“So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss.” – Sun Tze. Similarly in order to win against the vice, Lust, we have to know ourselves and the enemy.
We have 2 powers, namely Lower and Higher powers. The lower power or sense appetite comprehends a sensible good through the senses and inclines the soul toward that good. The higher powers are reason and will. In order to explain this more clearly, an example is used:
“A man passes by a bakery and smells the sweet buttery scent of fresh baked bread. Immediately, he feels an attraction toward the bread, but he chooses to continue on passed the bakery.The man apprehended fresh bread and his sense appetite moved him toward it; however, the man did not follow the movement of his appetite. Thus, the man’s inclination toward the bread was controlled by his reason and will.”
Lust is a disorder desire for or an inordinate enjoyment. When you allow the lower power to take control over the higher power then this is when the disorder occurs.
Imagine Lust as a Greek Mythological creature, Medusa (a Gorgon). The person who slays Medusa is a demi-god, Perseus. He went of on his perilous voyage. For days he wandered, searching for the Gorgons lair. One night in an unknown country he realized how hopeless things were. The Gorgons were horrible, instead of hair they had black serpents that writhed on their head, they had brazen hands that could have squashed poor Perseus, but worst of all if you looked a gorgon you were instantly turned to stone.
Then suddenly a tall woman and a young man with winged sandals appeared. The man said, “I am Hermes and this is our sister Athena. Yes, you are a son of Zeus. We have some things that may help you in slaying Medusa. Here are my winged sandals and the sickle which Cronos used to overpower Uranus and Zeus used against mighty Typhoeus.” “And here is a gifts from me.” said Athena, “Use this shield to reflect the image of Medusa so you won’t be turned to stone.” “You must find the Graeae and get them to tell you how to get to the Nymphs of the North, they will give you the cap of darkness and give you a magic wallet and tell you how to get to the Gorgons’ lair.” Hermes said.
So Perseus went to the cave of the Graeae. The Graeae were strange women, there were three of them having only one eye for all three of them which they constantly fought over. Perseus hid behind some bushes and watched them. When one took out the eye to give to another Perseus sprang from his hiding place and snatched the eye from them. Then he said, “I have your eye and if you don’t tell me how to find the Nymphs of the North you shall never have it back!” So they reluctantly told them how to find the Nymphs of the North. He gave them back their eye and flew off on his winged sandals.
The kindly Nymphs of the North gave him the Cap of Darkness which has the power to make its wearer invisible and the magic wallet. They told him how to reach the Gorgons’ lair. Perseus went farther north until he found an island surrounded by rocks and statues which used to be men.
Perseus raised his shield and saw Medusa and her sisters asleep, he put on the Cap of Darkness and flew down. He swung the sickle and felt it tearing through sinew and bone. Still looking into the shield, he put Medusa’s head in the magic wallet. Medusa’s sisters woke up and attacked Perseus. He flew quickly away on his winged sandals and was not hurt.
On his way back to Seriphus he had many adventures, one was that when he saw the Atlas holding up the sky Perseus was sorry for Atlas and turned him to stone by showing him the head of Medusa so he could no longer feel the weight of his burden.
If order to fight Medusa, you first have to guard your eyes. Job 31:1 “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman”. The help Perseus received from the goddess Athena and a group of nymphs are like a counsel of good friends that you must surround yourself with. The asking of a way from the Graeae (3 woman and 1 eye), is like us asking/praying to the Trinitarian God for graces against this battle with Lust. The cap that Perseus used are the helmet of salvation (Eph 6:17) in the bible, the winged scandals are boots of readiness (Eph 6:15), the sharpened sickle is the the Word of God (Eph 6:17), and the bronze shield like the shield of faith (Eph 6:16). The last thing to fight against Lust is the attitude of selflessness. When you are focus of serving those around you, you will not have the space for USING people.
Source: http://www.stpeterslist.com/12471/the-daughters-of-lust-5-questions-on-how-they-pervert-the-soul/