What qualities do those born in the year of the Rabbit/year of the Cat have? Habits and character traits, basic inclinations, advantages and disadvantages. Talismans for people born in the year of the Rabbit. With what signs Chinese Zodiac those born in the year of the Cat converge.

Year of the Cat/Rabbit in the 20th and 21st centuries: 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011, 2023.

General description of the Rabbit/Cat sign

Rabbits are very wary of life; it is impossible to drag them into any adventure. They will check if the iron is turned off ten times, and only then will they leave the house. The rabbit attracts with its modesty; it is always neatly dressed and behaves with dignity. Despite his apparent isolation, the Cat is very sociable. People are drawn to him because he is an excellent conversationalist and can support any conversation.

The main advantage of someone born in the year of the Rabbit (Cat) is that he not only speaks, but is also an excellent listener. He will allow you to speak out, pour out your soul, and then give wise advice. Of course, only if you ask. The rabbit is very tactful, so it will not teach you life if you don’t want it. The cat cannot be called the life of the party; he is rarely the ringleader, but his absence is always noticeable. This is his talent - to stand out without attracting attention.

The Rabbit is the most friendly and peace-loving sign of the eastern horoscope. Aggression is alien to him, quarrels and conflicts exhaust him. He always strives for order and harmony, so his company is warm even in the most severe frost. The Rabbit always looks for the cause of any conflicts within itself, and knows how to put itself in the place of another.

The cat loves his home very much and makes great efforts to make it safe and cozy. He always has everything sorted out, he does not tolerate chaos and disorder. He treats his loved ones very kindly, but cannot stand their criticism. Being a very sensitive person, she takes everything too personally.

The Cat/Rabbit is very sensitive to the grief of others, he tries to help everyone he can. But he expects help in return when he needs it. Those born this year prefer to be among people when their hearts are heavy.

Cat/Rabbit in love and marriage

Rabbits do not like change, so they are very careful when choosing a partner; they prefer long-term, stable relationships. They prefer to marry once and for life. The cat is enraged by anything that disturbs the harmony in his space, so he tries to choose a calm partner.

Male Rabbit

They are gallant and seductive, they know all the rules of courtship and are able to conquer any girl. Their intelligence and sense of humor will not leave anyone indifferent. They expect loyalty, decency and the ability to avoid unpleasant situations from their partners. The Rabbit man will create a family only with a housewife who will wait for him from work and feed him a delicious dinner. The Cat is not interested in frivolous, superficial young ladies.

The Rabbit man is very patient and forgives his chosen one for many pranks, but if his patience runs out, in a fit of anger he will remember all his grievances to her. The problem with these men is that they are too jealous, and this can greatly ruin their relationship. Rabbit men are afraid of change in family life, so they often continue to live with their partner, even if it’s not at all sweet for them.

The Cat man has many friends, but he will never leave his wife alone for the sake of a fun get-together with them. Women are attracted by the kindness of the Rabbit man, who will always feed a street kitten and offer help to an old woman with heavy bags. The children of these men simply adore them; they become the best fathers for their children.

Rabbit Woman

She adheres to traditional views on relationships and will never take the first step. The Cat Lady is very modest, and sometimes she has to wait a very long time before someone shows interest in her. This woman can only be attracted to serious man, womanizers and partygoers are not suitable for her.

Often a woman born in the year of the Cat gets married without experiencing great love to a partner. She does this only in order to finally find stability in her personal life and feel comfort and security. The Rabbit woman is afraid of the world around her; it seems unpredictable and unsafe to her, so she expects fidelity and devotion from her partner. Cat women themselves are the most reliable life companions. Since childhood, they have dreamed of marriage and see themselves primarily as a wife and mother.

Representatives of this sign are very timid, and it takes them a lot of time to learn how to express their feelings for their partner. Sometimes, even years later, the Rabbit woman will be embarrassed to show her love. She will be an excellent partner for a man who values ​​constancy and does not need affectionate words and hugs. The Rabbit woman experiences loneliness very hard, as she needs to take care of and look after someone.

