Abba Poemen shares a parable brought by a layman on the Spiritual Way
A man said to his friend, " I want to go see the king. Come with me." hTe friend answered him. "I will go with you half way." He said to another friend, "Take me to the king." He said, "I will take you as far as the king's palace." The man said to the third person, "Come with me to the king." "Lets go," replied the third friend, "I will go with you to the king's palace, bring you inside, announce your arrival and present you to him."
Abba Poeman asked the layman, "What does this parable mean?"
He replied, "the first friend is asceticism, which leads you to the true path; the second is purity, which takes you to Heaven; the third friend is almsgiving, which will fearlessly bring you to the King Himself, God"
Abba is pointing out that our first step in attaining our union with God is asceticism. Through prayer, fasting and worship we orient ourselves on the true path. We learn to tame our passions and focus on God instead of our own self-initated needs and desires. It is like we are now able to lift our eyes off the ground and to look ahead and see where the pathway leads us. Without this first step we have our heads focused only on our own footsteps. This is why the church puts such a heavy emphasis on disciplines such as fasting and daily prayer. It is why the practice of the Jesus Prayer is so important for our spiritual growth.
Once we have purified ourselves of our passions and the numerous desires that tempt us to pursue only our own pleasure, we find we are at the gates of heaven. Our soul is energized and grace comes to us freely. This enables us to take the final step which is our union with God. This is the step of love of our neighbor. It is where we are continually seeking ways to help those who are around us, including our enemies. We freely give help where it is needed. In this we find ourselves in harmony with the God Himself. We are now able to do His will, on earth as it is in heaven.
Reference: The Spiritual Life, p 271
Repentance and grieving over one's sins is the beginning of the Divine path is the teaching of St. Poemen. Why is this so? When we repent and stand against evil we will do good and begin to do the will of God. If we do not repent then we will not recognize our evil actions and continue to go against the will of God. The is why we so often find ourselves separated from God. This effort is mostly a struggle with our thoughts. We must be ever watchful and ever ready to attack thoughts which are temptations to go against the will of God.
Saint Poemen was approached by one of his spiritual children with the following concern:
"Father! I have many thoughts, and I am in danger because of them." The old man took him outside and said, "Expand your chest and do not inhale!" "I cannot do that." answered the brother. "If you cannot do that then neither can you stem the flow of the thoughts," said the old man. "But your job is to resist them."
It is not the elimination of thoughts that we seek as this is impossible but the ability to minimize and resist them. How do we do this? In general, Saint Poeman would say, "the thing you need most is a sober mind."
First of all, be attentive to yourself and be sober. A brother said that when he was with others, he would amuse himself and return to his cell not the same as when he left it. He asked how he should act. The elder told him, "When you return to your cell, do you want to find yourself the same as when you left? Maintain vigilance over yourself both at home and outside the home."
This is one of our major challenges. Saint Theophan has also advised us that one way to do this is to avoid those situations, places and people who led to conditions that arouse thoughts that tempt us. This is also what Saint Poemen teaches. We must remove ourselves for everything passionate.
Saint Paul also instructs us,
Keep away from any of the brothers who refuses to work or to live according to the tradition. (2 Thessalonians 3:6)
What does this mean practically: Why go to a bar on Friday evening after work when we might be tempted to drink to much and then our resistance is almost zero? Why maintain a friendship with a person who continually is asking to do things which you know are not proper? Why engage in discussions that you know will lead to heated arguments where you end up saying things you wish you had never said? Why watch movies or TV shows that stimulate unwanted desires? You can surely think of more which apply to your own personal life. Act on eliminating these temptations from you life. This combined with a life of prayer, repentance and regular participation in the sacraments will bring you closer to God.
Saint Poemen says,
If a trunk full of clothing is not looked after, then in time the clothing will disintegrate. So too will the thoughts, if we do not in fact carry them out, vanish in time, as if they disintegrated.
The cure is obvious but not easy to do as we must exercise our will to order our lives is a way that avoids undue temptations.
Reference: The Spiritual Life, pp 267-269
