The Illusion of Busyness and Control

Somewhere, someplace some time ago, someone repeated this quote from someone else: “If the devil can’t make you bad, he’ll make you busy.”  While I cannot remember the place, time or persons involved in the quote, it has stayed with me.

In our western culture, being busy is kind of badge of honor, a sign we’re invested, accomplished and living a meaningful life.  Sometimes, proclaimed business is just an excuse for not showing up our following through on a given assignment. If we can stop and look more closely, oftentimes being busy implies that we’re skipping over the depths of our lives, unaware and unconscious of what is (or should be) truly meaningful in our lives.

Another quote, from someone I do remember, is from James Finley, who wrote, “We fear losing control we think we have over the life we think we’re living.”  In their own ways, control and business collude in keeping us from living a meaningful, awakened life.

Taking an honest look at all that (time to smell the roses) would be an important and probably long discussion. If you’ll allow a bit of a leap here, Affiliate VOICES – the first session this Wednesday, November 19th at 7:00pm EST, 6:00 in Guatemala, 4:00 PST, is a new initiative, focusing on the Affiliate Pillars of Community, Spirituality, Global Vision & Action. It is to bring us together as a Maryknoll community to collectively look more deeply at the lives we’re living. Please think of joining this 1st session.

NOTE: The last Monday Morning Update (MMU) and the recent NSFA included information on VOICES as well as the Zoom link to join. To reduce any confusion...       The MMU link:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82838074946?pwd=kPh627ikaYmT53KZGkVpp2jBruNTgF.1
Meeting ID: 828 3807 4946 Passcode: 452420
 
and the link provided in NSFA:
bit.ly/43sHtmz
Meeting ID: 828 3807 4946 Passcode: 452420
Are essentially the same link. The NSFA link is simply the shortened form of the MMU link. Both are valid and will take you to the same place.

We hope you’ll be able to join with us.