01492 – Lives Built on Frenzy & Compulsive Busyness

One of the most serious dangers confronting those who minister in the city is that their lives come to be built on frenzy and compulsive busyness. This usually leads to a lack of focus, a tendency to accumulate more and more things, a collapse of reflection, and the cultivation of a personal culture of obligatory tiredness.

This personal culture then becomes socially infectious so that one may communicate little to others other than one’s own exhaustion–not a very kind gift to people who may already have enough problems of their own. The practice of silence and solitude, including the cultivation of inner stillness and inner peace, is a vital component of an urban spirituality.

from Through our Long Exile