Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God (Matthew 5,8).

Last week we were explaining some aspects of the anti-virtue of lust, and we landed into the idea that lust is so personal. It comes out from each mind. Believe it or not, lust is taught to children by mothers and fathers, parenting figures or adults around them, since they are little kids. Children are born basically like a white canvas, and they begin to be painted or imprinted by the instructions of those around them. The influence of the adults that surrounds them stamps them for life when it comes to the virtue of purity of the heart vs its opposite, lust. Then since children live in a community, and they attend kindergarten or school as part of socio-cultural learning, kids start to get along with other kids which also are raised differently. Collectively, children begin to develop a higher or lesser degree of each of the virtues, not just from the words of the adults, but primarily by grown-ups’ wordless actions.  If we wish children with pure hearts, the purity of the heart has to be conferred by role modeling from the adults around them.

Nevertheless, media makes a huge impact on the level of purity of heart in each child: newspapers, magazines, billboards, advertising, talk shows, TV programs, soap operas, movies, internet videos, video-games and lately social media publications and posts offer no words to entertain or sell or persuade; but video or images that entertain, sell and persuade.

A society with lust is “out-of-balance”. Because social media has opened the door to a zillion of flashy data and knowledge in a bi-dimensional affection: see and listen dynamically, the majority of children have started to lose their capacity to treasure other learning methods as real exploring, touching, experimenting by errors, writing, flavoring or even breathing the nature. Children have been bombarded by zillions of digital dynamic images, and many have lost their mental innocence at very young years. Too often I have spoken with teenagers, who know more than me about sex because they were free and able to watch violent and sexual content on the Internet, with not just explicit lust substance but subliminal incorrect sexual messaging.

Once children are inundated with all these images, kids get a “lust” degree or a “lust” stamp in their brains, and they become cynical about anything else, then these communication materials as a result. The disbalance is clear: even if children have excellent role models that teach them with wordless actions (for example parents and professors), the media lust messages coming out of the Smartphone and TV are so noisy,  openly expansive and opulently enormous that it is impossible for “pure heart” parents to try to put some kind of balance in kids unless they restrict smartphone screen time to a minimum.

Because of the latter situation, if children are exposed to lust stimulation imaging constantly, how could parents ignite the virtue of “purity of the heart”? If each child’s surroundings are full of lust? To restrict digital screen-time protects our children from getting used to lust. But it is clever to start cleansing their digital content. By sweeping and washing the media products and services which are full of lust, we are diminishing the risk of stamping lust in kids. Media producers, including all the corporations which are producing films, advertising, series, and digital games have to make a strong effort to offer “good quality” content without lust provocative images. Screen time, free of lust, and free of bizarre sexual content will help our children to keep their pure innocent minds. This requires a huge transformation of the media and advertisement related industries. Pure hearts are not living in a bubble, they simply are protected from lust when they are building their character, during infancy and adolescence.

The purity of the heart explained. Next, I would like to share a set of slides that can help us understand what is the beatitude “purity of the heart”. This is an ethical virtue, that comes with practice to guard our hearts against everything that is impure. Let´s read below:

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If you want to print the last set of slides, click here please: Eliescalante on eagles wings purity of the heart.

I have a bold and straight notion of what is the purity of the heart at three levels:  At a fraternal level, at a community level, and at a romantic relationship level.  This last one has been analyzed from my own personal point of view. Since I am a heterosexual that is trying to practice Christianity, my own particular point of view is exposed fully. Personally, I believe that a sexual relationship is only to be shared between a man and a woman. The purity of the heart required to love at the romantic relationship level demands maturity, And the sexual synergies must be expressed only “under marriage”. Sexual relations have been designed exclusively just under “holy matrimony”. For it, the couple has to develop the certainty that both are complementary to each other. For it, the couple has to reach the virtue of loving purely to each other during the engagement friendship time or “noviazgo” (Spanish term).  Many marriages disasters can be avoided if, during the engagement friendship period, couples learn to know and love each other with pure hearts, free of lust. Marriages based solely on lust end up in divorce because lust is not the fountain of pure love.

When it comes to express the purity of the heart at the fraternal or community levels, no sexual interaction is enabled at all.

In my next post, we will continue with the virtue of “Love”, which is the most important of all virtues that we must possess.  Until then, thank you for reading to me.

Carefully and discreetly, eagles walk with meticulous attention too.

Sources of reference studied to write this article:

“Steering through Chaos- Vice, and Virtue in an age of moral confusion”. The Trinity Forum, 1999. 

Disclaimer: Illustrations in Watercolor are painted by Eleonora Escalante. Other types of illustrations or videos (which are not mine) are used for educational purposes ONLY.  Nevertheless, the majority of the pictures, images, or videos shown on this blog are not mine.  I do not own any of the lovely photos or images posted unless otherwise stated.

Published by eleonoraescalantestrategy

Corporate Strategy Artist, San Salvador, El Salvador View all posts by eleonoraescalantestrategy