Excerpt: Listening for God

The danger in listening for God is always that the ego subtly subverts inner listening for its own purposes. We need to be careful if the inner voices tells us what we want to hear. I have often found the unexpected nature of an answer or inner guidance most clearly points to its being genuine. It is also a valuable guide to notice if the ego or our personal self has anything to gain from what an inner voice tells us. A real inner voice nourishes the spirit, but rarely our material life or surface self.

Pay attention as well to the danger of inflation -- any sense of being special or any spiritual self-importance developing from what you hear within. We need the wisdom of humility and also the safeguard of common sense.

Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, Prayer of the Heart in Christian & Sufi Mysticism

Excerpt: Acedia

At its Greek root, the word acedia means the absence of care. The person afflicted by acedia refuses to care or is incapable of doing so. When life becomes too challenging and engagement with others too demanding, acedia offers a kind of spiritual morphine: you know the pain is there, yet you can't rouse yourself to give a damn. . . .

I think it likely that much of the restless boredom, frantic escapism, commitment phobia, and enervating despair that plagues us today is the ancient demon of acedia in new dress. The boundaries between depression and acedia are notoriously fluid; at the risk of oversimplifying, I would suggest that while depression is an illness treated by counseling and medication, acedia is a vice that is best countered by spiritual practice and the discipline of prayer. . . .

I have come to believe that acedia can strike anyone whose work requires self-motivation and solitude, anyone who stays married 'for better or worse,' anyone who is determined to stay true to a commitment that is sorely tested everyday.

Kathleen Norris, Acedia & Me