The Heart Follows the Eyes

As for you, keep away from the things devoted to destruction, so as not to covet and take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel an object of destruction, bringing trouble upon it (Joshua 6:18).

What a radical notion. The Israelites are instructed to keep away from certain things so that they will not desire (covet) these forbidden things, for we naturally act (here, take) upon our desires. This verse flies flat in the face of modern psychiatry and should act as warning to us. We must take our instruction not from the endless fads that pass as science, but rather only from God’s unfailing Truth as demonstrated in the Bible.

Modern psychiatry tells us that desires are natural. They are naturally good and they are natural in the sense that we cannot control them. If a certain person no longer feels in love with their spouse or feels in love with another we do not hold them to their marriage vows, for indeed that would be unjust. Modern freedom (as opposed to the classic notion of a virtuous moral freedom—a freedom from, not of, addictive vices and sins) entails the ability to follow ones desires for one cannot control their desires and if one is not free to follow their desires they will never have happiness.

The Bible observes that indeed we follow our passions. ‘The heart follows the eyes.’ (Job 31:7). The heart (the source of our will and choices) is prone to follow our eyes (the source of our desires) and seek after all that we desire. But our desires are not good. We are fallen and depraved, our hearts desire much evil. ‘There is no one that is good, not even one.’ (Romans 3:10).

Because we desire evil things we must learn to control our desires. We must follow the instruction given in Joshua and keep away from the things ‘devoted to destruction.’ We must be like Job and make a covenant with our eyes (Job 31:1) and by means of our will guide our desires toward good and noble objects. What is true, what is noble, what is right, what is praiseworthy; it is to these things that we must devote our thoughts and affections. (Philippians 4:8).

Too often we are like Eve. We hang around what is forbidden and dwell upon our desire for it. If we give ourselves over to our desires they will over take us as they overtook Eve. (Genesis 3:6). That is why we must subjugate our passions and make them good. A man will either rule his passions or be ruled by them, there can be no other way. The latter leads to addiction, slavery, and death, while the former leads to wisdom, strength, and life.

Aristotle (and St. Thomas after him) recognized that as we will ourselves towards good objects we will, with time, come to desire what is good. Much of virtue is habit. The things we give ourselves over to are the things we will desire.

Plato wrote that the way a human body is configured is a lesson in how we should live morally. On top of a man is his head, the source of his wisdom. In the middle lies his heart, the source of his will. Lowest in man is his stomach and loins, the source of his passions and desires. Wisdom should inform the will on what a man ought to do and the will must impose this on the rest of the body. Once this is done habitually, the body will come to desire good things. This is the character of a just man. The unjust man is lead by his passions, having his will follow them blindly, in doing so he loses his head.

But can man do this on his own? Can man be good without God? No. That is the heresy of Pelagius. Man cannot save himself; man is saved by God’s grace alone. And man cannot will himself to be good, it is by the power of God working within us that we may overcome sin and live virtuously. Yet, though God is acting, we are still responsible. Paul instructs us to ‘work out our salvation, for Christ is at work within us.’ (Philippians 2:12-13).

And we must educate our children in these truths. Modern education, modern science is based in magic. There is a desire not to know the truth, to understand the world around us, but rather to manipulate the physical world in ways most beneficial to man’s comfort. On the contrary, St. Augustine said that the sole purpose of education is to teach children ‘to love what is good and hate what is evil.’ To train their wills at an early age to desire good things and develop good character. For indeed if we ‘train a child in the way he should go, when he is old he will not depart from it.’ (Proverbs 22:6)

God reveals to us in His Holy Word what is good and what is bad. As He works within us, we must will ourselves to seek what is good. For if we seek, we will find. (Luke 11:9). As we seek after what is good we will come to desire what is good. In the world the heart misguidedly follows the eyes. But with God we may have a good heart that leads the eyes and teaches them to see truly.