First, Listen: Religion's Call in a Busy World

[cbayer]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sophie-rebekah-beal/first-listen-religions-call-in-a-busy-world_b_1885180.html


Sophie Rebekah Beal
Senior, Mount Holyoke College
Posted: 09/28/2012 10:01 am

And (G-d) said, 'Go and say to this people:
"Keep listening, but do not comprehend;
keep looking, but do not understand."
--Isaiah 6: 9

I interned in New York City this past summer, trying to survive on a student budget while I have "real-life professional experiences" which, according to my college, will help me figure out what I'm doing with my life -- "my call," if you will.

But it's not easy listening for a "call" in the noisy hustle of New York. The city has a culture of fast movement and clear-cut goals. People like earphones and dislike eye contact. It's hard to find time to simply be still and think. It seems there is always something you should be doing instead.

Tim Kreider's recent article about the modern phenomenon of constant busyness hit home for me. He argues that our need to be constantly busy is unnatural and unhealthy, because it deprives us of the space in our lives to develop creativity and insight. "Busyness serves as a kind of existential reassurance, a hedge against emptiness," he writes. "I can't help but wonder whether all this histrionic exhaustion isn't a way of covering up the fact that most of what we do doesn't matter."

My favorite college religion professor often tells me that religion is fundamentally about the universal human question, How do we live? It's a question we ask ourselves every day. The world is complicated. So now what? How do we live in a world filled with noise and ambiguity? How can we listen for a call through the din?

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