In the way people perceive spiritual things, coarseness is generally noticeable: they represent everything heavenly in a carnal way. Instead of seeing carnal objects in the spirit, in the light, they drag everything spiritual, so to speak, to earth, directing them to their perishable forms. A striking example of this is seen in the state of some of the apostles. They were surrounded by miraculous events and guided by a Divine Teacher; but while in His word all that is carnal is spiritualized, in their words all that is spiritual is earthen, for example, in their petition to sit at the right hand and at the right hand of Jesus Christ. The Holy Scriptures call this state covered. This veil is our flesh, which, according to Solomon, weighs down the soul. People do not at all place the goal of knowledge in heaven: such a distance is not according to them. The most sublime goal of philosophers and poets is to live in posterity, to gain fame among their contemporaries, and that their successes should be known in heaven, the clever earthly do not think about this, and indeed cannot do so. But even this goal, which in their opinion is lofty, is not set by many; and the greater part of them are limited to immediate gains, such as the sale of their writings, the love of money.

 The faculty of judgment consists in comparing two things or concepts. It borrows the matter of comparisons from impressions which are either stored in the memory, or at the present time strike it. But this ability in people is also erroneous and weak, because it compares two things without being able to. This inability is constantly expressed, for example, in the comparison of the temporal with the eternal, the Divine with the human, and in the preference of the latter to the former. In the life of Jesus Christ we see that the Jews, for example, compared Him as teachers with their teachers, while He was perfectly holy, and in the Pharisees, their teachers, righteousness was for the most part counterfeit. That is why they held on to their teachers, but rejected Jesus Christ. That is why Jesus Christ said to them more than once: "Judge righteous judgment, do not look at faces." That is why the Evangelist John, at the end of his Gospel, as if trying to give himself an account of why the Jews did not believe in the Son of God, turns to prophecy and says (John 12:38) that they did not believe, but Isaiah says: "Blind" God... "Their hearts..." In the moral life of man, the same ability to judge sensibly is noticeable. The natural man not only falls himself, but wants to drag others with him into the fall, wants his errors to become general. If someone does not share some prejudice with such a person, he considers him completely incapable of judging. In its direction, the faculty of judgment usually tends to where it should not. Man is closest to delving into himself; for this purpose a court was instituted within it, but the natural man does not like to sit in this court; his case is almost settled, that he is good and right, and therefore he exercises his ability to judge more in the judgment of others, and even in the judgment of God. Listen to general conversation, to general gossip: the most stupid people become witty in judging the ends and motives of certain actions of others. In people who are engaged in science, the desire to judge the judgments of God is revealed most of all. There is a well-known example when a philosopher condemned God for allegedly creating the world badly, and said that He Himself would have created it much more perfectly. Anyone who has carefully read people's writings about nature or the world may have noticed that for the most part people approach the world not as a Divine creation: they walk inside this huge building, and leave it, sometimes never even remembering that there is a Master in it. They look at things as existing in themselves, they do not see the Creator in nature; and sometimes the things themselves, having gone out of patience, so to speak, from this coldness of man, push the wise men to the true path. In spite of his great desire to judge everything, when the truth is revealed, man seems to lack judgment; he does not know what to do in such a case, and misses such phenomena. For example, in the life of Jesus Christ, how many took advantage of His appearance and miracles? In these cases, a person's mind becomes stagnant and, as it were, immovable. Ignorance, or some prejudice, is one of the favorite principalities on which the mind rests in such cases. Preach, for example, the faith of the Mohammedans: as many as thousands, without reasoning, will answer you with one voice: so our fathers believed, so shall we believe. And where better to judge than here?

