Angels and demons - can they read minds? How to get rid of fears and obsessive thoughts about illness, about death? What does the Orthodox Church say about this?
St. John Chrysostom, in the second conversation about the poor Lazarus and the rich man, narrates what happened in his time: “The demons say: I am the soul of such and such a monk. Of course: I don’t believe this precisely because these are demons. They deceive those who listen to them. For this reason, Paul also ordered the demon to be silent, although he also spoke the truth, so that he would not turn this truth into a reason, would not later mix lies with it, and would not draw power of attorney to himself. The devil said: these men are servants of the most high God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation (Acts 14:17): The apostle, grieved by this, commanded the inquisitive spirit to come out of the maiden. And what did the evil spirit say when he said: These men are the servants of the Most High God? But since the majority of those who do not know cannot thoroughly judge what the demons say, the Apostle resolutely rejected any power of attorney to them. You belong to the number of outcasts, says the Apostle to the demon: you have no right to speak freely; shut up, dumb. It is not your business to preach: that is left to the Apostles. Why are you stealing something that isn't yours? shut up, outcast. So also Christ, when the demons said to Him: “We know Thee who art” (Mk. 1:24), very strictly forbade them, prescribing the law to us, so that under no pretext we should not trust the demon, even if he said that fair. Knowing this, we must resolutely not believe the demon in anything. If he says what is just, we will flee, we will turn away from him. We must learn healthy and saving knowledge not from demons, but from Divine Scripture. "Further in this conversation, Chrysostom says that the souls of both the righteous and sinners, immediately after death, are taken away from this world to another, some for receiving crowns, others for executions. The soul of the poor Lazarus immediately after death was taken up by the Angels to the bosom of Abraham, and the soul of the rich man was cast into hellfire. In conversation 28 on Matthew, Chrysostom will tell that in his time some demoniacs said: I am the soul of such and such. "Truly this is a lie and the deceit of the devil, adds great saint. It is not the soul of the deceased who cries this out, but the demon who pretends to deceive the hearers."
Rev. John of the Ladder explains that the future of the demons is unknown, but they, being spirits and therefore able to move quickly over long distances, announce what has already happened at a distance from a person, or what they know as spirits, for example, about people's illnesses, or, knowing the present, announce at random what might happen in the future:
“Demons of vanity are prophets in dreams. Being crafty, they conclude about the future from the present circumstances and proclaim it to us, so that, after the fulfillment of these visions, we would be surprised and, as if already close to the gift of insight, would ascend in thought. Whoever believes in a demon, for those he is often a prophet; and whoever despises him, before him, he always turns out to be a liar. Like a spirit, he sees what happens in airspace and, noticing, for example, that someone is dying, he predicts this to the gullible through a dream. Demons do not know anything about the future by foresight, but it is known that even doctors can predict death. Whoever believes in dreams is not skilled at all, and whoever has no faith in them is wise. Therefore, whoever believes in dreams is like a man who runs after his shadow and tries to grab it.
Rev. John of the Ladder:
“Among the unclean spirits there are those who at the beginning of our spiritual life interpret the Scriptures for us. They usually do this in the hearts of the vain and, still more, in those trained in external sciences, so that, by deceiving them little by little, they finally plunge into heresies and blasphemies. We can recognize this demonic theology, or, better to say, theomachism, by embarrassment, by the discordant and impure joy that happens in the soul during these interpretations.
4. Demons Don't Know Our Thoughts
They don't know the location of our hearts, they cannot read our thoughts, they do not see the thoughts of our hearts, they are open only to God - but from our words, actions, views, demons see our inner disposition and whether we are inclined towards virtue or sin, they judge only by our behavior.Evagrius of Pontus:
“Demons do not know our hearts, as some of the people think. For the Knower of Hearts is one “a knowledgeable mind of a man” (Job. 7, 20) “and he created their hearts in private” (Psalm. 32, 15). But from the words that are pronounced , then by some movements of the body, they recognize many of the movements that occur in the heart. Suppose that in conversation we denounced those who slandered us. From these words, the demons conclude that we treat them unlovingly, and take a pretext from this to put evil thoughts against them, having accepted them, we fall under the yoke of the demon of remembrance of malice, and this one then incessantly spreads vengeful thoughts in us against them... evil demons observe with curiosity our every movement and leave nothing unexplored from what can be used against us - no getting up, no sitting, no standing, no action, no word, no look - everyone is curious, "all day learning from us flattering" (Psalm. 37, 13), so that during prayer to shame the humble mind and its blessed put out the light."
“A sign of spiritual passions is either a spoken word or a movement of the body, thanks to which [our] enemies will know whether we have their thoughts inside us and whether we are tormented by them, or, having cast out these thoughts, we care about our salvation. For only God, who created us, knows our mind, and He does not need [external] signs in order to know what is hidden in [our] heart.”
Ancient Patericon:
Abba Matoj said: Satan does not know by what passion the soul is conquered. He sows, but he does not know if he will reap. He sows thoughts of fornication, slander, and other passions; and depending on the passion to which the soul shows itself to be inclined, that is what it puts in.
Rev. John Cassian the Roman quotes the words of Abba Serena:
"There is no doubt that unclean spirits can know the qualities of our thoughts, but from the outside, learning about them by sensory signs, i.e. from our disposition or words and activities to which they see us more inclined. But they cannot at all know those thoughts which have not yet come to light from the inmost depths of the soul, and even the thoughts which they inspire are recognized not by the nature of the soul itself, i.e., not by internal movement hiding, so to speak, in the brains, but by movements and signs outer man; for example, when they inspire gluttony, if they see that a monk with curiosity fixes his eyes at the window or at the sun, or carefully asks about the hour, then they will know that he has a desire to eat.
St. Isidore Pelusiot:
“The devil does not know what is in our thoughts, because it exclusively belongs to the power of God alone, but he catches thoughts by bodily movements. Will he see, for example, that another looks inquisitively and saturates his eyes with alien beauties? Taking advantage of his dispensation, he immediately excites such a person to adultery. Will he see one overcome by gluttony? Immediately vividly present to him the passions generated by gluttony and deliver the servant to bring his intention into action. Encourage robbery and unrighteous acquisition. "
Elder Paisios the Holy Mountaineer to the question:
"Geronda, does the Tangalashka know what is in our hearts?"
"What else! It was still not enough for him to know the hearts of people. Only God knows the hearts. And only to the people of God He sometimes reveals for our good what is in our hearts. who serves him. He does not know our good thoughts. Only from experience does he sometimes guess about them, but even here in most cases he fails!"
Rev. John of the Ladder He also writes that the demons do not know our thoughts:
“Do not be surprised that demons often secretly put good thoughts in us, and then contradict them with other thoughts. These enemies of ours only intend to convince us by this cunning that they know our heart thoughts.”
“Holy Scripture distinguishes demon possession from both possession and natural mental illness (Matt. 4:24, 9:32-34; Mark 1:34; Luke 7:21, 8:2). Due to the extreme complexity of human nature, it is difficult to accurately explain the essence of possession. It is clear, however, that it is different from simply demonic influence, in which the dark spirit tries to incline the will of man to sin. Here a person retains power over his actions, and he who has found temptation can be driven away by prayer. Possession is also different from that obsession, in which the devil takes possession of the mind and will of a person.
Apparently, during possession, an evil spirit takes possession of the nervous-motor system of the body - as if intruding between its body and soul, so that a person loses control over his movements and actions. It should be thought, however, that when possessed, the evil spirit does not have complete control over the forces of the soul of the possessed: they only turn out to be incapable of manifesting themselves. The soul remains to a certain extent capable of independently thinking and feeling, but is completely powerless to control the organs of the body.
Not having control over their bodies, the possessed are the victims of an evil spirit that has enslaved them, and therefore they are not responsible for their actions. They are slaves evil spirit.
