The devil will throw a person into two extremes


"The devil will throw a person into two extremes: either he will put his conscience to sleep - so that nothing interests him. And if he is a sensitive person, he will exaggerate his conscience, which will torment him every moment with the question "why?". "Why should I tell him this? Why should I do this? Why should I think like that? Why did I do that?" And the person does not calm down.

You tell him: "Okay, my child, calm down! You said those things, can you take back your words? Say "forgive me" and stop!" But you do not: "why"?, "why"? You do not calm down, you do not eat, you do not sleep, you have no peace, and then you need calming pills! You cannot calm down. This state leads a person there.

I think that the problem of our times is not so much a lack of conscience, as a scrupulous conscience. I remember that Saint Paisios often said to many young people: "My children, don't be too sensitive! Be a little more "insensitive!" He was talking about good insensitivity. Let's have a little insensitivity and good indifference! Why are you grinding thoughts non-stop like a mill? Stop for a moment! Okay, you did what you did. You said what you said, you thought what you thought. Do you constantly need to return to those insistently?

I believe that these two extremes do not help man and are not from God. Anything that creates anxiety can never be from God"

IPS Athanasius of Limassol

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