Temptations to Impurity

Temptations to Impurity.—Before treating the various kinds of impurity, we shall speak briefly of temptations that occasion this sin and of the duties of the person tempted.

(a) External temptation comes from the devil or the world, and the duty of struggling against it has been treated elsewhere (see 252, 1455 sqq., 1495 sqq.). Thus, he who finds that certain persons, places or things are for him a temptation to impurity must be guided by the principles given for occasions of sin (263 sqq.); he who finds that another wishes to seduce him into impurity must refuse all internal consent (see 254 sqq.), and must also resist violence when there is hope of success, or when this is necessary to avoid giving scandal or yielding consent (see on self-defense, 1841).

(b) Internal temptation comes from the flesh. It consists in inchoative disturbances or excitements of the organs or fluids that serve generation (e.g., erections, clitoral movements). Sometimes it is produced involuntarily, without any intention or consent of the will, by physiological states (e.g., conditions of the blood, nerves, etc., due solely to the weather, to disease, to aphrodisiac properties of ailment, to clothing, or position) or by psychical states (e.g., spontaneous images or appetites of the soul mentioned in 129), and in these cases the temptation is manifestly free from all sin. St. Pius V condemned the teaching of Baius that those who suffer motions of concupiscence against their will are transgressors of the command: “Thou shalt not covet” (see Denziger, Enchiridion, nn. 1050, 1051, 1075). Sometimes the temptation is directly voluntary, as when the passion is deliberately awakened for the purpose of sin, and then there is grave guilt (see 2496 b). Sometimes the temptation is indirectly voluntary, as when with the foresight of the passion but without desire of it an action is performed that arouses it. In this last case, if there is a just reason for the excitatory action (e.g., a physician sees and hears things that are calculated to be a temptation, but his reason is the exercise of his profession), no sin is committed; but if there is no just reason for the action (e.g., a person reads an erotic book, and curiosity is his only motive), sin is committed, and its gravity depends on the amount of danger to which one exposes oneself (see 2496 c).

Resistance to Internal Temptations.—The fight against internal temptations is of various kinds.

(a) By reason of its subject, the conflict is chiefly in the will, to which it belongs to give or withhold consent; secondarily, in the other powers of the soul and the body, which under command from the will perform acts designed to overcome temptation.

(b) By reason of its manner, the conflict is either removal of the temptation (i.e., cessation from an act which produces the temptation) or resistance, passive or active. Passive resistance is the suspension of activity relative to the temptation till it ends of itself, as when internally the will neither consents nor dissents, or externally nothing is done for or against the temptation. Active resistance is positive opposition offered to temptation. It is made in two ways: first, by way of flight, as when internally the mind turns away to other thoughts (e.g., absorbing studies, meditation on the passion of Christ), or the will devotes itself to other subjects of resolve (e.g., acts of love of God or of purity), or externally the body is removed or freed from conditions that excite temptation; secondly, by way of attack, as when internally the mind turns against the temptation (e.g., thinking of its dangers, calling on God to drive it away), or the will rejects the temptation (e.g., by despising it, by expressing dislike, disapproval and unwillingness, by firmly resolving not to yield, by deciding on measures against the passion), or when externally the body is subjected to pain or mortification.

(c) By reason of its circumstances, resistance to temptation is either prolonged, as when the act by which the will resists is of considerable duration or is renewed at frequent intervals, or is brief, as when the act of rejection is momentary and is not repeated.

What Opposition to Temptation Is Sufficient?—Opposition to temptations of the flesh must be sufficient to remove the temptation, when the temptation is due to the continuance of one’s own sinful or unjustified act; for one is obliged to cease from sin or the unreasonable. This happens (a) when the temptation is directly voluntary—for example, one who wished to experience temptation and therefore reads a very seductive book must give over this reading; or (b) when the temptation is not directly voluntary and is without sufficient reason—for example, one who experiences carnal temptation due to a book which he reads from idle curiosity must desist from the book. But one is not bound to omit or interrupt necessary or useful acts, such as rest and sleep, prayer and charity; consent should be denied the evil, but the good should be continued.

Insufficient, Harmful and Unnecessary Opposition.—In other cases opposition to temptations of the flesh must be such as is sufficient to keep one from consent, that is, to protect one against the proximate danger of sin.

(a) Hence, that resistance is insufficient which does not strengthen the will. It seems that passive will-resistance is of this kind, since it is most difficult for the will to remain inactive in the presence of carnal stimulation or motions of the sensible appetites without being moved by the evil suggestion. In external resistance, however, passive opposition suffices when it alone is feasible, as when temptation grows out of necessary work, or rest that cannot be discontinued or interrupted by active resistance, provided the will registers internally its displeasure or disapproval; but external passivity is not permissible when the will needs the help of external resistance, as in the case of vehement and prolonged temptations.