Possession can take different external forms. Sometimes the possessed rage and crumble everything around them, terrifying those around them. At the same time, they often reveal superhuman strength, such as, for example, the demon-possessed Gadarin, who broke any chains with which they tried to shackle him (Mark 5:4). At the same time, the possessed inflict all sorts of injuries on themselves, such as, for example, the demon-possessed youth, who on the new moon threw himself either into fire or into water (Matt. 17:15). But often, possession is expressed in a quieter form, when people lose their natural abilities for a while. Thus, for example, the Gospels tell of a demon-possessed mute who, as soon as the Lord freed him from the demon, began to speak normally again; or, for example, a crouched woman who was able to straighten up after the Lord delivered her from the devil. The unfortunate woman was in a bent position for 18 years (Luke 13:11).
What leads to possession and who gives the right to an evil spirit to take possession of a person and torment him? ... in all cases known to him, the cause of the possession was a passion for the occult ...
In our time, a time of apostasy from Christianity and an ever-increasing passion for the occult, more and more people begin to fall under the violence of evil spirits. True, psychiatrists are embarrassed to admit the existence of demons and, as a rule, possession is classified as a natural mental illness. But a believing person needs to understand that no medicines and psychotherapeutic agents can drive away evil spirits. This is where the power of God is needed.
Here features possessions that distinguish it from natural mental illness.
Aversion to everything sacred and related to God: Holy Communion, the cross, the Bible, holy water, icons, prosphora, incense, prayer, etc. Moreover, the possessed feel the presence of a sacred object even when it is hidden from their eyes: it irritates them, makes them sick, and even leads them into a state of violence.
Possession differs from possession in that in possession the devil takes possession of the very mind and will of a person. When possessed, the devil enslaves the body of a person, but his mind and will remain relatively free, although powerless. Of course, the devil cannot enslave our mind and will by force. He achieves this gradually, as the person himself, by his disgust with God or by his sinful life, falls under his influence. We see an example of devilish possession in Judas the traitor. The words of the Gospel: "Satan entered into Judas" (Luke 22:3) - they do not speak of demon possession, but of the enslavement of the will of a traitor disciple.
...People possessed by the devil are not just religious ignoramuses or ordinary sinners; these are people whose minds have been blinded by the God of this age (2 Cor. 4:4) and are used to fight against God. The possessed are the pitiful victims of the evil one, the possessed are his active servants.
However, everything is even more complicated, the action of the spirits of evil depends on the circumstances, on the direction of the will of a person. So, Elder John Krestyankin wrote to his spiritual son, who took the priesthood: “You got demonic possession when you were still fond of rock music.”
That is, the obsession did not prevent him from believing in God, but became an insurmountable obstacle to serving at the Throne. Elder John Krestyankin wrote bluntly about this:
“I’ll tell you right away - cast out the thought of ordination from yourself once and for all. Even if you are tempted by such offers. Experience shows that those who came to the Throne from rock music cannot serve for salvation. I receive so many letters from such unfortunate people, but help comes to them only after they take off their dignity. Some cannot stand at the throne at all, and some sink to the bottom of hell with such iniquities that they did not do even before taking the rank. So keep that in mind."
In another letter, he wrote of a believing woman:
“Dear in the Lord A.!
I will repeat the words of father I. in relation to your wife: her illness - of a spiritual nature - is an obsession. We easily get sick, and even when we voluntarily invite a dark force into our lives with desire, but in order to expel it, this requires long and hard work.
Leaving her former occupations, L. took a step towards the Church, but she brought her settler to the Church with her, and he dictates to her behavior, which is called prelest, and with it she again departs from God. Be sure to go with your wife to Father I., since he laid the foundation for her formation in the faith. Strengthen your spirit and patience in prayer.”
Thus, the following conclusions can be drawn.
Possession is the demon's power over the body, possession is its power over the soul.
When possessed the demon takes control of the body, and it sometimes acts against the will and resistance of the person.
When possessed the demon takes possession of the soul of a person, turning him into his voluntary slave. He dictates “arguments” to a person, which he takes as truth - and follows them voluntarily, or weakly, if he is still vaguely aware of his slavery to passion and the demon.
At the same time, there is no possession without possession; it always begins this terrible deed of enslaving a person.
How to distinguish possession from mental illness?
Priest Rodion answers:
“In our spiritless time, the number of the possessed and possessed has increased dramatically. A person who does not have the cover of divine grace, the intercession of the Guardian Angel, constantly serving his passions and lusts, becomes an easy prey for fallen spirits. , extrasensory perception, UFOs, spiritualism, etc. - make a person's soul open to the world dark spirits, bind a demon helper to him, make him possessed or simply demon-possessed. Because they live in darkness and darkness, and do not disturb their demon, dutifully fulfilling his will, which simply coincides with the desires of the perishing one. And as soon as such a person comes into contact with a shrine, for example, comes to a temple, he immediately begins to feel spiritual discomfort, especially during the liturgy at the Cherubic Hymn, sometimes he is simply thrown out of the temple.
More than once I had to visit psychiatric hospitals, where, along with the mentally ill, the possessed were also kept. Modern, torn off from the Church, psychiatry is not able to distinguish the sick from the possessed. For example, a simple incantational prayer is read, for example, “May God rise again and scatter against Him ...” People with mental disabilities, as a rule, react to this quite calmly, while the obsessed begin to twist, bend in an arc; they scream and ask them to stop reading.”
In pre-revolutionary psychiatry, when doctors were believers, there was such a test to distinguish the mentally ill from the possessed: seven glasses of water were placed in front of a person, and only one of them was with plain water, the rest with a saint. The demoniac always, including when repeating the experiment and rearranging the glasses, always chose only a glass of plain water.
What are the thoughts from demons, and what emotional states a person experiences with them
Section 1.2. “Demons are disposed to mental conversations and most people do not know this” and in a separate topic “On delusion” we have already talked a lot about demonic actions. But let's talk about this again in order to show what thoughts come from them and what emotional states a person experiences during them.
The spiritual misfortune of many people lies in the fact that they do not know that demons constantly inspire thoughts, and people attribute everything to themselves.
Macarius the Egyptian(Spiritual Conversations, b. 15, 47): “... the visible world, from kings to the poor, is all in turmoil, in disorder, in struggle, and none of them knows the reason for this, that is, this obvious evil that came as a result of Adam disobedience, this sting of death; because he who brought sin, as a certain rational force and essence of Satan, sowed all evil: he secretly acts on the inner person and on the mind, and fights with his thoughts; but people do not know that they are doing this, prompted by some alien force, on the contrary, they think that this is natural, and that they do this according to their own reasoning. But in their very minds, those who have the peace of Christ and the illumination of Christ know from where all this is raised up.
Nicholas Serbian(Symbols and signals, ch. 12): “A person usually considers that all his thoughts are his property, his work, coming from himself. Meanwhile, this is not true, because in this way a person proclaims his spirit as a certain absolute part, which is not affected by spiritual forces, neither good nor evil. In fact, the human spirit is influenced by many spiritual forces, just as the body is affected by many different physical forces.
So, here is what the holy fathers say about thoughts and experiences from demons.
Nikon Vorobyov(Letters, p. 45): "Where the devil is, there is disorder, spiritual darkness, clouding of the mind, despair, readiness for any evil."
Hesychius of Jerusalem(Philokalia, vol. 2, To Theodulus ..., ch. 46, 47): "... the evil one, being a disembodied mind, can only seduce souls, as through dreams and thoughts."
"Shepherd" of Hermes(Zapov.6,2): “Listen also about the actions of the evil angel. First of all, he is malicious, angry and reckless, and his actions are evil and corrupt the servants of God. Therefore, when he enters your heart, understand from his actions that this is an evil angel.
Theophan the Recluse(Letters on various subjects of faith and life, p. 40): “The multitude of empty, idle and seemingly good thoughts, but which can lead to no good, should be attributed to demonic ones, especially when they are born during good activities, during prayer and reading soul-beneficial things and the like, and distract from them.
John of Kronstadt(My life in Christ, v. 109): “... when you have unkind thoughts or unkind heart movements, then it’s bad, hard; when you are inwardly confused, then there is an evil spirit in you, an evil spirit. When there is an evil spirit in us, then, in the midst of tightness and confusion in our hearts, we usually feel the difficulty of reaching the Lord with our hearts, because an evil spirit binds the soul and does not allow it to ascend to God.
