One of the best questions in our interview came from one of us. How do we keep custody of our senses when we are constantly bombarded? We can’t even drive to work without a visual assault. Father Bethel admitted he isn’t out in the world that much. Still, a car pulling up beside him with loud rock and roll is enough to remind him. Billboards do the same.
Shut the Windows
Father Bethel quoted St. Bernard. To clear up the inside, shut the windows and keep the dust out. Then you can maybe do something about the mess. That doesn’t mean becoming tense or stressed about it. It does mean some discipline for our ears, our eyes, and everything else that lets the world in.
The aim is to have control over what’s inside. The better the input is, the better the interior becomes. His advice was to feed the soul what is good, true, and beautiful.
You Don’t Have to Look at Everything
One well-known author, he said, once wrote that to see well you have to close your eyes. So filter a little. You are out in all kinds of places, but you don’t have to look at everything or listen to everything.
He also paraphrased St. John of the Cross on this. If something hits you and you weren’t looking for it, it won’t hurt you much. If you go looking, you’ll find it. We joked that it must be true because John of the Cross said it.
The Vice of Curiosity
Reading works the same way. We can read too much, especially about politics. Some people have to know more than others, but you can get lost in the news and all its hypotheses. One of us said the vice of curiosity is rampant online, simply because it’s so easy. A phone sitting nearby is distracting even when it’s off, because part of you is leaning toward it.
Inside the monastery, internet use takes permission, and it happens in a public place. When a monk goes out, he needs a blessing to get online and shop. That got us wondering whether monks order from Amazon. We pictured the delivery truck, or even a drone, arriving at the abbey.
Images
Father Bethel also noted that photography is a very recent thing, and it has changed our imaginations. Pornography is a recent problem too, and a big one. If you’re taken by images like that, you can’t pray. This is one reason he treats images as part of silence, not only sound.
The Home as a Castle
Families used to be castles, he said. Then came the telephone and the television. Those can ruin family life, so we have to watch them very closely. Both of us threw out our televisions after reading John Senior.
Father Bethel had a story about that. As he told it, Father Fessio’s Ignatius Institute invited John Senior to give a talk while EWTN was filming. Senior opened by telling the crowd that television is very bad and they should smash their TVs.
A Few Practical Moves
Nothing here requires a monastery. Based on what Father Bethel said, a few habits are enough to start.
- Shut a few windows. Decide what comes in through your eyes and ears, without getting tense about it.
- Don’t go looking. What you didn’t seek tends to bother you less.
- Keep your phone out of reach while you pray or work.
- Do what you’re doing, and leave the rest of the internet alone for now.
None of that is dramatic. However, it is exactly the kind of small discipline that lets a calmer interior grow. If you want to hear more from Father Bethel, listen to the full episode. You can also learn more about who we are and how the show started.
