The Blinding Passions

Evagrius Ponticus was a 4th century hermit/monk. One of his teachings related to the eight passions or energies. Those were: gluttony, lust, greed, sadness/depression, anger, acedia (wants immediate results), vain glory, and pride. He did not call these energies sin. He called them passions or energies and what they do is blind us to reality. They blind us to the reality of our life, God’s presence, and God’s leading. Perhaps Paul had such in mind when he wrote I Corinthians 13:12, “We see through a glass darkly….” For example, we cannot see ourselves realistically or what God is doing because we have been blinded by our greed. I use greed as my example because the early Church fathers and mothers believed that the original sin was greed. Adam and Eve (humankind) wanted more than God gave them. They wanted more than they needed = greed. Jesus warned about the blind leading the blind (Matthew 15:14). We can be blinded by any, or many, of these passions or energies and not realize that we have become blinded. I pray for government and church leaders, as well as families, because it is so easy to become blinded by any of these passions and not realize it. Unfortunately, many of these passions are socially approved. That is an indictment of our society and culture. We do not need the blind leading the blind.