There was a king who
had a wicked son. Having no hope that he would change for the better, the father
condemned the son to death. He gave him a month to prepare.
The month went by,
and the father summoned the son. To his surprise he saw that the young man was
noticeably changed: his face was thin and drawn, and his whole body looked as if
it had suffered.
"How is it that such
a transformation has come over you, my son?" the father asked.
"My father and my
lord," replied the son, "how could I not change when each passing day brought me
closer to death?"
"Good, my son,"
remarked the king. "Since you have evidently come to your senses, I shall pardon
you. However, you must maintain this vigilant disposition of soul for the rest
of your life."
"Father," replied
the son, "that's impossible. How can I withstand the countless seductions and
temptations?"
Then the king
ordered that a vessel be brought, full of oil, and he told his son: "Take this
vessel and carry it along all the streets of the city. Following you will be two
soldiers with sharp swords. If you spill so much as a single drop they will cut
off your head."
The son obeyed. With
light, careful steps, he walked along all the streets, the soldiers accompanying
him, and he did not spill a drop.
When he returned to
the castle, the father asked, "My son, what did you see as you were walking
through the city?"
"I saw nothing."
"What do you mean,
'nothing'?" said the king.
"Today is a holiday;
you must have seen the booths with all kinds of trinkets, many carriages,
people, animals ..."
"I didn't notice any
of that," said the son. "All my attention was focused on the oil in the vessel.
I was afraid to spill a drop and thereby lose my life."
"Quite right, my
son," said the king. "Keep this lesson in mind for the rest of you life. Be as
vigilant over your soul as you were today over the oil in the vessel. Turn your
thoughts away from what will soon pass away, and keep them focused on what is
eternal. You will be followed not by armed soldiers but by death to which we are
brought closer by every day. Be very careful to guard your soul from all ruinous
temptations."
The son obeyed his
father, and lived happily.
Focus on the Eternal
Just as a basic
concern is to be careful of anything that might be harmful to our physical
health, so our spiritual concern should watch out for anything that might harm
our spiritual life and the work of faith and salvation.
Therefore, carefully
and attentively assess your inner impulses: are they from God or from the spirit
of evil? Beware of temptations from this world and from worldly people; beware
of hidden inner temptations that come from the spirit of indifference and
carelessness in prayer, from the waning of Christian love.
If we turn our
attention to our mind, we notice a torrent of successive thoughts and ideas.
This torrent is uninterrupted; it is racing everywhere and at all times: at
home, in church, at work, when we read, when we converse.
"It is usually
called thinking," writes Bishop Theophan the Recluse, "But in fact it is a
disturbance of the mind, a scattering, a lack of concentration and attention."
The same happens
with the heart. Have you ever observed the life of the heart? Try it even for a
short time and see what you find. Something unpleasant happens, and you get
irritated; some misfortune occurs, and you pity yourself; you see someone whom
you dislike, and animosity wells up within you; you meet one of your equals who
has now outdistanced you on the social scale, and you begin to envy him; you
think of your talents and capabilities, and you begin to grow proud.
And all of this can
pass through the heart in a matter of minutes. For this reason one ascetic, who
was extremely attentive to himself, was quite right in saying that "man's heart
is filled with poisonous serpents. Only the hearts of saints are free from these
serpents, the passions."
But such freedom is
attained only through a long and difficult process of self-knowledge, working on
oneself and being vigilant towards one's inner life, i.e., the soul.
Be careful. Watch
out for your soul! Turn your thoughts away from what will soon pass away and
turn them toward what is eternal. Here you will find the happiness that your
soul seeks, that your heart thirsts for.
SOURCE:
Translated from Pravoslavnaya
Rus and taken from Orthodox America, Vol. XIV, No.
2-3. Sept – Oct. 1993
No comments:
Post a Comment