Catwomen rarely express their dissatisfaction, usually all negative emotions kept inside, silently swallowing grievances. They try in every possible way to hush up the family conflict and continue to pretend that everything is fine. A good feature of a lady born this year is that she will never discuss her husband with her friends and will not undermine his authority. These women generally do not wash dirty linen in public. Her children are always neat and polite, she teaches them to distinguish bad from good. But even to her offspring she does not show maternal affection.

Cat/Rabbit at work

The Rabbit's diplomacy and tact make him indispensable in the team. He is the one who is able to create a friendly atmosphere at work, smoothing out sharp corners. His easy-going character and ability to feel his interlocutor promise him success in negotiations. It is not surprising that he is entrusted with attracting business partners and concluding contracts.

Most Cats are born with an entrepreneurial spirit. They have a nose for profitable projects. Often Rabbits find themselves in trading, investing, but never invest a large sum straightaway. They prefer to move towards their goal slowly but surely, avoiding major risks. As a rule, Rabbits are very economical and always think about their future financial well-being.

We have long been accustomed to every New Year we pass under the sign of one of the symbols of the Eastern horoscope. We find out in advance who will be the patron of the next year, what he promises us, what his character is, how we should celebrate the New Year so as not to anger its owner. On the contrary, with their outfits and New Year's menu We are trying to appease him so that good luck will accompany us in the coming year.

Why did it happen that there are two animals per year and it is generally not clear who should really be honored? Do you know why this or that animal becomes a symbol of the year? If not, then I present to your attention 2 legends that explain the traditions of the Eastern horoscope.

Legend one.

One day Buddha invited him to a feast (on the occasion of his birthday or New Year - there are various interpretations) animals - everyone who wants to come to him. The time was already cold, and on the way to Buddha the animals had to overcome a cold river with a rapid current. Only 12 animals dared to do this. As a reward, Buddha gave each of them one year of reign.

The Rat came first- she got the first year of the twelve-year cycle. True, they say that the cunning Rat, not wanting to get wet in ice water, asked Buffalo to transfer her to the other side. He agreed out of the kindness of his heart, and while he was shaking himself off on the shore, the Rat quickly jumped off his back and appeared before the Buddha first. Buffalo, Thus, came second.

I was already hurrying after him Tiger, who constantly competed with Buffalo. While the eternal rivals were arguing, the next animal reached the shore, but due to the fact that everyone was captivated by the spectacle, they did not take a good look at this animal - either it was a Rabbit or a Cat. After so many years, it is no longer possible to establish the truth.

Fifth turned out to be Dragon, sixth was Snake, came for her Horse.

Fog fell on the river, so eighth guest It was not possible to identify with certainty - definitely it was either a Goat or a Sheep.

Sly Monkey looked at everything that was happening, was convinced of the safety of the event and then ventured on such a trip, so I was given control ninth year.

Tenth got it Rooster. He, of course, could have arrived earlier, but he had been giving instructions to his large family for a very long time.

I ran after him Dog, and the last one was Boar(other sources claim that he sent the Pig in his place). Be that as it may, the last 12th year was in his control.

Second legend.

