Passive Sociopathy – Metropolitan of Strumica Naum
~+~
Purposeless construction of evil by word and deed, followed by insensitivity, is the most recognizable mark of people with a disorder of the Divine image in themselves, i.e. with personality disorder. Such people are commonly known as psychopaths and sociopaths. But there is a greater danger even of such an active personality disorder, and that is passive sociopathy.
In short, what does passive sociopathy mean? It is when a person actively does no harm to anyone, but at the same time is insensitive to the suffering of the people around him and to all others whom he hears suffer greatly; and at the same time does not help anyone.
Passive sociopathy is the pandemic of the new age. There is not a person who, more or less, is not affected by this illness. I would classify it according to the concept of the discount matrix – as the highest level of discount, that is, ignoring it, as a protective psychological mechanism which, on the other hand, is actually suppression; and this, is a sure basis for other psychosomatic illnesses – it is only a matter of time before they occur.
The good news is not news.
The modern man is simply attacked by information, through electronic media, about many and various mishaps, most often with fatal consequences, and he has neither the time nor the knowledge to properly process the information within himself, without undergoing major negative consequences. Insensitivity is one of the bad consequences, which in modern man, due to this manner of receiving information, is profiled as a passive sociopathy.
However, the blame is not only in the media, because they also act in accordance with the needs of the market. Each of us has to ask himself why he is more interested in the bad news than the good news? And it is clear that this is happening because of the passions that still live in us, and above all, the passion of self-love. What then can I say about those who spread evil on social networks …
Also, for example, we should not watch movies or films and documentaries that contain violence, because we unconsciously take the side of the supposed “good”, and the consequence is the same again – passive sociopathy. The same thing happens when we unreasonably accept the collective oblivious schemes and take the personal, family, political, national, “ecclesiastical” and any other side, instead of taking Christ’s side. Etc., etc.
The only cure for this modern pandemic is, above all, prayer for the whole world. The time is such that we should all switch to constant prayer for the whole world, and that should be our only idea whenever we stand up to pray; and it should be a prayer for each individual mishap we have heard of. Only then will our prayer gain seriousness and repentance. Only such a prayer does God hear. Only in this way will we develop personal compassion.
When we stand to pray with the awareness that Christ is our repentance and our all, then seriousness and repentance arise from that awareness, and, when we pray for the whole world, especially for the specific cases, for those who are in real suffering, then seriousness, repentance and concentration come to us, besides from the God-Man Christ, as well as somehow naturally, from our humanity – which is the best variant.
Concrete help by deed is also important. I have written to you before, if between two visits to church you have not found someone to help, according to your strength, concretely – and you could have helped, do not even partake of the Body and Blood of Christ. We cannot consciously let the one, with whom the God-Man Christ personally identified Himself, suffer (see Matthew 25:40), and consequently, to not have a spiritual impact on us.
In addition to prayerful and concrete help by deed, our ascetic endeavour (struggle) is also very important. Let me not elaborate too much, whenever we are hungry, thirsty, sleepless, tired, and even physically exhausted for the sake of the God-Man Christ, we will always participate in and lessen the suffering of all who suffer. And it is better to participate and lessen the suffering of those who suffer with a willing ascetic endeavour, than to accept with patience and gratitude the illnesses that will surely befall us. God certainly loves us and does not leave his vineyard unpruned.
Bad habit is the main problem in the case of passive sociopathy as well as in many other manifestations of it, such as – comfort, tepidity (half-heartedness) of the personal struggle, ungodly or impersonal or ignorant attitude towards your own Bishop (the whole of our life depends on the attitude towards our Bishop – even though people know this or not, or whether they like it or not), the unbelieving and cold attitude towards the Holy Liturgy and the Holy Communion (if we were to serve the Holy Liturgy in full grace, we could not even finish it), etc. We will counteract the bad habit with good practice.
Lord Jesus Christ, through the prayers of Theotokos, have mercy on us!
Metropolitan Strumica, Naum
(18.10.2021 11:54)
