{"id":25537,"date":"2019-09-09T07:11:38","date_gmt":"2019-09-09T07:11:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/?p=25537"},"modified":"2019-09-09T07:11:38","modified_gmt":"2019-09-09T07:11:38","slug":"the-deadly-sins-bodily-sloth-intellectual-sloth-moral-sloth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/the-deadly-sins-bodily-sloth-intellectual-sloth-moral-sloth","title":{"rendered":"The Deadly Sins: Bodily Sloth, Intellectual Sloth, Moral Sloth"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
‘Dolce Far Niente’ by John William Godward<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI went by the field of the lazy man, and by the vineyard of the man devoid of understanding; and there it was, all overgrown with thorns;\u00a0its surface was\u00a0covered with nettles; its stone wall was broken down.\u00a0When I saw it, I considered it well; I looked on it and received instruction: A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest. So shall poverty come like a prowler, and need like an armed man.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>Proverbs 24: 30-34<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In my usual sources, the Bible, the Fathers and C.S. Lewis, I found surprisingly little about Sloth.\u00a0<\/span>Maybe I didn\u2019t look in the right places.\u00a0<\/span>The best analysis I discovered was in an early 20th century Anglican book\u00a0Elements of the Spiritual Life<\/i>\u00a0by F.P. Harton, Dean of Wells, who drew much from French and Italian Roman Catholic sources.\u00a0There is also good advice in a\u00a0<\/span>16th century book\u00a0Unseen Warfare<\/i>\u00a0which quotes several authors, both Eastern and\u00a0 W<\/span>estern.\u00a0<\/span>But much (too much) of the following is my own thinking, so take it only for what it\u2019s worth.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Antiochian Archdiocese Pocket Prayer Book defines Sloth as \u201claziness that keeps us from doing our duty to God and man.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>A sloth also is a tropical animal that moves ever so slowly.<\/p>\n

What is our duty to God?\u00a0<\/span>To love him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.\u00a0<\/span>We have no right to \u201ckill time\u201d, because it is God\u2019s time, not ours.\u00a0<\/span>Our duty to our neighbors is to love them as we love ourselves \u2013 as much as ourselves, as if they were ourselves. But this means we should also truly love ourselves, seek what is best for us. So let\u2019s\u00a0consider our duties, the good works that God wants us to do, to see what we might\u00a0<\/span>be slothful about.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Harton lists four varieties of sloth:\u00a0Bodily sloth,\u00a0<\/span>I<\/span>ntellectual sloth, Moral sloth<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Spiritual sloth<\/strong>. To these I am going to add\u00a0Slothfulness about leisure<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Before we look at these,<\/span>\u00a0first a warning:\u00a0<\/span>We live in an ever-busier society. We have many duties and obligations.\u00a0<\/span>People often feel guilty because they do not have time to do everything: to work long hours, to worship and pray, then\u00a0devote much time to family, friends, Church and charities, and read good books, and watch informative and edifying television \u2013 PBS, History Channel and the like. Are we feeling exhausted already?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Our society today often expects more of us than we can do \u2013 and often we place that same demand upon ourselves. God does not expect all that of us.\u00a0We all need to learn that when we\u2019ve gone as far as we can reasonably go, he can fill in the gaps. For he\u00a0knows that we are limited human beings. He made us that way. There is only One who can do it all, and it\u2019s not you, and it\u2019s not me.<\/span><\/p>\n

So my purpose here is not to lay guilt\u00a0<\/span>on you.\u00a0<\/span>What we need to do, with our limited time and resources and energy, is to find a good balance of our various duties, avoiding sloth in all of them, as best we can. And then we need to \u201clet go and let God\u201d.<\/p>\n

So here we go\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0Bodily sloth<\/strong><\/p>\n

This means just hanging around a lot, not doing much of anything.\u00a0<\/span>I once\u00a0was in a Greek village and saw the women out picking olives every day,\u00a0while the men sat in the kafenion playing cards, drinking coffee and chatting (probably solving the problems of the world) and not much else.\u00a0<\/span>I wanted to cry: \u201cGuys, get off your tails and go out there and help them!\u201d\u00a0(I didn\u2019t.)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Saint Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, \u201cWe hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all\u2026 such we command and exhort \u2026that they work quietly and eat their own bread.\u00a0<\/span>If anyone will not work, neither should he eat.\u201d\u00a0 2\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Thessalonians 3:10-12\u00a0<\/span><\/em>That seems clear enough.\u00a0<\/span>The fact is if we do not work, most of us\u00a0cannot<\/em>\u00a0eat or provide for ourselves and our families, nor can we give what we should to Church and charity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It is said \u201cidle hands are the devil\u2019s workshop\u201d. Not doing useful work demoralizes and debilitates people spiritually.\u00a0<\/span>One of the first responsibilities of a civilized society is to make it possible for people to find work.\u00a0<\/span>People with nothing good to do often find something evil to do,\u00a0as current events clearly demonstrate. (See the \u201cinner cities\u201d or Central America.)\u00a0Right: What\u00a0lack of work has created in Honduras, and what migrants are trying to escape from.<\/em><\/p>\n

