Remember
in the Star Wars movies, how various emotions were able to throw different
characters over to “the Dark Side of the Force”? Anger, hate, vengeance,
competition, ambition, greed, even an excess of sexual passion or selfishness
therein. (Recall that Jedi Knights are supposed to be celibate – like some
quasi-monastic mystical police force – and how marrying Padme – secretly and
against Jedi advice – was a big wrong turn for Anakin Skywalker on his way to
becoming Darth Vader.)
These are
some of the passions Orthodox Fathers and Mothers of the Church, and other
Orthodox, talk about, and how they push us, as if from outside ourselves, in
directions we don’t want to go, or shouldn’t want to. They’re not afraid to say
an aim of Orthodox self-restraint and ascesis (asceticism) is a Greek word,
apatheia. This isn’t like the modern meaning of the English word apathy, a bad
thing, but it is a certain equanimity, or tranquility, like that in the Morning
Prayer of the Optina Elders. It’s also illustrated in the story about the
spiritual father who told his spiritual child to go to the cemetery and insult
those buried there, to note their response, then to go back and praise them, and
note their response: like we should be dead to both praise and insult.
Passionlessness
is another word used in this discussion, appropriately enough. Again, not that
you don’t devote yourself to whatever you’re supposed to be doing in life –
what Americans usually mean by “passion” today (in the non-romantic, non-sexual
meaning, anyway) – but actually, that you don’t devote yourself to what you’re
not supposed to be doing in life, if you get my drift.
This can
sound kind of Zen, and of course, self-restraint, self-discipline are important
parts of many religions for their serious practitioners. (In fact, I have heard
that the most common use of the word jihad in Muslim literature isn’t as an
analogue to Western Christian crusade, but spiritual struggle with oneself.)
But the big difference with Buddhism is that our goal isn’t nothingness, but
ongoing repentance, trying to come closer to the (Tri-)Personal God in His
Energies/Activities. We’re not supposed to act ‘out-of-control’ like animals;
and Adam and Eve, before they fell, were in-control of themselves, not
controlled by passions – perhaps even leading up to and during marital
relations!* – until the serpent tempted them, tricked them, and they submitted
to him and their passions instead of to the God Who loves them.
(*The
Fathers are not all in agreement on whether Adam and Eve had relations before
the Fall. But it seems to me they
were married: “What God has joined….” Also compare Genesis 1:28, 2:24, 3:16-17,
4:14, 5:3. For what it’s worth.)
Source: https://eorthodox.wordpress.com/2007/05/26/star-wars-and-orthodoxy/
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