 The faculty of inference suffers from the same ailment. The Apostle says of the Gentiles that they are vain in their thoughts (Romans 1:20). Διαλογισμος, used in this passage by the Apostle, means the same as inference. How vain are these thoughts, and without the complaint of the Holy Scriptures, one can see by experience. Philosophy gave rise to many skeptics and sophists in antiquity. On the one hand, these people show pride in the overthrow of all previous systems; on the other hand, they hesitate in the most pitiful way themselves, questioning everything. What is this pleasant activity, what is this gratifying exercise? At the same time, they also imagined the funniest things in their logical toys, and all these absurdities were produced by excessive hope in their speculations... In the modern world, this disease has yielded the same results. It is enough to point to Fichte's system alone. As a result of such experiments, not only "the Lord is the message that human thoughts are vain," but also people themselves begin to see this. That is why a clever philosopher recently said at the end of his work that logic, if given absolute value and importance, est scientia non veratatis, sed errorum. And Carpe has the idea that logic is only the instrumentum of truth, and does not give the truth itself. How many errors occur when truth is demanded of logic! For this reason the Scriptures directly say that "obstinate thoughts are separated from God" (at leisure it is useful to read Schad's work: De libertate mentis humanae; it shows how philosophers fell into error, hoping for their syllogistic).

 After this, if we ascend to the very top of human faculties, to the mind; then even there will not be much that is gratifying for the student of human nature. Scripture says that in man there is a light that enlightens every man who comes into the world, that is, the mind, and that this light remains with man for life; but at the same time it says that this light is sometimes eclipsed. The entire first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans consists of complaints about this. Experience, on the other hand, shows that the ideas of the mind, these universal notions, which are supposed to be the seeds of all truths, are now so deeply hidden and repressed, that many people, even those who think, do not recognize their existence at all. For example, how many philosophers were there before Plato discovered the ideal world? And although all these philosophers had ideas, as did Plato; but they did not present themselves to them; That is why they turned to the elements of the world: air, fire, earth, water... After long experiments, these ideas finally began, so to speak, to be dug up, purified, peered into their meaning; But even here it was not without a dispute. Some said that they were innate, others that they were accidentally formed in the soul. And when philosophers appeared who admired them, invited them to follow them, tried all their lives to convert people to ideas, not many followed their path. And Plato's followers themselves have distorted faith in his ideas: after such an idealist as Plato, it is strange to meet many centuries later any English moralists who set up material principles of morality; even after such an experience, they could not ascend to ideas and base their science on them! The ideas of God, freedom, and peace, which lie deep in the soul, if used in action, bear good fruit, but in the whole history of philosophical systems we see that Kant alone reached these ideas; and he also dwelt only on their proper merit. These ideas cannot be completely damaged: they are remnants of the image of God; Only they are stifled and suppressed by the laboratory of reason, the multitude of memory stores, the figurative memory of the imagination. Another lower principle is the principle of understanding, or syllogisms. They also flow from the mind, but are given to the intellect, so to speak, for its use; these are the principles of unity, the causes of the excluded third, contradictions, and the like. These principles are not corrupted, they have retained their strength; but in their use there is more evil than good. Thus, for example, the principle of unity, which holds the whole intellectual world, when applied to God, produced pantheism (one and all), excluding real multiplicity; when applied to the material world, it gives crude materialism; when applied to the intellectual world, it gives idealism (there is only one spiritual; consequently, everything sensuous, visible is a phantom, a dream). The beginning of the cause makes the world eternal, because it represents the world in a continuous relation of causes and effects. For better information about these principles, one can read Kant's antinomies, how to defend one truth on both sides. Kant did not penetrate the mystery of this error. Hegel showed from what it derives. This is due precisely to the fact that there are higher principles in our soul, and the fruit of this is that the realm of the intellect is the exact opposite of the realm of the intellect. It is good that this is known when it is also known that logic is an inferior region: and if this had been known before, great harm would have occurred. Finally, the fruit of the mind shows that this tree of life is damaged; and judging without any partiality, one can philosophically arrive at the truth that the fruit of the tree of knowledge is nothing but death in various forms. There is no need to condemn all philosophers; it is only necessary to distinguish between what is their own and what is not their own. Some of them wrote well; reassured humanity about the future; but they did so because they followed the syllogistic less than others, and reasoned under the influence of Revelation. Such is Jacobi's philosophy. Others of them were directly guided by the Holy Scriptures. But what happened to those who followed their minds directly? They preached either doubt or indifference to various melodies, and many openly went against everything sacred. A curious phenomenon is now represented by the mental world. This Babylonian pillar (philosophical systems) is already built high, carried behind the clouds, and still the builders are trying to climb higher, where it is difficult to breathe because of the cold; therefore, some of them hasten to descend from this height and warm themselves by the fire of Revelation. Now we have almost reached the limits of human knowledge. Formerly, it was thought that, having reached these limits, they would learn that which God Himself knows no more; but when they reached it, they saw that there was not yet the end, that there was an impenetrable abyss; therefore, we decided that besides our intellectual world, there is also a higher, Divine world, which is still inaccessible to us. The same thing happened to philosophers as sometimes happens to small children, who, living from birth in one place, think that ten versts from their place of residence, for example, where the visible horizon ends, the end of the whole world. And the philosophers formerly thought that their absolutes were superior to all things, but now they are beginning to see that these absolutes are only sublime images of the mind, and that God is above all these images. Consequently, from Him alone we must expect Revelation in order to know Who He is.