Therefore, it should be remembered that if thoughts carry, for example: anxiety, doubts, indignation, anger, fear for one's well-being, self-satisfaction, daydreaming, distraction during prayer, then these are demonic suggestions. And if thoughts bring calmness, patience, repentance, compassion, etc., then these are thoughts from God.
Usually people regard thought as something unimportant,
therefore they are very little choosy when accepting a thought.
But from the accepted right thoughts everything good is born,
from the accepted false thoughts all evil is born.
Thought is like a ship's rudder: from a small rudder,
from this insignificant board dragging behind the ship,
depends on the direction and, for the most part, fate
the whole huge machine.
St. Ignaty Brianchaninov,
Bishop of the Caucasus and Black Sea
In difficult periods of life, almost all people suffer from the invasion of obsessive thoughts. These terrible, nasty, sticky thoughts cling with special force to a person who is experiencing the death of a loved one. So what are they?
obsessive thoughts- this is the form in which false ideas come to us, trying to take power over us. Our consciousness is constantly exposed to their active attacks, but at critical moments of life this onslaught can intensify, which reduces the quality of life, makes it difficult to soberly assess the situation, make plans and believe in the possibility of their implementation. Because of these thoughts, it is difficult for us to concentrate and find reserves to overcome problems, they are exhausting, and often lead to despair, as a result of which reality is distorted, which we begin to take for reality.
What intrusive thoughts do mourners usually have?
They are very varied. I will give some examples, although they will not make up a hundredth of all possible obsessive thoughts:
All good things in life come to an end. It remains only to live and endure;
I do not want to live, but I want to her (to him);
I won't have anyone else;
Nobody needs me (not needed);
· I can't live without him (without her);
· Everything that happened is my fault;
· There will be no joy in the future. Real life is over, and now there will be only survival;
It is better not to live at all than to live like this. I do not see the meaning and hope in such a life;
Now I have no meaning in life;
· It will never get easier. This pain and suffering is for life;
Nobody needs me (not needed). I'm a burden to everyone.
And similar thoughts. They permeate our consciousness, do not let go of a person for a second. Often these thoughts make us suffer much more than even the events that triggered the crisis.
At times, these thoughts occupy the entire area of consciousness, depriving us of sleep, food, joy, stability. The seeds of hopelessness, despair, longing sprout and give their ugly harvest precisely on the black soil of sorrow, which we have fertilized with these obsessive thoughts.
Obsessions come in a powerful wave, which is very difficult to resist if you do not know certain rules. If we look objectively, we will see how these thoughts simply, brazenly and aggressively take our consciousness into slavery. Obsessive thoughts, like vampires, drink the rest of the energy we need, take away the feeling of life. They control our behavior, desires, free time, communication with other people, do not allow us to get out of a state of grief.
obsessive thoughts- a cunning and insidious enemy who does not speak openly, but disguises himself as our own thoughts and gradually imposes his desires and feelings on us. They act like commonplace viruses that have invaded the victim cell.
I especially want to note thoughts of suicide, as well as thoughts that cause feelings of guilt. They almost always have a dangerous obsessive nature and in the overwhelming majority of cases are thoughts - viruses.
There are a number of mental illnesses (depression of organic origin, schizophrenia, etc.) in which obsessive thoughts are present in the complex of symptoms. With such diseases, only one possibility of help is known - pharmacotherapy. In this case, it is necessary to consult a psychiatrist for treatment. I would like to point out that here in question only about the only possibility of correction and treatment, but not about the cause of this serious condition.
Fortunately, the vast majority of people who suffer from grief obsessions do not have any psychopathological disorders at all. With the help of a certain algorithm, they can get rid of unnecessary thoughts.
What is the nature of such thoughts?
Scientifically, intrusive thoughts ( obsessions) is the incessant repetition of undesirable ideas and desires, doubts, desires, memories, fears, actions, ideas, etc., which cannot be got rid of by an effort of will. In these thoughts, the real problem is exaggerated, enlarged, distorted. As a rule, several obsessive thoughts arise at once, and they line up in a vicious circle that we cannot break in any way. And we run around this circle, like squirrels in a wheel.
The more we try to get rid of them, the more they become. And then there is a feeling that they are violent. In addition, very often (but not always), obsessive-compulsive states are accompanied by depressive emotions, painful thoughts, as well as feelings of anxiety and fear.
What does secular psychology say about obsessive thoughts?
Many psychologists, often speculatively and without evidence, have tried to explain the cause of obsessive thoughts. Various psychological schools are still sharply arguing among themselves on this issue, but the majority still associate obsessive thoughts with fears. True, these assumptions do not clarify how to deal with them.
So, we can say that classical psychology does not have an accurate and understandable answer to this question, and does not offer effective methods for getting rid of obsessions.
How then to deal with them?
For a long time, specialists have made many unsuccessful attempts to find at least some method of dealing with obsessions. However, their efforts were partially crowned with some result only in the last century, when a method of pharmacotherapy was invented, which in some cases helps to cope with fear. The disadvantage of this method is that it does not last long and it can be applied to far from all patients. And at the same time, I repeat, in most cases, pharmacotherapy relieves symptoms only for a while, and does not eliminate the very cause of obsessions.
There is one more old way, which creates the illusion of solving the problem, but in fact only seriously aggravates it. I'm talking about drinking alcohol, drugs, crazy entertainment, extreme activities, etc. Yes, with their help you can disconnect from obsessive thoughts for a very long time. a short time, but then they will “turn on” anyway, and with increased force. Unfortunately, this method is very popular, despite the obvious harm caused to the body if it is used.
And what to do? Is the situation really hopeless and we are doomed to become slaves to these thoughts?
Secular psychology does not provide recipes for effective struggle with obsessive thoughts, because it does not see the nature of these thoughts. Simply put, it is quite difficult to fight the enemy if we do not see him and do not understand who he is. Schools of classical psychology, arrogantly crossed out the vast experience of spiritual struggle accumulated by previous generations, began to rebuild certain concepts. These concepts are different for all schools, but they are united by the fact that they are looking for the cause of all troubles either in the faceless and incomprehensible unconscious of the person himself, or in some kind of physico-chemical interactions of dendrites, axons and neurons, or in frustrated needs for self-realization and. etc. At the same time, these schools lack clear explanations of what obsessive thoughts are, what are the laws of their appearance and the mechanism of influence.
Meanwhile, an effective way to deal with obsessive thoughts in mentally healthy person exists! Answers to questions and successful solutions to the problem have been known for thousands of years.
Tell us about it, please, in more detail.
The strength of obsessive thoughts is that they can influence our consciousness, and our weakness is that we have almost no influence on obsessive thoughts. That is, behind these thoughts stands an independent will different from ours. The very name - "obsessive thoughts", already suggests that they are imposed by someone from the outside.
This external imposition can be confirmed by the paradoxical nature of the content of these thoughts. That is, we understand that the content of these thoughts is not entirely justified, not logical, not dictated by a sufficient number of real external circumstances. Intrusive thoughts may be absurd and devoid of common sense, but despite this, we cannot resist them.
When such thoughts arise, we often ask ourselves the questions: “How did I think of this?”, “Where did this thought come from?”, “How did this thought get into my head?”, “Why does this wild thought not seem terrible to me?” . And, although we cannot find answers to these questions, for some reason we still continue to consider these thoughts as our own. And obsessive thoughts continue to have a huge impact on us.
A person pursued by obsessive thoughts understands their absurdity, alienation to reason, therefore, in most cases, evaluates these thoughts critically. But, at the same time, he is not able to get rid of them by an effort of will. And this is another proof that we are dealing with an independent mind.
Who owns this mind and will directed against us?
The holy fathers of the Orthodox Church say that in such situations a person is dealing with an attack by demons. I want to clarify right away that none of them perceived demons as primitively as people who never thought about their nature. These are not those funny hairy ones with horns and hooves! They have no visible appearance at all, allowing them to operate invisibly. They can be called differently: energies, spirits of malice, essences. Talking about their appearance is meaningless, but we know their main weapon is a lie.