The Jade Emperor sent his servant to earth to bring 12 of the most beautiful animals to his palace early in the morning.
The first executor of the imperial will met Rat, who was invited to become a guest in the palace.
The servants were also invited Buffalo, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster and Dog.
The “invitation card” remains to be given to one more animal, which was supposed to become Cat. The servant had heard a lot about his beauty, but he could not find the Cat anywhere. Then the servant asked the Rat to tell the Cat that he needed to be with the Jade Emperor early in the morning. The Rat promised to fulfill this order. She found the Cat, who was sleeping soundly in a secluded place, informed him about the upcoming reception and volunteered to wake the Cat early in the morning, since he did not rely on himself to get up early. Returning to her hole and looking at herself in the mirror, the Rat decided that the Cat would perhaps outshine her with his beauty and charm. The insidious Rat did not wake up the Cat, and he was late when the emperor distributed his gifts - to each animal a year of reign in a twelve-year cycle.
And it all happened like this: Rat conquered the emperor with her playing of the pipe and received first year. Buffalo received second for your kindness Tiger for obvious advantages - third, Rabbit got it for a beautiful fur coat fourth, to the dragon the prize went to the most exotic appearance, Snake was rewarded for wisdom, received according to the year of reign Horse and Sheep, for dexterity Monkey became the mistress ninth year, Rooster on the tenth, Dog on the eleventh. The question of who will become the ruler of the last, twelfth year, as they say, “hangs in the air” - There was no cat.
The servant hurriedly descended to the ground and called the first one who came across his path. The first was Pig. And although the emperor did not like her, there was nothing left to do; she was given twelfth year.
Cat rushed to the palace when it was already too late. The Cat was so offended by the Rat that to this day they remain irreconcilable enemies.

These are the two most common legends about animals that are Eastern horoscope are symbols, stewards of each year. The first of them explains why the symbol of the year has variants (Rabbit - Cat, Goat - Sheep), and the second explains why cats are the best hunters of mice and rats.

Based on materials from the site: http://www.svadbavrn.info/content/prazdniki/ng-legent.html

Discrepancies in determining the main animal of the next year there are Chinese and Japanese astrologers. The Chinese claim that 2011 is the year of the Rabbit. The Japanese are sure that this is the year of the cat.Based on materials from interfax.by
Based on materials website http://www.yasnovidyaschiy.ru/vostochnyj-goroskop-na-2011-god.php the opposite is true: 2011 in China is considered the year of the Cat. The Japanese consider this same year to be the year of the Rabbit.

However, in both one and the other horoscope Rabbit and Cat are characterized approximately equally- This is an affectionate and non-conflict, but nimble animal that abhors any risk. Both are known for their ability to “land” on all fours after any fall.

We are used to combining very similar Japanese and Chinese astrology into one, and call it Eastern. And only occasionally are we forced to remember that these are still different teachings. For example, in the year of the Rabbit (Cat), Goat (Sheep), or Pig (Boar).

Based on materials from interfax.by
http://party.obozrevatel.ua/news/26.htm

The coming year 2011 is a “servant of two masters”

It’s so interesting that the stars have aligned this time: the coming year 2011 has two owners - the Cat and the Rabbit. So we will have to please both.

Happy New Year!

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Passion is a personality trait of unaccountable drives, unbridled, unreasonable and excessive desires, excitability, extreme sensuality and emotionality.

Manifestations and properties of Passion

Very often, the concept of Passion refers to unbridled sex. This is not entirely true! Passion comes in completely different directions.

The destructive role of Passion is reflected, first of all, in the fact that it replaces the natural needs of a person and takes their place in Hypertrophied needs and forms.

Passion turns not only into a habit - it becomes a personality trait of the Ego. In our country, in new Russia, when we all escaped from poverty, Passion breaks people. Passion simply morally cripples everything in its path, these are adult single men and women, these are children deprived of one parent. The terrible specter of loneliness haunts modern society.

Passion always causes suffering because it is either insatiable or aggressive towards a person.

Passion turns not only into a habit - it becomes a personality trait. Having had enough of material wealth, like a greedy vampire, a person becomes completely disillusioned with life and degrades.

A direct example and clear proof of the Manifestation of Passion can be cited - the constant increase in the number of women driving cars.
These facts can be completely attributed to the fault of men. This is the Passion that lazy men entrusted! A woman standing next to her replaces the basic natural attitudes of nature. There is a word married - meaning the position of a person, not on the right, not on the left.

Women have become so morally degraded in their material Passion for material assets and in his consciousness that today the remaining function of procreation is the only thing that is somehow necessary only for procreation and nothing more.

The pride that is knocked out of men in childhood by fights with their peers has become characteristic feature women of our time. There are small hopes for that layer of remaining women with the true face of a Woman, laid down by nature, somewhere in the depths of Russia, who may become salvation for the new society.

