The Soul ~ Three parts (Intelligent, Incensive/Irascible, and Appetitive/Desiring) & the passions

On the soul

St. Gregory Palamas says that the soul is something great, wondrous and superior to the entire world. It overlooks the universe, it has all things in its care, is capable of knowing and receiving God, and has the capacity to manifest the sublime magnificence of the Master Craftsman.[7] We can say this about nothing else in creation. Man has care for the whole universe because his spiritual nature makes him the image of God.

The soul itself can also be broken down into three parts or three energies or three functions. There is the intelligent, incensive/irascible, and the appetitive/desiring aspects. The incensive or irascible aspect is where we talk about wrath, anger, and malice. All of these aspects of the soul are meant to be used properly or in accordance with nature, including anger. How can we properly use anger?

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source:

http://orthochristian.com/94561.html

notes:

The intelligent part of the soul of fallen man is dominated by pride, 

the appetitive part of the soul chiefly by perversions of the flesh, 

and the incensive part by the passions of hatred, anger and rancour.

When a person uses these three powers of his soul unnaturally, 

the result for intelligence is spiritual ignorance, 

for desire self-love, 

and for the incensive power tyranny. 

Thus the person becomes completely enslaved to the devil, and the soul's beauty is spoiled^[21].

St. Maximus details the whole ancestry of self-love, which he arranges in two categories. 

In one category are the passions which lead to sensual pleasure and in the other those which keep pain away. 

In the first category he places the following passions (passions which lead to sensual pleasure): 

gluttony, pride, 

self-esteem, being puffed up, 

avarice, tyranny, 

putting on airs, boastfulness, 

folly, frenzy, 

presumption, conceit, 

scorn, insult, 

impiety, frivolous talk, 

dissoluteness, licentiousness, 

ostentation, light-mindedness, 

stupidity, violence, 

mocking, chatter, 

unseasonable talk, indecent talk, 

and everything else of the sort 

In the second category he places the following passions (passions which keep pain away): 

wrath, envy, 

hatred, enmity, 

rancour, abuse, 

backbiting, slander, 

sorrow, lack of trust, 

despair, disparagement of providence, 

listlessness, indifference, 

despondency, dejection, 

faintheartedness, untimely mourning, 

tears, melancholy, 

lamentation, jealousy, 

envy, spite, 

and every other disposition that lacks any occasion for pleasure

According to St. John of Damascus, the soul has three parts: the intelligent, incensive and appetitive aspects. 

The sins of the intelligent aspect are 

unbelief, heresy, 

folly, blasphemy, 

ingratitude, and "assent to sins originating in the soul's passible aspect". 

The sins of the incensive aspect are 

heartlessness, hatred, 

lack of compassion, rancour, 

envy, murder and "dwelling constantly on such things". 

The sins of the appetitive aspect are 

gluttony, greed, 

drunkenness, unchastity, 

adultery, uncleanness, 

licentiousness, love of material things 

and the desire for empty glory, gold, 

wealth and the pleasures of the flesh. 

The same saint also lists the eight thoughts that encompass all evil, which are naturally linked with the corresponding passions, since it is through thoughts that the sins come into being which develop into passions. 

These eight thoughts are those of 

gluttony, 

unchastity, 

avarice, 

anger, 

dejection, 

listlessness, 

self-esteem 

and pride[35].

St. John of Damascus undertakes to list the passions of the body and those of the soul. 

Those of the soul are 

forgetfulness, laziness and ignorance, by which the eye of the soul is darkened and the soul is then dominated by all the other passions. These are impiety, false teaching or every kind of heresy, blasphemy, wrath, anger, bitterness, irritability, inhumanity, rancour, back-biting, censoriousness, senseless de­jection, fear, cowardice, quarrelsomeness, jealousy, envy, self-esteem, pride, hypocrisy, falsehood, unbelief, greed, love of material things, evil desire, attachment to worldly concerns, listlessness, faint-heartedness, ingratitude, grumbling, vanity, conceit, pomposity, boastfulness, love of power, love of popularity, deceit, shamelessness, insensibility, flattery, treach­ery, pretence, indecision, "assent to sins arising from the soul's passible aspect and dwelling on them continuously". Also wandering thoughts, self-love, the root and source of all evils which is avarice, and finally, malice and guile.

The passions of the body, according to St. John of Damascus, 

are gluttony, greed, over-indulgence, drunkenness, eating in secret, general softness of living, unchastity, adultery, licentiousness, uncleanness, incest, pederasty, bestiality, impure desires and every passion which is foul and unnatural, theft, sacrilege, robbery, murder, every kind of physical lux­ury and gratification of the whims of the flesh especially when the body is in good health. Further bodily passions are: consulting oracles, casting spells, watching for omens and portents, self-adornment, ostentation, foolish display, use of cosmetics, painting the face, wasting time, daydreaming, trickery, impassioned misuse of the pleasures of this world. Further passions of the body are a life of bodily ease, "which by coarsening the nous makes it cloddish and brute-like and never lets it raise itself towards God and the practice of the virtues"[39]..

It is true that the passions of both body and soul are hard to discern. This is because the demons who stir them are usually hidden and we cannot distinguish them. That is why a good therapist is needed, one who knows the hidden inner life and is a vessel of the Holy Spirit in order to discern and cure. This discernment is one of the great gifts of the grace of the Holy Spirit. St. John of the Ladder, referring to the example that often when we draw water from a well it can happen that we inadvertently also bring up a frog, connects this with the virtues. When we acquire virtues we can sometimes find ourselves involved with the vices which are imperceptibly interwoven with them. 

  He offers several examples. Gluttony can be caught up with hospitality; unchastity with love; cunning with discernment; malice with sound judgment; duplicity, procrastination, slovenliness, stubbornness, willfulness, and disobedience with meekness; refusal to learn with silence; conceit with joy; laziness with hope; censoriousness with love again; listlessness and sloth with stillness; acerbity with chastity; familiarity with humility^[56]. It is clear from this that a great deal of watchfulness is needed in order to discover the passions. For we may think that we are being virtuous while we are really working for the devil, cultivating the passions. We must watch out for the frog, which is usually the passion of self-esteem. This passion defiles obedience to the commandments.

According to the same saint, the demon of avarice often simulates humility. And the demon of self-esteem or self-indulgence encourages the giving of alms^[57]. Therefore we must, above all, be watchful to discern the cunning of the demon even while we are cultivating the virtues. He mentions a case in which he had been overcome by the demon of laziness and was thinking of leaving his cell. But when several men came and praised him for leading the life of a hesychast, "my laziness gave way to self-esteem". And then he was amazed by the manner in which the demon of self-esteem stood up against all the other cunning spirits^[58]. Likewise the demon of avarice fights very hard against those who are completely without possessions. When it fails to overcome them, it begins to tell them about the wretched conditions of the poor, thereby inducing them "to become concerned with material things"^[59]. Another point mentioned by the Holy Fathers is the way in which we can detect the presence of passion. The discerning and dispassionate Geron who will look at the impulses of our soul and correct us certainly has an important place. But beyond this we also have other ways of perceiving the presence and working of passions. It is a sign that a voluntary passion is working when a person is upset on being reproached or corrected for it. When he accepts calmly the reproach which comes, it is a sign that "he was defeated or unaware of it"^[60]. In other words the reproach and the upset or calm show the existence of the passion and whether it is volun­tary or not. "The foulest passions are hidden within our souls; they are brought to light only when we scrutinize our actions"^[61].

source:

http://www.oodegr.com/english/psyxotherap/psyxotherap5.htm