Friday, January 29, 2010

Otium Sanctum-Holy leisure

I read so many good things today
and want to reread them again.
You can read them, too,
if you'd like.

(On meditation, from Richard Foster's book, 'Celebration of Discipline.'
This book is a reread, and one for your library.)

"If we are constantly being swept off our feet with frantic activity,
we will be unable to be attentive at the moment of inward silence.
A mind that is harassed and fragmented by external affairs
is hardly prepared for meditation.

The church Fathers often spoke of 'Otium Sactum, "holy leisure."

It refers to a sense of balance in the life,
an ability to be at peace through the activities of the day,
an ability to rest and take time to enjoy beauty,
an ability to pace ourselves.

With our tendency to define people
in terms of what they produce,
we would do well to cultivate "holy leisure."

And if we expect to succeed in the contemplative way,
we must pursue "holy leisure"
with a determination that is ruthless to our datebooks."

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