Passion is a whole bunch of rash and unbridled desires to satisfy your Feelings. This applies to all aspects of a person’s life, both material and emotional. Basically, Passion comes from dissatisfaction with any feeling. Everything that begins with irrational desires and ardent passions for the satisfaction of the senses ends in disappointment and torment. Satisfaction of insatiable Feelings, an unbridled desire to saturate oneself with these emotions of satisfaction, this is the main explanation of Passion. The standard time for transition of Passion to Love or Hate is 3 years

And what about feelings? Let's try to look at their properties and stages of existence. Please note this is very important point understanding and awareness of the entire structure of human life. This affects the concept of the Meaning of Life, because everything is connected with the satisfaction of these feelings and a person’s desire to satiate them.
Feelings, like voracious worms inside a person, live through their six stages - read each word slowly, with a pause, imbued with the meaning, realize the Feelings and your state that they reflect:

Loneliness > Fear > Hunger > Passion > Saturation > Satiety > Disgust > Disappointment > Depression > Fear > Loneliness

Where do disappointments begin in a person’s life? There could be various reasons.
The wrong path in life has been chosen! It may simply be a lack of environment, it may be a lack of maturity and understanding of your parents. School or higher educational institutions They definitely don’t give this!
Ambitious and arrogant young man no one will direct the right way except life itself. He or she makes their own way in life! Therefore, there are tragedies in life, unsuccessful marriages, disappointment and loneliness.

When a person's feelings make a choice on one person, then satisfaction and a state of Happiness comes.
When a person's insatiable feelings, the passion for satisfying them, is the main driving force In life, tragedies happen.

Passion pushes a person to new and new searches, and insatiable feelings, like worms, devour from the inside, bringing neither joy nor happiness.

Passion, as an uncontrollable desire to satisfy all feelings and live a satisfying and fun life at once, pushes people onto a dead-end path in life. Passion is fickle and insidious, but love is patient and blind!

The Driving Force of Fear

For the most part, we are controlled by Fears. The fear of old age and loneliness forces us to accept quick solutions about life in Srasti. A person simply has no time to stop and think about the correctness of his choice. Get married quickly, get married! guided by the slogan - Endure - Fall in love! This is wrong! Oh, those nasty messages and attitudes from the past!
Fear, like an unquenchable thirst, makes a person suffer, causing anxiety and despondency, affecting the emotional sphere, like any pathology of the human soul.

The most standard situation is when a person knows nothing at all. What Passion? What Feelings? And then ask the Universe: “Are you going to beat daddy?” Grunting... there's blood on my nose! Khrya...a child in her arms and alone!

A passionate person who satisfies burning feelings always suffers. Whatever side of life we ​​take, the rule steadily operates everywhere - first Passion and pleasure, then Suffering and Disappointment and Loneliness.
Relationships between a man and a woman have every chance of longevity and stability if they have consistently gone through all the stages from acquaintance to intimacy. Keyword— consistently!

Other manifestations of Stacity

Passion is hatred and non-acceptance of other attitudes and beliefs other than the material and the attitude that my God is in money and he is the best, and faith is the most correct.

Passion loves to set unrealistic and exaggerated goals - to earn millions of dollars and live on the islands, to become the owner of a chain of restaurants.

A passionate person has the same passionate children and wife, passionate food, passionate work, passionate home, in a word, his whole life is pure passion filled with Egoism and Selfishness.
There's never enough free time bad habits increases every day, health goes away, and friendship and love become surrogates for these concepts.

The lives of Passionate people follow the following scenario - Fatigue > Brokenness > Disappointment > Devastation > Lack of understanding > Rejection Ignorance > Degradation

During the period of growth, Passion recklessly takes out mortgages and consumer loans, buys cars and apartments, and recklessly accumulates debts. In a period of recession, forgetting about health and family Happiness, Passion loses Everything and understands that it is necessary to pay. The third period is fatigue from life and psychological or physical breakdown, loss of oneself, despondency, melancholy and disappointment.

