“Choose your poison.” (I don’t know—a line in a movie I saw once.
What do you use to numb your soul, your spirit?
Excess alcohol, sex, drugs? These days it could be getting lost in other people’s lives through social media.
The Stoic philosopher Epictetus observed, “Most of us would be seized with fear if our bodies went numb, and we would do everything possible to avoid it, yet we take no interest at all in the numbing of our souls.”
This is where forming regular habits of spiritual practice help us.
Practicing simplicity, shedding those practices we gravitate toward in order to numb our souls, is a start.
Service and meeting with other seekers connect us to outside ourselves bringing a sense of being alive.
This is the area that Jesus took most interest in. He healed many physical ailments, but he was always concerned with the state of our hearts. We should also daily check our status. Then do something about it.
Faith Venture 
July 31, 2020 at 7:31 am |
[…] wrote a couple of days ago about numbing the soul. As often happens, afterwards I ran across this teaching from The Shepherd of Hermas. What an […]