How Much Are Reading, Hearing, and the Senses Affected?
How Much Are Reading, Hearing, and the Senses Affected?
A person’s thought is an important matter in his spiritual life, and thought springs from certain sources and flows into others.
And the senses of a person are the sources of thought.
What he reads or hears generates thoughts for him. What he sees also occupies the mind and thought… The senses convey thoughts to the mind. What the mind thinks about, it conveys to the heart as feelings and emotions. And how easy it is for the feelings of the heart to reach the will, and from it to action…
The senses affect not only the conscious mind, but also the subconscious mind.
What the eye and ear gather, from sights, sounds, and readings, often becomes deeply rooted in the subconscious mind, according to their depth. They later appear as dreams, suspicions, or other thoughts. For thought gives birth to thought, or to many thoughts.
And the mind is always at work; it does not stop…
According to the nourishment you provide to the mind, so are its thoughts…
The senses may bring it good thoughts, and they may bring it evil thoughts… According to the kind of fuel, so is the fire… So take care of your senses, to ensure the soundness of your thought. And ask yourself: What kind of thought is going on in your mind? Is it a spiritual thought, or a sinful thought, or a trivial thought concerning the passing matters of the world??
And the Church uses the senses as a spiritual means:
For example, you find icons in the Church. You stand before the icon and contemplate it, and thoughts come to you about the life of the person depicted, his holiness, his struggles, and his sufferings… We hear about Mahatma Gandhi, the greatest spiritual leader in India: that when he visited France, he stood before an icon of the Lord Christ crucified and wept…
The Church also presents hymns and music to the senses, and they have their effect on the heart and thought. It presents incense, rising upward with a sweet fragrance. It also presents to the eye the white priestly vestments, the lit candles, the movements of the priests and deacons, and the scenes of standing, kneeling, and prostration… All of this brings thoughts to the mind and feelings and emotions to the heart… And so it is with the rest of the Church rites…
In addition to this, there are the readings and their influence:
READINGS
Readings have a great effect on your life and personality.
They can plant principles and values in the soul, according to the type of reading. The young man who reads a great deal about freedom has thoughts planted in him different from the one who reads about duties, commitment, and sacrifice. The one who reads about asceticism, self-denial, and dying to the world has thoughts different from the one who reads about zeal, work, enthusiasm, and struggle… Reading can shape a person’s personality.
*Likewise, reading broadens thought, deepens certain concepts, and increases knowledge. How truthful is the poet who said about reading in history:
Whoever understands history in his heart
Adds lifetimes to his lifetime.
*Reading can keep the mind away from trivialities.
A woman who does not read may know nothing except talking about cooking, clothes, parties, and people’s news, unlike the educated woman who is able to speak about subjects of depth… Likewise, the man who knows nothing but the café, the club, and places of amusement has a superficial personality, and his conversations are of no benefit, or may even be harmful. In contrast is the man who reads, studies, and educates himself…
For this reason, we rejoice in the education of women, and we encourage people to read, even children… And we encourage the establishment of libraries. We ask parents and spiritual guides to direct their children toward the kinds of reading that benefit them and suit them.
*Useful books affect the spirit and lead it to God.
We must never forget how Augustine was affected by his reading of the life of Saint Anthony the Great, which led him to repentance. Likewise, people were affected by the sermons of Saint John Chrysostom and the poems of Saint Ephraim the Syrian. Spiritual people, when they read spiritual books, rise in their level and grow deeper through what they read.
The important thing is for people to choose what is suitable for reading and what is beneficial.
*Reading gives the mind a kind of growth and maturity.
It explains to the mind subjects it did not know, and discusses with it ideas that perhaps it had previously accepted without question, so that it begins to bring them within the scope of dialogue.
What we used to say years ago about the stages of childhood has now changed greatly from before, according to what society presents to the child and young person of information, and what it also presents to the ordinary person. With the increase of printed materials, whether books, newspapers, or magazines, thought has changed from before, according to the type of reading and the type of culture…
The level of knowledge has increased. But what kind of knowledge?
According to your readings is your knowledge, and according to your knowledge your life is affected…
So, what is the type of your readings? I mean, what are the most frequent and deepest things you read? Is it scientific reading and general knowledge? Or reading about politics, economics, and the news? Or reading about crimes, events, and deviations? Or reading about doctrine and faith? Or reading about spirituality? Or asceticism or the lives of the saints…?
What you read will affect you and drive your life in a certain direction.
Do not say, “I am not affected,” for even very powerful minds have been affected.
An example of this is Origen, the greatest theologian of the third century. Over many centuries, he was influenced by his philosophical readings, and by Platonism and Neoplatonism. This appeared clearly in his writings about spirits and their pre-existence. His influence also appeared in what he said even about angels, salvation, and the life to come.. And the Church excommunicated him, and councils excommunicated him..!!
And many who read Western or strange books were influenced by them.
This influence appeared clearly in their thoughts… whether those who deviated toward other denominations, or those who were influenced by philosophical readings, or books on communism and atheism, or other books that plant doubts, such as those who read the books of Jehovah’s Witnesses, or the books of the Adventists and the like…
There are many of this type; I remember them while weeping, as the Apostle said. Perhaps foremost among them was a person who had been first in the Faculty of Theology, and then wrote a book entitled, “Man Is the One Who Created God in His Image”!!
For all of this, the Church prohibited the books of heretics:
It did not prohibit only the heretics, but also their books, because reading them is harmful.. For not every person has the ability to recognize errors and respond to them.
Likewise, it did the same with books of magic and ordered them to be burned. Thus it was said in the Book of Acts of the Apostles: “And many of those who practiced magic gathered the books and burned them before everyone” (Acts 19:19).
