Curing of evil thoughts
As with all diseases of the soul and body, so also with thoughts there is preventive treatment as well as therapeutic treatment after the illness. We shall look at both.
The preventive work is to try not to let the thought enter us and capture our nous. This is achieved by watchfulness, attentiveness, hesychia, and cutting off evil thoughts. The Apostle Paul instructs his disciple Timothy to be constantly watchful: "As for you, always be watchful" (2Ti.4,5). The patristic writings contain an extensive analysis of this struggle.
Watchfulness is also called guarding of thoughts. St. John of the Ladder teaches that it is one thing to guard thoughts and another to watch over the nous. Watching over the nous is higher than guarding thoughts. This is true in the sense that we defined earlier, that the nous is the eye of the soul, the heart, while a thought is what functions in a man's mind. It is one thing to try to keep the mind pure and another to try to keep the nous, that is the heart, pure. Nevertheless purity of thoughts is needed, because it is impossible to keep one's inner self free from sin if one has evil thoughts. The patristic commandment is to concentrate our nous (the soul's energy in its essence), to be watchful of thoughts and to fight against impassioned thoughts. It is essential that we pay attention to our reflections, recollections and notions. Indeed in this struggle to keep the nous pure and have constant remembrance of God, we have to discard the good thoughts as well, because even with good thoughts the nous gradually forms the habit of withdrawing from God. The monk Silouan taught: "The saints learned how to do battle with the enemy. They knew that the enemy uses intrusive thoughts to deceive us, and so all through their lives they declined such thoughts. At first sight there seems to be nothing wrong about an intrusive thought but soon it begins to divert the nous from prayer, and then stirs up confusion. The rejection of all intrusive thoughts, however apparently good, is therefore essential, and equally essential is it to have a nous pure in God". We should never have a single thought in our heart, whether senseless or sensible. We should protect the eye of the soul from every thought, as we do the eye of the body from every harmful object.
When a person becomes accustomed to this holy struggle of laying aside all thoughts, then the nous tastes the goodness of the Lord and acquires purity so that it can distinguish thoughts and "store in the treasures of its memory those thoughts which are good and have been sent by God, while casting out those which are evil and come from the devil".
This watchfulness of the soul, this guarding of thoughts, is called inner hesychia. Therefore in Orthodox teaching hesychia is not simply stillness from outward stimulations (this too is the beginning of hesychia, especially for the beginner), but it is mainly stillness of the heart. St. Thalassios advises: "Seal your senses with hesychia and sit in judgement upon the thoughts that attack your heart". According to St. John of the Ladder, "stillness of the body is the accurate knowledge and management of one's feelings and perceptions, but stillness of soul is the accurate knowledge of one's thoughts and is an unassailable mind". Brave and determined thinking, watching at the doors of the heart, killing or driving off invading notions are the friends of hesychia. When a person perseveres in this struggle, and especially when the nous has been captivated by the Kingdom of God, then the thoughts vanish just as the stars are hidden when the sun rises.
Apart from watchfulness and stillness of the nous, another way to prevent the nous from being irritated is to avoid the causes which evoke thoughts. St. Maximus gives an example to show how we must struggle to maintain purity of heart. As we know, the demons of passion either stimulate the soul's desiring power or disturb its incensive power and its intelligence. Therefore a monk should watch his thoughts and seek out and eliminate their causes. "The soul's power of desire is stimulated by impassioned thoughts of women. Such thoughts are caused by intemperance in eating and drinking and by frequent and senseless talk with the women in question; and they are cut off by hunger, thirst, vigils and withdrawal from society. The incensive power is disturbed by impassioned thoughts about those who have offended us. This is caused by self-indulgence, self-esteem and love of material things. It is on account of such vices that the passion-dominated person feels resentment, being frustrated or otherwise failing to attain what he wants. These thoughts are cut off when the vices provoking them are rejected and nullified through the love of God".
Furthermore, in order to be rid of thoughts one should struggle against passions, since it is from these that the demons find occasion to implant convenient thoughts. With regard to the passion of unchastity St. Maximus advises: "fast and keep vigils, labour and avoid meeting people". With regard to anger and resentment: "be indifferent to fame, dishonour and material things". With regard to rancour: "pray for him who has offended you and you will be delivered".
Another struggle is to reduce the pleasure-loving of the heart, because thoughts try to kindle pleasure and attract the nous. Along with the pleasure-loving of the heart, it is necessary to tackle the pleasure-loving of the body as well. Everything which evokes bodily pleasure and bodily comfort must be driven away by the athlete of the inner struggle. For if a person gives in to bodily pleasure, "he will necessarily, even if he does not wish it, be led off by force to the Assyrians, to serve Nebuchadnezzar". If a person does not take a very firm stand towards himself on the subject of pleasure, he will not be able to maintain or acquire his inner freedom.
