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<blockquote data-quote="MichaelWitcoff" data-source="post: 1263680" data-attributes="member: 16038">On our own, and by our own power, we are capable of basically nothing like this. As Lorenzo Scupoli so eloquently put it...&quot;If you rely on yourself in the spiritual warfare, you will not be able to resist even the smallest attack of the enemy.&quot; I completely agree that trying to &quot;repress&quot; urges leads to problems, but that isn't quite the way to do it (this is where Freud and his followers completely failed, amongst many other areas - they saw it as a battle that people were trying to do on their own, and instead of saying &quot;you need God for this&quot; they went in the opposite direction and said &quot;it's not possible to repress so you should just 'be liberated' instead&quot;).St. Porphyrios gave more actionable advice, writing &quot;Do not fight to expel the darkness from the chamber of your soul. Instead open a tiny aperture for light to enter and the darkness will disappear.&quot;Not that I'm perfect or anywhere close to it (or likely ever will be), but what progress I've been able to make over the last few years has followed this kind of wisdom. You must become humble enough to recognize how powerless you are to overcome the passions on your own, constantly praying and asking God for help and to send His angels to your side. What is impossible for us is effortless for Him, but we can only reap the benefits of this dynamic once we've really come face-to-face with our own weakness (and His love and power by comparison).I believe in one of my last articles for Return of Kings, the one about good resources for Christian men, I mentioned the book &quot;Victory In The Unseen Warfare.&quot; That's the book the Scupoli quote above is from (in the Father Jack Sparks translation/edition), and the entire three-book &quot;Unseen Warfare&quot; series is phenomenal. I can't recommend it enough.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="MichaelWitcoff, post: 1263680, member: 16038"] On our own, and by our own power, we are capable of basically nothing like this. As Lorenzo Scupoli so eloquently put it..."If you rely on yourself in the spiritual warfare, you will not be able to resist even the smallest attack of the enemy." I completely agree that trying to "repress" urges leads to problems, but that isn't quite the way to do it (this is where Freud and his followers completely failed, amongst many other areas - they saw it as a battle that people were trying to do on their own, and instead of saying "you need God for this" they went in the opposite direction and said "it's not possible to repress so you should just 'be liberated' instead"). St. Porphyrios gave more actionable advice, writing "Do not fight to expel the darkness from the chamber of your soul. Instead open a tiny aperture for light to enter and the darkness will disappear." Not that I'm perfect or anywhere close to it (or likely ever will be), but what progress I've been able to make over the last few years has followed this kind of wisdom. You must become humble enough to recognize how powerless you are to overcome the passions on your own, constantly praying and asking God for help and to send His angels to your side. What is impossible for us is effortless for Him, but we can only reap the benefits of this dynamic once we've really come face-to-face with our own weakness (and His love and power by comparison). I believe in one of my last articles for Return of Kings, the one about good resources for Christian men, I mentioned the book "Victory In The Unseen Warfare." That's the book the Scupoli quote above is from (in the Father Jack Sparks translation/edition), and the entire three-book "Unseen Warfare" series is phenomenal. I can't recommend it enough. [/QUOTE]

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