Only Love Can Cure Delusion

How to protect yourself from delusion?

Archpriest Alexiy Denisov (Arkhangelsk, Russia)

– The only way to protect yourself from delusion is to realize that you are in it. This was the advice given to all of us by St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov). The Lord does not allow us to see ourselves in the right perspective, so that we do not fall into horror and despair. Therefore, we have no reason to consider ourselves as a criterion of truth. 

In the past all of us committed a lot of mistakes, were under a delusion, in the future it will be in the same way. If I know that I have a sick leg, am I going to put all the weight on it? If I put the weight on it then I will fall in the same way as I fell before many times. The same is with our mind – it gives us too little reasons to trust its judgments. It is said in the Book of Psalms: "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help", but isn’t each of us a son of man? Put your trust in God, not in yourself.

Many times I have found myself in such situations, when your own understanding of what is happening seemed perfect, but then you look, everything is completely different. Once, twice you get into these situations and you begin to wonder whether to trust yourself unconditionally.

You try to explain this to people who are little taught by experience, but you refer primarily not to yourself but to the Scripture, to the Holy Fathers. Fight with delusion is carried out in the Church since its birth, so the gained experience is tremendous. The hardest thing is to earn confidence of the person who has gone pretty far in self-delusion. I recently spoke with one such woman. She kept replying to everything I said: "You misunderstood me." To be understood (or misunderstood) in such case means one thing – I have to look at the situation through the eyes of the deluded person. If I see otherwise – I do not want to go into the heart of the matter – this way the person thinks. However, with that woman who approached me, we managed to find a common ground. But we must understand that there is no universal way to help the person who sees the world in a distorted manner. It is all very individual. Some people need to be flicked on the nose and then caressed, and others should be treated quite differently. You may shout at someone, but this will antagonize another forever. For example Optina Elders, St. Anatoly was like the sun, so affectionate, and St. Nektarios was severe. Different styles. What was common in these elders? They loved people. It is impossible to reach people without love. Sometimes you can hear: "You are in delusion", and it is said in such hostile voice that it is clear - evidently something is not right with the accuser. If you do not you love the person, it’s better not to say anything, because even if you are right, you will not be heard. Only when you truly mean well to the neighbor, he can believe you.

http://oprelesti.ru/index.php/what-is-spiritual-delusion/584-if-you-do-not-love-the-person-you-cannot-cure-him-from-delusion

Do not Trust Yourself until You Go to Last Home

How to protect yourself from delusion?

Archpriest Basil Volskiy (village Polyarnye Zori, Murmansk region, Russia).

- The signs that you start to fall into delusion are numerous. They include self-righteousness, a desire to have own way by all means, disobedience and self-conceit, unwillingness to listen and take advice from other people, neglect to the authorities, officials, dreaminess, tendency to visions, dreams, delight in own righteousness. A deluded person likes to take excessive feats upon himself, for example, he can read akathists and canons for several hours a day. Imitating the righteous people outwardly, he does not realize that they were strengthened by love, while he is driven by vainglory, by the desire to rise above the people. I remember how one grandmother in the cathedral told someone, "You should pray, but not overpray." According to the remark of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), enthusiasm for external deeds creates voluptuousness. 

We are all in delusion. Adam was contaminated by it when he accepted a lie for the truth, and since that time we cannot get rid of it, but there are extreme states. In the world it is not understood at all. For example, in the Soviet dictionary by Ozhegov, delusion (“prelest”) is a good word such as "beauty" - means attractiveness, while its original meaning is not even considered. In Dahl's dictionary, the attitude to this word is more folk, the essence of "prelest" is revealed there – delusion, confusion, deception, temptation, seduction by the evil spirit. About a century separates the appearance of these two dictionaries but the difference is huge, the delusion, the lack of spiritual sobriety became something correct, up-to-date. In the Church, fortunately, there is at least an understanding that this is not the case. Another question is how to get rid of this disease. Here I am a bad adviser, a patient cannot help to a patient. A doctor is needed. And He comes, many times I have witnessed as the Lord helps, pulls people out of the deluded state. 

Neophytes are very prone to it. And I did not miss it, yet before ordination. Unfortunately, there were no people who would just tell me about it. But the Lord sent such grief that I was on the verge of death (I was dying, the blood pressure was 40x20) and through this I thought who I was, why would I have such a high opinion about myself. The Lord sent medicines, thank God! And He still sends, and when this will be over - I don’t know. But I will say that elderly people not less but more than neophytes are subjected to delusion. They no longer suffer from bodily passions and they take it for righteousness. They consider themselves to be very prayerful and good in fasting and it is especially difficult with those who have been in the Church for a long time and even spent the whole life at the Church. Here a person starts to think too much of himself. We should treat ourselves with caution.

Hegumen John (Alexeev) - Valaam elder, who was the hegumen of our Tryphon-Pechenga Monastery for some time, said well about delusion. When he arrived there, he found a terrible scene: many monks suffered from severe conceit, thought themselves men of prayer and miracle workers. They believed they could walk on thin ice without falling under it, and many died at that. So Fr. John gave a very wise advice: "Do not trust yourself until you go to last home." You cannot say better that that.

http://oprelesti.ru/index.php/what-is-spiritual-delusion/585-do-not-trust-yourself-until-you-go-to-last-home