Becoming unattached

... the poor in spirit (Mt. 5:3) have no attachment to the things that are present, nor are they even in thought passionately involved with them, not even to the extent of simple enjoyment.
("Symeon the New Theologian: The Discourses", p. 52)

{Peter said that he and the other disciples had forsaken everything in order to follow Christ (Mt. 19:27)} By the word everything he included lands, money, their own wills, to the point of contempt and abhorrence for this transitory life in order that they might taste that life which is substantial and eternal. It is altogether sweeter and preferable; it is nothing else but God Himself.
("Symeon the New Theologian: The Discourses", p. 357)

{John tells us that we should neither love the world nor the things of the world. (1 John 2:15-16)} But what is "the world"? What are the "things that are in the world"? Listen! It is not gold, sliver, or horses, or mules. All these things that serve our physical needs we ourselves possess {even though we are monks}. It is not meat, nor bread, nor wine, for we ourselves partake of these things and eat them in moderation. It is not houses, nor baths, nor fields, nor vineyards, nor suburban properties, for great and small monasteries consist of these. So what is the world? It is sin, brethren, and attachment to things and passions...

Whatever the place, men cannot live alone. Everywhere we make use of things that we need for sustaining our bodies. Everywhere there are women and children, and wine and every kind of fruit; physical sustenance consists in these and similar things. But if we have "the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes" and pride of our thoughts, how shall we be able in their midst to escape from any kind of sin, without in any way being harmed by its sting? I know well that many of the saints of old guarded themselves from this, and those of the present still do so. They spend their lives in the midst of the things of this life, its concerns and its cares, and yet complete their lives in perfect holiness. Of them and their like Paul bears witness, when he says "The form of this world is passing away, so that those who have wives should be as though they had none, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it" (1 Cor. 7:29-31). From these examples we may learn how to deal with others... Those who contend in the spiritual contest have attained this state, and in every generation still do so.
("Symeon the New Theologian: The Discourses", pp. 109-110)

{Paul says that those who are still alive will be lifted up to the clouds where they will meet the Lord in the air. (1 Thess. 4:17)} ... in every way endeavor to be lifted up even but a little from the earth. Should this wonderful thing happen, which would astound you, that you should float up from the earth into the air, you would not at all want to descend to the earth and stay there! But by "earth" I mean the fleshly mind, by "air" the spiritual. Once the mind is set free from evil thoughts and through it we contemplate the freedom that Christ our God has bestowed on us, we shall never again be willing to descend to our former slavery to sin and the fleshly mind. In accordance with the voice of Christ we shall not cease to watch and pray (Mt. 26:41, Mk. 14:38) until we depart for the bliss that lies beyond and obtain the promised blessings, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom all glory is due forever and ever. Amen.
("Symeon the New Theologian: The Discourses", p. ???)

How does one arrive at the state of not being of the world? (John 17:14-16). By crucifying oneself to the world, and the world to oneself, as Paul also says (Gal. 6:14)... Just as he who is outside the house does not see those who are shut up inside it, so he who is crucified to the world or mortified no longer has any awareness of the things that are in the world. Again, just as the dead body has no awareness whatever of living bodies or even of dead bodies that lie beside it, so he who has come out of the world in the Divine Spirit and is with God can have no awareness of the world or of the things that belong to the world.
("Symeon the New Theologian: The Discourses", p. 296)

... as many as possess dispassion love it and are loved exceedingly by it. They talk about it without tiring, are on fire with longing for it, and so are rendered by it still more dispassionate. As many, however, as are still bound even by the least passing lust for the world and the latter's things, or to some passion of the body or soul, are far away from its haven.
("On the Mystical Life (Vol. 2)", p. 12)

... he strives according to his strength ... in order that, by the variety of his ascetic virtues and practices, he may destroy and eliminate completely from his soul the many and varied passions through which the demons exercise their power over us, and so that with all the strength of his soul he may treasure up the virtues in their place. Unless this is what does happen... he will find no profit in mere estrangement from the passions. For it is not the man who is merely not greedy who is praised, but he who is merciful. Nor is it the man who has kept his talent safe who is saved, but he who has multiplied it; nor is he blessed who simply declines the evil, but he who does what is good. It is not the man who has not allied himself with the King's enemies who is shown love, but the one who takes up arms and does battle against them on His behalf.
("On the Mystical Life (Vol. 2)", p. 84)

... it is not possible, not possible, for any of us to receive the incorruptible without having abominated the corruptible as dung, nor for us who cling to the transient to inherit eteranl life, nor for him whose heart is dominated by the least little passion to possess Christ indwelling him by the tabernacling of the Holy Spirit.
("On the Mystical Life (Vol. 1)", p. 161)

©1999 by Deb Platt