Intro

One quotation that has slapped me silly the whole of last year was Mark Twain’s “The person who won’t read…” (see Part 32). A second?  This one by James Terry White:

It is not necessary for a man to be actively bad in order to make a failure in life; simple inaction will accomplish it. Nature has everywhere written her protest against idleness: everything which ceases to struggle, which remains          inactive rapidly deteriorates. It is the struggle toward an ideal, the constant effort to get higher and further, which develops manhood and character.

Short Exercise 41

  1. Body, mind, soul: am I idle in any of these three battlefields?  Have I given up struggling – slumped into inactivity – in any of them?
  2. Is my lack of struggle, my inactivity in that area due to exhaustion, frustration or some other form of pride?
  3. Have I spoken to my mentor about it? Do I humbly, promptly and cheerfully accept whatever advice or indications I’m given to deal with the matter?
  4. Especially for my mind and for my soul, am I even now neglecting formation?

Commentary

Nature, like God, does not waste resources.  On the contrary, she always tries to keep things at the lowest energy level.  This is true on the physical plane, on the psychological plane and on the spiritual plane (i.e. in body, in mind and in soul).  A good example on the physical plane is how your broken left arm shrinks when it spends 6 weeks in cast.  The body realizes “this arm is not being used, don’t waste nutrients on it”.  And 6 weeks later, when the cast is removed, you can visibly tell it is smaller than your standard right arm.  So too with the mind and the soul.  Knowledge of the mind or virtues of the soul that we don’t use in our day-to-day life shrink, shrivel and die.

This protest of nature against idleness is so loud and powerful, that even just to maintain things at the same level, we need to put in constant effort.  (Thus the need for constant formation, for regular exercise, study and prayer for your body, your mind and your soul.)  It is not possible to do nothing, and remain at the same place; you automatically begin to slide backwards.

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