problem with their spouses. As recorded in Proverbs (12:25) “Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down …” Where was God?

How did Jesus instruct us?  He says,
“Do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on. Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds? And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?"(Lk 12:22-25)
Here He is pointing out that our worries add next to nothing to our life, only "one cubit," the smallest of measure. He also points out that even the ravens or crows, considered to be unclean birds in his time and not fit for eating, are provided for by God. So why should we worry about our life?

He continues,
"Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?" (Lk 12:27-28)
Here He equates our worries to not having sufficient faith. But the reality is, just as He provides for the lillies and the ravens, He surely will provide for us. But what are we to do when we are in difficulty and can't make our house payments or provide decent food for our family?

Jesus says,

"For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you" (Lk 12:30-31).
Jesus tells us not to rely on our thoughts but instead to concentrate on Him and His kingdom, "to seek the kingdom of God." It is in this way that we will be informed about how to care for ourselves without anxiety or fear. There is no need for worry when we have faith and God to guide us. As we lift our thoughts to Him, they are clarified, our needs minimized, and we area able to face the worst of situations without fear.

All our thoughts do for us,when they lead us to worry, is to separate us from God. They make us self-centered and reinforce the belief that we are self-reliant beings. Our reasoning become clouded making it more difficult to know what our needs really are and how to provide for them. We exclude God's help.

Our thoughts are dangerous. They can create a false world in our mind. We need to develop the capacity to lift ourselves into the spirit that resides within us, focusing on God, setting our thoughts aside so we can open our hearts to God. He will show us the way, not for aggrandizement in this world, but how to live a way that gains us eternal life in His kingdom. Like the birds and the flowers, He provides for His creation and He will provide for us. But we must overcome the entangling web of our own thoughts, the fantasy world we create in our own minds, if we are gong to hear what he intends for us.

In Matthew's version Jesus says,
“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble" (Matt 6:31-34).

Lesson: We must live in the present with our attention directed towards God, lifting our thoughts to a higher source.  This is what the Orthodox Way of Life helps us do. Pray, worship and participate in the sacraments, and be watchful.

More on Orthodox Prayer...

More on Orthodox Way of LIfe... 

Flies and Bees - Advice from Elder Paisios

Father Paisios provides us with wise advice about negative thinking using an example of flies and bees.  As usual he is most insightful.

"I know from experience that in this life people are divided in two categories.  A third category does not exist; people either belong to one of the other.  The first one resembles the fly.  The main characteristic of the fly is that it is attracted by dirt.  For example, when a fly is found in a garden full of flowers with beautiful fragrances, it will ignore them and will go sit on top of some dirt found on the ground.  It will start messing around with it and feel comfortable with the bad smell.  If the fly could talk, and you asked it it show you a rose in the garden, it would answer: "I don't even know what a rose looks like.  I only know where to find garbage, toilets, and dirt."  there are some people who resemble the fly.  People belonging to this category have learned to think negatively, and always look for the bad things in life, ignoring and refusing the presence of good.


The other category is like the bee whose main characteristic is to always look for something sweet and nice to sit on.  When a bee is found in a room full of dirt and there is a small piece of sweet in a corner, it will ignore the dirt and will go to sit on top of the sweet.  Now, if we ask the bee to show us where the garbage is, it will answer: "I don't know.  I can only tell you where to find flowers, sweets, honey and sugar; it only knows the good things in life and is ignorant of all evil."  This is the second category of people who have a positive way of thinking, and see only the good side of things.  They always try to cover up the evil in order to protect their fellow men; on the contrary, people in the first category try to expose the evil and bring it to the surface.


When someone comes to me and starts accusing other people, and puts me in a difficult situation, I tell him the above example.  Then, I ask him to decide to which category he wishes to belong, so he may find people of the same kind to socialize with."