 There is much that is theoretical in conscience; it prescribes the law, it administers judgment, but its object is action; it does not judge things, but actions, the actions of people according to the prescription of the law. With it goes hand in hand the testimony of these actions, and at the same time rewards or punishments; and therefore it is already something practical. Its activity is threefold, and can be compared with inference. The first part—what to do—is like a large premise; the second produces a consequence on the action, saying that the action is done, and done freely: this is a lesser premise; the third compares the act with the law and deduces from it rewards or punishments: this is the conclusion. But conscience legislates badly, bears false witness, and gives false sentences. Yet it is something that has been most indelibly preserved in man: the most vicious man has some conscience; only there is a conscience that is sometimes wavering, sometimes completely erroneous; who calls bitter sweet and sweet bitter. If conscience were preserved in all its purity, it would soon see the truth. In legislating, conscience is sometimes silent, or pronounces the law in favor of vice, and neglects the law of righteousness. In witnessing, she testifies for the most part falsely. Judgment is also incorrect: the righteous often do not feel pleasure within themselves, and sinners do not feel remorse.

 The natural man's sense is as corrupt as the other faculties. The human spirit can be called a huge pillar, the height of which reaches God. Feeling is stretched everywhere along the height of this pillar: there is the sense of the Divinity, the instrument that accepts the influence of the spiritual world; it is an instrument that accepts the attachment of intermediate objects, such as truth, goodness, and beauty; there is, finally, a lower feeling, directed towards low, coarse objects. The corruption of feeling can be seen in all these three degrees. How rare and dark is the sense of spiritual peace! How spoiled is the average feeling! There is nothing to say about the latter.

 Will. The spring of the will is the striving that strives to embrace everything that enters the soul and to unite with it. And how boundless is this striving for unity! Nothing in the world can satiate him (this idea is developed by Metropolitan Philaret in his homily on the consecration of the church, from the text: "If Thy dwelling is beloved..."). The will of the natural man has almost no pure desires, especially spiritual ones: as the Apostle says, it smolders in the lusts of the charming. For the most part, the will chooses the most evil means for the attainment of the desired objects. For example, what means did ancient and modern states not use for domination? And people call the most terrible diplomats geniuses!

 Love. In the innocent man there was only love, but there was no lack of love, no disgust, for his soul was turned to God, in Whom there is nothing worthy of lovelessness. But when man fell away from God and fell into the lower, sensual world; then some objects began to appear to him pleasant, others disagreeable: hence love was divided into love and hatred. Love, according to the Apostle Paul, has its height, depth and breadth; the ailments of the human soul are also commensurate with this dimension: the height of love corresponds to pride, the breadth to greed, and the depth to voluptuousness; hence the expression: immersed in sensual pleasures. According to the Apostle, voluptuousness is so pernicious that the lover of sensuality is as if dead alive (1 Tim. 5:6). Sensualists eat a lot to live, but it turns out the opposite. From experience it is evident that many voluptuous people become difficult for themselves. How is covetousness formed? This passion is tied up, as it were, legitimately in the heart. At first, apparently, only the satisfaction of necessary needs, and then passion. Concern for the future, especially for parents, also turns into a passion of covetousness. In all the actions of the proud, the sin of the devil is more or less repeated.

