Friday, November 07, 2008

Ronald Knox on sloth

To-day, we have substituted the word "sloth"; a failing from which we all suffer, and one which none of us ever admits. I think the best way of examining your conscience, if you want to discover whether you are an idle man, is to leave on one side all the things which interest you and concentrate on some side-line of your daily habits which doesn't interest you.... Idleness, with most of us, doesn't mean lying in bed and doing nothing; it means giving priority, always, to the things which interest us, and leaving our other duties to queue up and take their turn, if they ever get a turn. Watch idleness; it can become a sort of creeping paralysis.

Guilty as charged. :) For example, right now I'm blogging when I should be doing something else. I shall go and do the something else now, really!

4 comments:

R.A. said...

I like this quote...this is certainly something to think about.

JimAroo said...

The reason we do the sloth slide is that it is hard to have a definition of what is enough and when to stop. I have come up with an objective standard, however, that allows me to know when I am being slothful. Here it is: anytime I am doing less for the Kingdom of God than Padre Escobito, I am being slothful. So when am I being slothful??? that's easy...........all the time.

JimAroo said...

This posting has been certified as totally food free by the JimAroo, the self appointed food monitor of I.K.

Rachel said...

Actually I think sloths are edible if you barbeque 'em.