The Crisis of Our Age: The Loss of the Interior of Our Lives

It is hard to believe that this quote is from the year 1078 when Saint Anselm wrote it in his Proslogion (in English, it translates: “Discourse on the Existence of God”):

“Up now, slight man! flee, for a little while, your occupations; hide yourself, for a time, from your disturbing thoughts. Cast aside, now, your burdensome cares, and put away your toilsome business. Yield room for some little time to God; and rest for a little time in Him. Enter the inner chamber of your mind; shut out all thoughts, save that of God, and such as can aid you in seeking him; close your door and seek Him.”

It sounds like it could have been written for us today living in the digital age. James Finley, a clinical psychologist who lived in silence with the Trappist monks for six years, said that “It is the crisis of our age, the loss of the interior of our lives.” Throughout the centuries, even way before the invention of smart phones, we have had all kinds of diversions and distractions pulling us away from the interior life but there is nothing like the force of today’s digital age that has the interior life beat by a margin.

The article I wrote last year “Is Sainthood Still Possible in the Digital Age?” apparently (but not surprisingly) piqued the interest of many. One of the readers wrote to me and said: “I think young people now are afraid of silence, they are connected with everybody and everywhere, the world is in their pockets through the smartphone.  This has really affected their behavior.”

In the sixteenth century, Saint Teresa of Avila saw this as well. She said that the soul is a castle in which there are many rooms, just as in heaven where there are many mansions. But she observed that people often gave all their attention on the outer walls of the castle, ignoring the beauty of the soul within. We all need to venture deep into each room in this castle for each one leads deeper into the heart of the castle to the seat of the King. But now in today’s highly distracted world, good luck to us as we try to navigate the halls of this interior castle. It is not easy to get far into the deeper dimensions of life with your smart phone buzzing every two minutes. Sure, our connections and connectivity, who we know and what we know, get broader and wider but our journey into the depth of our interior life is often disturbed and compromised, stuck in the shallows.

Read the full story published on Mind & Spirit Magazine: Lent- ‘Tis the Season to Re-Enter the Interior Castle