 If these evil inclinations are contrasted with good ones, then will virtues come out, and which ones? They will come out. The opposite of voluptuousness is abstinence or impassibility; covetousness, generosity, or love of poverty; humility to pride. But will not vices also come out of this? If these virtues go beyond their limits, then vices will also come out. Abstinence can turn into a foolish self-mortification; humility into baseness, generosity into extravagance. It is false, then, that virtue is now in the middle; Now everything is perverted. If a person stands in the middle, then evil will certainly draw him to its side; Therefore, a person always needs to go a little beyond the middle to the side of good.

 Мы рассматривали испорченную любовь; но в человеке естественном есть еще нелюбовь — к себе, ближним и Богу. Нелюбовь к себе выражается унынием или скукой и переходит в отчаяние; чувство это владеет человеком даже во время радостных празднеств и общественных увеселений. Святые пустынники и сама Церковь предостерегают людей от уныния; в известной молитве читается: «дух праздности, уныния, не даждь ми». Уныние и при начале вредно, ибо делает человека недеятельным, вялым, но оканчиваться может иногда самоубийством. Нелюбовь к другим выражается холодностью к ним, а иногда доходит до ненависти и явной вражды, посягающей не только на лишение физической жизни другого, но и на лишение вечного спасения, если это возможно. Виды этой нелюбви суть: гнев — страсть временная, и ненавидение — страсть постоянная. Апостол Иоанн весьма сильно выражается об этом предмете: «нелюбяй бо брата», — говорит он, — «пребывает в смерти. Всяк ненавидяй брата своего человекоубийца есть» (1 Ин. 3; 14-15); следовательно, нелюбящий и себя лишает жизни и другого, потому что, в самом деле, если жизнь сердца составляет любовь, то недостаток любви производит смерть. Нелюбовь к Богу выражается холодностью к религии, к Церкви, в высшей степени — явной враждой против Бога. Как многие обрадовались бы, если бы им доказать, что Бога нет!..

 Свобода. Рассматривая вообще человечество, мы не много откроем в нем свободы; да и эта свобода подобна худому судье, который хотя сидит на стуле судейском, но всякий может подкупать его и по своему произволу вертеть в его руках весы правосудия. Посему-то искусный психолог, зная человека, может за несколько времени вперед определить ход и сущность его действий. Итак, нужно возращать в себе свободу; нужно развивать и укреплять ее.

 Сила воли. Мало в человечестве желания и избрания добра, но еще менее исполнения его. У многих вся жизнь проходит в благих начинаниях, в добрых намерениях; а дел нет. Отчего это? Оттого, что воля наша бессильна. Впрочем, это еще отчасти хорошо, ибо что было бы с человеком, если бы при таком состоянии его у него еще была сильна воля? Теперь, если добро исполняется медленно, то и зло часто остается без исполнения; но что было бы тогда — при сильной воле? Важнейшей причиной бессилия воли, по силе общего расстройства человека в падении, служит действие на нее злых духов.

 Воображение. Воображение стоит в душе на пределах между миром телесным и духовным; оно составляет черту, через которую предметы материальные делаются духовными, а духовные — материальными. Отнимите свободу — человек останется без нравственности; отнимите воображение — и весь круг познаний, желаний и чувствований исчезнет. Порча воображения состоит в следующем.

 а) В бессилии его. Самое сильное воображение в настоящем состоянии есть, так сказать, барахтанье младенца в сравнении с действиями мужа. Оттого оно некоторых предметов и представить не умеет. Например, вечность, Бог, мир духовный —такие предметы, которых оно или совсем не воображает, или представляет в грубых формах.