Monakhos

I decided this afternoon that I would start the new year out right. Daily meditation and the study of sacred texts are two things that need to play a more prominent role in my life. I started the habit off with a selection from The Philokalia—a collection of writings by mystical Orthodox priests and monks compiled by St Nikodimos and St Makarios. I plan to continue reading through the entire work, posting about various selections I have read (probably with some breaks in between - the entire work is split into four volumes!)

The first section of The Philokalia is a collection of excerpts from a writing by St Isaiah, who lived in the deserts of Egypt and Palestine around the 5^th century, on guarding the intellect. The mind is a battlefield and unless if one is mindful and keeps it guarded, an individual cannot have communion with God.

Unless a man hates all the activity of this world, he cannot worship God. (v13)

The first virtue is detachment, that is, death in relation to every person or thing. This produces the desire for God, and this in turn gives rise to the anger that is in accordance with nature, and that flares up against all the tricks of the enemy. Then the fear of God will establish itself within us, and through this fear love will be made manifest. (v25)

We have practiced virtue and done what is right, turning our desire towards God and His will, and directing our incensive power, or wrath, against the devil and sin. What then do we still lack? Inward meditation. (v26)

This whole reading reminded me of the Dhammapada and other Buddhist scriptures. The mind is constantly being attacked by evil and the flesh is a distraction from unity with God. Only once we understand that we are not our minds (thoughts) and achieve detachment from our bodies can we really fix anything. Once we do realize this detachment; however, a whole new world is uncovered. We manifest an “anger in accordance with nature” (to put it the way St Isaiah put it) against evil. We are able to truly love. We are one with God (theosis.)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 2nd, 2007 at 21:53 and is filed under Buddhism, Jesus and Christianity, Mysticism/Spirituality, Self. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.