The Troubled Eye

Ἐταράχθη ἀπὸ θυμοῦ ὁ ὀφθαλμός μου. Οὐ μόνον δὲ θυμὸς, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπιθυμία, καὶ δειλία, καὶ φθόνος ὀφθλαμὸν ψυχῆς ἐκταράσει· καὶ ἀπαξατλῶς πάντα τὰ πάθη συγχυτικὰ καὶ ἐκταρακτικὰ τοῦ διορατικοῦ τῆς ψυχῆς ἐστι. Καὶ ὡς οὐ δυνατὸν τεθολωμένῳ ὀφθαλμῷ ἀκριβῆ λαβεῖν τῶν ὁρατῶν τὴν κατάληψιν, οὕτως οὐδὲ τεθολωμένῃ καρδίᾳ τῇ κατανοήσει τῆς ἀληθείας ἐπιβαλεῖν. Ἀναχωρῆσαι οὖν δεῖ τῶν τοῦ κόσμου πραγμάτων, καὶ μήτε δι' ὀφθαλμῶν, μήτε δι' ὤτων, μήτε δι' ἄλλης τινὸς αἰσθήσεως ἐπεισάγειν ἀλλοτρίους λογισμοὺς τῄ ψυχῇ. Θορύβων γὰρ ἀσιγήτων καὶ στάσεων ἀδιαλλάκτων ἀναπιμπλῶσι τὰ ἔνδον οἱ τοῦ φρονήματος τῆς σαρκὸς ἐπανιστάμενοι πόλεμοι. Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας, Ὁμιλία Ἐις Τους Ψαλμούς, Εἰς Τον ΛΓ' Ψαλμον Source: Migne PG 29.357b-c

My eye is troubled by anger. 1 And not with anger alone, but lust and timidity and envy the eye of the soul is troubled, and by all things which confound and perturb the perception of the eye of the soul with any commotion. And as the troubled eye is not able to accurately grasp visible things, so it is with the troubled heart, for it is not able to apply itself to the contemplation of truth. It must therefore withdraw from worldly things, and not have any foreign thoughts enter through either the eye or the ear or any of the senses. What conflicts arise from the care of the flesh, raucous tumult and irrepressible uprisings filling the interior. Saint Basil of Caesarea, Homilies on the Psalms, Psalm 33 1 Ps 6.8