From Elder Paisios on the Holy Mountain by PriestMonk Christodoulos, p.43-44

Negative Thoughts Separate us from God

This I find to be my weakest point where the devil is constantly attacking me. Whenever I catch myself having negative thoughts about another person, I discover that all I am doing is trying to show myself how much more perfect I am than the other person. It is only my self-importance that is being satisfied by my negative views of others. More often than not, it is a thought about something I well know and dislike in myself but deny. But most importantly, this way of thinking is a sure block from God. My attention is not filled with love but instead on myself. As it says in the Book of Wisdom (1:3)  "For perverse thoughts separate men from God."

Saint Ambrose of Optina writes,
"Look at everything simply. Living simply means not judging. Do not judge anyone. For example, here comes Elikonida. She passed by, and that is all. This is what thinking simply means. Otherwise, as seeing Elikonida passing by, you could think about her bad side: she is such and such, her character is thus and so. That is not so simple." (Fr. Sergius Cherverikov, Elder Ambrose of Optina, p. 235)


Elder Paisios writes
 "If one lives in the world of his pride, that is the world of his own thoughts, he is filled with illusions and he is in danger.... As long as he humbly thinks of himself, God's grace remains within him and protects him.  When he moves away from his humble thoughts and start being preoccupied with what the patriarch or the bishop or abbot or monks do or say, then God's grace starts retreating.  Therefore the most important thing for us to look after is to preserve the sense of humbleness in our lives, and thus allow for divine grace to permanently remain within us." (Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain by Priestmonk Christodoulos, p. 40)

Live Simply Without Thinking Too Much

On of my greatest struggles is to learn how to live simply without thinking too much. If I am not careful, I find myself thinking about future events and developing anxiety and worry over something that most likely will never happen. It is an act of placing my trust in my own thinking rather than in God.

Jusus told His disciples the following when they asked Him, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"
"I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

What is the characteristic of little children. They are present in the moment. They do not put everything to a logical thought process. They are attentive and present. This is the kind of simplicity we are all called to maintain.

This involves learning not to put our faith in our thoughts. This is most difficult as we have gained skills to survive in the world, professions and so forth, based on knowledge gained through education and by using our logical minds. We have learned how to manipulate things to our own benefit. This is all well and good, but we must come to see this as a very low form of knowledge. It is knowledge that is based in our brain and attached only to earthly things. It is capable of only solving small problems and even then only temporarily.

Elder Paisios says,
"The devil does not hunt after those who are close to God. He takes from them trust in God and begins to afflict them with self-assurance, logic, thinking, criticism. therefore we should not trust our logical minds. Never believe your thoughts.
Live simply and without thinking too much, like a child with his father. Faith without too much thinking works wonders. the logical mind hinders the Grace of God and miracles. Practice patience without judging with the logical mind."

Our challenge is to refer our problems to our higher mind. The results of logical thought is the product of our ego and our efforts made with an illusion of self-sufficiency. Ask yourself, "How often do I refer my problems to God? When I do, am I capable of listening?" This will help focus our spiritual development. For whatever comes from our logical mind is not likely to be coming from God.

As proof of this look at the political debate we see taking place today on almost any issue. Before anyone has a chance to fully explain their view, they are interrupted with an opposing answer. These divergent views cannot becoming from God. We are not seeking enlightenment nor even applying our reason to issues. We are stuck on our ego based prejudices and opinions, our own generated thoughts. We never enter into a true dialogue seeking God's truth on the matter.

Elder Paisios observes,
"Almost all of us view thoughts as being something simple and natural, and that is why we naively trust them. However, we should neither trust them nor accept them.
Thoughts are like airplanes flying in the air. If you ignore them, there is no problem. If you pay attention to them, you create an airport inside your head and permit them to land.!" (Christ the Eternal tao, Hieromonk Damascene, p.318)

Dealing Softly with Our Thoughts

Our actions begin with a thought. Thoughts come into our mind all the time, so we must constantly be watchful. This is not just about wandering thoughts we experience in prayer. It's about a continual struggle.

Through the practice of the Jesus Prayer, we are given the gift of controlling our thoughts. With this gift, we are able to lift ourselves above the level of mind dominated by common thoughts where we can observe our thoughts without any action. Once this ability is given to us by God's grace, we can observe them all the time without taking actions on them. This is often called a state of "detachment."

