Confronting and Controlling Thoughts: According to the Fathers of the Philokalia

156 Pages·2004·0.59 MB·English

by  Anthony M. Coniaris

CONFRONTING AND CONTROLLING
THOUGHTS
According to the Fathers of the Philokalia

By Anthony M. Coniaris

Light and Life Publishing Co.
Minneapolis, MN
Light & Life Publishing Company
P.O. Box 26421
Minneapolis, MN 55426-0421

Copyright© 2004
Light & Life Publishing Company

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ISBN No. 978-1-933654-41-6
Table of Contents
THE INTELLECT OR NOUS IN ORTHODOX SPIRITUALITY. 7
NOUS (MIND) IS SPIRITUAL VISION. 7
NOUS AS THE HEGEMONIKON OR HELM. 8
THE NOUS (INTELLECT) IS NOT PRESENT IN EVERYONE. 9
THE INTELLECT IS A GIFT THAT SAVES THE SOUL. 10
THE PURIFIED INTELLECT IS THE SPIRITUAL EYE. 10
MORE COMMENTS BY CHURCH FATHERS ON THE INTELLECT. 10
THE INTELLECT IN SUMMARY. 14
ST. PAUL ON THE LAW OF THE MIND AND THE LAW OF THE
FLESH. 15
WHERE DOES THE INTELLECT ABIDE?. 16
DESCEND WITH THE MIND INTO THE HEART. 17
A UNION OF MIND AND HEART. 18
DESCENDING WITH THE MIND INTO THE HEART THROUGH THE
JESUS PRAYER. 19
MORE ON DESCENDING WITH THE MIND INTO THE HEART. 19
A HEAD-IN-THE-HEART FAITH. 20
WHEN WE THINK WE ARE PRAYING. 20
THE JOURNEY WITHIN. 21
THE HEART. 21
THE FACULTIES OF THE HEART. 22
THE HEART IS THE COMMAND CENTER. 23
THE CONSCIOUS MIND / THE UNCONSCIOUS HEART. 23
THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE CONSCIOUS MIND AND THE
UNCONSCIOUS HEART. 24
FILL THE VACUUM WITH GOD. 24
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE HEART. 25
“MY SON, GIVE ME YOUR HEART” 25
THE HEART AS THE CENTER OF OUR BEING. 26
LOGISMOS OR THOUGHT: PRECURSOR OF PASSIONS. 27
THE STRATEGY OF THE EVIL ONE. 28
HOW SATAN USES LOGISMOI TO STEAL OUR PRAYERS. 28
YOU ARE WHERE YOUR MIND IS. 29
THE GREATEST KIND OF LOVE. 30
THE EXAMPLE OF JESUS. 31
YOU ARE WHAT YOUR THOUGHTS MAKE YOU. 32
THOUGHTS ARE POWERFUL. 33
FOUR THOUSAND THOUGHTS EACH DAY. 34
THE MIND IS A BATTLEFIELD. 34
THE ONASSIS FORMULA FOR WEALTH. 36
IF YOU THINK YOU ARE BEATEN, YOU ARE. 36
THROW YOUR MIND OVER THE BAR FIRST. 37
A TRANQUIL MIND IS HEALTH FOR THE BODY. 38
KILLED BY THIRTY YEARS OF THOUGHT. 38
“I LIVE IN MY MIND” 39
WHAT JESUS SAID ABOUT THOUGHTS. 40
OUT OF THOUGHT GROWS SPEECH AND ACTION. 42
WHENCE COME THE LOGISMOI?. 42
TO SET THE MIND ON THE FLESH IS DEATH. 43
HAVE THE MIND OF CHRIST. 44
THE MIND OF CHRIST YIELDS THE WISDOM OF GOD. 45
THINKING MAKES IT SO. 46
THE MIND IS A COMPUTER. 46
“GARBAGE IN – GARBAGE OUT” 48
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOURSELF?. 49
HOW SHOULD I THINK OF MYSELF?. 50
A CRITIQUE ON “THE POWER OF POSITIVE THINKING” 50
LOGISMOI OR THOUGHTS: GOOD AND BAD. 51
THE INVISIBLE STRUGGLE. 52
CONTAMINATION OF THE SOUL. 53
THE PROCESS OF SIN THROUGH THE MIND. 53
A CAGED ENEMY. 55
HOW TO RESIST THE LOGISMOI 56
VICTORY CAN BE OURS. 56
THE NETS ON THE WINDOWS OF THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON. 57
A SPIRITUAL FILTERING SYSTEM. 57
MORE SPIRITUAL FILTERS. 58
SELAH. 59
POST A GUARD AT THE GATE. 60
GUARD THE SENSES. 61
DON’T BUILD AN AIRPORT. 62
ANCIENT EGYPT. 62
CLOSE THE DOOR! 63
LEARN TO SAY NO. 64
THE IMPORTANCE OF SAYING “NO” 65
A LIFELONG “NO” TO EVIL. 65
THE POWERFUL LITTLE WORD “NO” 66
WHY SO MUCH MORAL DECAY?. 67
MEN OF THE BIBLE. 68
SAYING “NO” IS A BY-PRODUCT. 68
REPENTANCE IS SAYING “NO” 69
THE EXORCISMS IN BAPTISM: “NO” TO SIN. 69
THE PRINCE AND THE HARLOT. 70
DON’T LEAVE FOOD AROUND FOR THE FLIES. 70
ALWAYS BE “ON PATROL” 71
WHY ALL THE EMPHASIS ON WATCHFULNESS?. 71
CLOSE THE DOOR OF YOUR CELL. 72
SCRUTINIZE YOURSELF DAILY. 72
CLING TO THE LORD IN PRAYER. 73
FOUR STEPS TO LIFT THE MIND TO HEAVEN. 73
WATCH AND PRAY. 74
DESTROY LOGISMOI AT THEIR FIRST APPEARANCE. 74
CONCENTRATE THE SCATTERED INTELLECT THROUGH THE
THOUGHT OF DEATH AND THE REMEMBRANCE OF JESUS. 74
ADDITIONAL COUNSELS ON COPING WITH LOGISMOI 76
“PUT ON THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD” 77
INNER POLLUTION. 77
KNOW THYSELF THROUGH PRAYERFUL INTROSPECTION. 78
CONSTANT WEEDING OF HARMFUL LOGISMOI 78
CHANGING CHANNELS. 78
COUNTER-SPEAKING. 79
AMMA SYNCLETICA. 79
ST. MAKARIOS ON COUNTER-SPEAKING. 80
AN EXAMPLE OF COUNTER-SPEAKING TO SATAN. 80
THE JESUS PRAYER GATHERS THE SCATTERED MIND. 82
A TRAFFIC POLICEMAN ON DUTY. 82
FASTEN THE MIND ON JESUS. 82
BIND THE MIND WITH ONE THOUGHT. 83
HOW THE JESUS PRAYER HELPS US RESIST LOGISMOI (EVIL
THOUGHTS) 83
IT IS NOT IN OUR POWER TO UPROOT LOGISMOI 86
PRAYER AND VIGILANCE. 86
A MENTAL SHAMPOO. 87
WHEN THOUGHTS ARE CONCEALED THEY EXERT POWER OVER
US. 88
“WHY ARE YOU STILL CARRYING HER?” 88
EMPTY YOUR MIND OF SINFUL THOUGHTS. 89
FILL YOUR MIND WITH GOD. 90
A JAPANESE CUSTOM. 91
HOLY LOGISMOI 91
TOLSTOY. 92
FINAL THOUGHTS FROM THE CHURCH FATHERS ON LOGISMOI
93
THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE HOUSE. 94
END NOTES. 95
THE INTELLECT OR NOUS IN ORTHODOX SPIRITUALITY

