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Analyzing Our Thoughts and Feelings (II)

Evagrius’s account of self-observation might almost be found in a psychology textbook explaining the various mechanisms of the soul and the connections of the individual feelings and emotions: “It is very important for us that we also learn to distinguish the various demons and to determine the attendant circumstances of their appearance. Our thoughts can teach us this…. Furthermore, we should note which demons attack less often and which are the more burdensome, which abandon

Analyzing Our Thoughts and Feelings (I)

The encounter with oneself that the monks sought in silence and that they saw as a prerequisite for the encounter with God is for Evagrius Ponticus primarily a meeting with the thoughts and feelings in one’s own heart. Among the desert fathers Evagrius is considered a specialist in dealing with thoughts and passions. He experienced them himself and wrote about them again and again in his books, to share his experience with others. It was

Drawn to Interior Silence

The practice of contemplation quiets the noise that goes on in our heads and allows inner silence to expand. This expanding inner silence is a wide and fertile delta that embraces the mud, reeds, and rushes of all sound, whether delightful or disruptive. Initially, however, the practice of contemplation can strike us as frustratingly awkward, and we react to everything within and without. Though we feel drawn to interior silence, what we find when we