Likin' the Spiritual, but NOT the Religious? discussion
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Sabbath as Resistance
Sabbath as Resistance
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Chapter 3: Resisting "Productivity"
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Nicole
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Nov 06, 2014 06:28PM
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It is especially insightful when he begins the conversation about how because we have enough and it is relatively easy to get more, that the temptation is to keep producing because it is easier to do so. Never thought about it like that but so so true. Another reason why when I went to South Africa, many township people had smiles on their faces making us privileged anxious Americans look like fools.
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I love these observations. Yes, it is hard to say why we do not rest. We had this discussing at a book study last night. Everyone was bemoaning the fact that they have so little time, but then we all had to confess that we don't take time to reflect, listen, explore, wonder, etc. The concept of Sabbath is easy to want and easy to say, but very difficult in our culture to achieve.
why doesn't that mean more rest ? Convenience means more time but many of us are uncomfortable with rest, space, intermission, blank time .. so we fill it with stuff. We make ourselves busier than we need to be. I spend at least an hour a day on facebook stuff, not church FB stuff, just browsing ... I tell myself that I am reading news stories, catching up with what people are doing that I know, so I "need" to do it ... but I don't REALLY need to do it. Just an example.
I had a spiritual director who was an Episcopal priest. He said that they were encouraged to divide the day into 3 periods: morning, afternoon and evening and then to commit to work only two of the three. What a concept!
It could be the "factory" mentality ... factories made it easier and quicker to make things - it didn't mean that we had more time, it meant that we just made more stuff, and people worked harder and longer probably ...
Yes, I think that is right. The same thing is true about our access to information. Computers, e-mail and the internet made things easier, but it also means that we had more, and more, and more information. Then we feel an obligation to respond to all that information immediately. It's hard to imagine that it use to take weeks for letters and news to reach people. We just keep going faster and faster.
I find that some people get annoyed if you DON"T respond right away.
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I do a lot of my business too: the church stuff even gets more mobile so it takes more self checking to make sure I'm not diving into everyone all the time which is kind of hard : I love and care and really thrive on connections so time for personal inner connectedness is also something I'm trying to apply: especially the past week: more centering, acknowledging God as the complete Center, grounder of my desires : what a new concept!!!! I also like the idea of sabbath being a place for groups which actually promotes individuality, not conformity : strength in numbers in the context of Sabbath is renewing, but also diversely energizing! that's a new thought too: thank you for that realization .. mc
Wow. I love that. Thank you for posting it, Maria. It is especially meaningful to me today since this is the day after Thanksgiving Day and I just told Stephanie, let's not let this day slip away. Thank you for the reminder. It so fits with our discussion of Sabbath.