For all of this, the libraries in churches should be purified, out of concern for the thoughts of readers and for their faith. Reading should be under guidance.
And whoever presents—by way of spreading knowledge—an erroneous idea should, at the same time, present the response to it, and the response should be strong… Likewise, those who address Biblical Criticism must be strong enough to discuss ideas.
There are many examples of misleading false knowledge:
Perhaps because of this the wise man said in the Book of Ecclesiastes: “He who increases knowledge increases sorrow” (Ecclesiastes 1:18). He means knowledge of things that harm, cause doubt, or trouble the mind. And perhaps concerning that harmful knowledge, Festus the governor said to Saint Paul the Apostle: “Much learning is driving you mad” (Acts 26:24). Of course, he was wronging the saint. This statement did not apply to him. But it can apply to others.
THE PURPOSE OF READING
- There are those who read simply out of a desire for knowledge.
- There are those who read for study and to search for the truth.
- There are those who read prescribed curricula, such as students in universities and schools, in order to succeed and obtain certificates.
- Another type reads for entertainment and pleasure, such as one who reads stories and tales.
- Another reads to train the intelligence, such as one who reads puzzles in order to solve them.
- Another type reads to satisfy a certain desire within himself.
- Another reads to treat himself from a desire or from a pressing thought, by replacing one thought with another, perhaps his reading will move him into another atmosphere of thinking and free him from the thoughts that trouble him, or from the desires that pressure him, or establish a balance in his thinking.
- There are those who read to escape from emptiness or to kill time.
- And there are those who read to deepen themselves in doctrine and faith, or to teach others what they read.
- Another type reads to build himself and to surpass others in knowledge.
- The highest type is the one who reads for his spiritual benefit, so that reading may be spiritually beneficial and become life for him, as the Lord said concerning His words (John 6:63).
So, which type are you? And do you benefit spiritually from your readings?
HOW DO YOU READ?
- First, read with understanding and examination. And do not embrace everything you read.
Many people accept everything they read with automatic conviction, without study and without thought, as though it had been written by inspiration!! But you should place before you the words of Saint Paul the Apostle: “Test all things. Hold fast what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Also the words of Saint John the Apostle: “Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God” (1 John 4:1). And know that “The wise man’s eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness” (Ecclesiastes 2:14). Therefore, do not accept everything. It would be good if you weighed everything you read in the light of the Word of God, which “is able to make you wise for salvation” (2 Timothy 3:15).
*And do not spread everything you read…
For some are not satisfied with merely being affected by certain ideas, but become even more enthusiastic about them to the point that they spread them throughout the entire environment in which they live. Perhaps by doing so they become a stumbling block to others in thought.
*And do not admire every new thing you read.
The important thing is that this new thing does not conflict with the established old principles in the Church that we received from the holy fathers. The Scripture commands us, saying: “Do not remove the ancient landmark which your fathers have set” (Proverbs 22:28), (Proverbs 23:10). Here the strong foundations of the traditional churches appear, which preserve the faith delivered by the saints (Jude 3), and do not add to it anything that contradicts it…
*Let your reading be with humility…
For sometimes “knowledge puffs up” (1 Corinthians 8:1), as the Apostle said. Many people become proud because of their readings and see themselves as having become higher in thought and broader in mind than others. So they become puffed up and exalt themselves above others, describing others as ignorant. Knowledge becomes for them a field for boasting. They lose their humility even in speaking with those who are older than they are.
HEARINGS
You hear a great deal: in public and private meetings, and among relatives, friends, and acquaintances. You also hear through the media: radio, television, videos, and cassettes. But there are two important matters:
You should choose what you hear and control what you hear:
God gave you two ears so that you may hear one opinion and the other opinion. Do not be a slave to one opinion, or to everything you hear. Between your ears God placed the mind to weigh and judge, examine and scrutinize, accept what is beneficial, and reject what is harmful. So do not put your mind in your ears. Do not merely be a listener… And do not believe everything you hear. Rather, examine everything and search for the truth.
Remember that the first sin of humanity came as a result of hearing.
When our mother Eve heard misleading and erroneous words from the serpent, “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field” (Genesis 3:1). King Ahab destroyed himself as a result of hearing wrongful and misleading words from his wife Jezebel (1 Kings 21). And we say in the Liturgy concerning the sinful conspirators, “Disperse their counsel, O God, who dispersed the counsel of Ahithophel”, So let there not be an Ahithophel in your life who harms you…
Let your ear be attentive to beneficial hearing.
To the word of advice, the word of benefit, the sincere word of rebuke, the word of guidance from the wise, and generally to the word that builds… builds you spiritually and intellectually, and establishes you in life with God.
And beware of harmful praise, flattery, or words of temptation…
In hearing, we also must not forget the effect of music.
The Church has cared about hymns and music because they have a deep effect on the soul. The Apostle said concerning this: “Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:19).
May you make praises and hymns among the spiritual means that build you.
And care about chanting and its effect, provided that its melodies are sound and are not taken from worldly songs as some do.
And beware of what some call “brainwashing”.
This occurs when some people fall under the influence of a particular idea, so that everything they previously received, and everyone they believed in and were convinced by, is lost. Countless doubts are planted in them, and other ideas are implanted without giving them an opportunity to know the response or to connect with the other opinion… until, in the end, they emerge as a person completely different from what they were, with a different way of thinking from their original thought in everything…
This is what communism and other doctrines used to do.
Therefore, choose carefully the friends from whom you hear and to whom you listen.
And choose your guides so that they may be righteous guides who rightly divide the word of truth, and who always speak to you with the Word of God.
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