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There is a large water dragon on the bush track ahead, perhaps a meter long. Three swollen ticks are attached to the neck, which together have sucked the life blood from the unsuspecting victim. Or maybe, the water dragon was fully aware they were there but located in such a position, it was impossible to dislodge them. Whatever the situation, the outcome is a lizard that was slowly parallelized by the ticks’ poison, and finally died surrendering up its last breath to a victorious enemy.
I wondered about the life of a Christian and what vices attach themselves to our lives. What vices that perhaps appear small and harmless in our lives yet, if left unchecked, grow freely into an uncontrollable parasite, crippling our ability to function as a healthy, whole men and women of God. Even strong and mature Christians are still susceptible to vices that wait to ensnare them.
Evagrius of Ponticus (345-399) a leading Christian thinker of his time, offered keen insight into what are the eight deadly thoughts. These are the behaviors that, if left to themselves, will suck the God-life from our person hood. His most important work, Monichikos, outlines these deadly thoughts: gluttony, greed, anger, envy, pride, lust, sloth and melancholy or depression.
Evagrius’s concern was the disorienting effect of these deadly thoughts. They can throw us off course and impede our pursuit of life with God, preventing us from ever reaching the goal of enjoying both this life and the next, with our Christian family and with our Heavenly Father.
We eventually learn that successful resolution of one deadly thought provides the momentum to negotiate those that follow. And although each deadly thought arrives at a particular moment in our spiritual journey, its lingering spiritual effects can last a lifetime. Ultimately, each deadly thought is interdependent with all of the rest. Although we face the deadly thoughts individually, their power is cumulative if left unresolved. This is not unlike the ticks which preyed upon the water dragon. The poison of one individual tick is debilitating, but with the unifying efforts of three, the combined poison increases and strengthens the ticks’ power in controlling the victim.
Evagrius stated that we overcome the disorientation of the eight deadly thoughts only through the orienting effects of the eight Godly virtues, which correspond directly to the deadly thoughts: Temperance (overcomes gluttony), generosity (overcomes greed), mildness (overcomes anger), contentment (overcomes envy), humility (overcomes pride), chastity (overcomes lust), diligence (overcomes sloth) and wisdom (overcomes melancholy and depression).
The virtues, like the deadly thoughts, are cumulative. Positive resolution at one level leads to positive resolution at subsequent levels. Just as the deadly thoughts create disorientation, the moral virtues create an orientation that helps us make progress in our spiritual journey.
Yet unlike the water dragon that conceded to the ticks’ deadly poison, Christians have a choice: to overcome their enemy or instead allow themselves to be overcome. We are not ignorant of the vices, nor do we have to fight the enemy single-handed. Victory is ours if we choose to orient these virtues in our lives through the power and dependence on God’s spirit within us. We who belong to Christ, can choose to shake off the vices which seek to paralyze us and ask the Spirit, our ever-present help in times of trouble, to strengthen us in these virtues which were manifested in Christ our Savior.
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