How or How Much?

Quan­tity and qual­ity are not the same thing. The two are eas­ily con­fused in a world over­sold on con­sump­tion. Style beats amount any day, but it hard to see that in con­tem­po­rary life. The most vio­lated of the Ten Com­mand­ments has to do with the Sab­bath. There are too many vested inter­ests in over-work and over-consumption. Econ­o­mists brag about the 24/7 econ­omy, but the results send us to hos­pi­tal emer­gency rooms and emo­tional ther­apy centers.

We were not designed for a non-stop lifestyle. With a loss of real time off comes a whole world of social mal­adies. Our time off becomes just another sched­ule of activ­i­ties — all under­writ­ten by insti­tu­tional “needs” and beck­on­ing per­sonal activ­i­ties. It is very addic­tive. “Sab­bath” is replaced by quick chem­i­cal substitutes…with very poor results in the long run.

Jesus made it very clear that “a man’s life does not con­sist of what he has acquired.” In prin­ci­ple, we humans are not so much about hav­ing as being. This is not to put down cap­i­tal­ism. It is just a reminder that we are Homo sapi­ens — mankind the wise — not human­ity the end­less doer/consumer.

Do noth­ing once in a while — and for a very long while. Just be! There is an art to tak­ing time off and get­ting time away. Done prop­erly, it enhances the work you do when you return. Here is an idea: instead of the sec­ond or third job, sim­plify your mate­r­ial exis­tence. Life is found in the liv­ing of it, not in col­lect­ing more paper and plastic.

Go through today med­i­ta­tively instead of acquis­i­tively and see if you do not feel better.