The Mechanism of Malicious Thoughts

Concerning the different evil thoughts. Chapter 1. Of the demons opposed to the praktike, the first to array themselves for battle are those entrusted with the pleasures of gluttony, that is, the appetites, and those who suggest love of money to us, and those who call us out toward the glory of men. All the rest, marching behind these, take over those wounded by them. For it is not possible to fall into the hands of the spirit of fornication without having fallen by gluttony; and it is not possible to rouse thumos without fighting for foods or money or glory with irrational desires; and it is not possible to escape the demon of sadness, having been deprived of all these or being unable to obtain them; nor will anyone escape pride, the devil’s first offspring, without having expelled love of money, the root of all evils — even if poverty humbles a man, according to the wise Solomon; and in short, it is not possible for a man to fall to a demon without first being wounded by those front-rank fighters; wherefore the devil then brought these three thoughts to the Savior as well. First entreating him to make the stones become bread, then promising him the whole world if, falling down, he would worship; and third, telling him that if he would listen he should be glorified, having suffered nothing from so great a fall, whereupon our Lord, showing himself stronger, commanded the devil to depart behind him, through these things also teaching us that it is not possible to repel the devil without having despised these three thoughts.

Chapter 2. All demonic thoughts bring into the soul notions of sensible things, in which the mind, being imprinted, carries about within itself the forms of those things, and henceforth recognizes from the thing itself the demon that approached; for example,

if the face of the one who harmed and dishonored me should occur in my mind, the grudge-bearing thought that suggested it is exposed. If again a remembrance of money or glory should occur, it is clear from the thing that the one afflicting us will be recognized; and likewise with the other thoughts, from the thing you will find the demon standing by and suggesting the phantasies. I do not say that all memories of such things come from demons; since the mind itself, when moved by the man, naturally brings up the phantasies of what has happened, but only those memories which draw thumos or desire along with them contrary to nature. For through the disturbance of these two powers, the mind commits adultery in thought and fights, being unable to receive the phantasy from the Lawgiver who framed it, if that brightness, in the privation of all the notions in things, appears to the ruling faculty in the time of prayer.

A man would not lay aside his passionate memories without having taken care of desire and thumos, having consumed the one with fastings, vigils, and sleeping on the ground, and having tamed the other with long-sufferings, freedoms from rancor, and almsgivings; for from these two passions almost all the demonic thoughts consist, which cast the mind into ruin and destruction. Chapter 3. It is impossible for anyone to overcome these passions without having utterly despised foods and money and glory, and even his own body, because of those who often attempt to beat it; it is altogether necessary, then, to imitate those in peril at sea, who jettison the cargo because of the violence of the winds and the waves rising against them. But here one must attend precisely, lest in jettisoning the cargo we do it to be seen by men; since we have received our reward in full, and a second shipwreck, harder than the first, will receive us, when the demon of vainglory blows against us.