So, according to the holy fathers, it is evil spirits that are the cause of obsessive thoughts that we take for our own. It's hard to break habits. And we are so used to considering all our thoughts, all our internal dialogues and even internal battles as ours and only ours. But in order to win these battles, you need to take your side against the enemy. And for this it is necessary to understand that obsessive thoughts are not our thoughts, they are imposed on us from the outside by a hostile force. Demons in this case act like banal viruses, while they try to remain unnoticed and unrecognized. Moreover, these entities act regardless of whether you believe in them or not.
Saint Ignatius (Bryanchaninov) wrote about the nature of these thoughts in the following way: “The spirits of malice with such cunning wage war against a person that the thoughts and dreams they bring to the soul seem to be born in itself, and not from an evil spirit alien to it, acting and trying together take cover."
And how to determine what kind of thought is obsessive and where did it come from?
The criterion for determining the true source of our thoughts is very simple. If a thought deprives us of peace, it is from demons. “If you immediately experience embarrassment, oppression of the spirit from any movement of the heart, then this is no longer from above, but from the opposite side - from the evil spirit,” he said. righteous John Kronstadt.
Isn't that how the obsessive thoughts that torment us when we experience loss work?
True, we are not always able to correctly assess our condition. Famous modern psychologist VC. Nevyarovich writes about this in his book The Therapy of the Soul: “The absence of constant internal work on self-control, spiritual sobriety and conscious control of one’s thoughts, described in detail in the ascetic patristic literature, also affects. It can also be assumed, with a greater or lesser degree of obviousness, that some thoughts, which, by the way, are always almost felt as alien and even coerced, violent, really have a nature alien to man, being demonic. According to patristic teaching, a person is often unable to distinguish the true source of his thoughts, and the soul is permeable to the demonic elements. Only experienced ascetics of holiness and piety, with a bright soul already purified by prayer and fasting, are able to detect the approach of darkness. The souls covered with sinful darkness often do not feel and do not see this, because on the dark, the dark is poorly distinguished.
What are alien thoughts?
Thoughts "from the evil one" support our despair, unbelief, pessimism, dependencies, passions. Thoughts that we mistakenly take for our own push people to suicide, resentment, unforgiveness, false guilt, unreasonable fears, unwillingness to admit their mistakes to God. By disguising themselves as our thoughts, they obsessively push us to commit bad deeds. Obsessions prevent us from embarking on the path of spiritual development, urge us not to waste time on correcting ourselves, inspire us with a nightmarish feeling of guilt, etc. It is precisely such thoughts that are “spiritual viruses”.
The spiritual nature of such thoughts-viruses is very simply confirmed by the fact that it can be incredibly difficult for us to do a charitable deed, to pray, or, for example, just go to the temple. We feel internal resistance, we make incredible efforts in order to resist what seems to be our own thoughts, which find a huge number of excuses not to do this. Although it would seem that it is difficult to get up early in the morning and go to the temple? But no, we will get up in time to go, for example, to the cemetery, but we will not do this in order to go to church. We can cry all evening, but it is much more difficult to force ourselves to pray during the same period of time. These are just some examples. The apostle Paul remarkably described our condition: “I do not understand what I am doing: because I do not do what I want, but what I hate, I do ... The good that I want, I do not do, but the evil that I do not want, I do ... But if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.” (Rom 7, 19, 20, 22, 23).
Throughout life, we choose between good and evil. And, having analyzed the choice made, each of us can see the effect of these “viruses”.
This is how spiritually experienced people viewed the nature of obsessive thoughts. And their advice on overcoming these thoughts has worked and is working flawlessly for many centuries!
And pride, envy, alcoholism, overeating, condemnation and all other passions - they are also born from obsessions. Aren't these the same thoughts behind them?
Yes, they are. And this, too, was known from ancient times to very many ascetics of piety. They explained to us how to deal with such thoughts. Our susceptibility to passions and sins - special case the influence of entities that masquerade as our thoughts. It is they who rape the soul, push it where it is beneficial to them, while very often decomposing our personality.
But I would not like to talk today about the connection between such thoughts and passions. This is a topic of a very long and serious discussion, which deserves a separate discussion.
What is the mechanism of introduction and impact of obsessive thoughts?
These thoughts are embedded directly into the emotional realm. Have you ever paid attention to how they overwhelm our emotions? A thought has arisen, and emotions are overflowing, although nothing can be explained logically. Moreover, logic just often says the opposite, but the control of logic over us has already been lost, and emotions rage and control us.
The fact is that our emotional sphere is most vulnerable to such intrusions. By by and large we cannot control it. Everyone knows how tears well up in the eyes at the most inopportune moment, and this happens against our will. Our emotional reactions often get in the way of business, and then we can rarely explain to ourselves the reasons for which they arose. How many times have we been unable to deal with our emotions even though we really wanted to? How much trouble has our own emotionality already brought us? Isn't it true, we have to admit that we have no power over emotions.
It is known that emotions can only be restrained by logic and reason, which protect us from falling into the power of emotions. This is confirmed by the fact that a person in whom logical thinking, it is easier to resist the gripping emotions. Conversely, the emotions of a person in an inadequate state - for example, when he is drunk, under the influence of drugs, very sick, tired, upset - are much more pronounced. It is in such states that great stupid things are done, which later one has to regret.
What supports intrusive thoughts?
Refusal of God's help, idleness, laziness, self-pity, apathy, despair, depression are the most nutritious substrates for growing and multiplying obsessive thoughts.
Is it possible to avoid such thoughts?
Many saints could, but we sinners cannot. This is due to the fact that our spiritual condition does not allow us to distinguish between these entities. People, for the most part, do not know how, and often do not even try to do this, because they consider any thought that comes to mind as their own. And, of course, if a person cannot separate thoughts directed against him from his own thoughts, then he is vulnerable. Such a person can be likened to a small child who opens the door to everyone in a row, not suspecting that there are “bad uncles” as well. Adults, on the other hand, usually understand that letting everyone into the house indiscriminately is dangerous.
But, don't we ourselves open the door of our soul to all thoughts in a row? Isn't that how entities enter into us that have disguised themselves as our thoughts and feelings? Needless to say, if we don’t even try to recognize unnecessary thoughts and defend ourselves against them, we doom ourselves to suffering from the violence that obsessions work on our soul. After their attack, only bedlam and a nightmare remain in the soul. But, the most interesting thing is that, even after that, we do not understand how the disaster happened. And looking forward to the next one...
And how to protect yourself from them?
You must understand that protection is impossible if you do not know your enemies. People who do not live a serious (and not superficial, exclusively external ritual) spiritual life do not know their enemies. And if they are aware of their existence, they do not have the means for self-defense.
If the enemy is known, then, first of all, one should learn to distinguish him from friends, even if he tries to disguise himself. If you saw an enemy, then you should try not to let him in, not to open the door for him. And if you let him in, then try to get rid of him with the help of certain means. We, instead of understanding what thought, desire, feeling we let into ourselves, invite everyone to us, indiscriminately: “Come in whoever you want - we always have the door wide open!”.
But that's not all. We know how people should protect themselves, for example, from obsessive alcoholics: for a weaker person, it is best not to get involved in a conversation with him, but simply not to pay attention to the pestering, to pass him by. It's the same with intrusive thoughts. But, instead, we not only let them in, but also begin to have an internal conversation with them. We do not realize that they are stronger than us (until we resort to an algorithm, which we will discuss in more detail below). And this "conversation" traditionally ends with our defeat.
Look at how accurately Elder Paisios Svyatogorets said about us: “A thought, like a thief, comes to you - and you open the door for him, bring him into the house, start a conversation with him, and then he robs you. Is it possible to start conversations with the enemy? They not only avoid conversations with him, but they also lock the door tightly so that he does not enter.
Are there psychotherapeutic techniques to get rid of such thoughts?
