How To Struggle Against Thoughts
Summary
TLDRThe speaker discusses the challenges of overcoming passionate thoughts and self-abuse through spiritual practices. Emphasizing that thoughts will always persist, the key lies in watchfulness and prayer, particularly the Jesus prayer. The speaker explains that cultivating these practices requires persistence and struggle, aiming for continuous communion with God. They highlight the importance of maintaining a spiritual stance and vigilance to resist negative thoughts, using examples from the lives of Saints. Ultimately, the goal is to achieve freedom from passions and restore oneself to the image and likeness of God.
Takeaways
- 🙏 Entering the church can provide significant grace and help in stopping outward actions.
- 💭 Thoughts never completely stop; they are a constant part of our changing world.
- 🛡️ The challenge is not having thoughts but how to manage and control them.
- 👁️🗨️ It's important to train the intellect to be on guard and practice watchfulness.
- 🕊️ Prayer, particularly the Jesus Prayer, is crucial for managing thoughts and spiritual growth.
- 💪 Achieving effective prayer involves a struggle and persistence against old habits.
- 🙌 Cultivating a spiritual stance of watchfulness and prayer can help repel negative thoughts.
- 📜 The lives of saints show that persistent prayer and watchfulness lead to spiritual progress.
- ⏳ Significant spiritual practices, like fasting and intense prayer during Holy Week, serve as examples for daily life.
- 🎯 The ultimate goal of spiritual practices is to restore the image and likeness of God and become free from passions.
Q & A
What is the main challenge addressed in the video?
-The main challenge addressed in the video is how to struggle against passionate thoughts and maintain spiritual watchfulness and prayer in the face of continuous and changing thoughts.
Why are thoughts described as constantly changing?
-Thoughts are described as constantly changing because the world we live in is in a state of flux, and this constant change means that thoughts will never stop coming.
What is the importance of watchfulness and prayer according to the speaker?
-Watchfulness and prayer are essential for maintaining control over one's thoughts and for spiritual growth. They help in being on guard against negative thoughts and in cultivating a constant desire for communion with God.
How does the speaker suggest one should handle thoughts of judgment or envy?
-The speaker suggests handling thoughts of judgment or envy by being watchful and cultivating prayer. This includes being aware of such thoughts and actively working to repel them through spiritual practices.
What is the significance of the Jesus prayer in this context?
-The Jesus prayer, 'Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me,' is significant as it has been a proven method for 2,000 years to help individuals focus their mind and spirit, aiding in the struggle against negative thoughts and promoting spiritual growth.
Why does the speaker emphasize the need for 'violence against the old man'?
-The speaker emphasizes 'violence against the old man' to highlight the effort and determination required to overcome ingrained habits and thoughts that lead one away from spiritual growth. It signifies the struggle and persistence needed in spiritual practice.
What role does a spiritual father and the church fathers' writings play in this struggle?
-A spiritual father and the writings of the church fathers provide guidance and understanding on what to watch for and how to deal with provocations. They are crucial for learning and maintaining spiritual watchfulness and prayer.
How does participating in church services and practices like fasting help in maintaining watchfulness?
-Participating in church services and practices like fasting help maintain watchfulness by providing structured times of increased spiritual activity and mindfulness, which reinforce the habits of prayer and being on guard against negative thoughts.
What does the speaker mean by 'being the Lords over their manner and not slaves to the enemy'?
-The speaker means that through watchfulness and prayer, one can gain control over their thoughts and actions, thereby not being passively influenced by negative thoughts or external provocations, and instead actively choosing actions that align with spiritual growth.
What is the ultimate purpose of spiritual practices according to the speaker?
-The ultimate purpose of spiritual practices is to be fully restored to the image and likeness of God, becoming free from passions, and achieving communion and union with God.
Outlines
🛐 Overcoming Outward Actions and Managing Thoughts
The paragraph discusses the challenges of stopping outward actions like self-abuse with the help of religious practices and the greater struggle of controlling passionate thoughts. It emphasizes that thoughts are a constant part of life and the importance of not being passive receivers of these thoughts. The goal is to train the intellect to be vigilant, using watchfulness and prayer, particularly the Jesus Prayer, to manage thoughts effectively. The process involves continuous effort and discipline, often requiring lifelong dedication.
🙏 Cultivating a Stance of Continuous Prayer and Watchfulness
This section highlights the necessity of cultivating a stance of continuous prayer and watchfulness to maintain spiritual vigilance. It discusses the importance of being prepared to combat provocations and the role of spiritual guidance in this journey. The passage also addresses the challenge of maintaining this watchfulness outside of special religious periods like Holy Week and emphasizes the role of fasting and consistent spiritual practices in achieving autonomy from passions and thoughts. The ultimate goal is to restore the image and likeness of God in oneself and to be free from passions.
