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WEB 4 - ARCHIVE
Commentary 1 - Page 11 | ||||||
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Darkness of
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Illusory memories When this ancient model is used to describe memory, it tells of three states of memory, two of which lead to forgetting of the more subtle experiences of life. We forget these things because the matter of memory is 'too hard' -- not receptive enough -- as with the seed that fell by the 'roadside', so that the impressions left by spiritual experiences begin to grow, but they cannot 'take root', with the result that the experiences that happen are forgotten, because the memories do not form as a clear impression. Or it is too soft, too receptive, so that too many different kinds of memory are taken in, and the more subtle memories are obscured or overlaid by the coarser and stronger memories or simply by those that come later. Finally, there is memory that is like good soil; cleared or purified, tilled so that it receives a clear impression of the subtle memories, and retains them without their being covered over, and kept from excessive 'growth' of worldly impressions that would otherwise cover over the spiritual memories. Psalm 118 ( 119 in Modern Bibles), is recognized by monks of both Eastern and Western churches, and is said by some to be a key to the esoteric tradition. It is an important text for monks in orders such as the Benedictines. The first verse says:
"Blessed are the
undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD." (
Psalm
119:1 - Psalm 118 in the Orthodox version.) For this reason, monks in the Eastern church take care, even today, to quite literally lower their eyes from the world, so as not to take in too many worldly impressions. The conclusions of this can be summarized by saying that, to prevent our forgetting the spiritual, a certain preparation is necessary: we need to eliminate certain impediments to spiritual consciousness: but what are these 'impediments?' And how do they link with the diakrisis mentioned at the beginning of this Chapter. In part, the answer to this question is obvious: It was Evagrius (again) who wrote about our memories that:
"Both virtues and
vices make the mind blind, the one so that it may not see the vices; the
other so that it might not see the virtues."
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