There are few such techniques. An affordable means of dealing with obsessive thoughts, fears and anxieties that appear during periods of crisis is muscle relaxation. Removal of muscle tension, complete relaxation of the body reduces anxiety and helps to get rid of fears, and, accordingly, in most cases, the intensity of obsessive thoughts decreases. I often recommend this method to my patients.
It is quite simple to do a relaxation exercise: lie down or sit down, relax your body as much as possible, mentally transfer yourself to some beautiful place, on nature. Start by relaxing the muscles of the face, then relax the muscles of the neck, shoulders, torso, and complete this process with the fingers and toes. Imagine that every muscle in your body is completely relaxed. Feel it. If you could not relax any part of the body or muscle group, then try to strain them as much as possible, and then relax. Do this several times, and the desired muscle group will surely relax. In a state of complete relaxation should be from 15 to 30 minutes.
Don't worry about how successful you are at relaxing. Don't agonize or strain - allow relaxation to occur at your own pace. If you feel that extraneous thoughts visit you during the exercise, try to force them out of your mind by switching your attention to the visualization of nature.
If you relax correctly several times a day, this will definitely help you get rid of obsessions. However, I want to emphasize that with the help of this technique, you can only reduce the influence and intensity of obsessive thoughts, but not fight the cause that causes them.
What should be done in order to completely get rid of obsessions?
In order to build your life in the future without these nasty viruses, first of all, recognize the presence of obsessive thoughts and the need to get rid of them!
Secondly, need to take responsibility. I want to note that if we accept these obsessive thoughts, and then under their influence we do certain actions, then it is we who are responsible for these actions and their consequences. It is impossible to completely shift the responsibility to obsessive thoughts, because it was we who accepted them and acted in accordance with them. Not thoughts acted, but we ourselves.
Let me explain with an example: if an assistant tries to manipulate his leader, as a result of which he makes an erroneous decision, then it is the leader, and not his assistant, who will be responsible for this decision.
Thirdly, Don't take intrusive thoughts as your own.! Pay attention to the contradiction between your interests, your logic and the thoughts that are trying to take over you! Assess their paradoxicality, irrelevance, logical inconsistency. Evaluate the consequences and disadvantages of the actions that following these thoughts can lead to. Reflect on this. Think about whether you see in these thoughts a direct inconsistency with what consciousness tells you. You will surely find many inconsistencies.
Recognize that these thoughts are not yours, that they are the result of an external attack of other entities on you. As long as you consider obsessive thoughts as your own, you will not be able to oppose them and take measures to neutralize them. You can't neutralize yourself!
Don't get into an argument with intrusive thoughts. If they appear, try to switch your attention, do not conduct internal dialogues with them!
Intrusive thoughts have one feature: the more you resist them, the more force they attack. In psychology, the phenomenon of the "white monkey" is described, which proves the difficulty of dealing with external influence inside consciousness. The essence of the phenomenon is this: when one person says to another: "Don't think about the white monkey", then he starts thinking about the white monkey. Active struggle with obsessive thoughts also leads to this result. The more you tell yourself that you can do it, the less you can do it.
Understand that this state cannot be dealt with by will power alone. You cannot counter this attack on equal footing. If we continue the analogy with the situation about alcoholics, given earlier, then the most the best way getting rid of a compulsive drunkard will not be an active resistance to his attack, but ignoring his words and actions. In our case, you just need to switch attention from obsessive thoughts to something else (more pleasant), without entering into conflict with the obsessions themselves. As soon as we switch attention and begin to ignore obsessions, they lose their power for a while. The more we ignore them, the less they annoy us.
Here is what the holy fathers say about this: “You are used to talking to yourself and you think to argue thoughts, but they are reflected by the Jesus Prayer and silence in your thoughts” (St. Anthony of Optina). “The crowd of tempting thoughts becomes more relentless if you let them slow down in your soul, and even more so if you also enter into negotiations with them. But if they are pushed away from the first time by a strong exertion of will, rejection and turning to God, then they will immediately leave and leave the atmosphere of the soul clean” (St. Theophan the Recluse).
Of course, it is better to switch attention to what helps effective fight with these intrusive entities. You can switch attention to helping people, creative or social activities, housework. Our ancestors believed that in order to expel obsessive thoughts, it is very good to engage yourself in useful physical work. But in this case, prayer helps. When a person switches his attention to prayer, these essences rapidly lose their power. The combination of physical labor and prayer gives the best results. It is no coincidence that from time immemorial in monasteries, prayer and labor went side by side.
It should always be remembered that in no case should obsessive thoughts be allowed to evoke an emotional response. Do not reinforce obsessive thoughts with fantasies and imagination.
We also often reinforce obsessive thoughts with our own imagination and vivid fantasies. V. K. Nevyarovich writes: “Obsessive thoughts often arise in response to the question posed: “What if?” Further, they are automated, take root in the mind and, with repeated repetitions, create significant difficulties in life. The more a person struggles to get rid of these obsessive thoughts, the more they take possession of him. An important reason for the development and very existence of neurotic fear is a developed sensory imagination. After all, a person, for example, is not only afraid of falling from a height, but also imagines in horror that he will die, “inflames” a fictional situation in every possible way, imagining, say, his funeral, himself lying in a coffin, etc.” What does it say? That we strengthen the forces of obsessive thoughts with our imagination.
Moreover, the better we imagine what we are afraid of, the more clearly we see the result achieved through obsessive drives, as well as the consequences of actions performed as a result of the impact of obsessions, the brighter we revive obsessive memories, the more we reinforce these thoughts in ourselves. We must not allow intrusive thoughts to influence us and our behavior through our own emotions, fantasies and imagination.
Do not self-hypnosis by repeating these thoughts to yourself . Everyone is well aware of the power of self-hypnosis, which sometimes helps in very difficult situations. Self-hypnosis can relieve pain, treat psychosomatic disorders, and significantly improve the psychological state. Due to its ease of use and pronounced effectiveness, this method has been used in psychotherapy since ancient times.
Unfortunately, mourners often self-suggest negative statements. A person who finds himself in a tragic situation constantly - to himself and aloud - unconsciously pronounces statements that not only do not help get out of the crisis, but also worsen the condition.
For example, a person constantly complains to friends or inspires himself:
– Life ended with the death of a dear person;
“I won’t have anyone else;
- I don't want to live;
– Life will no longer bring joy;
- There is no point in living now;
And other similar thoughts.
Thus, the mechanism of self-hypnosis is turned on, which really leads a person to certain feelings of helplessness, longing, despair, and subsequently to diseases and disorders of the mental sphere.
It turns out that the more often a person repeats these negative attitudes, the more negatively they affect the thoughts, feelings, sensations, emotions, ideas of this person. You don't have to repeat them all the time. By doing this, you not only do not help, but also drive yourself deep into the crisis swamp.
If you catch yourself repeating these spells often, then do the following:
Change the setting to the exact opposite, and repeat it throughout the day.
For example, if you constantly think and say that there is no joy after the death of a loved one, then clearly say 100 times that life will bring joy and every day your condition will improve. It is better to make such suggestions to yourself several times a day. After a while, you will feel the effect of this exercise. When making positive statements, avoid the "not" prefix. You should not say "I will not be lonely in the future", but "in the future I will definitely be with my loved one." Remember that this is a very important rule for making statements. Do not make statements about what is patently unattainable or unethical.
Are there other methods of dealing with intrusive thoughts? Which of them do you think are the strongest?
As I said, the most strong weapon against obsessive thoughts - prayer.
worldwide famous doctor, Laureate nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on vascular suture and transplantation of blood vessels and organs, Dr. Alexis Carrel said: “Prayer is the most powerful form of energy radiated by man. She is the same real power like gravity. As a doctor, I have seen patients who were not helped by any therapeutic treatment. They managed to recover from diseases and melancholy only thanks to the calming effect of prayer ... When we pray, we connect ourselves with an inexhaustible life force that sets the entire universe in motion. We pray that at least some of this power will be transferred to us. Turning to God in sincere prayer, we improve and heal our soul and body. It is impossible that at least one moment of prayer does not bring a positive result to any man or woman.
