Discrimination on the Path
We have for our desire God and God alone therefore we are “convinced more than ever of the absolute impossibility of being half a Christian. And [we] determined, through his grace (the absolute necessity of which I was deeply sensible of) to be all-devoted to God, to give him all my soul, my body, and my substance.
Will any considerate man say that this is carrying matters too far? Or that anything less is due to him who has given himself for us than to give him ourselves, all we have, and all we are?” (Wesley, A Plain Account of Christian Perfection).
Discrimination means we are to be in the world and not of it, trying to eradicate the world within us—that is clinging to the passions and rejecting the wickedness of the world, “let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of flesh and of spirit, making holiness perfect in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 7:1).
The purification of the heart extends outward, casting off the defilements of our flesh and spirit: possessions and attachments so we are not ruled by the things of this world which would move us away from our desire. We are called to be ruled by nothing but God and our journey toward Him; we are ruled by this journey and that journey is facilitated by discernment.
The discriminating eye can evaluate whether what we have is pushing us to Him or gathering the dust from which we came and the dust that we shall become once again unless we walk the narrow road to Life.
This means not involving ourselves with people with no direction, this is not strictly Christian, this includes all spiritual paths, people with no goals; the people who do not open themselves up to a reality greater than themselves, these are people who we must distance ourselves from because they will drag us down,
“We should therefore pay no attention to such as are deceived by sensory things, and should not uncritically follow those who remain attached to what is worldly because they have never given thought to spiritual realities” (St. Neilos the Ascetic, The Philokalia).
This does not mean we are moving away from everything to go pray in a cave or join a monastery, though there is room for those who have advanced spiritually to do such a thing. We are, however, not spiritually advanced and to leave the world in this way would be an outward showing of spiritual pride and delusion. What discernment really means is setting forth a goal while acknowledging our own fallen nature and by God’s grace we try moving away from what we recognize as inflaming that fallen nature instead of that which helps us overcome it.
In sobriety especially, it is detrimental to do what was once done when actively participating in addiction—it is counterproductive to assume that we can lead a life similar to that we lived before putting down our substance of choice. We go to the same bars, the same houses, and be around the same people. Good luck with that. It is ridiculous to think that we are strong enough to handle the temptations that arise when visiting our old familiar spots that we must have nothing to do with. One trying to attain nirvana, or the kingdom of heaven has as much reason to be among those who have no direction nor given any thought to spiritual realities as someone in recovery has reason to be at a coke party…
It is not being strong; it is being reckless; it is being disrespectful to our own path to fall into behavior and environments that used to call us home when we had no direction and were spiritually blind.
These places are not our home anymore.
It is an unfortunate aspect of recovery where we must move away from the things of this world, the things that we used to enjoy, so that we have the best chance at recovery and a full life.
How much more needs to be said about the royal road?
To follow the royal road is recognizing that the world is not our home, either.
We do not belong to the world; we belong to God. We are nothing without God and as such we are realized through participating in Him, cultivating our lily among the thorns, “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin… therefore do not worry… but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:28/31/33).
Let us not be overcome by the world but let the grace of God grant us righteousness by purifying our hearts and minds of attachments, cleansing our perception and stepping into a discerning right view.
“The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If, then, the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! (Matthew 6:22-23).
Si comprehendis, non est Deus
Witness, NM 