Idleness

Why do so many people judge the contemplative life as a matter of inaction?  Isaac Hecker says people think that this doing of the soul with God is a lot of idleness and folly.  But in fact contemplative prayer is work.  You are doing something.  Just because your eyes might be closed and your body is not moving does not mean you are inactive or doing nothing.  So much of Western culture values getting things done that one can see, and produces something such as "more." The fruit of a contemplative life is sanity, the fruit of which is often a sense of compassion, care, and love for others.  But even if one is more of a hermit, they may be unearthing a perennial wisdom that they embody for others.  This is a power of one who lives in solitude.  If any of us part-timer spiritual practitioners want to know more about what might be, it is good to have a hermit around.