Orthodox spirituality places great emphasis on the nous, or mind, and the
thoughts, logismoi, that the mind produces. It does so because everything we do
begins in the nous or mind with thoughts (logismoi). “As a man thinks in his
heart, so is he,” we read in Proverbs. So, let’s begin our study of confronting
and controlling thoughts according to the Fathers of the Philokalia with a brief
study, first of the nous (mind), then of the heart, and then move onto the
thoughts (logismoi) that proceed from the mind and the heart and how the
Philokalia counsels us to confront and control them.

Most of the church fathers we will be consulting on this subject are from the
Philokalia. Philokalia, as you may know, means “love of the beautiful”. It is an
anthology of spiritual writings by church fathers, ranging from the fourth to the
fifteenth century. St. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain called the Philokalia,

The treasury of watchfulness, the keeper of the mind, the mystical school of
prayer of the heart… the paradise of the Fathers… the deep teaching of Christ,
the trumpet which calls back the grace… the instrument itself of deification.

So, let’s look at what these Fathers have to say about the nous, mind, the
heart and the logismoi (thoughts).
NOUS (MIND) IS SPIRITUAL VISION

In an interview, Bishop Kallistos Ware offered the following definition of
nous or intellect,

….Nous, in particular, is a very difficult word to translate. If you just say
“mind,” that is far too vague. In our translation of the Philokalia, we, with some
hesitations, opted for the word intellect, emphasizing that it does not mean
primarily the rational faculties. The nous is the spiritual vision that we all
possess, though many of us have not discovered it. The nous implies a direct,
intuitive appreciation of truth, where we apprehend the truth not simply as the
conclusion of a reasoned argument, but we simply see that something is so. The
nous is cultivated certainly through study, through training our faculties, but
also it is developed through prayer, through fasting, through the whole range of
the Christian life. This is what we need to develop most of all as Orthodox,
[i]
something higher than the reasoning brain and deeper than the emotions.

Nous then is spiritual vision that enables us to recognize truth, as soon as we
see it.

An additional definition of nous comes from the book Themes from the
Philokalia—The Nous, Vol. 2.

A nous that is pure and does not offend God is similar to an eye that does not
even accept the smallest dust particle. It is from the nous that all the powers of
the soul depend. That is why the Lord tells us “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) Since the nous of contemporary man
has fallen into the same sin as Adam and Eve, it has turned towards creation
with an unrestrainable idolatrous and evil disposition. In this way the nous of
man, away from the vision of the glory of God, becomes either demonic or
bestial. The nous which is overcome by the passions and egoism is
[ii]
unenlightened, dark, short-sighted and feeble.

Thus, the purified nous, enlightened by God’s grace, is designed to be the
eye of the soul.