LADDER OF DIVINE ASCENT STEP 18

LADDER OF DIVINE ASCENT STEP 18

STEP 18  “AVOID INSENSITIVITY…. GETTING SERIOUS”

Insensitivity = The inability to respond to affective changes in interpersonal environment. Not sensitive, numb, lacking sensitivity to the feelings or circumstances of others..  Lacking in obedience to God’s Word.

In summing up this short step by paraphrasing the words of the Apostle Paul, “That which I want to do, I do not do, while that which I do not want to do, that I do” (Romans 7:19). Insensibility is that characteristic where we know we should behave or act in a certain way, yet we do the opposite, and then we just berate ourselves the more for our own failure. Such a person is a “blind man who teaches others to see.” He talks about healing his wounds, but then his body struggles for it. He philosophizes about death, but behaves as if he were immortal. He talks of temperance and self-control, but lives like a glutton and a drunkard. He praises detachment, but is not ashamed to be spiteful and to fight over a rag. John’s list of examples goes on and on.

The danger of this is that in time we begin to feel nothing at all, no remorse, no sorrow or desire of repentance when we falter. Then we gladly and willingly neglect the work of the spirit. We lapse in prayer, we do not fast, we do not read the scripture, and we neglect the services of the Church. And, then the demons laugh at us when they see us stand in prayer, “stony hard and darkened,” and, when we are in Church and we feel nothing, when we take communion, and we act as if it is just ordinary bread and wine. Such a state for us is their delight.

We all suffer this condition, John says. Even the great St. John describes himself as one who does not have the patience to rid himself completely of this insensibility of the spirit. “For I am not ashamed to admit my own powerlessness, since I am sorely afflicted with this sickness.” The only way to avoid this condition he advises is through force of habit, constant diligence and being vigilant in our  spiritual work.

(1 Timothy 4:1-2) Now the Spirit expressly says that in the latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron…….

The “seared” conscience is defiled. People who are defiled or whose conscience is seared will display ungodly attitudes, or they will look away from God and His Word as the proper authority. They have no sensitivity to the things of God.

If the conscience is not active, it is said to be “weak” (1 Cor. 8:7, 10, 12). It may be wounded, insensitive, seared. The sinful conscience is defiled and evil.  This means that the conscience is not able to distinguish between right and wrong…

We must work constantly and focus on avoiding this deadening of the soul and mind so as to not falter in our climb up the ladder.

The Divine Liturgy reminds us of the danger of insensibility and addresses the danger efficaciously when it proclaims, “let us be attentive.” Inattention comes in many forms and goes by many names. Here is the counsel of St. John of the Ladder in this regard…

On insensibility, that is, deadening of the soul and the death of the mind before the death of the body.

Insensibility both in the body and in the spirit is deadened feeling…..Lack of awareness is negligence that has become habit…

According to John Climacus, as we pursue the heavenly goal, we need to be aware of the great danger of becoming desensitized to the importance of spiritual realities.

Insensibility is negligence that has become habit; benumbed thought; the birth of presumption; a snare for zeal; the noose of courage; ignorance of compunction; a door to despair; the mother of forgetfulness, which gives birth to loss of the fear of God. And then she becomes the daughter of her own daughter. (Loss of the fear of God is the daughter of forgetfulness, which is the daughter of insensibility. Then loss of the fear of God in turn gives birth to insensibility.)

He who has lost sensibility is a brainless philosopher, a self-condemned commentator, a self-contradictory windbag, a blind man who teaches others to see. He talks about healing a wound, and does not stop irritating it. He complains of sickness, and does not stop eating what is harmful. He prays against it, and immediately goes and does it. And when he has done it, he is angry with himself; and the wretched man is not ashamed of his own words. ‘I am doing wrong,’ he cries, and eagerly continues to do so. His mouth prays against his passion, and his body struggles for it. He philosophises about death, but he behaves as if he were immortal. He groans over the separation of soul and body, but drowses along as if he were eternal. He talks of temperance and self-control, but he lives for gluttony. He reads about the judgment and begins to smile. He reads about vainglory, and is vainglorious while actually reading. He repeats what he has learnt about vigil, and drops asleep on the spot. He praises prayer, but runs from it as from the plague. He blesses obedience, but he is the first to disobey. He praises detachment, but he is not ashamed to be spiteful and to fight for a rag. When angered he gets bitter, and he is angered again at his bitterness; and he does not feel that after one defeat he is suffering another. Having overeaten he repents, and a little later again gives way to it. He blesses silence, and praises it with a spate of words. He teaches meekness, and during the actual teaching frequently gets angry. Having woken from passion he sighs, and shaking his head, he again yields to passion. He condemns laughter, and lectures on mourning with a smile on his face. Before others he blames himself for being vainglorious, and in blaming himself is only angling for glory for himself. He looks people in the face with passion, and talks about chastity. While frequenting the world, he praises the solitary life, without realizing that he shames himself. He extols almsgivers, and reviles beggars. All the time he is his own accuser, and he does not want to come to his senses—I will not say cannot.