The philosopher La Rochefoucauld writes:

Our Passions are characterized by such injustice and such greed that it is dangerous to trust them and one should beware of them even when they seem quite reasonable.

Passion always lives in the future, believing that the emotion of great Happiness is always ahead and this can be achieved with the help of material victory and material independence.

Four energies that are given to man

At birth, the Universe gives a person four vital energies - Health, Feelings, Fears and united energy Family Happiness in the form of a long-term emotional state satisfaction.

A passionate desire is always realized to the detriment of other aspects of life. For example, a person strives to earn as much as possible more money– health and family happiness suffer.

Therefore, you need to be very careful with Passionate desires and goals. Is it worth giving them so much energy to the detriment of other areas of your life? The state of Happiness in Passion is also possible, no one denies this! The question here is how will you pay? This voluptuous satisfaction of your senses is definitely worth a try! Do you have experience in managing these black and dangerous Feelings?

Passion is stable for a long time in a person and Passion does not want to obey the Will and Strength of Character.
Passion is destructive because it replaces the free, open behavior of a person and pushes into the Ego. Passion replaces Good with Evil.
The current level of openness of society, accessibility of everything, is expressed in complete and hypertrophied emancipation. A completely incorrect understanding of the declared freedom of man. Democracy imposed from outside, human technological breakthroughs in various fields and other events that clearly contradict the normal and consistent development of society. All these factors and events accelerate the process of degradation of a person as a Personality.

Social networks and loneliness are the result of the development of computer technology!

There is NO need to talk about culture or morality here. Here there is Passion and life in Passion, Lust and the manifestation of the most cruel Ego.

There is no need to talk about culture in Passion: modern culture mired in direct and indirect depravity. See unexpected manifestations of extremes in society. Look at the news sections - People’s cruelty to each other, cruelty to Animals, cruelty to Parents, Cruelty to oneself. See how Cruelty manifests itself and its definitions here in the article! Cruelty leads to destruction and suicide.

Love or passion? How to distinguish these two concepts and understand your feelings for another person? You just need to listen to yourself and analyze the emotions you experience. Then you will definitely not be mistaken in your assessment.

What is love

According to psychologists, love consists of three components:

• Intimacy is about closeness and a sense of partnership. As the couple gets closer, the intimacy becomes stronger. True, in ordinary life it does not manifest itself in any way, but in a difficult crisis situation it is intimacy that is most strongly expressed.
• Sexual attraction is strongest at the very beginning of a relationship, when people are just getting to know each other. In a long marriage, sexual attraction fades into the background.
• Commitments only become more important over the years. Moreover, this is true both for long relationship, and for short-term ones.

If all three components are present, love can be called ideal. All couples strive for it. Of course, you can achieve such an ideal relationship, but maintaining it long time very difficult. Feelings like this never last long. Of course, if one of the components disappears, the relationship will not end, it’s just perfect love transforms into something else.

Signs of love

How to recognize? Just watch yourself and you will understand everything. A loving person always wants to see the object of his feelings, wants to be as close to him as possible. He has an irresistible desire to be around all the time. Lovers strive to look into the eyes of their loved one. Even if a lover makes a speech in front of a huge audience, subconsciously he will look for the eyes of his beloved to look into them and understand how he or she feels about what was said.

A person in love strives to show his beloved signs of attention, to do pleasant things for him. You can recognize a person who is in love by the willingness with which he provides services to you. If a person is in love, he will readily fulfill your request, but an indifferent person will find a thousand reasons to get out of even the easiest task.

Over time, as a couple grows closer and gets to know each other better, more serious signs of love may be noticed. One of the first is intimacy. Loving people do not put on a mask; they can sympathize and rejoice with their loved one. Lovers also experience jealousy, without it, too. It is important that it does not turn into manic obsession. The most important feeling in love is self-sacrifice. Maybe, loving person and does not shower you with daily attentions, gifts and compliments, but if he is ready to immediately rush to the rescue at your call, rest assured that his love is real.