As we pointed out a little earlier, we must avoid things and people that evoke evil thoughts in us. One ascetic, answering the question of a brother who said that he was struggling with memories of women and the desires of the past, said: "Do not fear the dead, but flee from the living, and before all things persist in prayer" . We surely are not asked to avoid all people. This is possible for a few who are seeking perfect purity in order to give themselves wholly to God, but we must avoid those people who are a temptation to us, not so much because they are bad, but because we ourselves are inwardly weak and susceptible to sickness. When a person makes it a principle to watch his nous and pay attention to matters and objects and people, he can learn for which of them he has a passion.
The fear of God helps to liberate us from warfare with thoughts. The fear of God is God's gift to man. He who receives this gift struggles all day not to do anything displeasing to God, or rather he does not simply struggle, but the fire of the fear of God melts every oncoming thought. But even if there is not this charismatic fear, let us at least of ourselves struggle to create the sense of the presence of God and of the judgement to come. "As wax melts before fire, so does an impure thought melt before the fear of God". The fear of God is the shepherd that leads the sheep, that is, thoughts. Without the shepherding fear, thoughts will be in confusion.
Parallel with these things, toil and the ascetic life are a method of therapy. Fasting, vigils and prayer help the nous to avoid capture by the oncoming thoughts. "Waste your body with fasting and vigils, and you will repulse the lethal thoughts of pleasure" . "Keep your body under control, and pray constantly; in this way you will soon be free from the thoughts that arise from your prepossessions". St. Mark the Ascetic teaches that if we do not want to be moved by evil thoughts, we must accept humiliation of soul and affliction of the flesh. And this must not be just on particular occasions, but "always, everywhere and in all things".
These things which have been mentioned can be used by a person to prevent sickness due to thoughts, but also if he is sick they are needed as a method of curing from thoughts. But let us look more analytically at how we can cure the soul which has been affected by thoughts.
In the first place one must not be at all agitated. The demons' effort is to create agitation in a person and then in the confusion to interfere more actively in the soul and take it captive. Therefore St. Maximus teaches: "Stand up courageously against the thoughts that surge over you, especially those of irritation and listlessness". Facing thoughts with courage is a second martyrdom. The advice of all the Fathers is not to be agitated when we are attacked by satanic thoughts. St. Barsanuphios says: "If the thought comes, do not be alarmed but understand what it wants to do and counteract it without agitation, calling on the Lord." The bad thing is not that a thief enters the house, but that he takes what he finds in the house.
Some people allow the thought to enter their nous and heart in order to hold a dialogue with it and overcome it by the power of Christ. This is done by a few who are abundantly blessed with the grace of Christ and who want to enter into face-to-face combat with the devil in order to destroy him. However, this is not possible for most Christians, who are powerless to take up this strenuous and dangerous combat. So most of us have to scorn intrusive thoughts.
It must be said that the less experienced in spiritual matters a man is, the slower he is to perceive the entrance of the thought. Usually those who are practised spiritual athletes perceive the thought before it has entered their intelligence and even when it is preparing to wage war on the athlete. Some perceive the thought only when there is coupling or when there has already been assent, or on the very threshold of action or even after sin has been committed. "The spiritually inexperienced man generally encounters sinful thoughts only after they have progressed, unnoticed, through the first stages of development - that is, after they have acquired a measure of strength - when the danger approaches of actually sinning". In any case, wherever he meets it he must immediately fight against it. And the more practised he is in this holy game, the more he perceives the thought in the first stages of its development.
A better way than dialogue is to scorn the thoughts and cut them off. Archimandrite Sophrony presents the teaching of St. Silouan about the best method of fighting thoughts: "The Gerontas was saying that the experience of the Holy Fathers shows various ways of combating intrusive thoughts but it is best of all not to argue with them.
"The nous that debates with such a thought will be faced with its steady development, and, bemused by the exchange, will be distracted from remembrance of God, which is exactly what the demons are after - having diverted the nous from God, confuse it, and it will not emerge `clean'.
"Stephen the Hermit (out of whose hands a leopard fed) as he lay dying (Ladder, Step 7), disputed with intrusive thoughts, as was his wont, and so found himself struggling against devils.
"St. Mark of Thrace for having tried to comfort his soul before departing from this life by enumerating his efforts was kept swinging in the air `for an hour' - which suggests that it could have been for all time.
"Other Fathers were more discriminating in their spiritual struggle".