When we are first awakened to the spiritual life and introduced to its depths, we are awestruck and experience godly fear. As we mature, we find how hard it is to keep that same sense of awe and godly fear. In this way, perhaps it is true that familiarity breeds contempt. It is a struggle not to become insensitive to the spiritual realities with which I am now familiar. I have to push myself not to allow  lack of awareness to become a habit of negligence.

John points out through his descriptions several root causes of insensitivity. He says it develops when we allow a division to exist between our words and our actions. This can happen to us very easily.

It is easy to allow our Orthodoxy (our belief. Our obedience to God’s Word) to become something we talk about. Orthodoxy must be something we live. We are to live the Will of God in and through our lives. It is as we live it sincerely, struggling to practice what we preach and to connect the exalted words we speak to an exalted way of life, that we will be delivered from insensitivity.

I have seen many people like this hear about death and the terrible judgment and shed tears, and with the tears still in their eyes they eagerly go to a meal. And I was amazed how this tyrant, this stinkpot of gluttony, by complete indifference, can grow so strong as to turn the tables even on mourning.

Recall, if you will, the step on this Ladder, “Mourning” being sorrowful for the possible sins that can cause separation from God.  Here, insensitivity, in that matter of mourning, does not care, does not react.

What John is talking about is that we must never be satisfied with our experience of Orthodoxy. We must constantly push ourselves. We will always talk better than we live. But let us always be bothered by this. Let us repent of this. Let the inconsistencies of our lives be the proverbial burr under the saddle that motivates us out of the comfort of our complacency (our smugness)  into living lives of radical obedience to Christ.

As far as my poor powers and knowledge allow, I have exposed the wiles and weals of this stony, obstinate, raging and stupid passion. I have not the patience to expatiate on it. He who is experienced and able in the Lord should not shrink from applying healing to the sores. For I am not ashamed to admit my own powerlessness, since I am sorely afflicted with this sickness. I should not have been able to discover its wiles and tricks by myself if I had not caught it and held it firmly, probing it to make it acknowledge what has been said above, and plying it with the scourge of the fear of the Lord and with unceasing prayer.

John speaks to Insensitivity, her reponse is telling………

That is why this tyrant and evil doer said to me: ‘My subjects laugh when they see corpses. When they stand at prayer they are completely stony, hard and darkened. When they see the holy altar they feel nothing; when they partake of the Gift, it is as if they had eaten ordinary bread. When I see persons moved by compunction, I mock them. From my father I learnt to kill all good things which are born of courage and love. I am the mother of laughter, the nurse of sleep, the friend of a full belly. When exposed I do not grieve. I go hand in hand with sham piety.

Translation: “Those who are under my sway laugh when they see the bodies of the dead. At prayer they are stony, hard, and blinded. In front of the altar they feel nothing. They receive the Holy Gift as if it were ordinary bread. And I laugh at people when I see them stirred with compunction. My father taught me to kill everything born of courage and love. I am the mother of Laughter, the nurse of sleep, the friend of the full stomach. When I am found out I do not grieve, and I am the ally of fake piety.”

I was astounded at the words of this raving creature and asked her about her father, wishing to know her name, and she said; ‘I have no single parentage; my conception is mixed and indefinite. Satiety (having had enough, filled) nourishes me, time makes me grow, and bad habit entrenches me. He who keeps this habit will never be rid of me. Be constant in vigil, meditating on the eternal judgment; then perhaps I shall to some extent relax my hold on you. Find out what caused me to be born in you, and then battle against my mother; for she is not in all cases the same. Pray often at the coffins, and engrave an indelible image of them in your heart. For unless you inscribe it there with the pencil of fasting, you will never conquer me.’

It is quoted as saying that the worst sin is to make Orthodoxy into a religion. To make our walk with Christ, life in Christ, our experience and relationship with Him into a religion. To reduce it to a set of external rules and rituals which must be performed by rote is the height of insensitivity. It is not a religion, it is life! Let us be serious about this life which we have received.

Let us not play games! Let us not be content to have a life which is only influenced by our faith, let us live lives controlled by our faith.

I have described, as much as my poor talents permit, the wiles and the havoc wrought by this stony, stubborn, raging, ignorant passion, and I refuse to dwell on it. If there is anyone with the God-given skill to heal the sores, let him not shrink from the task.`