Category Archives: Afflictive Thoughts

We have almost lost and forgotten the significance of this difficult affliction, although it is ever more evident in our lives. In one way, it hides behind pride, because it has something of the nature of pride and is close to it. And yet, it is distinct and needs to be attended to.

With Pride we reach the conclusion of our series of teachings on the eighth afflictive thoughts. Or rather, not the end, but hopefully, the beginning of the continuation of our work moving these thoughts aside – as often as these thoughts arise within me I need to apply the tools which I have learnt…

With acedia we enter the realm of the afflictive thoughts which disturb the peace of our soul – so, while it is the sixth in our series, it is the first afflictive thought of the soul. That said, it also influences how we think and the rational and irrational judgments which we…

It might be fair to say that, in these very testing times when people are beset with worry, anxiety and despair even, when isolation is increasing our feeling of disconnectedness, and we are only too aware that the important personal relationships that we need to live our daily lives are withdrawn…

We move now to a thought which constitutes the first afflictive thought of the mind. Anger is an affliction which seems today to be evermore present in our society as a default position for many people and groups. It is a thought which betrays a deeper dissatisfaction and lack of peace…

We live in a society and at a time when we are obsessed with acquiring things, and the constant acquisition of things has become ridiculously easy. Our lives very often become a cluttered reality, and when the clutter becomes too much, it suffocates us and replaces those things that we should really be seeking…

Tackling the afflictive thought of sex, and any of the afflictive thoughts, takes time, prayer and humility. Now we offer some teaching on three important spiritual tools which help us in this combat. Since we are now in the season of Lent, perhaps these tools can in a special way become part of our spiritual armour…

Should it surprise us that the afflictive thought of sex has always, in some way, weighed down our hearts? It is certainly not merely a modern day struggle! And we should begin by reminding ourselves of the desert fathers and mothers and how they were aware of the…

The teaching on the afflictive thoughts or vices which we have received is handed on through a series of important writers. Evagrius of Pontus provided a scheme of scriptural texts which could be used to combat the thoughts in his treatise Antirrhetikos (The Combat)…

The spiritual life – whether we live in a monastery, in a community, in a relationship or alone – is governed by a central desire, which might be expressed in the question, ‘What do you seek?’ The psalmist, in Psalm 26, expresses his innermost desire in a few, deeply expressive words…