(b) That resistance is harmful which strengthens the temptation. Hence, resistance by direct attack or by formal rejection is oftentimes to be omitted in favor of resistance by flight or by contempt; for it is a common teaching of the Fathers and Doctors confirmed by experience that dwelling on reasons and means of repelling passion often adds to its strength, and that resolving mightily and expressly to crush a weak and passing temptation often serves only to give it a longer life. It is better to brush a mosquito away than to risk one’s neck by chasing it up and down stairs.

(c) That resistance is unnecessary which demands a physical or moral impossibility. Thus, a prolonged act of resistance or one repeated at intervals of a few minutes, or a resistance that includes extreme corporal austerities, is not required in ordinary cases at least. When a temptation is unusually vehement or is due to one’s own fault, there should be proportionately greater resistance to offset the greater danger; but when a temptation is only moderately dangerous, it suffices to reject it firmly but briefly and to repeat this when there arises a new crisis or danger and the renewal of resistance is useful.

Weapons against Carnal Temptations.—The most powerful weapons against carnal temptations are spiritual ones, and of these the most necessary is grace, which should be asked in prayer (Wis., viii. 21), especially through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary (see Pius XII, Sacra Virginitas, March 25, 1954). But corporal means, chiefly of a preventive kind, should not be neglected.

(a) Physical measures are the observance of what are now often spoken of as sex hygiene for normal and sex therapeutics for abnormal cases. Special health rules whose observance conduces to good morals are especially the cultivation of habits of bodily cleanliness, of hard mental and physical work, of vigorous exercise and the avoidance of unhealthful habits (such as constipation, drug or spirit stimulation), unsuitable clothing or sleeping conditions. Surgical or medical treatment for structural abnormalities or for mental or bodily diseases that react unfavorably on sex life requires the service of a conscientious and competent physician.

(b) Religious measures are various forms of corporal mortification, such as custody of the eyes and other senses, deprivation in food (fasting and abstinence) and sleep (vigils, night watches), afflictive penances through the use of hairshirts, painful girdles, scourges or disciplines. But austerities must be suited to the health, age, condition, duties and other circumstances of the person who practises them, and should not be used without the consent of one’s confessor or spiritual director.

Sinfulness of Negligence in Resisting Temptations.—It is sinful not to struggle against temptation, since he who in no way resists, not even passively, surrenders or yields to sin. Hence, the Church condemned the quietistic indifference to temptation of Molinos (Denzinger, nn. 1237, 1257, 1267). It is also sinful to resist, but only insufficiently, as regards promptness, vigor, manner, etc.

(a) The Theological Malice.—It is mortally or venially sinful to be negligent against temptation, according to the greatness or smallness of the danger to which the negligence exposes one (see 256-262). Thus, it is not a serious sin to omit all resistance to a weak and dying temptation, or to neglect from indolence or other venial fault all external resistance when the danger is made remote by the internal displeasure or resolution; but it is a serious sin to trifle with any very attractive temptation or to put off resistance until a progressing temptation has grown formidable and made self-control difficult, and this is true even though consent is not finally given to the impure suggestion.

(b) The Moral Malice.—Negligences in reference to carnal temptations do not differ specifically but only in degree, according to the approach the stimuli make towards complete lust. Even when there is an object (e.g., fornication, adultery) before the mind, the difference in species of the object, it seems, does not induce a difference in species of the sin, since the sin is the general one of carelessness in presence of temptation. Hence, it suffices to confess that one has been remiss in banishing impure emotions or thoughts.

Applications.—(a) The principles here given in reference to emotions of the sensible appetite and rebellions of the flesh should be applied to other involuntary acts in the imagination, reason and will (see 129). Thus, thoughts or images of impure scenes that pass through the mind should be treated in the same way as temptations of the flesh.

(b) The principles here given about the person who suffers temptation should also be applied to the person who causes temptation. Since it is a mortal sin to commit impurity, it is also a mortal sin to solicit impurity; since it is a mortal sin of lust to make oneself drunk in order to experience carnal emotions, it is also a mortal sin of lust to make another person drunk that he may become likewise inflamed; since it is a mortal sin to expose oneself to extreme danger by reading a pornographic work, it is also a mortal sin to wish to expose another to a like danger. And this is true even though the temptation is unsuccessful. Physicians who minimize the wrong of masturbation, or who counsel fornication to young men on the absurd plea that continence is unhealthy or productive of impotency, share in the guilt of pollution or fornication which they counsel; and young persons who seek to win the sinful love of others by nourishing their hair, painting their faces, exposing their bodies, etc., have the guilt, if not the gain, of seduction.