However, I do not think bodily sloth is a big problem for most Americans. Most people here today seem overworked \u2013 whether the middle classes whose jobs require ever more of them and who seem forever trying to keep up with their responsibilities, or the poor who often have to work two jobs or more just to survive.\u00a0I see people \u2013 fathers, and\u00a0especially\u00a0many mothers \u2013 working\u00a0more than is\u00a0spiritually and emotionally healthy. We\u2019ll look at that next week when we discuss Slothfulness about Leisure<\/span><\/p>\n

In some circles there has long been much concern about people who just won\u2019t work and are dependent\u00a0on society \u2013 \u201cwelfare\u00a0queens\u201d and immigrants and the like. I don\u2019t think so. Maybe I\u2019ve lived an isolated life, but in my 80 years \u2013 living in a village, then towns, cities and suburbs \u2013 I\u2019ve known some people who\u00a0can\u2019t<\/em>\u00a0work (at least not steadily) because of disability or other issues. But how many people have I known who just didn\u2019t\u00a0care<\/em>\u00a0to work? One definitely (I could tell you some stories about him!), maybe two, make it three \u2013 no, I take it back; that\u2019s what he looked like from the outside, but he had mental problems that he was able to keep well hidden.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I believe almost everybody\u00a0wants to work and be\u00a0responsible and \u201cget ahead\u201d. Am I wrong?<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Intellectual Sloth<\/strong><\/p>\n

Q<\/strong>.<\/em>\u201cWhat is the difference between ignorance and apathy?<\/em>\u201d\u00a0A<\/strong>.<\/em>\u201cI don\u2019t know and I don\u2019t care!\u201d<\/p>\n

Harton wrote in 1920 that intellectual sloth \u201cis extremely common in these days, when most folk are not trained to think and when they commonly prefer not to do so.\u201d\u00a0(!) I wish (no, I don\u2019t wish) Harton could see things a hundred years later.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>We are now into what is called a \u201cfact-free\u201d society, where many people seem not to care about truth, to check out whether what they think is accurate, and where I fear many take advantage of peoples\u2019 ignorance.\u00a0Much politics and religion now seem to consist largely of slogans, not reasoned argument or thought.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let me give an example regarding one of the few topics I actually know something about: I have a degree in meteorology and even though my life got turned from \u201cprediction\u201d to \u201cprophecy\u201d, as I say, I\u2019ve followed the subject closely for almost seventy years. A large group of professional meteorologists\u00a0recently\u00a0presented an authorized, authoritative, well-documented\u00a0study about the great dangers of global warming, and the response to it was simply: \u201cI don\u2019t believe it.\u201d I don\u2019t know and I don\u2019t care.<\/span><\/p>\n

Are people just too lazy to learn\u00a0and seek facts? Are people just confused by all the information now thrown at us? Or is it that many today are just too busy with other things to take time to learn, listen, think.\u00a0<\/span>Sometimes I wonder if we are becoming a society of drones, ants who rush around madly, who never seem to ask: Why are we so busy? What is the point of this?\u00a0Isn\u2019t there more meaning to life than this?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Two pleasant young women came to our door one time to tell us about Mormonism. (Have I told you this story?)\u00a0<\/span>Obviously they were deeply devoted to their religion, so I asked them (nicely \u2013 I really wanted to find out) why they were Mormons. Why did they believe that God finally revealed the truth to Joseph Smith in New York in the 1820s?\u00a0<\/span>Their answer was, \u201cWe just do\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>I said, \u201cBut please, give me some reasons to explain why you believe this.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>They responded, \u201cWe just believe it.\u201d\u00a0Then they turned\u00a0around quickly and left.\u00a0<\/span>That is intellectual sloth. I know many young people that age who have thought far more deeply than that.<\/p>\n