🎶 A Reminder of God's Presence
This brief segment, accompanied by music, serves as a reminder of God's presence and the ongoing spiritual journey.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Grace
💡Watchfulness
💡Prayer
💡Passionate thoughts
💡Spiritual father
💡Prostrations
💡Ascetics
💡Self-abuse
💡Mysteries
💡Jealousy and Envy
Highlights
Entering the church provides significant grace to help stop outward actions.
Stopping self-abuse is relatively easy, but struggling against passionate thoughts is a lifelong challenge.
Thoughts never stop because the world is constantly changing; the key is how we deal with them.
The question is not about having thoughts, but whether we become slaves to them or can control and set them aside.
Watchfulness and prayer are the two pillars of spiritual life in combating thoughts.
The Jesus prayer, 'Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me,' is central to Orthodox spirituality.
Cultivating prayer and watchfulness requires continuous effort and violence against the old man.
Saints often practice intense and lengthy prayer rules, including thousands of Jesus prayers and prostrations.
The goal of these practices is to achieve uninterrupted communion with God.
Being on guard and watchful allows one to repel intense provocations and thoughts.
Continuous preparation and stance of watchfulness are essential for spiritual combat.
Holy Week and Pascha are not exceptions but examples and rules for a spiritual life.
The ascetics and saints fast continually to maintain watchfulness and avoid being slaves to the enemy.
Understanding the ultimate purpose of spiritual practices is crucial to their effectiveness.
The end goal is to be fully restored to the image and likeness of God and be free from passions.
Transcripts
let's say this person has some success
maybe he enters the church and that's a
big help you know for people uh that was
a help for me in my experience entering
the church you get a lot of Grace from
the Mysteries to help you to stop these
outward actions those are actually the
easy ones to stop but then we go into
the realm of f
which is a struggle probably a lifetime
struggle um so let's say so the person
is able to stop the self-abuse but then
they still are having passionate
thoughts so can you give us some advice
for how to struggle against
thoughts so first and foremost the
thoughts never stop because there is
this this whole world we live in is is
is in Greek prepos which means
constantly changing
and the thoughts will never stop so the
question is not are you going to have
thoughts of course you're going to have
thoughts are you going to have thoughts
that are at least for most people I mean
there are there are atics who reach
Great Heights of total dispassion and
they they're in another realm but for
the for vast majority of us we're going
to have always have thoughts and we're
going to deal with them the question is
how and what thoughts and how are we
going to be slaves to them are we going
to be uh able to look at them look at
them and put them aside and and have
have that which is going to elevate us
as opposed to bring us
down so
um let's think about let's for instance
let's think about some thought that
moves us to judgment or
[Music]
to uh comes and undermines us and uh
which is very very often in confession
you'll hear especially women come and
say you know I'm moved to jealousy Envy
Ang
um you know by these these thoughts and
I'm thinking about these
people and so how do we get ahead of
that how do we get ahead of that so
we're not just just victims and we just
like passive receivers I mean because
that's that's the nature of of the
passes right we're we're passive
receivers they they act on us from the
outside not we controlling them same
thing happens in the realm of the
thoughts so how do we get ahead of the
thoughts and and our in
control um the only way we're going to
be able to do that is to train our
intellect to be on guard continually to
be at the to have watchfulness right
nipes in Greek so the C the heart of the
spiritual life there's two things and
that in terms of Prayer in terms of the
inner man right it's watchfulness and
prayer that's that's everything if you
read the Pia read the writings of the
church fathers on these topics that's
the the pillars the pillars so you can't
just have watchfulness without prayer
you can't have prayer without watch
because the thoughts are constantly
coming so you you through the prayer the
Jesus prayer first and foremost and what
has been handed down to us and proven
for 2,000 years is the prayer of Jesus
the Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me
and at the heart of the hesus life and
the Heart of every Monastery that is
making progress spiritually is going to
be the prayer and so
uh when we get up in the morning before
we go to bed and throughout the whole
day but especially in our rule in the
morning we cultivate the prayer and the
prayer is going to be achieved in the
sense of becoming a part of our uh inner
life is going to be achieved with
violence against the old man it's not g
to come easy you're gonna have to push
yourself and you're GNA have to push
your intellect and your intellect is
going to fall away again and again and
again you're going to bring it back
again and again and again and this
process will go on for quite some time
time maybe for the all for all of us the
rest of our life um and that's that's
what you see in the lives of the Saints
you see for instance St Joseph hesus all
