Focus is not a good Christian virtue.
I came across these two quotes in a magazine from my Alma Mater on Service Learning. I found them interestingly and potentially in conflict with one another.
First:
"There is a pervasive form of contemporary violence to which the idealist fighting for peace by non-violent methods most easily succumbs: activism and overwork. The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of it innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything is to succumb to violence. More than that, it is cooperation in violence. The frenzy of activists neutralizes their work for peace. It destroys their own inner capacity for peace. It destroys the fullness of their own work, because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful."
- Thomas Merton
Then, a little further down the page, there is this quote:
"The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others."
- Mahatma Gandhi
Now, they are not exactly in disagreement, but on the surface, the idea of losing yourself, in our religious culture, is the idea of completely being selfless and putting everyone and everything ahead of your own desires and your own self. It is that sense of valuing the helping of other people, who ever they are and whenever you can, at all times. Selfishness, focus, is not a good Christian virtue.
It just made me think that we need to really consider what it is we are going to lose ourselves in, if we are going to find ourselves. Here at Gethsemane, what will that be? To me, it is quite obvious, food. It is our Shelf of Hope which feeds so many people each month. It is our Garden of Gethsemane which has exploded with possibility. How do we maintain the perspective of keeping our focus on that which is in front of us, and in that process lose our self so that we can find ourselves again?
Or, maybe we were never lost in the first place?
A+
First:
"There is a pervasive form of contemporary violence to which the idealist fighting for peace by non-violent methods most easily succumbs: activism and overwork. The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of it innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything is to succumb to violence. More than that, it is cooperation in violence. The frenzy of activists neutralizes their work for peace. It destroys their own inner capacity for peace. It destroys the fullness of their own work, because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful."
- Thomas Merton
Then, a little further down the page, there is this quote:
"The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others."
- Mahatma Gandhi
Now, they are not exactly in disagreement, but on the surface, the idea of losing yourself, in our religious culture, is the idea of completely being selfless and putting everyone and everything ahead of your own desires and your own self. It is that sense of valuing the helping of other people, who ever they are and whenever you can, at all times. Selfishness, focus, is not a good Christian virtue.
It just made me think that we need to really consider what it is we are going to lose ourselves in, if we are going to find ourselves. Here at Gethsemane, what will that be? To me, it is quite obvious, food. It is our Shelf of Hope which feeds so many people each month. It is our Garden of Gethsemane which has exploded with possibility. How do we maintain the perspective of keeping our focus on that which is in front of us, and in that process lose our self so that we can find ourselves again?
Or, maybe we were never lost in the first place?
A+
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