BOREDOM

Man's fallen and corrupt nature makes him inconstant, bored and anxious. Look at the lives of the young; it is all noise, diversions and thoughts of the future. Take away their diversions and they shrivel up with boredom. Boredom brings us face to face with introspection, with the result that we begin to discover how wretched we really are. . .a totally unacceptable truth.

The most fundamental act in the salvation of a Christian soul is repentance; and repentance consists in finding out how wretched we are.

For us to do this, we must remove all diversions; this will lead us to unavoidable boredom. Boredom is an invitation to introspection, an activity loved by those who love God and hated by those who love themselves.

The bored who loves God goes into introspection, discovers his faults, corrects them and grows in perfection. The bored who loves himself looks for diversions; and diversion is the greatest obstacle in discovering how despicable he is. 

Man's wretchedness can be calculated from the price Christ had to pay to redeem man. From the price, man in his fallen nature is a foolish earthworm, a sewer of doubt and error, the refuse of the universe. For the lover of self to cover up this truth takes a great amount of diversion. Should we wonder, then, that every progress in civilization is progress in diversions?

The lover of God, upon discovering his wretchedness, rushes to God who, alone, can fill up the emptiness. The lover of self, refusing to admit his wretchedness, tries to find fulfillment in the stars, the elements, in plants and pets, in war, adultery and incest--which cannot fill up anything.

There are two kinds of men in the world: the saints who think they are sinners, and the sinners who think they are saints. Both of them are wretched creatures; except that the saints know they are wretched. The sinners think they are cute.

And the saints are great men and women because they gave up all things (including all diversions), allowed their boredom to lead them into introspection, discovered what made them wretched and did something about it.  

(01-22-03)