The spiritual explanation for the help of prayer in this situation is very simple. God is stronger than Satan, and our prayerful appeal to Him for help drives out evil spirits that “sing” us their false monotonous songs. Everyone can be convinced of this, and very quickly. You don't need to be a monk to do this.
In a difficult moment of life
Do sadness cramp in the heart:
One wonderful prayer
I repeat by heart.
There is a grace
In consonance with the words of the living,
And breathes incomprehensible
Holy beauty in them.
From the soul, how the burden will roll,
Doubt is far away
And believe and cry
And it's so easy, so easy...
(Mikhail Lermontov).
Like any good deed, prayer must be done with reason and effort.
It is necessary to consider the enemy - to understand what he inspires us, and to direct the weapon of prayer against him. That is, the word of the prayer should be the opposite of the obsessive thoughts suggested to us. “Make it a law for yourself every time trouble happens, that is, an attack by the enemy in the form of a bad thought or feeling, not to be content with one reflection and disagreement, but to add prayer to this until opposite feelings and thoughts are formed in the soul,” says St. Theophan.
For example, if the essence of obsessive thoughts is unwillingness to accept circumstances, despair, then the essence of prayer should be humility: “May the will of God be done!”
If the essence of obsessive thoughts is despondency, despair (and this is an inevitable consequence of pride and grumbling), a grateful prayer will help here - “Glory to God for everything!”.
If we are tormented by anger at the culprit of the tragedy, then just pray for him: “Lord, bless him!”. Why does this particular prayer help? Because you will benefit from praying for this person, and evil spirits do not wish good to anyone. Therefore, seeing that good comes from their work, they will stop torturing you with images of this person. One woman who took advantage of this advice said that prayer helped a lot, and she literally felt next to her the impotence and annoyance of the evil spirits that had overcome her before.
Naturally, different thoughts can simultaneously overcome us (there is nothing faster than a thought), so the words of different prayers can also be combined: “Lord, have mercy on this man! Glory to Thee for everything!"
You need to pray continuously, until victory, until the invasion of thoughts stops, and peace and joy reign in the soul. Read more about how to pray on our website.
Do the Sacraments help in overcoming intrusive thoughts?
Of course, the sacraments of the Church are a great help, a gift from God for getting rid of these entities. First of all, this is, of course, confession. It is at confession, regrettably repenting of sins, that we seem to wash off all the dirt that has stuck to ourselves, including obsessive thoughts.
Let's take the same murmuring about a situation (and this is nothing but murmuring against God or resentment against Him), despondency, resentment against a person - all these are sins that poison our souls.
When we confess, we do two very useful things for our soul. First, we take responsibility for our current condition and tell ourselves and God that we will try to change the situation. Secondly, we call evil - evil, and evil spirits most of all do not like reproof - they prefer to act on the sly. In response to our deeds, God, at the moment the priest reads the permissive prayer, does His work - He forgives us our sins and drives out the evil spirits that besiege us.
Another powerful tool in the struggle for our soul is the sacrament. By partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ, we receive grace-filled strength to fight evil within ourselves. “This Blood removes and drives away demons from us and calls Angels to us. Demons flee from where they see the Sovereign Blood, and Angels flock there. Shed on the Cross, this Blood washed the whole universe. This Blood is the salvation of our souls. The soul is washed by it,” says St. John Chrysostom.
“The Most Holy Body of Christ, when well received, is a weapon for those at war, a return for those who are moving away from God, a return, strengthens the weak, gladdens the healthy, heals illnesses, preserves health, thanks to it we are more easily corrected, in labors and sorrows we become more patient, in love - more ardent, more refined in knowledge, more ready in obedience, more receptive to the actions of grace,” says St. Gregory the Theologian.
I cannot assume the mechanism of this deliverance, but I know for sure that dozens of people I know, including my patients, got rid of obsessive thoughts precisely after the Sacraments.
In general, grace after the Sacraments was felt by hundreds of millions of people. It is they, their experience, that tells us that we should not ignore the help of God and His Church with these entities. I want to note that after the Sacraments some people got rid of obsessions - not forever, but for a while. This is natural, as it is a long and difficult struggle.
And the last question ... Obsessive thoughts often give rise to fears: fear for the future, fear for the soul of a loved one, fear of communication, fear of not understanding, and others. These sticky fears haunt a person, and it seems that it is obsessive thoughts that sow their seeds. What should be done in this case?
We, who are subject to fear, are addressed to the words of St. Theophan the Recluse, which I would like to quote at the end of our conversation: “Write: I'm sad, there's no peace anywhere. Something is crushing me, my heart is heavy and dark... The power of the cross is with us! This enemy ... meets you with such tightness and languor. You are not alone, everyone experiences such attacks, but not everyone is the same. You are tormented by tightness; another pours fears; in others, he piles up such obstacles in his thoughts, like mountains ... It happens, it induces streams of thoughts, disturbs the heart, revolts it inside. And all of a sudden, like a storm. Such are the tricks of our enemies ... Only you don’t need to agree with anything (with thoughts inspired by demons - approx. M.Kh.), but endure - and everything will pass ... And all bow down to the Lord. And call on the Mother of God."
How often demons try to quarrel people, to introduce them into demonic embarrassment, to force them to do nasty things to each other. And we humans don't even realize it. Even Goethe said that "... the layman does not see the devil even when he holds him by the throat." Thanks to those who told me about their thoughts sincerely, giving me the opportunity to understand some of the obvious, but difficult things and tell you about them.
If a man and a woman love each other, live together and try to make all the members of their family happy, demons immediately begin to spoil them, leading them into embarrassment and mutual distrust. Moreover, this happens clearly, but you can understand only knowing that many thoughts come to us from dark forces. And sometimes not only thoughts, but also emotions that we can brush aside if we are ready to fight the enemy, fight the devil and his minions, without letting ourselves be fooled.
One holy ascetic speaks of the need to live by attuning oneself to the Gospel truths, that is, one must live according to the Gospel. This statement becomes clear when reading the Gospel, as it gives us the right path in life, explains how to behave in a given situation.
One day, my husband and I went to get a new driver's license that had expired in ten years. I was supposed to replace the rights, but Roman went along with me for the company. We lined up and waited for someone to take us. It didn't take long to wait, and then a woman, about forty - forty-five years old, came up with her husband and asked who was the last one. Her husband looked at me and was very embarrassed. Before, in my youth, I would have thought that he liked him, but now, realistically assessing the situation, I clearly understood that it was not at all about sympathy, far from sympathy, but about the thoughts that the demons probably threw at him. His wife was in no way worse than me, and for her own husband she should have been much better, but some nasty thought ran through his head, and the man was embarrassed. Judging by his embarrassment, this was not the first time, plus, and his wife immediately seemed to understand his thoughts. He began to act like a guilty lover. She gritted her teeth and tried to be tolerant of his hugs and whispers in her ear, which she obviously did through force. It was terrible! The man loved his wife, wanted to make her happy, and vile demons sent him thoughts that embarrassed him and made the woman think that he "sinks" on every skirt. This opinion about her husband probably made her sad, and maybe even commit some unseemly acts, the justification for which, again, the demons would throw up.
How important it is to understand that thoughts are often instilled in us by the enemy of the human race, and instead of embarrassment, simply discard such thoughts and say the words of a prayer: “Your proposal is against your head, Mother of God, help me!”
Why do I say with certainty that thoughts are thrown from demons?
It is not difficult to answer this question. I not only read about it in Orthodox books, but she also experienced it herself, and it was so obvious that it was impossible to confuse the evoked thoughts with her own.
I'll try to talk about it.
Once, together with my husband, we were visiting a friend of my husband. We talked a lot on topics that were of interest to everyone present, drank wine, and in the end parted, feeling a friendly disposition towards each other. Before going on a visit, my husband and I quarreled, and on the way home from the guests, thoughts suddenly rained down on me, which not only surprised me, but also made me cringe.
The man was interesting to me as an interlocutor, but in no case as a representative of the opposite sex. In my mind, he became a potential lover for me for no reason at all.