And it leads to trouble.\u00a0<\/span>If, forty years ago, our\u00a0national leaders had bothered to learn and think about Iran \u2013 its people, its religion and politics, its 3000 year history (what neophytes we must seem to them), and about human psychology, how Iranians might feel about our overthrowing their newly-elected government \u2013 things might be different today.\u00a0<\/span>It was intellectual laziness.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

God gave us minds for our own good.\u00a0<\/span>It is slothful not to use them.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

3. Moral sloth<\/strong><\/p>\n

This means being lazy to do what is right.\u00a0I think this kind of sloth has two aspects:<\/span><\/p>\n

1) Laziness in our personal life.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>\u201cI ought to give up drinking. For my family\u2019s sake, not to mention my own, I should get help\u201d\u2026but I\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>never get around to it.\u00a0\u201cI ought to try to get to\u00a0church on time\u201d (I wonder who I could be thinking about?)\u2026 but I don\u2019t. \u201cI ought to go to Confession and try to improve my life\u201d.. but I just don\u2019t. \u00a0<\/span>\u201cI ought to do more to help the needy\u201d\u2026 but I just never get around to it. \u201cI ought to apologize\u201d, \u201cI ought to try to make peace with that guy.\u201d, \u201cI ought to be nicer to my wife\u2019s relatives\u201d\u2026 but I don\u2019t. \u201cI should cut out the gossiping and \u2018idol talk\u201d\u2018, \u00a0\u201cI ought to object to that malicious gossip when I hear it\u201d\u2026 but I don\u2019t. \u201cI ought to get involved\u201d\u2026 but I don\u2019t. \u201cI should do something worthwhile with my life instead of just sitting here night after night watching TV\u201d\u2026 but I just\u2026 don\u2019t.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A personal story: A man I was acquainted with and liked, but who lived a distance away and was not online, sent me a nice note and asked me to keep in touch. I put off writing and put it off,,, and then he was dead. I was remorseful. I went to Confession. I pray for him daily and tell him I\u2019m sorry and keep his note on my dresser to remind me I\u2019m a sinner. I still feel guilty. I hope he\u2019s forgiven me. But I wish\u2026<\/p>\n

2) Social laziness, <\/strong>our duty towards people outside our immediate families \u2013 the Church, the poor, the country. Our duty to vote. (Khouria Dianna and I just got back from voting, and\u00a0hardly anybody<\/em>\u00a0was there. Really, people, do you want democracy to survive?) Or giving to International Orthodox Christian Charities, or working in a\u00a0food kitchen, or serving on Parish Council, or perhaps getting involved in pollitics or organizations working for the good of society.\u00a0\u201cThe only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men\u00a0to do nothing.\u201d\u00a0Edmund Burke<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

However, be careful here. I\u2019ve known people who get all involved saving the world and neglect their families, their loved ones.\u00a0Many y<\/span>ears ago, when I was a young Episcopal priest, my parish was growing, and I was getting ever more involved with diocesan and even national church affairs. I was very busy. (Looking back, this was partly well-intentioned and partly an ego trip. \u201cOh, they want\u00a0me<\/em>\u00a0to do something!\u201d)\u00a0One night I went to the retirement party of an old priest, and I asked him, \u201cWhat would you have done differently?\u201d- thinking, I guess, that he might tell me how to organize the parish council better or something like that. Instead he said, \u201cMy children were only young once. I wish I had spent more time with them.\u201d\u00a0He had been slothful regarding his family.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I was startled. I went home and immediately cancelled a bunch of parish meetings (but not worship services) and pulled back on extra-parish involvements, and told my people why, and that I hoped they would do the same thing. They\u00a0loved\u00a0<\/em>it. They also had taken on too many outside activities. And you know what? The parish and the diocese and the national church got along ok. And the time I spent with my family has \u201cpaid off\u201d, as they say. I have known too many priest\u2019s kids who\u2026. uh, let\u2019s not go there.<\/span><\/p>\n

But on the other hand\u2026 What\u2019s the proper balance? I don\u2019t know. You\u2019ve got to figure it out for yourself.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI went by the field of the lazy man, and by the vineyard of the man devoid of understanding; and there it was, all…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25538,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[61],"tags":[25,74],"class_list":["post-25537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-orthodox-wisdom","tag-orthodox-how-to","tag-spiritual-guidance"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2-21-7.jpg","views":{"total":1044,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1768195451},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paPyw9-6DT","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25537"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25543,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25537\/revisions\/25543"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}