Apathy is one of the besetting sins of many on the spiritual path and one you should at all times guard against. You must not become bored with the routine of your daily existence but continually make efforts to keep things fresh by putting yourself fully into spiritual life.
I was told this by my teachers many years ago and I have been reminded of it recently because I have been feeling somewhat drained of spiritual energy of late. Outwardly the world is what we know it to be and it's only going to get worse. Western civilisation is dead and we live in the ruined remains. Spiritual apostasy, materialism, mass immigration, feminism and so on have finished it off and we only fail to see this because of the legacy that was built up which keeps us going for the time being. Sometimes it seems that there is nothing to be done so why even try?
That, dear readers, is a typical temptation of the evil influences which constantly assail the disciple and it is one we should disregard. We cannot know what our efforts in this direction might accomplish, outwardly or inwardly, and nor should we be concerned about that. Our responsibility is to fight the good fight at all times and not worry about the results. We just need to proclaim the truth as best we can and let God do the rest. But if we feel it we must in some way live it. We must never be discouraged by apparent lack of positive outcome either in our outer work or spiritual exercises. I say this because it is precisely this feeling that what we we do bears no fruit that can lead to a sense of apathy. But we should not allow ourselves to be discouraged. The sense of futility is at once a test of our resolve and our mettle, and also a ploy of the dark forces to derail us from spiritual endeavour.
Slothfulness is one of the seven deadly sins. At first glance, it doesn't seem like such a bad sin. It's not like anger or greed or lust which we might think of as fiery sins. Sloth is more of an earthy sin, a sin of weight and depression and negativity. It may be passive more than overtly active but it is no less a sin because it is rejecting God. God is life and sloth is a kind of giving in to death. There is a theological vice called acedia and this is the same thing. It is spiritual laziness that leads to inertia and that is just what the devil wants because it means he has successfully sidetracked us from spiritual effort. The enthusiasm we may once have had, an energy that fired us up for the spiritual path, has dissipated and we become discouraged to the point that we cease to strive. Our belief becomes weaker and may even fade altogether though we don't realise it. We may still lead an outwardly spiritual life but the passion has been replaced by convention and habit.
What's the solution? First, acknowledge the problem. Then reengage. Pull yourself together. Slothfulness is lack of spiritual energy so you need to reanimate yourself through meditation and prayer and concentration on the good, the beautiful and the true. These are all in hiding at the moment so you need to search them out but they will be revealed to those who make concerted efforts and do not allow themselves to fall prey to apathy.
4 comments:
Well said, William! A timely reminder. It's a daily battle for me.
I would add (which I think you will agree) that Many people try to equate a disinclination to engage in organized *political* activity as apathy.
Yet, I think that (for many people, most of the time) all possible political and organized activity is directed towards ultimately evil goals. And the equation of 'real' activity with material-physical interventions - and the labelling of spiritual activity as a kind of 'giving-up: an apathetic withdrawal from Real Life...
Therefore we ought to recognize that (genuine) individual and spiritual activity is actually More legitimate (and less truly apathetic) than joining some party, cause or movement which is trying to change political/ financial/ legal/ medical or other 'societal' conditions.
It may be difficult to convince others that individual/ spiritual activity is actually happening; but that is not our responsibility - our responsibility is to Do It; not to convince others that we are doing it.
And if we are just fooling ourselves, and just pretending to work at personal and spiritual goals; then we will be the ones to pay the price.
Quite frankly I see engaging in outer activism of some sort by joining any kind of organised movement as a diversion from true spiritual work. Worldly activity which this is works only on a worldly level. If that is what you want then go ahead but if your sight is set on the spiritual target you should avoid it as it is just a sidetrack from the real issues.
I think that apathy is hopelessness, and that universal hopelessness is a sin to be avoided by all means. But false hopes are just as bad. So giving up false hopes is good. Hope that moribund organizations and institutions will suddenly revive strike me as false hope. So does hope for a sudden revival of Western civilization. The proper sentiment here is grief and not hope. It suggests the analogy of a man who has false hopes for the recovery of a dying loved one, and who would be swarmed by quack doctors and miracle-cure salesmen. The place of that man is at the bedside of the dying loved one, and not in conferences with quacks and charlatans.
Universal hopeless is absolute despair. I wonder it this isn't at least sometimes the result of entertaining too many false hopes. Letting little hopes go, one by one, may prevent the loss of all hope. I recently said in a meeting that we should try to "lose efficiently," by which I meant avoid the sunk cost fallacy. This was dismissed as an old man's defeatism but I think it is true. There are certainly cases when inevitable failure should be postponed, but there are just as certainly other cases where we should "cut out losses and run." In these later cases hopelessness is a virtue.
We have to accept reality and reality now is that Western civilisation is done for, in the form we knew it certainly. We can either hope that something else may rise from the ashes or put our hopes in heaven but then even in the heyday of Western civilisation the wise put their hopes in heaven anyway.
But apathy in the sense used here means spiritual inertia which comes about when you have been on the path for a while without any apparent benefit so you go through the spiritual motions rather than keep up the pressure on yourself.
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