A Time to Revisit the Interior Life

interior life

The soul, as St. Teresa of Avila put it, is a castle in which there are many rooms, just as in heaven where there are many mansions. Navigating the halls and the rooms of this interior castle with the many distractions constantly tugging at us can be quite challenging.

Neglecting the Interior Castle

Diving into the deeper dimensions of spiritual life and God’s love is not for the multitasker. We’ve come to like filling our calendars with stuff and we take pride in being busy. How booked your calendar is has become a sort of status symbol. And when we don’t have anything to do, we resort to that buzzing thing in our pocket, the cell phone.

According to a research study done in 2016, we spend an average of 165 minutes a day (almost 20% of our waking hours) staring at a digital screen. That’s basically over two hours per day reallocated away from other things like the interior life, silent prayer, mindfulness, or simply listening to God speak in the silence of our hearts.

And now in this pandemic, as we experience a new surge in our screen time, that could potentially mean less time devoted to revisiting our interior castle as the great saints like Benedict, Augustine, and Teresa of Avila often did. Sure, maintaining our connections and connectivity albeit digital and virtual during this time of increased isolation is understandably important. But our journey into the depth of our interior life must not fall off our priority list.

The Sacrifice of the Interior Life

Tuning out distractions in this digital age has become increasingly difficult and almost abnormal. Just look at a bus stop or a waiting room and see if there’s anybody there waiting who’s not looking down on a phone. Smartphone app developers have gotten very good at getting our attention and diverting us to open their apps as many times as possible. Something’s got to give. Unfortunately, for many of us, it is the interior life that’s being sacrificed.

And when the interior life is compromised, it’s not just the spiritual wellness that gets impacted but our overall well-being—psychological, mental, physical, social, and emotional well-being. “It is the crisis of our age, the loss of the interior of our lives,” says James Finley, a clinical psychologist who lived in silence for six years as a Trappist monk. But perhaps this pandemic crisis brings with it the opportunity for us to turn our attention to this crisis of the loss of our interior lives.

Humanity has always been prone to distraction. We’ve had all kinds of diversions steadily pulling us away from the interior life. Almost a millennium before the invention of smartphones, in the year 1078, St. Anselm wrote in his Proslogion (“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.

Finding Rest

As Saint Augustine said: “You have made us for yourself O God, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” With the unrelenting social unrest and the uncertain progression of the pandemic, our soul has been on edge longing for rest, yearning to take this inward journey into the interior castle of our soul.

That longing is a gift instilled in us so that we may listen and discover that the interior castle is where we’ll find the indwelling of God. Saint Augustine wrote, “You were more inward to me than my most inward part.” We reach out for our Creator, not creation, and definitely not into our pockets for our cell phones.

Turn Inward and Dive

This period of uncertainty and questioning gives us that much-needed opportunity to revisit the interior castle, our soul. As fellow Catholic Stand writer Loreto Xavier wrote back in the early months of the pandemic, we have an opportunity to “pause, pay attention, process, and pray.” We used to tend to fill the normal days with happy, festive, and more outward activities. But in these abnormal days, we have the opportunity to turn inward and dive into the great depths and profound dimensionality of the spiritual life, where we can discover hope, gratitude, patience, compassion, and the love of God.

The fruit of silence is prayer, the fruit of prayer is faith, the fruit of faith is love, the fruit of love is service and the fruit of service is peace. (St. Teresa of Calcutta)

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Pinterest

2 thoughts on “A Time to Revisit the Interior Life”

  1. Pingback: Catholic Absolutes for Our Interior and Exterior Life-Part 1 - Catholic Stand

  2. The Life of the Carmelites is the perfect permanent worship tool to be applied these days of forceful retreat – triggered by COVID-19. Isolation and silence are the perfect combination to converse with God. The Doctors of the Church have taught us that. God is accessible to all, not through studies and theological analysis, but through silence and internal devotion. No PhD needed for that. God is all Love – not all letters.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.