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 Personal causes for a polluted mind include:

1. a lack of serious thinking and study

2. a love for fads, a desire to remain mainstream and socially acceptable.

3. the darkening effects of sin, which clouds the mind

4. submission to political-commercial propaganda

5.ignorance of truths necessary for developing good habits

6.contempt of truths of the faith

7. distraction, especially a lack of attention to spiritual things.

Christ explains the foundational cause :" Out of the heart come evil thoughts."(Mt 15:19; emphasis added). That is , disordered desires of the heart lead to evil thoughts; evil thoughts likewise produce and strengthen evil desires . Thought and desire are like body and soul, closer than twins, affecting each other in inextricable ways

Evagruis wisely notes that to overcome disordered passions, and memories that stir up our passions, we must tame our bodily desiring and assertive appetites ( concupiscible and irascible ) by means of bodily asceticism, such as fasting, vigils, and sleeping on the ground. However, to overcome bad thoughts, one must cultivate good thoughts:

" Evil thoughts cut off good ones, and in turn evil ones are cut off by good ones."Christian thoughts, derived from faith and enlivened by charity, are remedies for disordered interior thoughts that dwell in our intellects. If they are not cultivated , then evil words will eventually spill from our lips.