Chapter 12: Thoughts And Feelings As Signs 1. A natural man thinks that all his thoughts are his own, and likewise his products, inventions and compositions. It is, however, a mistake. For by such a conviction man proclaims his spirit to be an absolute entity, independent of the influence of the invisible, spiritual forces, either good or evil. In reality the spirit of man depends very much on those influences, just as body depends on the influences of many different physical forces of this universe. 2. Christ told His disciples beforehand that they would be persecuted and brought before the councils and the court, before governors and kings for His sake. He warned them in advance to worry about how they should speak. For He said: ...it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. Who will tell them and how? He answers, It is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. Indeed unlearned fishermen did afterwards pronounce or record such sublime thoughts that throughout all history the greatest thinkers and writers have not been able to reach their heights or fathom their depths. Those thoughts were not of men but of God. They were signs that God spoke through His elect. 3. The apostles, the prophets, and the saints were often called the organs of the Holy Spirit. They were called by such a name because the Holy Spirit put His own thoughts and power into their souls. And what they received they declared to men. With their own human thoughts and powers they could not resist the influence of the mighty Spirit of God. The prophet Jeremiah confirms this by his own experience. He desired to stop speaking to the stiff-necked people in order to avoid their persecution. Then I said, I will not make mention of Him, nor speak anymore in His Name. But His word was in mine heart as a burning fire, shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing and I could not stay. He could not resist and he spoke again; not of himself but of God. 4. Evil, godless, and immoral thoughts in man are mostly of evil and impure spirits. The cause of this is our own sins. And then, by Gods permission, the spirits of all falsehood and violence attack us with their darts of false thoughts, vicious imaginations, and impure remembrances. The godless king Ahab listened to the false and self-appointed prophets who spoke to him sweet lies, rather than to the true prophets who spoke to him bitter truths. Now therefore, said the true prophet Micah to Ahab, behold, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these thy prophets, and the Lord has spoken evil against thee. It is one of the most mysterious dealings of God. He permits the evil spirits to act upon the minds of those men who have already, through their sins, made of themselves the mansions of evil. The true prophecies of the true seers are a signal to them to repent. But Ahab listened to the lies of the false prophets, and because of that lost both war and life. 5. Sometimes we suddenly start to think of a friend, or enemy, at a great distance. It is often a signal to us that such and such person is worrying about us, or talking of us, or doing something against us, or even that he or his message is at hand to come to us. Never on earth was there such a farseeing and deeply penetrating intelligence as Christs. He knew what was in men. When certain of the scribes thought within themselves, This man blasphemeth, Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts? 6. Feelings like thoughts may often be signals. Isaac, Jacob, and David all had presentiments of their approaching end. Therefore, they called their sons beforehand to give them their blessings. 7. Many persons in our days also have the presentiment of their impending death. We have known of several officers and soldiers who said, Today I shall be killed. And so it happened. They knew it not by intellectual calculations but by some sudden feeling, or some presentiment, which indeed must have been a signal from the spiritual world. Blessed are those who take such a sign as from God and through repentance, prayer, forgiveness, and charity, prepare themselves to appear before the throne of the Lord. 8. Feelings are a signal of Christs presence. When Cleopas with another disciple walked to Emmaus, Jesus drew near and walked with them. They did not know Him. Neither with their eyes nor by their minds did they recognize Him. After He blessed and break bread before them at the dining table did they know Him. And they said unto one another: did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures. 9. St. Seraphim of Sarov knew in advance when he was to be honored by a heavenly visitor. Today we are going to have the Holy Mother of God as a visitor. Many saints had similar experiences. It was a signal in their hearts by which they knew what was going to happen. 10. It is a well-known fact that animals have a very pronounced presentiment of some nearing catastrophe, as an earthquake. But it is a less known fact that animals, like dogs, and horses, also have a strong presentiment of some catastrophe relating to their owners. When St. Artemius stood before his martyrdom, his tamed and beloved deer licked his hands and wept. 11. Sometimes sudden sadness oppresses a person without any known cause, but later on he understands that it was a signal of death or some other heavy blow among his relatives or friends. 12. The feeling of a great despair, which produces in a soul thoughts of suicide, is a signal, according to the teachings of the Fathers of the Church, that the evil spirit has taken possession of the mind of such a person by deadening in him faith and hope in God. 13. Joy is a signal. When a sinner sincerely repents and pours out prayers to God from the depths of his contrite heart, he may suddenly get a feeling of joy and warmth which fills his soul. That is a sign that God has forgiven him his sins according to the great teachers of spiritual science. St. Nikolai Velimirovich, The Universe as Symbols and Signs: An Essay on Mysticism in the Eastern Church
Posted on: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 23:22:40 +0000
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