A Time To Reflect
The Anchoress is having a retreat. There will be no talks of politics for an entire week. She says this:
…..the purpose of this retreat is pretty much the same purpose as any other retreat - it is the mindful and voluntary creation of time and space, into which one steps, as through a portal. Like a portal, it is meant to take you somewhere outside of the ordinary, day-to-day worries, concerns, duties, obsessions, have-to’s and compulsions. It is a reclamation of the “self†we tend to expend in too-great measure every day. In “giving up†as much of “the world†as one can reasonably do, for a limited time, we may re-order our priorities, re-discover what is really important in our real lives. Often our daily routine tends to corrupt our view, so that we begin to believe we need some things to survive - that we need to check in on the news 5 times a day, we need to answer some snarky remark in an internet forum. During this retreat time, I would urge you to resist the urge to follow your ordinary blog-reading/news-reading patterns, to step away from the computer as much as possible and consider that the time you would normally spend online might be better spent snoozing in the hammock, taking a walk, visiting a neighbor or picking up an old, discarded hobby.
Elizabeth Scalia, also known as The Anchoress, is the author of “Caring for the Dying” as well as many other articles that you can find on the internet. She is a gifted writer who is able to provoke one to really think about important issues. The Anchoress is a very passionate as well as compassionate person and her writings so very often reflect just that. If she disagrees with someone, she is able to write about it with dignity and respect and without lowering herself to the use of written vulgarities. Please do go visit her site this week as there will be many schools of thought and appreciation for those things that we deem precious and valuable in our lives. It is the spiritual path which we choose for ourselves.
