Professor N.E. Pestov. "Modern practice of Orthodox virtue".
The beginning of delusion can be determined on the following grounds:
1) Self-confidence, following own will,
unwillingness to subordinate own will to the elder or spiritual father
and to the authority of the Church’s consciousness.
2) Self-direction – also called
"self-centeredness" or "autoeroticism" – is egoism with lack of love,
gentleness and forbearance to the surrounding people (except, perhaps,
the closest family members).
3) Keeping the attention on certain
statements (thoughts) of the spiritual sphere; the deluded people are
mainly guided in life by these thoughts, ignoring the basic commandments
of God and the teachings of the Church. These ideas can be taken from
the Holy Scriptures, but they are isolated from the general spirit of
the Holy Gospel. Then they divert the deluded person from the main
virtues - love, humility, obedience and gentleness.
How to protect yourself from delusion:
1) It is obvious that the most radical
remedy is to be in obedience to the elder or spiritual father, and if
one can not have them – then to be guided by the views and advice of
those Christians who succeeded in spiritual wisdom.
2) At the same time, each Christian must study the Scriptures and the works of the Holy Fathers of the Church.
3) Everybody should be keep from having opinions that do not agree with the general church consciousness.
4) We should always be sensitive to the
views of friends and associates, be attentive to their judgments and
carefully analyze our disagreements with them. We should remember that
the Lord often rebukes us through the mouth of our loved ones.