What is passion

An intense desire to possess a person, often regardless of social norms and rules, is usually called passion. Passion itself becomes the meaning of a person’s life. It is typical that a person only wants to possess the object of his passion physically, and we are not talking about tenderness and care here.

To some extent, passion is one of the components of the feeling of love. It is included in the concept of sexual attraction. But on its own, without intimacy and commitment, passion destroys both people.

Signs of passion

The feeling of passion is based entirely on physical attraction and the desire to possess. At the same time, a person does not think about the real state of things. In his imagination, the object of worship is a person without flaws. This explains that the feeling of passion passes very quickly as soon as a person begins to realize that his partner is very far from the ideal depicted in the imagination.

Let us list the main signs of passion:

• A person is only interested in his partner's appearance.
• Conversations on any topic are not attractive, they are only interested in sex.
• A person is not inclined to talk about his real feelings; all his thoughts are focused on his own fantasies.
• Immediately after sex, a person tends to leave rather than spend some time together.
• Your union is more like a relationship between lovers than friends.

Passion and love: how to distinguish

First, decide how you or your partner position themselves in your relationship. Love is characterized by the desire to give pleasure to a partner. If a person experiences only passion, he is concentrated only on his desires. Passion is based only on physical attraction and disappears very quickly. Not here we're talking about about mutual understanding, kinship of souls and mutual respect.

Passion is characterized by strong emotions; a person in such a state cannot think about anything other than the object of his worship. Love is a more meaningful and calm feeling. Love is characterized by interest in a person’s personality, and not just in his appearance. Passion lives one day at a time. A person subject to passion does not think about long-term relationships and their development. He is ready to actively pursue the object of his desire, despite all circumstances.

A loving person can experience pleasure even from simple communication and talking on the phone. For passion, the most important thing is the satisfaction of sexual needs.

Priest John Pavlov

52. What are passions

The expression “passion” is often found in the works of the holy fathers. For example, it says that we must fight passions and achieve dispassion. What should we understand by the word “passions”? We certainly need to understand this issue, otherwise we will not be able to correctly understand the patristic creations, and without understanding them we will not be able to lead a correct Christian life.

So what are passions? Passions are a perversion of the natural forces, abilities and aspirations of human nature. God gave man many powers and abilities. These powers were given to him so that he could use them for good. But alas, any, even the highest, gifts of God can be perverted, and then instead of good they bring evil and instead of benefit - harm and destruction. Elder Paisius the Svyatogorets says that if a person is not attentive to himself and does not use his strengths and abilities for good, then the devil comes to him, who perverts these abilities and begins to use them for his own purposes. That's when our natural properties become passions.

Let's give examples. Man has by nature the ability and need to eat, to accept food from outside to maintain life. There is nothing bad or reprehensible about this. The bad and reprehensible begins when a person takes possession of a painful addiction to food, when he becomes its slave, when he begins to live in order to eat. That’s when food turns from a sinless need into a passion for gluttony.

Another example: a person has the capacity for carnal love and reproduction. And his body has all the forces necessary for this. If they are used in a legal marriage and for their intended purpose, then there is no sin in it. But alas, people often pervert the order established by God and begin to use them for fornication, adultery, perversion, excesses and the like. And in this case, natural forces turn into the worst passions and vices.

Gluttony and fornication, which we spoke about, are passions related to the bodily component of human nature. However, a person also has a soul, and it also has its own powers and abilities. When they are perverted, they also become passions.

For example, the desire for perfection is embedded in the human soul, for high fortunes, to greater opportunities. In its correct and pure form this desire is legitimate. However, very often the devil perverts it, and then it becomes the most dangerous and disastrous passion - pride, conceit, arrogance. The famous spiritual father, schema-abbot Savva, wrote to one of his spiritual children: “It is not surprising that the devil easily plunges a person into pride. After all, our soul is created in the image and likeness of God, pure, bright, fragrant with virtues. And by its nature the soul strives for everything good, noble, sublime. She always wants to be among the first. I want to achieve perfection and bliss as soon as possible! Well, tell me, my friend, aren’t these impulses of the soul commendable? Of course, commendable! But... the poor inexperienced soul will not have time to come to his senses when, from the very first steps, he falls into the insidious net of the evil one. And the more she strives for primacy, for perfection... the more and more she will become entangled in the enemy’s networks due to her inexperience..."