For example, the thought: “You can go to him for the weekend. The kids can manage without me for one day. Arrive on Friday, leave on Saturday evening.
The first thought made me cringe. She was not only ridiculous, but also unpleasant. My husband's comrade was a complete stranger to me, not causing any such emotions, not to mention the unwillingness to lead a dissolute lifestyle.
Then the next thought is that with this stranger to go for a walk in the woods, holding hands. Further more criminal assumptions. Moreover, these thoughts were so unpleasant and unexpected for me that their external origin left no doubt.
The Holy Fathers say that demons cannot read our thoughts, but they follow external manifestations all movements of the soul. They look at our behavior, smiles, looks. If a person is hypocritical, they can throw on thoughts and emotions that turn hypocrisy into a semblance of truth and confuse the hypocrite. In general, what I heard and read about, but poorly imagined, that evening I experienced it clearly.
Since at that time my husband and I talked a lot about the intrigues of demons, faced with the care of a possessed woman, I began to express aloud those excuses that came to my mind. The husband was offended at first, but then he ardently remarked:
-What did I tell you! And you claimed that there can be no thoughts of your own!
I really claimed it. When he shared his "criminal" thoughts that came to his mind, I said offendedly that he thinks such things himself, and now here's the time ...
The fact is that bad thoughts can be sent by demons or come to mind because of our own sinfulness. But when these thoughts make you cringe and have nothing to do with your internal structure, then of course they came from outside and are not a product of your brain. Sometimes the thoughts thrown over do not seem ridiculous at all, as they fall under your mood or behavior, but if these thoughts come from dark forces, they will still have some emotional background that does not cause calmness or peace, but makes you feel something unpleasantly sharp.
It is very important to be able to cope with these thoughts and not go on about when, after the preposition, the consideration of the thought begins and its approval and even delight in sinful thoughts appear. After all, thoughts can be followed by a reasoning about the embodiment of thoughts into action, and the demons only need this. They immensely hate a person because, unlike them, a person can be saved. The struggle for the soul goes on constantly, and very many lose to demons in this struggle.
Once, during a sermon in the church, the priest said that we were at war here. This war is merciless and continuous, and only those who are already on the path of death do not notice it, because the devil does everything so that a person does not think and goes to death with full confidence in his well-being.
But as soon as a person begins to do good deeds and arrange his life in order to be saved, he starts having problems and sometimes very serious ones. But what is more important? Fighting problems and salvation, or well-being and death? The people saw this pattern a long time ago and came up with a proverb: "Do not do good, there will be no evil." But good must be done, and evil must be fought. Every Christian must become a soldier of Christ, otherwise he will not be saved. And fight first of all with the evil in yourself, remembering that there are no petty sins.
Getting used to sin begins with petty sins, which more and more confuses a person in understanding the difference between good and evil. And with the loss of understanding of this difference, a person begins to get used to self-justification, which helps to justify demonic intrigues, masking sin even more, presenting it as a harmless deed, and in the meantime, sin can grow and do a lot of trouble.
With great surprise I watched a program about crime in Soviet times, which told about young people planning an armed attack on collectors who brought wages to workers in a large knitwear factory. There were about five hundred thousand Soviet rubles in the bags, which two idiots wanted to get by killing several people.
The idiots were caught without being able to fire a single shot. Investigators wondered why young people need so much money. Where and on what they were going to spend them, because then any purchases were not available. Well, buy a house, a car, well, two cars, two houses. You can't spend fifty thousand on this. Why exactly five hundred? Why an armed robbery of a factory?
The criminals could not give an intelligible answer, and it is clear why. The demons, whispering grandiose plans to them, came up with reasons why such a huge sum in those days could come in handy. Surely, emotions of pride, feelings of being superior to others, thoughts of exclusivity and permissiveness were evoked. When you start listening to demonic incitements, you start following them, you can go very far... So it is in this case. One of the robbers was a student and was characterized by a very not stupid person, but he could not think about using the money received through the murder ...
These two young people were shot.
A hard end for people who have just begun life. Such a result of the planned acts was apparently not considered by them, although it should have been obvious under certain circumstances.
This is how demons destroy people. Someone is approached with petty sins, someone is immediately pushed to commit serious crimes. And we must fight demonic intrigues, because a very valuable stake is at stake - our soul!
The phenomenon of obsession is defined as the appearance in the mind of a thought, idea, or any phenomena that are not related to this moment with the content of consciousness and perceived by patients as emotionally unpleasant. Obsessive thoughts "dominating" in the mind, give rise to emotional tension, contribute to the maladjustment of a person in his environment. Obsessive, that is, existing beyond the will and desire of a person, can be both certain thoughts, memories, ideas, doubts, and actions.
Obsessive fears are called phobias, obsessive thoughts are called obsessions, and obsessive actions are called compulsions.
phobic syndrome(in Greek phobos - fear) is a very common phenomenon. There are many phobic conditions. For example, nosophobia (fear of illness); agoraphobia (fear of open spaces); claustrophobia (fear of closed spaces); erythrophobia (fear of redness); mysophobia (fear of pollution), etc. All these are examples of pathological, that is, not related to real threat, fears.
There are fears from cowardice, cowardice. Cowardice can, unfortunately, be vaccinated. If, say, a child is told something like this every five minutes: “don’t touch,” “don’t get in,” “don’t come near,” etc.
Psychologists distinguish the so-called parental fears that "migrate" from parents to children. This, for example, is a fear of heights, mice, dogs, cockroaches and much more. This list can go on and on. So these persistent fears can often be found later in children.
There are situational fear, which occurs at the moment of threat, danger, and personal fear, the occurrence of which is associated with character traits. I will give an example of mysophobia, that is, the obsessive fear of infection, pollution. How much this heavy suffering is clearly seen from these lines.
"Hello, Doctor!
I have a mania of cleanliness and is so strong that I can no longer control it. On the streets I try to avoid any kind of contact with people and dirty places, it seems that everywhere is covered and I get it all "on myself". Naturally, when you come home, the process of a long and lengthy "washing" of everything begins - all the clothes for washing (even if the pollution was minimal). I wipe everything that I touched with dirty clothes with vodka, and I myself go to the shower for 3-4 hours. Moreover, the time of "washing" is constantly increasing. That is, when I wash my hands, it seems that I touched something again - and the washing process begins all over again. Recently, I had a real nervous shaking after leaving the bathroom (somewhat reminiscent of Parkinson's disease) and a rude internal hysteria (a sad record - 30 hours in the bathroom on my feet on 22-23.09.06). My whole world was limited to bed and computer. I have already lost everything else: the institute, friends, and I will soon lose my job. I come home from work at 22:30, take a shower until 3:00, and go to work at 9 in the morning. This is my whole life right now.”
Very often, obsessions are the result of demonic influence. Saint Ignatius (Bryanchaninov) says: “Spirits of malice with such cunning wage war against a person that the thoughts and dreams they bring to the soul seem to be born in itself, and not from an evil spirit alien to it, acting and trying to hide itself together.”
His Grace Barnabas (Belyaev) writes: “A mistake current people lies in the fact that they think that they suffer only "from thoughts", but in fact also from demons ... So, when they try to conquer a thought with a thought, they see that the nasty thoughts are not just thoughts, but "obsessive" thoughts, that is, with whom one has no patience and before whom a person is powerless, who are not bound by any logic and are alien to him, outsiders and hated ... But if a person does not recognize the Church, grace, the Holy Sacraments and the preciousness of virtues, then is there anything for him to defend himself with? Of course not. And then, since the heart is empty from the virtue of humility and with it from all the others, demons come and do what they want with the mind and body of a person ( Matt. 12, 43-45)».
These words of Vladyka Barnabas are exactly confirmed clinically. Obsessive-compulsive disorder is much more difficult to treat than all other neurotic forms. Often they are completely unresponsive to any therapy, exhausting their owners with severe suffering. In the case of persistent obsessions, a person is permanently disabled and simply becomes disabled. Experience shows that true healing can come only through the grace of God.
