Start here, then go here, and then go here.
As I noted before, this whole series started from thinking about New Year's resolutions. In my case, to focus on battling the passions. There are four sources of my thinking here. St. John Cassian's, Monastic Institutes (especially Book V, two lengthy excerpts of which I have posted on my companion blog, here and here), Benedict of Nursia's holy Rule (especially Chapters 39-41, which I will post on my companion blog tomorrow), St. Theophan the Recluse's The Spiritual Life and How to be Attuned to It (especially Letters 53-63) , and Blessed Hieromonk Seraphim Rose's ascetical practices.
Among the first steps to battling the passions is to crucify one's will. As St. Benedict writes in his holy Rule:
The second step of humility is that a man loves not his own will nor takes pleasure in the satisfaction of his desires; rather he shall imitate by his actions that saying of the Lord: I have come not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me (John 6:38). Similarly we read, "Consent merits punishment; constraint wins a crown."The Rule of St. Benedict 4,31-33
For monastics and clergy, this crucifixion already has some built in structure, as each monk or cleric submits in obedience to his superior. But for the lay Christian, this must be the mutual submission of which Paul writes in Ephesians 5:21, especially for spouses. For example, in battling the passion of gluttony (about which more in a moment), one can voluntarily agree with one's spouse that one will submit to the strictures (assuming them to be healthy) of that spouse. My wife, for example, may prohibit me from drinking soda, or may require I drink ten glasses of water a day, or limit myself to two cups of coffee a day. Or, if I must battle the passion of lust, I allow my wife to set the computer ratings to weed out certain sites, and allow her to set the password. Having mortified my will on this or another matter by my obedience to her, I take an important step in battling the passions, which is to recognize I cannot fight the passions on my own strength or on willpower alone.
Another of the beginning steps (one should not necessarily think of these as strictly linear) is the vigilance of thoughts. As St. Theophan notes, the passions
do not belong to our nature, but are alien to it. They do not remain inside the gap [between body and soul] however; instead, they pass right into both body and soul and place the spirit itself--the consciousness and the free will--under thir power; and in this way rule the entire person. When they work in collusion with demons, the demons rule through them over the person, who nevertheless thinks that he himself is in control. (The Spiritual Life and How to be Attuned to It, p. 225)
The saint goes on to note the progression of an act. It starts with a passionate thought, which, if it is not crucified, proceeds to a feeling, something like an attraction, providing hospitality to the thought to linger. From there, feeling gives birth to desire, which, being volitional, creates a resolution to act. From the resolution to act proceeds premeditation on how to carry out the act, and from there the act is accomplished. At the level of thoughts and feelings, one has not sinned. Indeed, even if one allows the thought to linger and to become a desire, one still has not sinned, though one is unwisely dancing with temptation. But from the resolution to act, the guilt increases as the procession to an act goes forward, until one is faced with the consequences of one's now-accomplished action. As our Lord himself said, if one looks on a women, with the intention of lusting after her, one has already committed the deed and is guilty.
Thus the Recluse says, the passionate warfare must be a vigilant battle against passionate thoughts. These passionate thoughts attack us through hearing and through sight, mainly. So our battle against them must be in the constant praying of the Jesus prayer, or the filling of one's minds with the words of the Scriptures, the hymns of the liturgy, or other Christian contemplation. If the mind, is constantly occupied with the things of God, it will not give way to passionate thoughts. However, we are not always so vigilant, and a passionate thought creeps in. It is here that we must cut it off ruthlessly, through our own prayers and the intercession of the saints.
The passions attack us on all fronts, through our God-given appetites for food and sex, as well as through our inner desires. But one is hard pressed, especially if one is only just beginning the intentional unseen warfare, to fight such battles on all fronts. One is more likely to suffer defeat taking on all comers, than choosing one's battles carefully. Indeed, more to the point, there is a progress in proficiency in the unseen warfare, as St. John Cassian notes.
In his list of vices (of which there are eight: gluttony, lust, avarice, anger, despondency, accidie or sloth, vainglory and pride), the first two (gluttony and lust) are primarily bodily temptations. And the fight against these vices and their corresponding passions in us is the suitable training ground for warriors in the unseen conflict as they prepare to take on the more challenging "spiritual" vices of anger and pride. St. John writes:
So that [i. e., the battling of the passion of gluttony] is our first trial, our first probation . . . .
And:
This is the most fundamental principles in all our efforts, that the fleshly desires be first quenched. No one who has not gained control of his own body can compete legitimately [in these "spiritual" contests against anger and greed].
So the first step in battling the passions is to conquer gluttony. Those who know me know how a propos this is for me.
It is improtant to realize however that there is more than one form of gluttony. If we are to be vigilant against this passion, we must be aware of how many fronts on which it fights us.
Now there are three types of gluttony: one is a compulsion to anticipate the regular time of eating; another is wanting to fill the stomach with excessive amounts of any sort of food; the third is delighting in the more delicate and rare dishes. A monk therefore must take threefold care against these: firstly he must wait for the proper time of meals; then he must not yield to overeating; thirdly he should be happy with any sort of common food.
How does one battle gluttony? According to St. John Cassian, the primary way is thus:
The common goal of perfect virtue for all is that in eating the food which we need to sustain our bodies, we check ourselves while still hungry.
This is in concurrence with what St. Benedict says in his rule. He provides for his monks two kinds of cooked food at each meal, and perhaps a third dish of fresh fruits and vegetables. There is to be no meat of four-footed animals, only half a bottle of wine, and one pound of bread per day. The father of monks writes:
Above all overindulgence is avoided, lest a monk experience indigestion. For nothing is so inconsistent with the life of any Christian as over-indulgence. Our Lord says: Take care that your hearts are not weighed down with overindulgence (Luke 21:34). (RB 39,7-8)
All these sorts of practices are similarly borne out in the ascetical life of the Blessed Hieromonk Seraphim Rose. Hieromonk Ambrose, spiritual son of Father Seraphim writes:
So far as I know, he kept only the usual monastic fast, which included the Fast of the Angels on Mondays. I was present at many, many meals over the years at the monastery. He always ate whatever was on his plate but never reached for seconds. Of course he never ate between meals, and always observed the monastic practice of never having food in his cell. Sometimes, when he was alone at the monastery (which wasn't often), he skipped meals, but this probably had more to do with being an "absent minded professor" than with any ascetic practice. In my home he ate normally, not skimping, but also never having seconds. I once asked him if he had any favorite food, favorite dishes, and he said that he didn't. When I asked the other monks they said they never had any idea of a favorite food, that he never spoke of food at all.
All these principles that we can take up and arm ourselves with against gluttony, can be transposed, under the wise guidance of one's spiritual father, to the other passions, whether it be the next "bodily" passion of lust, or the other "spiritual" passions St. John Cassian lists.
Posted by Clifton at February 8, 2005 03:30 PM | TrackBack