CHAPTER6 Unbridled Affections

BOOK1-TABLE OF CONTENTS:
chapter1-imitating-christ-and-despising
chapter2-having-a-humble-opinion-of-self
chapter3-the-doctrine-of-truth
chapter4-prudence-in-action
chapter5-reading-the-holy-scripture
chapter6-unbridled-affections
chapter7-avoiding-false-hope-and-pride
chapter8-shunning-over-familiarity
chapter9-obedience-and-subjection
chapter10-avoiding-idle-talk
chapter11-acquiring-peace-and-zeal-for-perfection
chapter12-the-value-of-adversity
chapter13-resisting-temptation
chapter14-avoiding-rash-judgment
chapter15-works-done-in-charity
chapter16-bearing-with-the-faults-of-others
chapter17-monastic-life
chapter18-the-example-set-us-by-the-holy-fathers
chapter19-the-practices-of-a-good-religious
chapter20-the-love-of-solitude-and-silence
chapter21-sorrow-of-heart
chapter22-thoughts-on-the-misery-of-man
chapter23-thoughts-on-death
chapter24-judgment-and-the-punishment-of-sin
chapter25-zeal-in-amending-our-lives

The Sixth Chapter
Unbridled Affections
WHEN a man desires a thing too much, he at once becomes ill at ease. A proud and avaricious man never rests, whereas he who is poor and humble of heart lives in a world of peace. An unmortified man is quickly tempted and overcome in small, trifling evils; his spirit is weak, in a measure carnal and inclined to sensual things; he can hardly abstain from earthly desires. Hence it makes him sad to forego them; he is quick to anger if reproved. Yet if he satisfies his desires, remorse of conscience overwhelms him because he followed his passions and they did not lead to the peace he sought.

True peace of heart, then, is found in resisting passions, not in satisfying them. There is no peace in the carnal man, in the man given to vain attractions, but there is peace in the fervent and spiritual man