I call obsessive-compulsive disorder the most demonically vulnerable form of neurotic disorders. Otherwise, how can one, for example, evaluate the irresistible desire to wash one's hands up to several dozen times before eating, or to count the buttons on the coats of passers-by, etc.? At the same time, patients suffer terribly, suffer from their conditions, are burdened by them, but they cannot do anything with themselves. By the way, the medical term "obsession", which means obsessive phenomena, is translated as an obsession. Bishop Varnava (Belyaev) also writes about this: “The wise men of this world, who do not recognize the existence of demons, cannot explain the origin and effect of obsessive ideas. But a Christian who encounters dark forces directly and constantly waging a struggle with them, sometimes even visible, can give them a clear proof of the existence of demons. Thoughts that suddenly appear, like a storm, fall upon the one who is being saved and do not give him a moment's rest. But let us assume that we are dealing with an experienced ascetic. He is armed with a strong and strong Jesus prayer. And the struggle begins and goes on, to which no end is foreseen.
A person is clearly aware of where his own thoughts are, and where others are planted in him. But the full effect lies ahead. Enemy thoughts often assure that if a person does not give in and does not deign to them, then they will not lag behind. He does not give in and continues to pray to God for help. And at that moment, when it seems to a person that, indeed, perhaps, this struggle is endless, and when he already ceases to believe that there is such a state when people live calmly and without such mental torment, at that very time thoughts immediately disappear. , suddenly, suddenly ... This means that grace has come, and the demons have receded. Light, peace, silence, clarity, purity are poured into the human soul ( cf. Mk. 4, 37-40)».
The development of obsession can be compared with the development sinful passion. The steps are about the same. prilog comparable to the appearance in the mind of an obsessive thought. And then a very important point. Or man cuts it off or starts with it combine(consider it). Next comes the compilation stage. When the thought that has arisen seems worthy of deeper consideration and discussion with it. Next stage - captivity. This is when it is not a person who controls the thought that has developed in the mind, but the thought guides him. And finally, actually obsessive thought. Already quite formalized and entrenched in the mind. The worst thing is that a person begins to believe this thought, and it comes from the evil one. And the poor sufferer is trying to rationally defeat this "mental chewing gum." And many times scrolls in the mind of this "obtrusive" plot. And as if the decision is close, just a little more ... However, the thought again and again captivates the consciousness. The person cannot understand that there is no solution to the obsession. This is not an intractable problem, but demonic intrigues that cannot be trusted and cannot be conversed with.
How do you respond to intrusive thoughts? Firstly, obsessive thoughts do not need to be “interviewed”. That is why they are called obsessive, because they are not amenable to any logical comprehension. Rather, it is possible to comprehend, but then these same thoughts again emerge in the mind and this is repeated again and again. The nature of such states is demonic. Therefore, one should not agree with such thoughts and pray to God for help. Thus, only by the grace of God and with their own diligence, obsessions (read - demons) leave.
Over the years, a rule has developed to combat obsessive states. The following is required:
- Do not believe the content of obsession
- Do not engage in obsessive thoughts
- Call on the Grace of God (prayer, Sacraments of the Church)
Let me briefly explain these provisions. Suppose that a person believes in an obsessive thought, the origin of which is almost always from the evil one. So, what is next? And then, as a rule, internal conflict. For example, a person accepted blasphemous thoughts or some kind of filth from the enemy and regarded these thoughts as his own. And here is the despondency… the person is demoralized and remains, as it were, in paralysis. “What a nonentity I am,” he says to himself, “I have no place in the Church, I am not worthy to take communion.” And the enemy rejoices. Thoughts go in circles and a person sees no way out. Therefore, such thoughts cannot be trusted.
You can't agree with them. Some try to prove something to the demon and build different arguments in their minds and it seems to them that they have coped with their task. But as soon as the last point is put in the mental dispute, everything is repeated anew, as if the person did not put forward any arguments. It will not be possible to defeat the enemy in this way.
And, of course, without God and His help and grace, one cannot cope.
There are obsessive thoughts in mentally ill people. For example, with schizophrenia. In this case, obsessions, to a greater extent, are a consequence of the disease. And they need to be treated with medication. Although, of course, you need to heal and pray. If the patient himself is not able to pray, then his relatives should take over the prayer work.
At one time, I encountered a curious clinical case. I had to counsel a family in which mother and son suffered from obsessive fears for their health and alternately induced each other.
During the conversation, it turned out that the mother of my patient had been treated by psychiatrists for a long time about obsessive fears, while he himself grew up as a very impressionable, emotional boy. At the age of 18, he first had an obsessive fear of the appearance of a malignant tumor. The patient constantly strove to examine his body, to study the medical literature on oncology, was depressed, oppressed. At the same time, the young man specified that the fear arose suddenly, after his mother told him about her former illness.
Against this background, the mother again had fears for her health. She decided that she had blood cancer, as she felt lethargic, lethargic. After consultation with an oncologist, both were declared healthy and soon recovered from an imaginary illness, but then fell ill with phobias twice more. Once it was connected with a grandmother's heart attack - and they decided that they were suffering from heart ailments. And another time they were afraid to die in a car accident. Moreover, at first, fear arose in one person, and then it appeared in another.
Similar cases, when, after the appearance of obsessive fears in one of the family members, other household members fell ill, are known. So, the psychiatrist S. N. Davidenkov described a patient who suffered from a tic and a fear of blushing or sweating. His mother's sister suffered from an obsession with excessive sweating, one of her daughters from the fear of blushing, and the sister of the patient himself from the fear of heart failure. This is what happens.
The family I had to counsel was a non-believer. And when there is no faith in the soul, there is no fear of God, others can “bloom” in it - painful, absurd, obsessive fears. The soul is by nature a Christian, and, perhaps, existing in an unspiritual environment, it in its own way mourns and “shakes” for any reason.
I remember a patient who experienced a pronounced fear of death after suffering a myocardial infarction. The efforts of doctors were crowned with success. With God's help, our patient recovered, his heart became stronger, but this tormenting fear did not let go of him. It was especially intensified in public transport, in any enclosed space. My patient was a believer, and therefore it was easy for me to talk frankly with him. I remember asking him if anything could happen to him without the permission or permission of God. To which he confidently replied, “No.” “And in that case,” I continued, “do you really think that your death could be an absurd accident?” And to this question, my patient said an affirmative "no." “Well, take this burden off yourself and stop being afraid!” That's pretty much what I advised him.
In the end, our reflections came down to the fact that he "allows himself to die", if it pleases God. After a while, this is what he told me. When the fear arose again, he said to himself inwardly: “My life is in the hands of God. God! Thy will be done!" And the fear disappeared, dissolved like sugar in a glass of hot tea, and did not appear again.
Neurotic fears are characteristic in that they are not caused by any real threat, or this threat is far-fetched and unlikely. The Orthodox doctor V. K. Nevyarovich rightly asserts: “Obsessive thoughts often begin with the question: “What if?” Further, they are automated, take root in the mind and, repeatedly repeated, create significant difficulties in life. The more a person fights, wanting to get rid of them, the more they take possession of him.
In addition, in such states there is a weakness of mental protection (censorship) due to natural features person or as a result of the sinful destruction of his soul. It is well known, say, the fact of increased suggestibility in alcoholics. Fornication sins significantly weaken the spiritual strength. It also affects the lack of constant internal work on self-control, spiritual sobriety and conscious control of one's thoughts.
Often I have to face all sorts of fears, the origin of which I associate with religious ignorance, a misunderstanding of the essence of holy Orthodoxy. For example, in a state of fear and confusion, people come to the reception and say something like the following: “I sinned greatly by passing candles with my left hand during the service” or “I lost my baptismal cross! Now everything is gone!” or “I found a cross on the ground and picked it up. I must have taken on someone’s life cross!” You sigh bitterly, listening to such “complaints”.
Another common phenomenon is various superstitions (such as the "black cat" or "empty buckets", etc.) and the fears that grow on this basis. Strictly speaking, such superstitions are nothing more than a sin that should be repented of at confession.