The path to wisdom

From my journals, Sunday, May 20, 2007 Note: I'm staying at the St. Macarius Monastery in the Eastern Libyan Desert of Egypt.  The site of the oldest Christian monasteries in the world.   This is also an excerpt of my little ebook, Returning to the Center (a free download here).

Father Zeno and I spoke for quite a while tonight. I asked him about the path to wisdom.

"Remember that you are nothing," he said. "And remember that you are everything---bought as precious by Christ. And if you're everything, so are others; you are to love them, embrace them. You will find yourself in them, and you will find them in you. Love is the path to wisdom. When you are nothing, you have nothing and need nothing and you are free to live in love."

The power of solitude in the midst of a busy life

To discern the emptiness, and the vain pursuits of those who are strangers to Love, you need space, real freedom . . . solitude, silence. Not solitude that is a flight from all this in order to escape into some peaceful realm.  Rather, a cleft in the rock, a place to take your stand for the sake of others---for Love---rather than against them in judgment of them and their empty pursuits (which frankly, are often your own).

This is the path of the "peacemaker" Jesus wills you to be (Matthew 5.9)---who you really are when you are free from such spiritually alien compulsions.

This solitude is most of all a condition of the heart, and inner disposition and can be embraced anywhere with practice---though it needs the support of real solitude; a lonely place you habitually go where no one and nothing can disturb or call on you for awhile; a place where you can let go, unplug . . . be.

Says Thomas Merton: "it is in this loneliness that the deepest activities begin.  It is here that you discover act without motion, labor that is profound repose, vision in obscurity, and, beyond all desire, a fulfillment whose limits extend to infinity" (New Seeds of Contemplation, p. 81).

The spiritual intelligence we need

Some readers have expressed interest in the line of thought in my previous post, and especially my reference to Aristotle.

I’d suggest a longer treatment of the argument in Josef Pieper’s Leisure: The Basis of Culture. Slim book by a strong Catholic philosopher. About it the New York Times Book Review says, “Pieper’s message for us is plain…. The idolatry of the machine, the worship of mindless know-how, the infantile cult of youth and the common mind-all this points to our peculiar leadership in the drift toward the slave society…. Pieper’s profound insights are impressive and even formidable.”

On the first page Pieper writes: “It is essential to begin by reckoning with the fact that one of the foundations of Western culture is leisure. That much, at least, can be learnt from the first chapter of Aristotle’s Metaphysics. And even the history of the word attests the fact: for leisure in Greek is skole, and in Latin scola, the English ’school.’ The word used to designate the palce where we educate and teach is derived from a word which means ‘leisure’. ‘School’ does not, properly speaking, mean school, but leisure.”

This is an important philosophical critique of Modern culture and our captivity to endless doing.  It plumbs the classic tradition inviting us into the spiritual intelligence necessary not just to survive but to thrive.

TOMORROW! "The Art of Spiritual Friendship" :: an urban retreat

Friday and Saturday, February 18-19, 2011 University Presbyterian Church, Fresno, California

Click here for a link to our PDF file of the brochure.

Living an alert spiritual life is demanding; no one can go it alone.  And in today's world, we are hungry for meaningful personal intimacy.  Friendships not only provide us with companionship, they keep us grounded, and give us guidance along the way.  This year's conference will focus on St. Aelred of Rievaulx and will explore biblical and historical witnesses to the gift friendship can be to the spirit.  David and Jonathan, Mary and Elizabeth, and nearer our time, JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis show us ways of joining together as soul friends as we walk the way of Christ in challenging times.

Led by Dr. Robert Hale of the New Camaldoli Hermitage in Big Sur, Dr. Steve Varvis, interim provost and historian at Fresno Pacific University, and Dr. Chris Erdman.

• Begins Friday evening the 18th, 7pm

• Saturday morning through mid-afternoon the 19th

• $35 includes lunch; please pre-register to help us plan for lunch ($45 fee at the door). Mail your check by February 15th to University Presbyterian Church, 1776 E. Roberts Ave. Fresno, CA  93710.

• Contact the church office at 559.439.8807 for more information and to register.

• Monastery Bookstore with books, candles, icons, and other handcrafts from around the world.

• Click here for a link to our PDF file of the brochure.  Please forward to friends!

This conference is open to all, so please invite a friend and spread the word.

Toward a better relationship with time: the Pomodoro Technique

I'm trying out a new way to experience time.  I can get a bit manic at times . . . so engrossed in a project that I don't take breaks.  There's something spiritually deadening about that no matter how charged up I am by the work.  To be more spiritually aware and disciplined about my relationship with time and projects I hope this will help me focus and also to set boundaries . . . and live a little more fully while making space for things like . . . a glass of wine, a walk, my loved ones (!) Here's the scoop on the Pomodoro Technique--

The basic unit of work in the Pomodoro Technique™ can be split in five simple steps:

1. Choose a task to be accomplished

2. Set the Pomodoro to 25 minutes (the Pomodoro is the timer)

3. Work on the task until the Pomodoro rings, then put a check on your sheet of paper

4. Take a short break (5 minutes is OK)

5, Every 4 Pomodoros take a longer break

How do you shape your relationship to time?  Is it working?  Have you tried the Pomodoro Technique?