Quotes of the Day for March 8, 2023 – Thoughts on the spiritual danger of too much inner and outer noise
“For those of us in cities and suburbs, any effort to minimize the noise in our lives, to pursue silence and stillness, takes real effort. Modern society is stacked against us, clamoring for our attention in multiple ways, with lots of knobs, buttons, and links to fill the quiet…We have been well trained to expect a constant hum of noise wherever we go.” (Lynette Horner)
“Young people have ‘here and now’ as part of their psychological makeup. This is why politicians, communication specialists, advertisers and promoters of consumer culture depend on the immediate satisfaction of desires. So, the adolescent psychology spreads until it becomes common to all, with the result that we have no patience any more. We find ourselves in a world of impressions, dominated by those who make the most noise or are the most charismatic and promise to make everything easy. Our faith tells us that, if we wish to encounter Christ, apart from the ‘come and see’, there’s also the requirement of the narrow gate. So that love may be retained. So that Christ may be retained in our heart.” (Protopresbyter Themistoklis Mourtzanos)
“It is precisely this deeply ingrained habit of meeting thoughts with commentary sometimes frenzied and obsessive commentary that creates the noise in our heads, a good deal of suffering, as well as the sense of being separate from God and isolated from others. Sometimes these thoughts arrange themselves in such a way that they become a mental strategy. Among these mind games, and there are many, three are especially common: judging the quality of our own prayer, attempting to recreate positive experiences, and ego backlash.” (Martin Laird)
“…our continual saturation in noise keeps modern man alienated from his inner self…The nous is the eye of the soul, the faculty by which we know God, and thus the faculty by which we know ourselves. I have been told any number of times by readers and others that they have no idea what is meant by the nous. It is not surprising. Our culture lives by passion-driven consumerism, while “relationships” are often false constructs of shame and protection (self-created “identities”). Repeatedly, the Fathers of the Church urge us to embrace hesychia (stillness). The point of that stillness is, over time, the gradual increase in noetic awareness – growth in the knowledge of Christ rather than the mere religious training of our noise. Most importantly...the path in the knowledge of the self comes as we pursue the knowledge of Christ. It is not our invention. It is His revelation to us. It is knowledge of the self that God knows “before He formed you in the womb.” (Thomas Merton, Robin Phillips, Father Stephen Freeman)
“God reveals Himself when we are open to receiving Him. That’s why I’ve never experienced God in a traffic jam, or with the radio blaring, or at a crowded stadium. I experience God most powerfully in prayer, in worship, and sometimes even in conversation with one other person…I have experienced God in silence more than I ever have when there is lots of noise… “Provided they live a worthy life, both those who choose to dwell in the midst of noise and hubbub and those who dwell in monasteries, mountains and caves can achieve salvation.” (Fr. Stavros N. Akrotirianakis, St. Symeon the New Theologian)
#LynetteHorner #ProtopresbyterThemistoklisMourtzanos #MartinLaird #ThomasMerton #RobinPhillips #FatherStephenFreeman #FrStavrosNAkrotirianakis #StSymeontheNewTheologian