A Few Minutes Every Day

^{Originally published in The Way on March 29, 1941}

The word “meditate” is quickly becoming an old-fashioned word. Many have the impression that meditation is an activity for the clerics and not for the lay people. Many others just find no time for it.

If asked whether they put aside an hour a day for meditation, nine people out of ten will answer with a smile, “I've no time for meditation.” They will go on explaining the numerous activities which fill their day and then close the subject saying, “My life is one long hustle.”

People talk about “the rush of modern life.” They will tell you that today the pace of life is faster than ever before. The very fact that modern life is faster makes it the more necessary to set apart some period of the day for meditation. The person refusing to do this acts like a man who says, “I'm too busy to eat” — and ends up with dyspepsia.

In a time when people could take it more easy, when they lived in a world of less hustle and bustle, less noises, when they had only half a dozen decisions to make in an hour instead of twenty, and practically half the things to do and places to go, there would be intervals during which the mind might be focused for meditation, self-evaluation. Today modern speed tends to deprive us of these intervals making it more necessary that resolutely time should be set aside for thought, for meditation.

There is nothing in the expectation or thought that one can meditate during meals. Neither is the very end of the day a good time for this purpose, for real meditation is an activity and not a relaxation. It requires the control of the will, the imagination, judgment, memory and ambition should all be awake and on their mettle. Is this possible at the very end of the day when the mind is tired?

If you don't like the word “meditate” then think, but do it. Do it in silence and solitude.

Solitude is the dwelling place of the strong. To change the whole world, Scripture asks of us, not a great conqueror, not a senate of lawgivers, not some new project — simply half an hour's silence.

This seems odd. What proportion is there between a radical change in the whole world and half an hour's silence? Well, the reason why man does not change is that he does not reflect. If he reflected, he would not remain for a moment in his present state.

The prodigal son did not reflect until he was reduced to the husks. When he saw himself sharing the food of the swine, then he began to think. The result was immediate action; He went back to his father.

The world is what it is and remains so because it does not know the meaning of solitude. Life at the present time is spent in the midst of a noisy, jostling crowd of people who are too busy to give a moment to reflection.

Let us try to secure a few minutes of interior solitude every day. Someone said that those who think must govern. We prefer to believe that those who govern must think — and not think casually or rarely, but regularly, purposefully and creatively. Devote a few minutes every day to thought, reflection, meditation.