February 20, 2000
Guarding the Sense of Vision
-- St. Nicodemos of the Holy Mountain
In this issue we will continue our study of the teachings of a more
contemporary "Desert Father," St. Nicodemos (1749 - 1809) of the Holy Mountain
(Mount Athos). St. Nicodemos compiled "The Philokalia" which contains the
treasured teachings of many of the ancient Desert Fathers. As a contemporary father of the
18th and early 19th centuries, St. Nicodemus's writings (over 200 in all!) have inspired
generations of monastics and spiritual strugglers right up to the present day. His
writings are steeped in the teachings and traditions of the ancient Desert Fathers and he
is in large part responsible for the revival of interest in the Fathers over the past two
hundred years.
In the previous "thought," we began our series with an
overview of the five senses; today will look at the first sense, the sense of sight.
BEGIN:
. . . Sight is the most regal of the senses, according to the
naturalists; sight is dependent upon the psychic spirit and related to the mind, according
to the theologians; sight is the most knowledgeable of the other senses and therefore the
most dependable, according to the metaphysicians. According to the popular proverb,
"The eyes are more trustworthy than the ears." According to the word of the
Lord, "The eye is the lamp of the body" (Matthew 6:23).
According to the astronomers, the eyes are the two stars of the
face. According to the moral philosophers the eyes are the two first thieves of sin. A
certain wise man has called the eyes two braids of the soul which it spreads out like the
tentacles of an octopus to receive from afar whatever is desirable to it. Or, if I may say
with St. Basil the Great, the eyes are the two "bodiless arms" with which the
soul may reach out and touch from afar the visible things it loves. For whatever we cannot
touch with our hands, these we can touch and enjoy with our eyes.
The sense of sight, after all, is a touch more refined than the
touch of the hands, but less refined than the touch of the imagination and of the mind.
St. Basil wrote: "Vision can deceive the soul toward a certain pleasure through the
touch of some object by means of the rays of the eyes that act as bodiless arms. With
these the soul can touch from afar whatever it desires. And the things that the hands of
the body do not have under their authority to touch, these can nevertheless be embraced by
the rays of the eyes passionately. This is why St. Gregory the Theologian also said:
"The lamps of the eyes touch the untouchable."
It is from these eyes then that we must cut off the vision of those
beautiful bodies which tempt the soul to shameful and inappropriate desires. You have
heard the great Father St. Basil, who said: "Do not play host with your eyes to the
displays of wonder workers, or to the visions of bodies that place one at the center of
passionate pleasure." You have also heard the wise Solomon: "Let your eyes look
directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you" (Proverbs 4:25). Listen also
to Job who said: "I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I look upon a
virgin?" (Job 31:1). . . .
-- What must one do when Captivated by the eyes?
If ever this thief comes and captivates you, fight against him and
do not allow any idol of Aphrodite, that is, of any shameful desire, to be impressed upon
your soul. How? By taking refuge in God through prayer, which is the most secure way.
"Deliverance comes only from the Lord" (Psalms 3:8). Another way is to turn your
imagination to another spiritual thought so that one imagination wipes out another and one
idol destroys another. According to the popular proverb, "One peg drives out the
other." This is what St. Gregory the Theologian meant when he wrote: "A vision
caught me, but was checked; I set up no image of sin. Was an image set up? Yet, the
experience of sin was avoided."
Do you hear what he is saying? The image of sin stood before him
but was not impressed upon his imagination. Thus he was directly freed from the
experience, that is, from the assent or the act of sin. If then the devil does not cease
to tempt you with that image that has been impressed upon your imagination, St. Chrysostom
and St. Syngletiki advise you to use this method in order to be delivered from his wiles:
with your mind gouge out the eyes of that image, tear its flesh and cut away its lips from
the cheeks. Remove, moreover, the beautiful skin that appears externally and meditate on
how what is hidden underneath is so disgusting that no man can bear to look upon it
without hate and abhorrence. It is after all no more than a skinned skull and an odious
bone filled with blood and fearful to behold. Here is what St. Chrysostom said: "Do
not therefore pay attention to the external flower here, but proceed further through your
mind. Unfold that fine skin with your imagination and consider what lies beneath it."
The most wise St. Syngletik said this:
"If ever by thought an inappropriate fantasy comes to us,
it must be expelled by reason. Thus, shut your eyes to this image. Remove from it the
flesh of the cheeks, cut away the lips and imagine then a mass of bones which is deformed.
Think then what the desired image really is. This way our thought will be relieved of any
vain deceits, for the desired image is nothing more than blood mixed with phlegm . . . .
From this point on the mind notes nothing about the once desired image, but foul- smelling
and decaying ulcers, and soon imagines it lying dead next to the inner eyes. Thus it is
possible for one to escape from sensual thought."
Some examples of those who have guarded their
eyes
Again I must tell you to guard yourself well against
these things, dear friend, for as St. Paul said, "It is no trouble for me to write
the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you" (Philemon 3:1). Guard
your deceiving eyes that would steal the pleasures of others. Have great concern for these
portals the eyes. Most robbers enter through these portals to overthrow the castle of the
soul. Had the forefathers guarded their eyes, they would not have been exiled far from God
and Paradise. "The woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good . . . "
(Genesis 3:6). Do you hear what the text says? She saw, she desired, she received, she
ate, she died.
Had the sons of God, that is of Seth, guarded their eyes, they
would not have been destroyed by the flood. "The sons of God saw that the daughters
of men were beautiful and they married any of them they chose" (Genesis 6:2). Again,
had the Sodomites guarded their eyes to avoid looking upon the two angels, they would not
have been destroyed by fire (Genesis 19:1). When Shechem, son of Hamon the Hivite, saw
Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and desired her, he and all his people were destroyed by her
brothers (Genesis 34:2). David saw Bathsheba bathing and he fell into the dual pit of
adultery and murder (II Samuel 11:1). After this when he repented and learned to call upon
God to turn his eyes away from vain beauty, he wrote: "Turn my eyes away from seeing
vain things" (Psalms 118:37). END
from Chamberas, Peter A. (trans.), "Nicodemos of the Holy
Mountain: A Handbook of Spiritual Counsel," (New York: Paulist Press, 1989), pp.
86 - 91
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