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❡Currently working on organizing this, check back for updates. Essentially, this is a compendium of philosophical, religious, occult, historical, political, social, and scientific concepts and theories I write about in my book, The World, The Flesh, and The Devil (working title). Its an oddesy into the effects of spirituality and its effects on society.
The World, The Flesh, and The Devil
"Tria autem sunt quae nos tentant, caro, mundus, diabolus"
Translation:"There are three things which tempt us, the flesh, the world, and the devil"
-Peter Abelard, Expositions
In Christian Theology, the world, the flesh, and the devil (Latin: mundus, caro, et diabolus; Greek: ό κοσμος, ή σαρξ, και ό διαβολος) have been cited by sources from Saint Thomas Aquinas to the Council of Trent as "implacable enemies of the soul".
According to the beliefs outlined in The Catechism of The Catholic Church, these three concepts can be described as- The World: Preoccupation with meaningless and temporary cares of the world, indifference toward truth, indifference toward suffering, and indifference toward the ultimate questions of existence.
- The Flesh: Man in his state of weakness and immorality as a result of sin.
- The Devil: The title of a "fallen angel" named Satan, formerly Lucifer. He is a liar and the father of Lies.
Sometime between 1578 and 1579, Saint John of The Cross,extrapolated further on this subject in Precautions, a letter he wrote for the Carmelite nuns in Beas while he lived in El Calvario. Here he states, "It should be noted, then, that all the harm the soul receives is born of its enemies, mentioned above: the world, the devil, and the flesh. The world is the enemy least difficult to conquer; the devil is the hardest to understand; but the flesh is the most tenacious, and its attacks continue as long as the old self lasts."
The most powerful and widely attested method of combating these threats is the practice of asceticism, a strategy which Saint John himself used. During the time he wrote Precautions, he also wrote Ascent of Mount Carmel. This is a spiritual treatsie which serves to systematically illustrate asceticism as a tool for traversing the three stages of theosis (also called diefication or divinization), or oneness with God, which is the natural outcome of overcoming these threats to spiritual perfection.
Another method of combating these threats is mortification of the flesh. The Council of Trent's sixth session in 1547 states, "We are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh; for if you live according to the flesh, you shall die; but if by the spirit you mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live." While self-flagellation may be the first thing which comes to mind upon hearing the term "mortification of the flesh", this method has not been used in the past 7 centuries.