It is hard to be peaceful. In dissipation there is no pure prayer. We are always restless. The temptations overwhelm us from everywhere, without cease.
Your thoughts are burdened because you received the thoughts of your brothers. Pray to God to free you of this: `God, take this burden from me!`
These are their thoughts, it’s their scheming and you, man had quite a different thought in mind. But they had another and they swooped upon you with the thoughts and they caught you in their plan of attack and you see that you’re suffering. But if you broke the ties with their invasion you shall have peace. Then they could speak and swoop upon you and you will remain peaceful. Then they will deflate like some bubbles. First they will swell like a big balloon and then when no bad thought will come from you, when you spread only peaceful thoughts, full of love – as long as you spread goodness around you they will deflate and will lose any power, they won’t hit you anymore and they won’t be a danger for you anymore.
But if you pay them in the same degree, then there will burst a war! You are like them, you fight against your brother with the same weapons as they do? You pay them in the same degree – it is a war of thoughts. All those who are at war have no peace. On the battle front there is no peace, you only try to see from what direction the enemy comes to kill you. You must always have heed and watch ceaselessly to see from where the enemy is coming…
It’s said that we must keep ant any cost our inner peace and always have a merry disposition. We have to be merry by all means, to be always cheerful. But see that saint John of Kronstadt says: We are like the weather, there are coming storms, winds, lightning then again the sun shines and we feel fine. It is the same with us. Then again the storm bursts and after that the sun shows up and so on. And he adds: Because we have body as well and the body is material we are influenced by the atmospheric conditions.
When the conditions are good and when the atmospheric pressure is not high then it is a nice weather and we are joyful and merry. And when the weather is bad we are depressed.
That’s true! That’s why we have to keep our spiritual moderation. Even when the weather is bad we should have inner peace. The man has to strive all the time to have a good disposition, to have his spirit full of joy because the spirits from the air want to see us sad all the time…
Source: Starets Tadei, How your thoughts are that’s how your life is, selection p.183-186
