Socrates once commented “the unexamined life is not worth living.” I suspect that our age would counter with “the unlived life is also not worth examining.”

Lately, though, we have taken to examining our lives less and less. The effect of this is the same everywhere. We see it in the way we eat, in the way we drive, in our inability to relax, in our lack of humor and reflectiveness, and – need I say it? – in our lack of prayer. 

I do not want to be judgemental, but I suspect that most persons in our culture pray very little, at least in terms of private prayer. I suspect that the average person’s prayer life consist of a short hurried prayer in the morning, an even more distracted and hurried prayer before meals, and another hurried prayer before retiring at night. That’s precious little. 

But our inability to be contemplative doesn’t just show itself in our lack of private prayer. That is merely a symptom of something more deeply amiss. What our hurried lifestyle and our propensity for distraction is really doing is robbing us of solitude. As solitude diminishes, life seems less and less worth living.

Ironically, most of us crave solitude. As our lives grow more pressured, as we grow more tired, and as we begin to talk more about burnout, we fantasize about solitude. We imagine it as a peaceful, quiet place, us walking by a lake, watching a peaceful sunset, smoking a pipe in a rocker by the fireplace.

But even here, we make solitude yet another activity, something we do. We attempt to take solitude like we take a shower. It’s understood as something we stand under, endure, get washed by… and then return to normal life.

Solitude, however, is a form of awareness. It’s a way of being present and perceptive within all of life. It’s having a dimension of reflectiveness in our ordinary lives that brings with it a sense of gratitude, appreciation, peacefulness, enjoyment and prayer. It’s the sense, within ordinary life, that ordinary life is precious, sacred and enough.

How do we develop such a dimension within our lives? How do we foster solitude? How do we get a handle on life so that it doesn’t just suck us through? How do we begin to lay a foundation for prayer in our lives? How do we come to gratitude and appreciation within ordinary life?

Eric Fromm was once asked to give a simple recipe for psychic health in a culture that is as pressured as ours. “A half-hour of silence once a day, twice a day if you can afford the time. That will do marvels for your health,” he answered. Fromm’s answer wasn’t intended to be a religious one. 

He was no Thomas Merton. But his answer might have come from Merton. I can think of no better spiritual advice to give to a culture that conspires against interiority. Try prayer and silence. One half-hour a day. Twice a day, if you can afford the time. It will do marvels for your health. As well, in a culture that conspires against the interior life, it will be a political act.

Thanks to Fr. Ron Rolheiser, OMI for sharing. 

Do try a half-hour of silence in prayer once a day. It will do marvels for YOUR health. 

TEARS ARE PRAYERS TOO. THEY TRAVEL TO GOD WHEN WE CAN’T SPEAK!Do share today’s Message with a friend.