On the Many Desires and Impulses Within Man, and on Their Conflict With One Another

Know that in this unseen warfare, two wills within us are at war with each other: one belongs to the rational part of the soul and is therefore called the rational or higher will, while the other belongs to our sensory part and is therefore called the sensory or lower will—more generally termed the irrational, carnal, and passionate will. The higher will always desires good alone, and the lower desires only evil. Both occur of themselves, and therefore neither the good desire is reckoned to our credit, nor the evil desire to our blame. The reckoning depends on the inclination of our free choice; therefore, when we incline our free choice toward the good desire, it is reckoned to us as good, and when we incline toward the evil desire, it is reckoned to us as evil. These desires accompany one another: when a good desire arises, an evil one at once rises against it; and when an evil desire arises, a good one at once rises against it. Our free choice is free to follow either, and whichever desire it inclines toward is the victor in that moment. This is the whole of our unseen spiritual warfare. Our aim in it must be never to allow our free choice to incline toward the desire of the lower, carnal, and passionate will, but always to follow the one higher, rational will—for it is the will of God, the observance of which is the foundational law of our existence: ”Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man,” says the wise Solomon (Eccles. 12:13). Both desires draw our free choice toward themselves and seek to bring it under their control. Suppress the lower desire and incline toward the higher—and the victory is yours; but if you choose the lower, scorning the higher, you will be found defeated. The holy Apostle Paul writes about the inner struggle: ”I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God in my inner self, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members” (Rom. 7:21-23). And he prescribes as a law for all: ”Walk by the Spirit, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16). But this cannot be attained without struggle against the flesh.

A particularly great struggle and heavy labor must be endured at the outset by those who, before their resolve to exchange a worldly and carnal life for a life pleasing to God and to give themselves to works of love and sincere service to God, bound themselves through evil habits by frequently satisfying the desires of their carnal and passionate will. In such persons, on one side of the free choice stand the demands of the rational will that they have come to desire—worked in them by God—while on the other side stand the desires of the carnal and passionate will, still met with no small sympathy, which, opposing the former, drag the free choice toward themselves with such force as one sometimes drags a yoked animal with a rope; and only the grace of God gives them strength to stand firm in their once-chosen resolve. The time of opposing these desires, and of not yielding them the victory, weakens their force, but the struggle does not thereby cease.

Therefore let no one dream of attaining a truly Christian disposition and Christian virtues, or of serving God as is fitting, unless he is willing to compel himself to reject and overcome every passionate movement of the carnal will—not only the greater ones, but also the lesser ones, which he was formerly accustomed to indulging willingly and with pleasure. The chief reason why so few attain full Christian perfection lies precisely in this: that out of self-pity they do not wish to compel themselves and resolutely deny themselves everything. For when, having with difficulty overcome the greater passionate inclinations, they do not then wish to compel themselves to overcome the lesser ones, which seem trivial—since these lesser ones are the offshoots and expressions of the greater, and by indulging them they nourish the greater ones—the greater passions continue to live and act in the heart, though they do not manifest themselves on a large scale. The heart therefore remains passionate and impure and, above all, in no way detached from self-gratification and self-pity, which always render all works of pleasing God of questionable worth.

For example, there are those who, while not appropriating others’ goods, love their own excessively—on the one hand placing too much hope in them, and on the other being slow to give. Others, while not striving after honors by improper means, nonetheless do not hold them in contempt, and not infrequently desire that they come their way somehow, as if against their will. Still others keep the appointed fasts for long periods, yet do not deny themselves the desire to eat to the full and to eat well—which entirely destroys the merit of the fast. Some live chastely, yet continue to maintain relationships and acquaintances with persons who please them, taking pleasure in this, unwilling to reflect that by so doing they raise within themselves a great obstacle to perfection in the spiritual life and to union with God.

To this I would add the inattention of some to the natural deficiencies of their character which, though they do not depend on the will, nevertheless make it guilty of judgment when a person, seeing that they hinder the work of the spiritual life, takes no care not only to eradicate them entirely but even to keep them within harmless bounds—where this is possible with the help of God’s grace, given due attentiveness and zeal. Such deficiencies include, for example, unsociableness, irritability, excessive impressionability, and the resulting unreflective hastiness in words, movements, and deeds; harshness and grumbling, obstinacy and quarrelsomeness, and the like. All such imperfections and natural weaknesses should be corrected—removing excesses in some and supplying what is lacking in others—transforming both kinds into the corresponding good qualities. For nothing that is natural, however wild and stubborn it may be, can withstand the free will when, armed with God’s grace, it strives with full attention and care to oppose it.

As a result of what has been said, it happens that some do perform good works, but these works remain imperfect, halting, entangled with the desires that reign in the world (cf. 1 Jn. 2:16). Because of this, such persons make no progress whatever on the path to salvation, but go round in circles, and not infrequently turn back and fall into their former sins—evidently because from the beginning they did not fully embrace the good life in Christ, were not entirely filled with a sense of gratitude to God who delivered them from the power of the devil, and did not with a perfect resolve decide to serve him alone for his good pleasure. Hence too it comes about that such persons always remain untrained in goodness and spiritually blind, failing to see the danger in which they stand—thinking their position is secure and that no misfortune threatens them.

Therefore, my beloved brother in Christ, I urge you: embrace the labor and burden that inevitably accompany our inward warfare, if you do not wish to be always overcome. So also the wise Sirach counsels: ”Do not hate laborious work” (Sir. 7:15). For upon this the whole of this warfare rests, as upon a foundation. The more strongly you embrace this labor—this merciless self-exertion in the spiritual struggles—the sooner and more complete a victory you will gain over yourself and over what within you opposes the high good; and as a result you will be filled with every virtue and good disposition, and the peace of God will dwell in you.