14. The first thing to be observed is that, in the normal excitation or action of sexual appetite, not only the genital parts but also the nervous centers of the spinal cord and brain have a part ¹. Hence, in order that this appetite may obtain its full act, these three things must be developed, intact, and joined by suitable communication: the sexual organs, the centers of the spinal cord, and the centers of the brain ².

¹ This was already being handed down in the age of St. John Chrysostom, who wrote: "Some say that orgasm arises from the brain, others from the loins." Homily 62, otherwise 63, on Matthew (M.P.G. 57, 600).

² Compare Havelock Ellis, in Moll, Handbuch, etc., p. 189 ff.

15. Love, even of a higher order, which someone cherishes toward another person, can bring about or assist carnal arousal through the general disposition which such affection is accustomed to induce. Compare what is to be said below, nos. 24-26.

Conversely, aversion of mind can close the way to every libidinous excitation, so that even a physical effort becomes fruitless.

16. How much the internal sense, or imagination, can do to excite, moderate, or allay venereal appetite is evident to everyone. According to the various manner in which the imagination is affected, the same exterior handling will be ineffective or most effective in arousing the venereal sense.

By the power which the brain possesses in these matters, they also explain how infants, the aged, and castrated persons experience libidinous affections, although they are more or less deprived of their proper organs.

17. I. The other senses also cooperate directly with sexual appetite, if one excepts the sense of taste. Taste, being assigned to its proper office of nourishing the body, does nothing immediately upon the venereal sense.

The quantity and quality of foods can nevertheless dispose the body physically toward venereal excitations. Thus it happens that certain libidinous persons procure for themselves certain drugs (for example, "Spanish fly," tamarind) in order to increase the abundance of generative excitation. The power of certain foods, such as cultivated celery and asparagus, is certainly less, but is not always to be disregarded.

And although no one today puts confidence in the so-called "liquor of the monks" and "syrup of chastity," it is useful to know that there are drugs suited to tempering libido, or which assist spontaneous emissions, such as are sometimes required by nature, to occur more easily. Thus pills made from "lupulin" can be bought and used without danger; thus, upon the indication of a physician, hyoscine and bromide are not to be thought ineffective. Nor is the prudent use of hypnotism to be condemned in this matter. Adalin has been recommended fairly recently for treating masturbators ³.

³ On this argument compare R. P. Gemelli, Non moechaberis, chapter 5, pp. 145-166. Although he does not deny the power of camphor, he nevertheless calls false the Salernitan proverb: "Camphor, by its odor through the nostrils, castrates males."

II. Come now, so that we may hand down a few things concerning each of the senses:

1. Touch and handling can do very much when they are exercised either upon the sexual organs or even upon neighboring parts which possess a nervous affinity (a connected innervation) ⁴, although touch alone cannot immediately bring about venereal arousal. Compare below, no. 22.

⁴ So too the anus itself. Compare Féré, L'instinct sexuel, p. 913 [printed page reference; the cited book has only 346 pages and the intended page has not been established].

Indeed, even in more distant parts, secondary centers are observed where touching the surface can induce or increase venereal arousal. Of this sort are the mucous openings of the body (for example, the lips), which are seats of very subtle touch. By the contact of these parts, whether mutual or with the genital parts, appetite is greatly sharpened. Hence kisses upon the lips are less modest than kisses impressed upon the cheeks.

In a woman, moreover, there are more secondary centers than in a man.

2. Sight is at once the principal and the more spiritual sense of man. A man is attracted and captivated much more than a woman by the sight of a beautiful person, especially if grace of movement, for example in dancing, is added. For a woman is attracted more by strength than by beauty.

Yet do not for that reason think that it can be said that the more absolutely beautiful a person is in himself or herself, the greater is that person's faculty of arousing sexual affection toward himself or herself. For particular enticements seem to reside in certain forms of the body; and the particular suitability of two persons must also be considered.

3. Upon hearing a male voice, a woman is more affected than a man is sexually pleased by her own feminine voice, which scarcely differs from a boyish one.

Song and melody, however, arouse nobler affections rather than sexual ones, although the body can also be disposed toward lasciviousness by a certain kind of music.

4. Finally, smell, by which not a few animals are especially governed, is usually effective enough for very few human beings, so that bodily odor rather repels affection. That some seductive power is nevertheless not absent from perfumes, and indeed from strong ones, women testify by their perpetual use of them.

