Elias Economou
An Orthodox View of the Ecological Crisis
2.2 Μan's Mind as the Intellectual Factor.
2.2 Basil of Caesarea says that the "«nοus» (mind) is good and in it we have the image according to the Creator" (Letter 233). The human mind is the "throne of the deity, and the throne of our mind is the deity and the spirit" (Macarius the Egyptian, Spiritual Sermons). The human mind has a natural ability to move continually (αεικίνnτος ever- moving), either towards its Creator or away from Him. This first tendency of the human mind has been diminished because of Μan's Fall. Ιn spite of that, there is, after the salvation wrought by and in Christ, an equally balanced tendency between the God-oriented and God-averted mind. But, he who wills and prays seeking help, receives the divine assistance (Macarius the Egyptian). Thus the human mind is not left alone in the world to manage its οwn problems.
All human activities are either solved or not solved by man's way of thinking, which is either God-oriented or not. The Christian thinking is God-oriented, therefore the Christians have to possess a different mentality; "the world of the Christian is different" says Macarius the Egyptian "and his manner and mind and word and action are different". The human mind is God-oriented after the salvation in Christ i. e. after its purification from its sins and after illumination through the Holy Spirit. Through salvation the mind regains its original objectivity, receiving the Creator's grace and behaving properly to His will.
|