This is how the enemy of our salvation works, confusing and confusing a person and imperceptibly planting in him the seeds of disastrous passions. But pride, brothers and sisters, inflicts human soul terrible damage, it amazes deadly poison the deepest and most mysterious sources of her life. Pride truly is “the depths of Satan.”

Let us give more examples of passions. It is human nature to desire to have good name, enjoy love and recognition. The ugly perversion of this desire is the passion of vanity. A person sick with vanity replaces his real state with the opinions of other people about him. He tries in every way to earn approval and praise from the society around him. And for the sake of this, he is even ready for unsightly things, for recklessness, for sin.

Let's move on. Some energy, some special force is invested in a person’s soul, allowing him to firmly adhere to the desired line of behavior, overcome obstacles, push away everything evil, wrong, bad, bring what he started to the end, defend the right position, and the like. This energy is, as it were, an internal strength of character, and it is given as a weapon and protection - so that we can defend ourselves from the evil warring against us. This force should be directed at invisible enemies, at obstacles in virtue, at everything evil, sinful, and nasty. But at the instigation of the devil, we often pervert this power, direct it in the wrong direction, and then it becomes a passion of anger and irritability. An angry person directs the natural energy of the soul not towards evil, not towards obstacles in virtue, but towards people, towards his neighbor. This use of it is tantamount to as if some soldier in battle began to shoot not at the enemy, but at his comrades.

Let's give another example. Man by nature has a desire for well-being, for provision of various benefits. On earth, the means of achieving prosperity is material wealth. And if a person is not careful, but becomes excessively attached to this wealth, then the sinless natural desire becomes a disease and perversion. The names of this disease are known to everyone: greed, stinginess, love of money.

So, we see that passions are nothing more than a perversion of the aspirations, abilities and forces of human nature. These powers and abilities themselves, when used correctly, are not a sin. They become sins from abuse. “It is not food that is evil, but gluttony,” says St. Maxim the Confessor, “not childbearing, but fornication, not money, but the love of money, not glory, but vanity.”

Every passion is a disease, and therefore it brings harm to a person. The harm caused by passions can be small, or it can be great. Sometimes it can be fatal. Harm from passions occurs for the reason that, like any disease, passions destroy the order and structure of human nature created by God, disrupt it correct condition. “Since passions are not natural to the human soul,” says St. Theophan the Recluse, “but enter into it as a result of our love of sin, then because of this unnaturalness they will torment and torment the soul. It's the same as someone who takes poison. This poison burns and torments the body because it is contrary to its structure; or as if someone put a snake inside himself, and it, remaining alive, gnawed at his insides. So passions, like a snake and poison, taken inside the soul, will gnaw and torment it.”

The torment of passions does not leave a person, even when his body dies. On the contrary, during the transition of the soul into eternity it becomes incomparably more terrible than it was on earth. According to Abba Dorotheus, “being in this body, the soul receives relief from its passions and some consolation: a person eats, drinks, sleeps, talks, walks with his kind friends. When it leaves the body, its soul remains alone with its passions and therefore is always tormented by them; filled by them, it is scorched by their rebellion and tormented by them.”

One of the most dangerous properties of passions is that they take possession of a person and turn him into a slave. You can see as much evidence of this in life as you like. Quite often people are unable to cope with their passions. Everyone knows, for example, that a drunkard is a slave to the bottle, and he cannot free himself from its power on his own. Even more unfortunate slaves are drug addicts or, for example, people addicted to gambling. Sometimes you have to be horrified how some adult, respectable man, the father of a family, being obsessed with a gaming passion, loses not only all his savings, but also his car, his dacha, and his apartment on some completely brainless slot machines. By doing this, he knows perfectly well that he is putting his wife and children at risk and is derailing his life, but he cannot help himself, because passion controls him.