Not being ignorant of this participation of the senses, an author of the fourth century, more probably Basil of Ancyra ⁵, treats at length of the manner in which each of the senses is to be guarded by a virgin.

⁵ De vera virginitatis integritate, no. 5 (M.P.G. 30, 669-809). Compare Cavallera, Rev. d'Hist. ecclés., 1905, pp. 5-14.

Many of the things which we have passed through by enumeration, such as kisses and embraces, are suited to signify or foster other affections of piety and spiritual love. These acts must therefore be called equivocal, and their signification and force must be determined from the intention and circumstances. In this matter a man must also guard very carefully against self-deception, lest under the appearance of piety or spiritual affection he cover demonstrations and acts which ought in truth to be attributed to sensuality or carnal libido. The less readily an honorable explanation presents itself, the more suspicious is the cause which the matter possesses.

18. A manner of life itself is not without its own power. Those who study anthropological matters observe that, in the cultivated life which we lead, sexual appetite is intensified much more than in the life of barbarians, because of less bodily labor together with richer food and the softness of luxury, so that it is almost always ready for act. At the same time, however, the more cultivated mind is distracted from libido by more numerous concerns and cares, and is taught by a stronger command to subdue the blind impulses of the senses.

19. At the beginning of the mild spring weather and of the autumnal cold, the venereal propensity is seen to increase. Accordingly, the time appointed by the Church for the Lenten fast has been aptly selected for restraining the insolence of the flesh.

Indeed, many suspect that there is a monthly cycle in which venereal appetite increases and decreases by varying degrees, so that it reaches its maximum twice ⁶.

⁶ Compare Ellis in Moll, pp. 183-184.

VII. Warning. In order that in practice it may more easily be discerned whether someone has voluntarily admitted internal sins of lust, it is better in temptation to distinguish three stages:

The first is suggestion, or the mere representation of evil in the imagination;

the second is sensible and organic delectation, or pleasure in the sensitive appetite, arising from the suggestion if it was vivid: it is the feeling of temptation;

the third is voluntary complacency, or consent of the will to the delectation, after advertence of reason.

In the last alone is sin present. Hence they are accustomed to say: to feel temptation is not sin, but to consent is; not the feeling or pleasure, but the consent and complacency.

I. The principal cause is the very natural propensity or instinct of man toward the propagation of the species; after original sin this is inordinate, as not subject to reason but rebellious. Deliberately adhering reason and the will freely consenting and taking pleasure in it perfect the very sin of lust.

But various causes can excite and increase the aforesaid instinct, and thus move and lead reason and will. All of these can be reduced to a threefold genus:

1. Some directly influence the body itself, as the constant and copious use of drugs; crustaceans, fish, oysters, strong-smelling celery, stronger coffee or chocolate, sulphurous thermal waters; abundant alcoholic drinks; exciting foods which are stronger and copious, especially meat and game, or very hot and seasoned, in one word: the sin of gluttony; but especially the cantharides fly,¹ and medical potions specially prepared for exciting, remedies against impotence, for example hashish, distillation from the pistils of hemp. Likewise great heats and more fervid days; likewise various exercises of riding or dancing; the use of little carriages, wheels or bicycles, carriages for women, the sewing machine; a soft bed; garments too silken or too warming, or adhering to the legs, or compressing the genitals; prolonged sittings, lying on the back; defect of bodily care, especially of the genitals; filling of the urinary bladder, constriction of the belly or constipation.

¹ The cantharides, a beetle of gold and azure; the Spanish fly.

2. Others influence the senses. Some of these are external: soft and effeminate education, luxury, idleness; bad examples of others; the counsel of impious physicians to pollute oneself at least once in a week, for health, or to go to women, for diminishing inclination; mothers, nurses, maidservants who, to quiet infants, excite venereal feeling by handling their genital members.

Others are internal: the peculiar state of the organism, such as a sanguine and nervous temperament; illnesses which affect the nervous system, such as pulmonary phthisis and hysteria. There accede the great pleasure which this vice brings, and the ease by which it can be hidden.

3. Others are external occasions which move the soul. They are sensual, vain, and illicit loves, founded in organic sympathy alone, which are nourished by readings, spectacles, and dances. Such love can exist toward persons of different sex, as are flirts, or toward persons of the same sex, whether from petulance for the sake of laughing, or from sensual or carnal affection. But if it is toward a person of different sex or toward a young man, it will easily be an occasion of grave scandal in a clerical or religious person; likewise, even platonic love of a married person toward an unmarried person of different sex.