UNBRIDLED AFFECTIONS
WHEN a man desires a thing
too much, he at once becomes ill at ease. A proud and avaricious man
never rests, whereas he who is poor and humble of heart lives in a
world of peace. An unmortified man is quickly tempted and overcome in
small, trifling evils; his spirit is weak, in a measure carnal and
inclined to sensual things; he can hardly abstain from earthly
desires. Hence it makes him sad to forego them; he is quick to anger
if reproved. Yet if he satisfies his desires, remorse of conscience
overwhelms him because he followed his passions and they did not lead
to the peace he sought.
True peace of heart, then,
is found in resisting passions, not in satisfying them. There is no
peace in the carnal man, in the man given to vain attractions, but
there is peace in the fervent and spiritual man. |
Of inordinate affections
Whensoever a man desireth aught above measure,
immediately he becometh restless. The proud and the avaricious man
are never at rest; while the poor and lowly of heart abide in the
multitude of peace. The man who is not yet wholly dead to self, is
soon tempted, and is overcome in small and trifling matters. It is
hard for him who is weak in spirit, and still in part carnal and
inclined to the pleasures of sense, to withdraw himself altogether
from earthly desires. And therefore, when he withdraweth himself from
these, he is often sad, and easily angered too if any oppose his will.
2. But if, on the other hand, he yield to his
inclination, immediately he is weighed down by the condemnation of his
conscience; for that he hath followed his own desire, and yet in no
way attained the peace which he hoped for. For true peace of heart is
to be found in resisting passion, not in yielding to it. And therefore
there is no peace in the heart of a man who is carnal, nor in him who
is given up to the things that are without him, but only in him who is
fervent towards God and living the life of the Spirit. |