The Knife in the Snow

Fr. Scott Haynes

Lust, Blood, and the Slow Destruction of the Soul

Life in northern Canada is harsh. It is a land of ice and endurance, where the ground is frozen most of the year and food is never guaranteed. Survival is brutal and unforgiving. In this environment, the wolf reigns. Ruthless, intelligent, and bloodthirsty, wolves run in packs and survive by strength, instinct, and relentless hunger.

The Inuit have long understood that you do not confront a wolf head-on. One injury is enough to turn the pack against you. Blood changes everything. It awakens frenzy. It signals life, weakness, and food.

So when a wolf pack becomes a danger to human life, the solution is not combat but a trap.

An Inuit hunter would take a blade and dip its cutting edge in blood. The handle would be frozen into a block of ice or bound to an immovable surface. The blade stood upright, still, waiting. When the wolves caught the scent, they came running. The smell of blood drove them to the knife. They began to lick.

Each lick cut the tongue. Each cut released more blood. Soon the wolves could no longer tell the difference between the blood on the blade and their own. Hunger turned to frenzy. Frenzy turned to madness. Some wolves bled to death. Others turned on the weakest members of the pack and devoured them.

By the time the wolves realized the blade offered no nourishment, it was too late. The pack was destroyed not by force, but by deception.

This is exactly what pornography does.

The Trap of Lust

Pornography is not an innocent indulgence. It is a trap. It promises satisfaction but feeds on the very hunger it creates. Each viewing wounds the soul, yet releases enough stimulation to keep desire burning. The man returns again and again, unaware that the blood driving his frenzy is his own.

Sacred Scripture warns us that sin never appears as death at first. It appears as nourishment.

“Every one is tempted by his own concupiscence, being drawn away and allured. Then when concupiscence hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; but sin, when it is completed, begetteth death.” (James 1:14–15)

The wolves do not approach the blade because they desire pain. They approach because they smell blood. Lust works the same way. It appeals to something real, powerful, and God-given. But once severed from truth and love, desire turns against the one who bears it.

Saint Augustine knew this interior violence well. Reflecting on his years of sexual bondage, he wrote:

“I was bound, not with iron, but by my own will. The enemy held my will, and of it he had made a chain.”

Pornography strengthens this chain. It wounds the will, clouds the intellect, and trains the heart to crave what cannot satisfy.

Blood, Frenzy, and the Loss of Reason

The Fathers of the Church describe lust as a passion that overwhelms reason. Saint John Chrysostom teaches that lust “casts a mist over the mind,” leaving the soul unable to judge rightly. Like the wolves driven mad by blood, the lustful man loses discernment. Pleasure replaces truth. Sensation replaces meaning.

Saint Gregory the Great explains that lust gives rise to blindness of mind, thoughtlessness, and despair. This is why pornography so often leads to isolation, anxiety, and relational ruin. It does not unite. It divides. It turns inward and then turns destructive.

Christ Himself reveals the interior nature of this violence:

“Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:28)

The wound is not only external. It is internal. The heart bleeds first.

Relational Cannibalism

As the wolf pack descends into frenzy, something horrific occurs. They turn on their own. The weakest are consumed by the strongest. Survival becomes cannibalism.

Pornography produces the same effect in human relationships.

The Fathers insist that lust teaches the soul to use rather than to love. Saint John Chrysostom writes that lust “makes the soul cruel,” because it trains a man to see another not as a person but as an object of gratification.

Scripture is unambiguous:

“Know you not that your bodies are the members of Christ?” (1 Corinthians 6:15)

To reduce another human being to sexual usefulness is to deny their dignity and to profane what belongs to Christ. Over time, this distortion seeps into real relationships. Spouses feel betrayed. Trust erodes. Intimacy collapses. Love is consumed by appetite.

Many couples are destroyed not by sudden infidelity, but by years of quiet bloodletting. Each image. Each video. Each secret moment is another lick of the blade.

The Lie of Control

The wolves believe they can stop whenever they wish. They cannot.

Pornography thrives on the same illusion.

“Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.” (John 8:34)

Saint Thomas Aquinas teaches that repeated acts of lust weaken the will until the man no longer chooses freely. He obeys desire. What began as curiosity becomes compulsion. What promised pleasure demands obedience.

The blade never moves. The man does.

Grace Stronger Than the Knife

Yet the Christian story does not end in blood and frenzy. The Fathers never speak of lust without speaking of grace.

Saint Augustine cried out:

“Give what Thou commandest, and command what Thou wilt.”

Healing begins when the soul turns away from the blade and back toward God. Scripture promises restoration:

“Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8)

Purity is not the absence of desire. It is the healing of desire. Through prayer, fasting, the sacraments, and custody of the senses, the soul is slowly restored to clarity. The frenzy subsides. Reason returns. Love becomes possible again.

Saint Basil the Great teaches that discipline of the body heals the wounds of the soul. The Church does not ask men to deny desire, but to redeem it.

Step Away from the Knife

Pornography never nourishes. It only bleeds.

It will not kill you quickly. It kills you slowly. It murders trust, intimacy, courage, and spiritual fervor. It teaches you to consume those you were meant to love.

The wisdom of Scripture remains urgent:

“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” (Proverbs 4:23)

To stop licking the knife is to choose life. To choose clarity over frenzy. Communion over consumption. Love over blood.

And grace is strong enough to save even the wounded.