So it is not safe, especially in the beginning of the spiritual life, to let thoughts enter the heart. "But as soon as we perceive them we should counter-attack and repulse them". To scorn a thought is a good way especially for beginners in this struggle.
Without entering into dialogue with the thought, we should refuse to do what it says to us and in that way also weaken the passion itself, and "fighting in this way little by little, and with the help of God, he overcomes the passion itself". This is called resistance to a thought.
Someone said to Abba Poemen: "Abba, I have many thoughts and they put me in danger." The old man led him out and said to him: "Expand your chest and do not breathe in." To the man's answer that he could not do it Abba Poemen replied, "If you cannot do that, no more can you prevent thoughts from arising, but you can resist them." So we cannot prevent thoughts from coming to us.
We need to oppose them. And the opposition consists, on the one hand, in utter scorn, and on the other hand, in not doing what they say. "If we do not do anything about them, in time they are spoiled, that is to say, they disintegrate". Just as when someone shuts a snake or a scorpion in a bottle, in time it will die, "so it is with evil thoughts: they are suggested by the demons; they disappear through patience". When a thought led Abba Agathon to criticise, he said: `Agathon, do not do that,' and so the thought was still". Likewise Abba Theodore and Abba Lucius spent fifty years mocking their temptations by saying to the thought of leaving the place of their asceticism: "After this winter we will leave here." When the summer came, they said, "After the summer we will go away from here." Thus they passed the whole time and mocked the demons . Postponing the time of satisfying a thought helps us to be rid of it.
Another way of healing is the struggle not to let thoughts persist. The struggle lies in not letting a simple thought stir passion and not letting a passionate thought be given assent. "Both these two forms of counter-attack prevent the thoughts themselves from persisting". For a thought which persists will engender other thoughts and create many problems in the inner world and will take our nous an unwitting captive.
Likewise we should not let the simple thought become a compound or passionate thought, but also a compound thought should be turned into a simple one. A compound thought is composed of passion and a conceptual image. It will be necessary with self-control and spiritual love to separate the passion from the conceptual image, and then the thought will become simple.
Since an intrusive thought tries to kindle sensual pleasure, which will then take the nous captive, the nous must cut off the intended pleasure. St. Maximus teaches that we must become murderers not only of bodily passions but also of the soul's impassioned thoughts .
Apart from cutting off and scorning thoughts, it is necessary to chase them away, and this is done mainly by prayer. St. Gregory of Sinai teaches that a beginner cannot chase a thought away unless God does it. The strong can wage war with thoughts and chase them away, but again even they do it with God's help. "When thoughts come, call to our Lord Jesus, often and patiently, and they will retreat; for they cannot bear the warmth of heart produced by prayer, and they flee as if scorched by fire." In prayer the name of Jesus is pronounced, which flogs the devil, and the presence of divine grace creates warmth of heart. These things burn evil thoughts and drive them out of the nous. If anyone lacks the energy to pray, let him imitate Moses: lift his hands and eyes to heaven, and then God Himself will drive the thoughts away. Just as smoke is dispersed in the air, so evil thoughts are dispersed by the invocation of the Name of Christ.
We cannot rid ourselves of demonic thoughts by means of human thinking. We must abandon every thought, even if we are wise, and rest all our hope in God, saying "Lord, arrange the matter as you wish and as you know...". This passage is significant because in time of temptation many people attempt to confront it with human intelligence. However powerful intelligence is, it cannot be more powerful than the devil's thought. For in the struggle against a thought we are fighting against the devil and not against a simple thought.
Praying with watchfulness clears the mind of all images of evil thoughts, and so our mind is made conscious of both the devices of our enemies and the great benefit of prayer and watchfulness . Through prayer the athlete of the spiritual life is clearly aware of the whole thought, makes a sober study of it, and in this way without having put the thought into action, is aware of its consequences. Therefore the ascetics who have practice in this spiritual contest, who do not allow the thought to enter them, usually know very well the life of the sin and the sinner without having their own personal experience.
If the enemy's seed is fire, hope in God through prayer is the water which puts out the fire. Abba John the Dwarf said: "I sit in my cell and I am aware of evil thoughts coming against me, and when I have no more strength against them, I take refuge in God by prayer and I am saved from the enemy".
