Keeping Awake

Working through the Book of Proverbs these days I was struck by the saying, “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest.” (Prov. 6:10). Falling interiorly asleep often happens “a little at a time as the Proverbial writer alludes to by referencing the word little 3 times—“a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of hands.” Or, we might describe it today by saying “inch by inch” or “minute by minute”—a gradual descent into the ether of materialism erasing any glimpse of the sacred space.

My point is that we have a propensity for “falling asleep” as much interiorly as exteriorly. The reasons for it include: “distraction”—a consideration of everything else but spiritual matters; “busyness”—an overly packed schedule; “escapism”—a refusal to face the interior world. Thomas Merton cautions us on this inclination for spiritual sleep and a need for “keeping awake”:

To keep ourselves spiritually alive we must constantly renew our faith. We are like pilots of fogbound steamers, peering into the gloom in front of us, listening for the sounds of other ships, and we can only reach our harbour if we keep alert. The spiritual life is, then, first of all a matter of keeping awake. We must not lose our sensitivity to spiritual inspirations. We must always be able to respond to the slightest warnings that speak, as though by a hidden instinct, in the depth of the soul that is spiritually alive.” (Thoughts In Solitude)

Further, Merton reminds us that “the spiritual life is first of all a life.” By this he means that we must live our spiritual lives in real time. It is not something we merely study, know, or meditate upon. We must live it in our day-to-day. We must keep awake as the steamer pilots do so that we can successfully navigate the hazardous shoals that every life contains.

My experience in the scuba diving world underlines the fact that shipwrecks do indeed happen. Then and now. To that end let us stay awake interiorly so that the enlivening winds of the Spirit remain vital and that we don’t find ourselves caught up on the rocks due to inattention to ultimate matters.