A World More Silent and More Strenuous

"It is customary to complain of the bustle and strenuousness of our epoch. But in truth the chief mark of our epoch is a profound laziness and fatigue; and the fact is that the real laziness is the cause of the apparent bustle. Take one quite external case; the streets are noisy with taxicabs and motorcars; but this is not due to human activity but to human repose. There would be less bustle if there were more activity, if people were simply walking about. Our world would be more silent if it were more strenuous." (Orthodoxy, pg. 131. You can find this book by G.K Chesterton at Ignatius Books.)



Chesterton has a point. I wonder what he would say to the recent phenomenon of talking on cell phones or texting while driving. Not to mention people carrying on one-sided conversations while they shop, startling some poor soul who is engrossed in choosing apples with no bruises, with these loud remarks, "think about that carefully before you make any decisions! Are you sure you want to go forward..." I have heard the strangest things in coffee shops and grocery stores.



If there were more walking and less hurrying here and there, there is no doubt the world would be quieter even though more active. There is activity and then there is activity. We don't get nearly enough of the physical kind that doctors say most assuredly keeps us healthy, fends off heart disease, diabetes, and even mental decline. And if we all were to make a vow to turn off the cell phones while walking , we could have a renewal of body and of mind and wouldn't that benefit everyone?



I have tried to walk on the track at our church while praying the rosary, which is suggested by a large sign posted near the entrance to the track. Even that is too much activity; I need either to pray or to walk, but not both lest one or the other of those necessary parts of daily life suffers. I have seen religious slowly pacing while praying and I might try that if I can find a nice cloister. Generally speaking, I am not a multi-tasker, which is no doubt apparent, but I wonder how many of us truly are?

Can any of us be strenuously involved in one activity if we are at the same time trying to do another? Consider what is required in order to be mentally active, to ponder, to think through a problem and weigh it, to discern, to pray.

Focus.

That has become a byword of parents and teachers, as they struggle to imbue children and young people with the notion that genuine thought requires all of their attention. It is true that students with ADHD have particular difficulty focusing, but the larger problem is, as Chesterton has noted, a problem of laziness, mental laziness in this case.

Genuine thought often seems to be an under-valued effort in our culture, though I will be the first to grant that thought, alone, is not the most important part of each day. But it has its place. Thought which contributes to a sincere and single-minded attempt to live the life of Christ is perhaps what is missing. Thought which is really a form of prayer.

Dorothy Day notes in her diaries that "The thing to remember is not to read so much or talk so much about God, but to talk to God."

And so everything leads us back to prayer, prayer offered with our attention, our whole being, in silence and in gratitude for the time and place to be only what God wants us to be. Not busy, not always occupied, not striving, just speaking and listening to God. For a period of time each day that activity alone can fully engage the heart and mind and body, and be at the same time what is missing in a world that is so fatigued.

Here's to a world more silent and more strenuous and more content to be what it, and we are meant to be.