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- Jun 19, 2008
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But if we have food and clothing; we will be content with these; 1 Timothy 6:8.
To be obsessed with smart clothes, and to be known as someone with this obsession, is frankly as shameful as chumming about with harlots, or seducing other men’s wives! What earthly difference does it make to anyone with an ounce of sense, whether he wears a luxurious robe or a cheap workman’s coat, as long as it keeps him warm in winter and cool in summer?
It’s the same principle everywhere else. We mustn’t surround ourselves with more abundance than need requires, not to be so fixated on the body that our soul starves. It’s just as disgusting for a man (if he even deserves the name) to be neurotic about smart clothes and mollycoddling his body, as it is to be infected with any other moral failing. The man who spends half his time trying to render his body gorgeous neither knows himself nor understands that wise precept: “What you can see of a man is not the true man. We need higher wisdom to enable us to recognize ourselves.” But unless we sanctify our minds, this will be as impossible as a dozy-eyed man gazing into the sun.
This sanctification of our souls, generally speaking, and to put it in language anyone can understand, is all about holding cheap the mere pleasures of the senses. So we don’t feast our eyes on the silly shows of performers, not ogle human bodies to excite sensual pleasure. We don’t allow immoral songs to pour in through the ears and drench the soul. Shameful and smutty passions are naturally stirred up by this sort of music. No, we promote a different kind of music, noble itself and leading to what is noble – the sort of music by which David, the poet of the sacred songs, emancipated King Saul from his madness.
Basil of Caesarea (330-79)
To be obsessed with smart clothes, and to be known as someone with this obsession, is frankly as shameful as chumming about with harlots, or seducing other men’s wives! What earthly difference does it make to anyone with an ounce of sense, whether he wears a luxurious robe or a cheap workman’s coat, as long as it keeps him warm in winter and cool in summer?
It’s the same principle everywhere else. We mustn’t surround ourselves with more abundance than need requires, not to be so fixated on the body that our soul starves. It’s just as disgusting for a man (if he even deserves the name) to be neurotic about smart clothes and mollycoddling his body, as it is to be infected with any other moral failing. The man who spends half his time trying to render his body gorgeous neither knows himself nor understands that wise precept: “What you can see of a man is not the true man. We need higher wisdom to enable us to recognize ourselves.” But unless we sanctify our minds, this will be as impossible as a dozy-eyed man gazing into the sun.
This sanctification of our souls, generally speaking, and to put it in language anyone can understand, is all about holding cheap the mere pleasures of the senses. So we don’t feast our eyes on the silly shows of performers, not ogle human bodies to excite sensual pleasure. We don’t allow immoral songs to pour in through the ears and drench the soul. Shameful and smutty passions are naturally stirred up by this sort of music. No, we promote a different kind of music, noble itself and leading to what is noble – the sort of music by which David, the poet of the sacred songs, emancipated King Saul from his madness.
Basil of Caesarea (330-79)
