Giving time for Evil Things

It may not always be good to think or speak about evil. Even by inviting into the mind an evil thing in order to abhor it, one still allows it space to displace good things. 

St. Paul tells us "whatever things are true, whatever things are honest, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."

I was thinking this yesterday while listening to a Matt Fradd podcast on St. Thomas Aquinas's view on wet dreams. Aquinas says (emphases mine), 

A second cause of nocturnal pollution is on the part of the soul and the inner man: for instance when it happens to the sleeper on account of some previous thought. For the thought which preceded while he was awake, is sometimes purely speculative, for instance when one thinks about the sins of the flesh for the purpose of discussion; while sometimes it is accompanied by a certain emotion either of concupiscence or of abhorrence. [...] Thus it is evident that nocturnal pollution may be sinful on the part of its cause. on the other hand, it may happen that nocturnal pollution ensues after thoughts about carnal acts, though they were speculative, or accompanied by abhorrence, and then it is not sinful, neither in itself nor in its cause.

What Aquinas is saying, in other words, is that even thinking or speaking about carnal things with abhorrence can cause wet dreams later on. Though it is not sinful to speak speculatively about such things (or to have wet dreams caused by them), wouldn't it be better not to speak of them at all most of the time?

I've noticed after following Matt Fradd, who frequently speaks against pornography, that hearing him is often the first time I think about pornography in a day, and after thinking about it, it stays in my mind for a while. It is difficult for me to think about how pornography is abhorrent without also imagining why it is abhorrent, which leads to imagining what pornography is like, which may lead to further imaginations which may not be pure. Thus, I find myself most tempted by pornographic thoughts and temptations after I've turned my mind away from good things in order to speculate about the evil of pornography. 

Furthermore, the more I hear about the evils of pornography, the less the emotional effect. The mind grows numb after overexposure; but the mind should not grow numb to evil. A child who eats a strawberry for the first time savors its sweetness, but over time it becomes just an ordinary strawberry, and in order for it to have the same effect of sweetness needs to be dipped in sugar. After tasting strawberries dipped in sugar, strawberries alone taste insipid. In the same way, hearing too much about the evils of a thing may tend to move one in the direction of indifference toward the evil.

I heard a saying once which I liked: be careful whom you choose to be your enemies; you will become like them. In order for someone to become an enemy, we must first take them seriously, give credence to their power. It is difficult for us not to be influenced by those we believe to be powerful.

It is like those who have obsessive thoughts about evil spirits. Satan may delight in those who don't believe he exists, but he also delights in those who take him seriously and fear his power. It is better to be like St. John Vianney, who upon waking in the night to see the devil in the room with him, simply said, "It's just you" and rolled over and back to sleep.