Κεφ. ΚΒ'
Discerning Demonic Deception
The demons manipulate our natural impulses to lead us astray, but we must resist their suggestions by choosing the opposite path.
Whenever some pretext stirs up the irritable part of our soul, the demons suggest that withdrawing is the right thing to do, so that we won't resolve the causes of our distress or free ourselves from the turmoil. But when the desiring part grows heated, they make us act sociable instead, calling us harsh and uncivilized so that, in our desire for bodies, we'll meet with other bodies.1 We must not listen to them; instead, we should do the opposite.
Read the original Latin
Ὁπηνίκα προφάσεως ἐφαψάμενον τὸ θυμικὸν ἡμῶν μέρος τῆς ψυχῆς ἐκταράσσεται, τὸ τηνικαῦτα καὶ οἱ δαίμονες τὴν ἀναχώρησιν ἡμῖν ὡς καλὴν ὑποβάλλουσιν, ἵνα μὴ τὰς αἰτίας τῆς λύπης λύσαντες ταραχῆς ἑαυτοὺς ἀπαλλάξωμεν. Ὅταν δὲ τὸ ἐπιθυμητικὸν ἐκθερμαίνηται, τότε πάλιν φιλανθρώπους ἡμᾶς ἀπεργάζονται σκληροὺς καὶ ἀγρίους ἀποκαλοῦντες, ἵνα σωμάτων ἐπιθυμοῦντες σώμασιν ἐντυγχάνωμεν. Οἷς οὐ πείθεσθαι δεῖ· μᾶλλον δὲ τὸ ἐναντίον ποιεῖν.
Notes
- 1 ↩Rendered as “sociable” in context: the demons manufacture a seemingly humane openness to company as a pretext for bodily desire.
The Praktikos companion
A daily portion of stillness
Chosen Portion delivers one short contemplative reading and a guided moment of silence each day — the ascent, one step at a time.
Chosen Portion is the paced doorway into this collection: it portions the dense mystical treatises into one daily reading plus guided silence, exactly as the 14-day plan teaches.
- Daily bite-sized excerpts from the contemplative classics, never a wall of text
- A built-in timed stillness practice that grows from 2 minutes to 10
- Gentle progression through the tradition — the app remembers where you are on the ascent