The news in the last 24 hours has been very full of the ‘sudden realisation’ that the lockdown we are currently experiencing is going to go on for a long time. I must confess, this didn’t come to me as a surprise, at all; the only surprise was that people in the media seemed to be surprised. Yet it has, for me, seemed only logical, that if these measures succeed in suppressing the spread of Coronavirus, without actually curing the virus, it was always going to be something of a headache to try and lift them again in the future.
And so with this in mind, I return today to the series of posts: ‘5 Rules for a Spiritually Healthy Self-Isolation.’ I hope the reminder that this self-isolation may last for a while might cause us all to reflect, a little on just how we are living it. As I have written before - if we live it well, we will emerge from this having grown; live it badly, and we risk coming out as diminished people, psychologically and emotionally, as well as spiritually.
Thus far, in order to live a spiritually healthy self-isolation, we have discussed (1.) the importance of having a Rule of Life, (2.) Doing Something meaningful with your time and (3.) Listening to What God is Saying to you in your prayer. These three make a really good spiritual game plan for serious spiritual growth, during the next few weeks and months. Rule #4 is, by contrast, if you like, something of a health warning: Be careful what you put into your mind during these days.
We are very used to the idea that ‘you are what you eat.’ What we put into our bodies forms us very much, physically. As someone reasonably into health and fitness, I have had to learn the lesson that ‘you can’t outrun a bad diet’. The things we eat have a profound effect on bodily health, appearance, and even, to a certain extent our psychological and emotional health.
However, if this is true of food, I would say it is even truer of the media that we consume. Just as food goes into the body and shapes it, ideas go into minds and shape them. The ideas to which we expose ourselves, form the way that we think; and the way that we think determines how we understand our very selves. Thus, our sense of identity - who we are - is profoundly influenced by the ideas we consume. If we form our minds with good things, we will be profoundly shaped for the good; but let us be under no illusions - bad ideas have victims, and they are ordinary people, like you and me.
Loving the Lord with all your Heart
And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that [Jesus] answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ (Mark 12.28-30)
Nowadays, we tend to think of the heart as the seat of the emotions. Therefore, when we are told to love God with all our heart, we can easily fall into thinking that we need to have strong, loving feelings towards Him. But, the problem is we cannot necessarily control our feelings; they come and go like the wind. For a first century Jew, however, the heart was much more like what we today would think of as the mind. For them the heart was not the seat of emotions (that was the gut), it was rather the place where they located the will - the power of knowing and choosing. Thus, when Jesus says the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart it means knowing and choosing God’s will, rather than having an emotional ecstasy when you think of Him.
This is important, because it shows us that in order to love God, we need to furnish our minds/hearts with good and true ideas about Him. If we don’t allow our minds to come to know His will, we won’t choose to do it.
You are what you read
Everything you read, forms and shapes, a little bit, the person who you are. Indeed, everything you let into your heart/mind; every newspaper or magazine article, each book/audiobook/ebook, all the television programmes, podcasts and radio station you watch or listen to. All the things you look at on the internet or social media, all the music you listen to - all of it forms and shapes your mind/heart into someone who is more, or less, in tune with the Will of God. And indeed, every person whom you let into your life, into your mind/heart.
As Christians, therefore the obvious lesson, is that we need to keep a guard over our minds/hearts, ensuring that we keep within them the things of God: "
Keep your heart with all vigilance; for from it flow the springs of life." (Proverbs 4.23)
This doesn’t mean that we that we have to shut out everything that the world has to offer. Much of the art and culture that surrounds us is good; and we can celebrate that it is good. But we must nevertheless be always on our guard to ensure that though we are in the world we are not becoming ‘of the world.’ A huge amount of otherwise very worthy media is today loaded with very subtle messages that run counter to the teachings of Jesus Christ and His Church. Moral relativism (the idea that nothing is really right or wrong) flows through films and television in a way that is just beneath the surface, such that we could easily miss it. As Christians, we have to be alert.
And in order to do this, I think it is pertinent to examine our consciences frequently, and to ask - what portion of the media that I consume is coming from good, holy sources? The kind of media that will foster within me a greater knowledge of and willingness to do God’s Will? If our media consumption isn’t being leavened by some good, Christ centred sources, then we really are in danger of slipping under the spell of the secular age.
The particular danger of the moment
In a time when many of us find ourselves confined - and perhaps even bored - we will be more apt than ever to seek easy entertainment; and that is not a problem in itself. However, be aware, nothing is neutral, and all that you turn to will form a little bit more, for better or for ill, the person who comes out of confinement in some days time. Choose wisely! Choose for Jesus!
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