One more thing should be said: dangerous property passions - they know how to hide well and take on the appearance of good deeds and qualities. The given examples of alcohol, drug and gaming addiction are external, rude and obvious manifestations of passions for everyone. However, there are much more subtle cases when recognizing one or another passion in oneself can be very difficult. “Passion lives secretly in people who lead an absent-minded, inattentive life,” says St. Ignatius Brianchaninov, “for the most part they are satisfied with them, for the most part they are justified, - they are often recognized as the purest, most sublime virtues.”

Or another example: a person often goes on pilgrimage trips to holy places. Many praise him for this and consider him pious. However, piety is not always the reason for frequent pilgrimage. It happens that a person goes on pilgrimage simply wanting a change of scenery, a break from his family, and listening to church news and rumors. And sometimes it happens that he goes on these trips out of the same vanity - so that people think and speak well of him.

Let's give another example. Often passions such as anger, malice, hostility towards people are poured out under the pretext of caring about maintaining order, legality, some rules, and the like. Outwardly, from the point of view of the law and human rules, we seem to be right: we want everything to be as it should be, we correct the disorder, we restore justice. However, according to God’s judgment we find ourselves guilty, because the main acting force in this case, it is precisely our passions: anger, irritation or hostility. For example, this situation. Some person violated the established order in the temple: he put a candle in the wrong place, or he sang with the choir, or a woman came without a scarf. And so we rush to this man with reproof. It seems to us that we are doing the right thing: we care about maintaining order in God's temple. However, in fact, almost always, through such denunciations, the way out is nothing other than our passions. After all, the saints behaved completely differently in such situations. Some elders once came to the Monk Pimen the Great and asked: “If we see a brother dozing in church, would you order us to wake him up so that he does not doze off at the vigil?” He said to them: “As for me, if I see my brother dozing, I will lay his head on my lap and calm him down.” This is what people do in whose hearts, instead of passions, the love of God abides.

And another example: often our passions come out under the pretext of such an important and good deed as raising children. It happens that we get angry with children, shout at them or even hit them. It may seem to us that this is how we educate them, but in fact, very often in such cases we simply take out our anger, irritability and Bad mood. And it is precisely these passions, and not at all concern for education, that are the active cause of our behavior.

The Holy Fathers teach that through passions the devil gains power over a person. And our goal is to free ourselves from his power while we live on earth. To free yourself from it, you need to cleanse yourself of passions, to achieve the so-called state of dispassion. In our spiritually homeless times, people usually misunderstand what dispassion is. For modern man this word is associated with some kind of cold detachment and icy indifference. Such a concept, of course, has nothing in common with what the holy fathers understood by dispassion. Dispassion for them is, firstly, the absence of passions, and secondly, the presence of virtues opposite to these passions. That is, a dispassionate person is one who does not have pride, greed, envy, malice, fornication, gluttony and the like, but has humility, generosity, generosity, love, purity. From this it is clear that a person who has achieved Christian dispassion is not in a state of icy indifference, but, on the contrary, is full of love, participation, and compassion.

So, all Christians are called to fight their passions. And in order to start this fight, they first need to recognize their passions. From everything that has been said, we have seen how subtle and imperceptible the actions of passions can be in a person. Therefore, in order to recognize the passions, an attentive Christian life is required of us - we must not sleep, but be spiritually awake. According to Saint Ignatius, “only a true Christian, constantly paying attention to himself, studying in the Law of the Lord day and night, trying to fulfill the Gospel commandments with all care, can see his passions.”

Let us try to be attentive in our spiritual life, brothers and sisters! Let's look into the depths of our hearts, let's observe what happens there, what reasons prompt us to this or that activity. For only in this case will we be able to see the secret diseases of our soul, and having seen them, fight against them and defeat them. Amen.