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Shorter Rules
St Basil the Great, tr. Lowther Clarke, 1925
306. Rule 306: How Does One Avoid Wandering Thoughts?
By making one’s own the mind of David the chosen one, who in one place said: I saw the Lord always before me, for he is on my right hand, that I be not shaken”1; and in another place: “My eyes are ever looking unto the Lord, for he shall draw my feet out of the snare”2; and in another: ‘Behold even as the eyes of servants are unto the hands of their masters, as the eyes of a maidservant unto the hands of her mistress, so are our eyes unto the Lord our God.”3 And in order that we may take diligent heed to accomplish greater things by the example of something less, let each man consider how, whatever his rank among the bystanders, even if he enjoys equal honour with them, he is anxious to avoid condemnation, both in standing and walking and the movement of every limb and in utterance. As therefore in our dealings with men we strive to preserve the outward decencies; so also do we and far more so if we are convinced that we have God viewing us, ‘trying hearts and reins,”4 as Scripture says, and that the only begotten Son is fulfilling the promise: Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them”5; and that the Holy Spirit is presiding and distributing His gifts and working; and that the angels are watching each of us according to the word of the Lord: “See that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you that their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven”6—if a man realises this, he has a manifold and vehement struggle to achieve a piety pleasing to God, and so concentration of mind is secured with keenness and exactness. Moreover so also does he if he is zealous to fulfil the saying: “I will bless the Lord always: his praise shall be ever in my mouth”7 and “He will meditate in his law day and night8 in order that by steady and continuous meditation and contemplation on the will and the glories of God the mind may find no opportunity of wandering.
Notes
- Ps. xvi. 8.
- Ps. xxv. 15.
- Ps. xxiii. 2.
- Ps. vii. 9.
- Mt. xviii. 20 ἐὰν ὦσι for εἰσίν**.
- Mt. xviii. 10.
- Ps. xxxiv. 1.
- Ps. i. 2.