night long they'll have their prayer
rule which could be you know if you want
to just get a sense of just the degree
of love and and and violence against the
old man that these men practiced you
just just think about the the rule that
they had which very few people could
could withstand today but their rule
would be thousands upon thousands of
every night prayers Jesus prayers and
also um Most Holy Theus most holy mother
of God save us if they were in younger
age they would be in hundreds and
hundreds if not more and sometimes they
talked about even more prostrations full
prostrations to the ground saying the
prayer in the in the desert there uh and
then after they got the rule done then
they would have just hours of prayer
without any numbers without counting
anything right so that would be the time
of noetic prayer where there just
focused in their noose right in their in
their Spirit on the the on the prayer uh
and so so what is that all that's that's
the the focus of the whole person
Desiring communion with God and asking
and begging and knocking at the door to
have that communion to be in communion
be uninterrupted communion with God uh
and that's that's that's the The Stance
of all Orthodox Christians whether we
have thousands or hundreds or de or or
or or dozens of prayers That's The
Stance we need to cultivate to be always
desires some of communion and Union with
God so if we are H if we have that
spiritual stance we're cultivating the
prayer we're
watchful we're learning over time
through the GU guidance of a spiritual
father and through reading of the church
fathers what to watch for how to
understand the coming then when the
provocation comes because they're always
come all the time but certain
provocations really intense provocations
if you're on guard over your soul in
your heart then you're going to have a
chance to repel the enemy right but if
you are totally sleeping or not even
near the gate or or the gate is wide
open they're going to walk right in
that's that there's no there's no battle
there there's no there's no struggle
there we're just we're just passive
receivers of the thoughts right so you
got to get on the gate you got to be
over the the city wall on guard and you
got to see the enemy coming and that's
only going to happen when you're
cultivating it you're prepared from the
day beginning of the day you're you're
prepared to fight right your stance so
that's how you're going to deal with
those thoughts so the thoughts are going
to come and especially if you've if
you've given yourself over in the past
to this passion or other passions you've
become a slave to them you've become
addicted to these things you've you've
you as I said you've dug the canal so
that the the water easily flows to and
fro and comes comes back then you're
going to have even more patience
necessary and more of a struggle over
time but by the grace of God we have we
we can achieve many degrees of autonomy
from that and Union with God over time
by the grace of God through humility
through obedience through prayer you can
and and many have come freed from even
that lifestyle in life that you led
before baptism which was so ingrained in
fulfilling and becoming a slave a slave
and obedient to the
passions you can become free but it's
going to take a struggle it's going to
take a struggle in that cultivation of
the of that stance and that watchfulness
there's no other way around it I don't
know of any other way and I don't think
any other way has come down to us to be
free of the thoughts uh that are
besieging
us uh the thought things I'm thinking
about right now is uh that this seems to
be easier like around uh Holy Week in
PCA when you're going to church every
day and you're kind of it's a a time of
more intense
watchfulness but uh it's easier to fall
away from that watchfulness the rest of
the year you
know absolutely but just the fact that
you just said that and we recognize that
and we all Shake our head what does that
tell us that it's possible yeah with God
it's possible uh the church gives us 40
days and the pasca I mean the Holy Week
and pasca not as an exception but as as
an example and as the rule for our life
so we have to remember that um it's
exceptional to fast as we do during the
40 days before pasca and maybe we won't
actually you know keep that that fast
from particular Foods throughout the
year obviously but the stance can be
applied the watchfulness the mindfulness
that's the that's
why that's why the the the Aesthetics
fast that's why the Saints fast
continually is to maintain the
watchfulness and therefore to be the
Lords over their Manner and not to be
slaves to the to the enemy uh that's the
end goal right I think I think a lot of
people today they don't understand why
and what they're doing in church like
why do I go to church unfortunately much
of what passes as Orthodox spiritual
life is is more is more akin to a
western
moralism than than an orthodox spiritual
life today and so we've got a first and
for foremost say why am I what am I
doing why am I getting up at 4 or 5 in
the morning saying to Jesus prayer
what's the end goal why do I go to
church why do I commune what's the point
and it is to be totally and fully
restored to the image and likeness and
become a become a free from the passions
that's the ultimate purpose of our life
in Christ the Incarnation you know bring
man back to the the way God intended him
to be um so we have to keep that always
before
[Music]
us my God
is
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