An effective method of getting rid of thoughts is to confess them to an experienced spiritual father. St. John Cassian says that "just as a snake which is brought from its dark hole into the light makes every effort to escape and hide itself, so the malicious thoughts that a person brings out into the open by sincere confession seek to depart from him". Nothing so harms a monk and brings such joy to the demons as hiding his thoughts from his spiritual father. In this way his whole spiritual life is twisted and he becomes a plaything in the hands of the devil, who can do what he likes with him. Therefore St. John Cassian teaches that nothing leads so surely to salvation as confessing our private thoughts to the most discriminating of the fathers and being guided by them rather than by our own thoughts and judgement. "He who conceals his thoughts remains unhealed". Therefore we must confess the persistent thought, bring it to our spiritual father who has responsibility for our salvation. "Any thought that tarries in you and engages you in warfare, reveal to your Abba, and he, with God's help, will heal you". When we speak of a persistent thought we mean one that does not go away in spite of our objection, scorn, and prayer, but continues to wage war against us, like the impassioned thought which is united with the passion.
St. John of the Ladder cites the case of a monk whom he met in a coenobium. He had a small book hanging in his belt and said that he wrote his thoughts in it each day and showed them all to his shepherd.
The discriminating shepherd can be illiterate according to the world, not knowing the wisdom of the world, but knowing God's wisdom. Abba Arsenios had the habit of going to ask about his thoughts to a discriminating father who nevertheless was crude, illiterate and uneducated. Another brother asked him: "How is it, Abba Arsenios, that you, with such a good Latin and Greek education, ask this peasant about your thoughts?" He replied: "I have indeed been taught Latin and Greek, but I do not know even the alphabet of this peasant".
When a person has learnt to open himself to God through his spiritual father and to expose all his wounds created by thoughts, and the thoughts themselves, and at the same time listens to his advice, he is released from each one, he is inwardly at peace, and he knows what the peace of Christ means.
As we confess to our spiritual father we also ask for his prayer and blessing. St. John Chrysostom, referring to Christ's words to his Apostles when they were entering a house to give peace, says that often without anyone disturbing us we are at war in thought and are agitated, and cunning desires rise up in arms. This battle sends down the word of the saints, that is the saints' blessing, and this brings much calm within us. "At that utterance, every diabolical desire and unseemly thought slipped away from our soul".
As we have emphasised in another place as well, we can rid ourselves of thoughts by cultivating the various virtues. Self-control and love rid us of impassioned thoughts. By controlling anger and desire we quickly do away with evil thoughts. Vigils also contribute a great deal: "The vigilant monk is a fisher of thoughts, and in the quiet of the night he can easily observe and catch them".
The reading of God's law and the lives of the saints cut off thoughts. Therefore the words of the Apostles and Fathers as well as their lives have much power and give peace to the soul.
Another way is to create good thoughts. Indeed we have previously observed that we must cut off and cast away every thought, even if it is a good one, especially at the time of prayer. But at other times, particularly when we are at the beginning of the spiritual life, we can cultivate good thoughts. But again we need to be watchful not to cultivate fantasy through them, because in that way we would develop a demonic type of spirituality. "Cultivate good thoughts with care so that you find them again hereafter". Let us receive everything with a good thought. Even if everything is ugly, let us receive it with equanimity and then God will right the anomalies of things. "Accept with equanimity the intermingling of good and evil, and then God will resolve all inequality". Or yet let us transform the evil thoughts into good ones.
One of the best ways of curing and disposing of thoughts is to keep our nous in hell burning with the flames of the inferno. St. Silouan taught: "St. Makarios the Great, flying through space, never ceased humbling himself, and when devils, outdistanced, cried to him from afar that he had escaped them, he replied that he had not yet evaded them. He answered after this fashion because he was accustomed to stay his mind in hell, and thereby really did elude the devils.
"St. Poemen the Great, schooled by long experience of battle against devils, knowing that far the most dangerous and powerful enemy is pride, fought all his life to acquire humility, and so said to his disciples: `Be assured, children, that where Satan is, there am I also'. But at the bottom of his heart, knowing how good and merciful is the Lord, he trusted that He would save him. To humble oneself in this wise is the best means of keeping one's mind pure from every passionate thought".
For a person to keep his mind in hell and for all his thoughts to be burnt by the flames of hell is a state which is imbued with repentance and especially with the great and ardent repentance which is a gift of the grace of Christ. If this is not present, at least a person should hold in remembrance the thought of impending death and his judgement in hell. This thought is enough to purify the nous and release the person from the tyranny of thoughts.
When a person is freed by this whole ascetic method from the tyranny of thoughts and both nous and heart are pure, then he is filled with the energy of the Holy Spirit and experiences the healing of his soul. The soul is freed from all its wounds and becomes a temple of the Holy Trinity. The person becomes a true priest of the grace of God and has a foretaste of the good things of the Kingdom of Heaven. This is the true, natural man, the man made divine by grace.
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