Guard Your Eyes

GuardUrEyes
A website for Jews struggling to maintain their moral purity in today's world
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Guarding the Eyes

The most important trick to breaking free is to keep away from sexually stimulating material and places! What you don't see doesn't fill your mind. A person must learn to guard their eyes everywhere;

A. on-line,
B. in the street,
C. with books, magazines and pamphlets, 
D. by not watching TV and
E. movies.

Read the great posts on this page to learn many powerful psychological tips to guarding the eyes properly

A. On-Line. With the ease of accessibility that the internet provides, it has become a daily struggle for even religious people to keep themselves morally upright. Many people who never dreamed they could reach such depths, have fallen into the terrible trap of pornography addiction.

a. The simplest and best remedy for pornography addiction on-line, is to get the computer out of the house. It sounds radical, but as long as its there, the temptation won't go away. People have to be honest. A computer in the home is not an indispensable item. You can live without it. Most people don't have jobs that demand Internet. Most use it as a pastime, so if it is a problem, get rid of it. Or, you can have a computer without an Internet hook up. After a while you will forget it ever existed. Otherwise, it will always be on your mind. And excuses like "The kids need it for their homework," are just that, excuses! They can use the internet hook up in their schools or at a friend's. Why allow this deadly poison to be a part of your house?! (Read more on the dangers of pornography addiction from a non-Jewish article).

b. If it is not possible to get rid of the computer, install a fool-proof filter (like eNativ).

c. Move the computer to a place with people around, like the living room, so you won't be alone with the computer.

d. If you don't need the computer most of the time, lock the computer up in a closet and give your wife the key.

B. In the street. Here are two tip to help you guard your eyes when out in the street:

a. Commit (for two weeks or more) to pinch yourself (enough to make it hurt) every time you gaze improperly at a woman, or at a picture of a woman.

b. Buy a pair of non-see-through sunglasses for when you go into temptation zones. Paste non-clear laminating paper on the insides of the lenses. This will allow you to see only your feet when you walk, and to see only vague shapes through the lenses.

C. Books, Magazines, Newspapers. The average home in Western Culture is filled with hundreds if not thousands of objects containing impure material, books, magazines, newspapers and pamphlets containing impure pictures and writings. Besides the fact that these objects project impurity just by laying around the house, they often cause a person and his family members to sin. Every person should do a total search of his entire home and cleanse it. A person should cancel all the subscriptions to newspapers and magazines, as well as rid his home of all questionable non Jewish books.

D. TV. Any person serious about breaking free and guarding their eyes is going to have to stop watching TV. It is the Satan's greatest tool. Just throw it out!
Click here for an article on the media today in Israel (and it's no better anywhere else!). And click here for an article on the many reasons to get rid of your TV.

E. Movies (on TV, CDs or DVDs). Movies are a no-no for any Jew serious about guarding his eyes. Click here for an article on movies by the famous Arutz 7 blogger, Tzvi Fishman. (If after reading this article, you still insist that you can't give up movies, click here for a prayer to recite before watching a movie).

When you search your home to eradicate these stumbling blocks, be they books, magazines or DVDs, do not worry about the monetary loss caused by throwing away valuable objects. If you have piles of DVDs worth thousands of dollars, do not hesitate twice and throw them out immediately. Let this be your sacrifice to G-D, he can easily replace the money for you. Also, never give or sell these objects to another Jew lest he stumble on them. Remember, the harder it is for you to throw something away, the bigger Tikkun it is when you do. (You may give them however to a non-Jew).