The Mechanism of Malicious Thoughts

Concerning the different evil thoughts. Chapter 1. Regarding the opposing demons in practice, first there are those who place their trust in the pleasures of gluttony, that is, appetites; and those who subject us to the love of money; and those who call us toward the glory of men. All the others, walking after these, receive those who are being conquered by them. For it is not possible to fall into the hands of the spirit of fornication without having fallen by gluttony; and it is not possible to be troubled in spirit without fighting for meats or money or the glory of irrational desires; and it is not possible to escape the demon of sorrow, having been deprived of all these or being unable to obtain them; nor will anyone escape pride, the first offspring of the devil, without uprooting the love of money, even if poverty humbles a man, according to the wise Solomon. To say in short, it is not possible for a man to fall under a demon without first being conquered by those leaders, for the devil also presented these three thoughts to the Savior. First, entreating him to make the stones become bread; then, promising the whole world if he should fall and worship; and third, saying that if he hears, he will be glorified, having suffered nothing from such a great fall, of whom our Lord, appearing greater, commanded to go into the hindmost part to the devil. Through these he is also teaching us that it is not possible to drive away the devil without having despised these three thoughts.

Chapter 2. All demonic thoughts, as notions, bring into the soul perceptions of sensible things, in which the mind, by imitating, carries the forms of those things within itself, and from the thing itself it otherwise recognizes the approaching demon; for example,

If the thought that has encroached upon grudgefulness were to result in my being harmed and dishonored in my mind, it is reproved. If a remembrance of money or of glory were to occur again, it is clear from the fact that the one distressing us will be known; and regarding the other thoughts likewise, you will find from the fact the one present, the demon, casting phantasms under the mind. I do not say that all the memories of such things happen from demons; because it is the nature of the mind itself, being moved by the human experience of events, to bring up phantasms, but as many memories as involve anger or desire are naturally associated. For because of the disturbance of these two powers, the mind commits adultery by thought, and fights, being unable to refuse the phantasm established by the lawgiver. Even if that brightness is lost by the deprivation of all the intelligible things in the matters at hand at the time of prayer, appearing to deviate from the ruling faculty.

A man would not have set aside the passionate memories, if he had not made a care for desire and anger, consuming the former with fastings, vigils, and chastity, and the latter with patience, grudge-forgetfulness, and almsgiving; for from these two passions almost all the demoniacal thoughts that cast the mind into destruction and loss consist. It is impossible for any of these passions to survive, without being completely overcome by money, wealth, and glory, and even by the desire for one's own body, because they attempt to strike it many times. Therefore, it is necessary to imitate those who are in danger in the sea, and are casting out the vessels because of the violence of the winds and the returning waves. But here one must pay precise attention, lest, in casting out the vessels, we do it for the sake of being seen by men; since we are withholding our reward, and the latter is more difficult than the former.