The distinction of thoughts

And one of the wise men from without declared gall and loin to be things not eaten by the gods — not knowing, I think, what he was saying; of which I myself consider the one a symbol of anger and the other of irrational desire.

But concerning the fact that one ought not be anxious about clothing or foods, I think it superfluous to write, since our Savior Himself forbade it in the Gospels: ‘For do not be anxious, He says, about your soul, what you will eat or what you will drink or what you will put on.’ For this is outright the mark of pagans and unbelievers, who reject the providence of the Master and deny the Creator; but such a thing is wholly foreign to Christians, who have once believed that even the two sparrows sold for a farthing are under the management of the holy angels. Yet this too is a habit of the demons: after the impure thoughts to cast in also those of anxiety, so that Jesus may withdraw, there being a crowd of notions in the place of the mind, and the word may become unfruitful, choked by the anxiety of thorns.

Chapter 6. Let us then, laying aside the thoughts from anxiety, cast our anxiety upon the Lord, being content with present things and using a poor life, and let us day by day strip off, along with our dress, the fathers of vainglory. But if anyone thinks it unseemly in poor dress, let him look at holy Paul in cold and nakedness, who awaited the crown of righteousness. But since the Apostle called this world a theater and a stadium, let us see whether it is possible, clothed in thoughts of anxiety, to run for the prize of the upward calling, or to wrestle against the principalities and powers and against the world-rulers of the darkness of this age; I do not know — being taught even by sensible experience. For that athlete will of course be hindered by his tunic and easily tripped, just as the mind is by the thoughts of anxiety — if he is a true witness who says that the mind clings to its own treasure: ‘For where your treasure is, He says, there will your heart be also.’

Chapter 7. Of the thoughts, some cut and some are cut; the evil cut the good, and the evil are in turn cut by the good. The Holy Spirit, then, attends to the thought first set forth, and judges or accepts us according to it. What I mean is this: I have a certain thought of hospitality, and I have it for the Lord’s sake; but when the tempter comes, it is cut — he suggests entertaining for the sake of glory.

Again: I have a thought of hospitality aimed at appearing to men; but this too, when a stronger thought comes, is cut through — the thought directing our virtue more toward the Lord and compelling us not to do these things for men. If, then, through our works we henceforth remain in the former thoughts while being tempted by the latter, we shall have the rewards of the former thoughts alone when they were set forth, because, being men and wrestling with demons, we cannot always keep the right thought incorrupt, nor again keep the evil thought untried, having acquired the seeds of virtues.

Yet if any of the cutting thoughts lingers, it settles in the region of the one being tempted, and henceforth the man, moved according to that thought, will act. We have learned with much observation that this is the difference between angelic thoughts, human ones, and those from demons: first, the angelic investigate the natures of things and trace out their spiritual logoi.

For example: for whose sake gold came to be, and why it is sandy, and how it is scattered somewhere below among the parts of the earth, and is found with much toil and labor; and how, once found, it is washed with water and handed to fire, and thus falls into the hands of craftsmen — those who make the lampstand of the tabernacle, and the censer, and the bowls and the cups, from which the Babylonian king no longer drinks now through the grace of our Savior — while Cleopas bears a heart burning from these mysteries.

But the demonic thought neither knows nor understands these things; it only suggests the acquisition of sensible gold, and foretells the luxury and glory to come from it; but the human thought seeks neither the acquisition nor investigates of what the gold is a symbol, but only brings into the mind the bare form of gold, separated from the passion of greed; but the…