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This past weekend I made a lovely silent retreat at Ignatius House just outside Atlanta. It is a little odd, I suppose, to go to all the effort needed to visit a retreat center only 15 minutes from where one lives. Why pack a suitcase and go sleep in a bed not your own, when you have a perfect good bed that you sleep better in just down the road? But—in a shout out to retreat centers everywhere—even a slight change of location can make all the difference in the world when it comes to clearing out one’s head space. The absence of mail laying there on my desk that I don’t know what to do with…. The silencing of notifications on my phone. the muting of even my “peaceful instrumental” playlist… the void of any news source… well,… I’m telling you, it can do remarkable things in a relatively short period of time. Especially right now.
You all know that I’ve read the Harry Potter books multiple times. It started with my own son and now continues with some of my nieces and nephews whose parents have neglected this fundamental parental duty. One of my favorite ideas from these books pops up in Book 5 when Harry is directed by Dumbledore to study the art of “occlumency”—the ability to block others’ (particularly Voldemort’s) access to his head space. He is to have boundaries on who can get into his mind lest they wreak havoc there, stirring rage and fears that are not connected to reality.
On retreat this weekend occlumency struck me as an important spiritual practice… again, especially right now. There are those who enjoy taking up a whole lot of space, filling the airwaves with words that are divisive and distracting. Such words are a violation of the vocation of language—which is always intended to bridge people and bring both to a greater understanding of what is true. Communication, community, and communion all sound similar for a reason. If one’s words aren’t doing that, then they don’t need to be coming into our heads. They’ll stir feelings that are not helpful. Indeed, the words—so disconnected from reality—might be keeping us from seeing what is really going on, needs attention, and begs action.
Among several personal commitments that came out of my retreat is the commitment not to listen to any 24 hour cable channel for the foreseeable future. I will read news stories from AP Press, Reuters, PBS, but not give unhealthy voices airtime in my home or in my mind. Maybe this is something you’d like to try with me?
At the end of the retreat, I tried to capture this commitment in the drawing that I’ve shared atop this newsletter. Whatever chaos is going on outside of my head, within my head I will only give space to what Paul speaks about in his letter to the Philippians:
“Finally, Beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me. Then the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:8-9)
May it be so.