Once we have this ability, how do we properly observe our thoughts? Abba Barnabas says, "If a thought comes, do not be alarmed.... the bad thing is not that a thief enters the house, but that he takes what he finds." We cannot stop the occurrence of thoughts. But we can stop them from stealing our virtue from us.

As we observe thoughts, we don't concentrate our attention on them, but, instead, observe them softly, seeing them as foreign intruders, something that is coming from outside us. In this way we keep our attention based in our higher mind, our mind attached to Spirit. This keeps us in the attitude of love. When we are able to maintain this perspective, we are able to discern those thoughts that are of help to others from those that condemn them, those which are of selfish interests from those which are of benefit to others. This is a level of discernment essential for a virtuous life.

As we develop this ability to observe our thoughts softly, we come to know with certainty that our thoughts are not who we are, but come from outside. It's our God given responsibility that comes with our free will to observe them without immediate action.

Saint Theophan writes,
"Having noticed the enemy approach––the beginning of a stimulus, thought, passion, or tendency––first of all hasten to realize that it is the enemy. It is a great mistake, and a common one, to honor everything that come up in us as the property of our own blood, for which we take a stand as for our own selves."

Metanoia built on Foundation of Watchfulness is the Way to Theosis

It often seems to me that there is no end to my spiritual struggle. The more I delve into the Orthodox way of life the more it seems I am called to do. This seems to be the very nature of the spiritual path. The more we examine our lives, the more clearly we can see into the depth of our soul and the more we uncover. As we uncover the hidden "gems" buried in on innermost being, the closer we come to God.

A lesson well taught by our spiritual fathers is that the key to spiritual growth is a constant yearning to be more like Christ. To do this we must continually seek a cleansing in spirit and forgiveness for our current ways. This is called metanoia: changing our life to be like His, calling on God to be cleansed and to be forgiven and then to forgive others.

Hieromonk Damascene says,
"As long as we remain in the condition of metanoia, ever deeper levels of our corruption will be revealed to us, and we will be continually purified and re-created by the wordless Word in our hearts."

Archimandrie Sophrony writes,
"Whoever tries to follow Christ 'wherever He goes' (Rev 14:4) will be inevitably rent again and again––at every rise from a lesser to a wider cognition, from a small measure of love to a greater."

The problem of today's culture is that we seek instant gratification. This is what we want from our spiritual life as well. We say a prayer and expect an immediate answer. We correct a bad habit only to find a new one postponing the reward we thought would be ours. Many of today's approaches to spirituality only increase our numbness about our deplorable condition. Pseudo happiness is sought and false joy covers up the real condition of our life that we need to face for out spiritual growth. Continuous metanoia is a lifelong process says Hieromonk Damascene.

"We must understand that , contrary to what our conditioning leads us to expect, inward purification is a lifelong process. Continuous metanioa is the only way:" A miracle––says Fr. Sophrony; "the more is 'see' God, the more ardent does my repentance become, since I the more clearly recognize my unworthiness in His sight."

To practice continual metanoia, we need to embrace watchfulness as the foundation. St. Hesychius writes, "We will travel the road of metanoia correctly if, as we begin to give attention to the spirit, we combine humility with watchfulness and prayer with the power to rebut evil thoughts." Watchfulness (nipsis in Greek) is the state of inner vigilance, attention and sobriety.

St. Nicephorus tells us,
"Watchfulness is the sign of true repentance (metanoia).... It is the unreserved assurance that our sins are forgiven. It is the beginning of contemplation or, rather, its presupposition, for through it God, descrying its presence in us, reveals Himself to the Spirit. ti is a serenity of the spirit or, rather, the repose bestowed on the soul through God's mercy. It is the subjection of our thoughts, the palace of the mindfulness of God, the stronghold that enables us patiently to accept all that befalls."

To help build the necessary foundation, I plan to explore further this idea of watchfulness.