A Rule of Attentiveness to Oneself for One Living in the Midst of the World

The soul of all spiritual exercises in the Lord is “attentiveness”. Without “attentiveness” all these exercises are fruitless and dead. He who desires to be saved must so order himself that he is able to maintain “attentiveness to himself” not only in solitude but also amid the very distraction into which he is sometimes drawn against his will by circumstances. Let the fear of God outweigh all other feelings on the scales of the heart: then it will be easy to maintain “attentiveness to himself”, both in the quiet of the cell and amid the noise that surrounds one on every side.

Prudent moderation in food, by reducing the heat in the blood, greatly assists “attentiveness to oneself”; while the heating of the blood—as from excessive eating, from intense bodily movement, from inflaming with anger, from intoxication with vainglory, and from other causes—produces a multitude of thoughts and fantasies, that is, distraction. The holy Fathers prescribe to one who wishes to “attend to himself” first of all moderate, even, and constant temperance in food315.[1]

On waking—in the image of that awakening from the dead which awaits all people—direct your thoughts toward God, and offer to God as a sacrifice the first fruits of the mind’s thoughts, which have not yet received any vain impressions. With calm, very carefully, having attended to all bodily necessities of one who has risen from sleep, read the customary prayer rule, caring not so much for the quantity of the prayers as for their quality—that is, that they be performed with “attentiveness”, and that, by reason of “attentiveness”, the heart be sanctified and quickened with prayerful compunction and consolation. After the prayer rule, once again with all your might taking care for “attentiveness”, read the New Testament, and most especially the Gospel. In this reading, carefully note all the injunctions and commandments of Christ, so that by them you may be able to direct your activity, visible and invisible. The quantity of reading is determined by a person’s strength and circumstances. One must not burden the mind with excessive reading of prayers and Scripture, nor must one neglect one’s duties for the sake of immoderate exercise in prayer and reading. Just as excessive food unsettles and weakens the stomach, so immoderate use of spiritual food weakens the mind, produces in it an aversion to devout exercises, and brings upon it despondency316. For the novice, the holy Fathers propose frequent prayers, but brief ones.[2] When the mind has grown in spiritual stature, has strengthened and matured, it will then be able to pray without ceasing. To Christians who have reached perfect spiritual maturity in the Lord belong the words of the holy Apostle Paul: “I desire therefore that men pray in every place, lifting up holy hands without wrath and without disputing” (1 Tim. 2:8)—that is, without passion and without any wandering or soaring. What is proper to a man is not yet proper to an infant. Having been illumined, through prayer and reading, by the Sun of Righteousness, our Lord Jesus Christ, let a person go forth to the works of the day’s course, attending that in all his deeds and words, in his whole being, the most holy will of God—revealed and explained to people in the evangelical commandments—may reign and act.

If a few free moments fall during the day, use them for the “attentive” reading of certain chosen prayers, or of certain chosen passages from Scripture, and by them again strengthen the powers of the soul that are spent by activity amid the vain world. If, however, these golden moments do not fall, one must grieve for them as for the loss of a treasure. What has been lost today must not be lost on the following day: for our heart readily gives itself over to negligence and forgetfulness, from which a dark ignorance is born—ignorance so ruinous in the matter of God, in the matter of human salvation.

If it happens that something has been said or done contrary to God’s commandments, immediately heal the fault through repentance, and through sincere repentance return to the path of God from which you have strayed by violating God’s will. Do not linger outside the path of God! — Against sinful thoughts, fantasies, and feelings that approach, set with faith and humility the evangelical commandments, saying with the holy patriarch Joseph: “How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” (Gen. 39:9). One who attends to himself must renounce all fantasy in general, however enticing and plausible it may seem: all fantasy is the wandering of the mind, outside truth, in a country of non-existent and unrealizable phantoms that flatter and deceive the mind. The consequences of fantasy are: the loss of “attentiveness” to oneself, distraction of the mind, and hardness of heart in prayer; from this—spiritual disorder.

In the evening, going to sleep—which, in relation to the life of that day, is a death—examine your deeds throughout the course of the day that has passed. For one who leads an “attentive life”, such examination is untroubling: for by reason of “attentiveness to oneself”, the forgetfulness so characteristic of the distracted person is eliminated. And so, calling to mind all your sins in deed, word, thought, and feeling, bring repentance for them to God, with a disposition and heartfelt pledge of amendment. Then, having read the prayer rule, close with godly reflection the day that was begun with godly reflection.

Where do all the thoughts and feelings of a sleeping person go? What is this mysterious state—sleep—in which the soul and body are alive, and at the same time not living, are strangers to the consciousness of their life, as if dead? Sleep is as incomprehensible as death. During it the soul rests, forgetting even the most grievous sorrows and tribulations of earth, in the image of its eternal rest; and the body!… if it rises from sleep, it will assuredly also rise from the dead. The great Agathon said: “It is impossible to advance in virtue without intense “attentiveness to oneself””317.[3] Amen.

Written at the desire of a certain devout lay person to lead an attentive life in the world.