“Nothing is so
insufferable to man as to be completely at rest, without passion, without
business, without diversion, without study. He then feels his nothingness, his
forlornness, his insufficiency, his dependence, his weakness, his emptiness.
There will immediately arise from the depth of his heart weariness, gloom,
sadness, fretfulness, vexation, despair”
(Pascal, 1958)
Pascal
seems to be describing what, in these days, we call “burn out”. Burn out suggests
an inability to cope rather than exhaustion from labors. What we find is that
many people are psychologically debilitated and overwhelmed even before they
begin a task. Either the enormity of the challenge, or the perceived enormity,
appears so staggering that they cannot face up to it. So emotionally, they
retreat, and as they do, guilt overcomes them. The word of excuse-burn out.
In
June of 1530, Martin Luther wrote to his young friend, Hieronymous Weller, who
was overtaken by the spirit of melancholy. “Depression destroys many and is
good for nothing……..The Lord does not confuse you……therefore, do not succumb to
evil but courageously oppose it. In this struggle the best pattern is not to
give attention to these thoughts and dwell on them and like hissing goose
despise and go by them…..Wherefore you will do the right thing if you choose
diversions with others, or find some other enjoyment, and ….have no scruples
regarding games or play.”
There
are good and not so good reasons why some people feel as they do. We would all
be well advised to deal with their situation by heeding the analyses and
counsel of Pascal and Luther.
“Lord,
help me to throw myself into my work with passion, preparation, and abandon;
into my home life with love and zeal, and into play with a freed conscience.
Then, when the bedding hour comes, let me turn the world and its cares back to
you while I sleep the sleep of a carefree child”.
