Eight Deadly Thoughts
These eight deadly thoughts frequently attack us without invitation. We must understand that the initial thoughts are not sinful in themselves. Christ was tempted in every way, yet remained without sin.
The sin occurs when we welcome them, linger on them, or act on them. Once we entertain these thoughts, our minds are no longer free to focus on the things of God.
“These eight deadly thoughts are like cholesterol, they fill the arteries, so to speak, and the flow of the Spirit is not able to get through easily, and sometime, choked off all together.”
Allen, Diogenes
” … one of the things I found … through all spiritual writers, that is people who are concerned with bringing to fullness, in our lives, the work of Christ, and that’s the work of God the Holy Spirit….all of them agree that after we are converted we can expect ourselves to be assailed by eight deadly thoughts.”
Allen, Diogenes
“The Eight Deadly Thoughts” derives its title from a well-known chapter in On Practice by Evagrius Ponticus (c. 346–399), a prominent Desert Father of the early Church. Diogenes Allen chose this same name for his series of teachings.
True to his teaching style, Professor Allen begins by setting the proper context and exploring the genesis of this ancient concept before examining the thoughts themselves. He provides this essential background in the linked video.
- Context – a brief sketch of the life of Evagrius
- Context – Dr. Allen’s personal genesis, what led him to study spiritual theology – unprepared to make a spiritual evaluation
- Content – Gregory I shifts “deadly thoughts” to “deadly sins” – Dr Allen’s retains focus on the eight thoughts of Evagrius – I see this as a quantitative change.
- Content – Practice, how to overcome these ‘Deadly Thoughts’ – Lectio Divina – divine reading – 4 steps: read, meditate, pray and contemplate
- Video Archive – https://commons.ptsem.edu/id/0397-2157V_local
- Content – “Eight Deadly Thoughts:”
- Gluttony – related to the appetites
- Lust – to desire the
body of a person and not to desire the person, - Avarice “Our needs for material goods suggest to the mind a lengthy old age.” “I will not be able to provide for myself.”,
- Sadness – a form of self pity – all the things I could have become,
- Anger with Sadness “are concerned with our relation to other people”,
- Acedia – discouragement at lack of progress – apathy, boredom,
- Vainglory – wanting the notice of our achievements by others,
- Pride – we take full credit for our achievements – failing to credit God
In studying spiritual theology Diogenes considers the shift from “How can we know and love God” to “What can we know about God.”
From the early Church through the The Age of Enlightenment, the focus moves from ‘knowing how to love God’ to ‘knowing about God,’ from sensitive to cerebral.
Professor Allen, speaking in the gentle manner of a country parson, cautions us that these thoughts are not sin when they first come unbidden. We can still repent and turn away from them before we dwell on them or act.
He reminds us that Christ Himself was tempted yet did not sin. These eight thoughts are therefore temptations, not sins. We have the opportunity — and the responsibility — to reject them and repent before they take root and become sin. This is a great mercy and benefit to us.
He reminds us that Christ Himself was tempted yet did not sin. These eight thoughts are therefore temptations, not sins. We have the opportunity — and the responsibility — to reject them and repent before they take root and become sin. This is a great mercy and benefit to us.
We tend to see our physical body as a hindrance to living the life Christ calls us to.
Yet, in regard to the “Eight Deadly Thoughts,” the body is actually a blessing. If we were pure spirit, our thoughts would instantly become actions, making the thought itself equivalent to the sin. Because we have a body, we are given time to turn from the thought before it leads to action.
However, if we linger on these thoughts too long, they begin to choke the life of the Spirit in us, and we become spiritually careless.