Okay, I'm shifting gears.
I've decided not to look at the news or write anything news-related from now until next Friday. The only exception is that if I'm looking at news, it has to be good news. And by good I mean happy. My hope is that this will liven my mood from the general malaise that I find seems to pervade the mainstream press. Therefore, I will focus on timeless truths for the next week and look at the news only to the extent that it helps me to meditate on those timeless truths.
One could say it is an ascetic exercise, in the spirit of Thomas Merton's description of television, describing it as "degrading, meritricious and absurd." The same, sadly, is largely true of the internet. So, I will make a point to carefully discern where I go when I'm on here, and in general to not allow things that I see on this device to create any spiritual disquiet within me. For it is nothing external to ourselves that ever really creates a spiritual disquiet, but our very selves who allow that disquiet to arise. While we do allow it to arise, we often do so when we place ourselves in near occasions of such disquiet--such as reading the internet news.
A good blog that I discovered earlier today along these lines: When you get a chance if you haven't already, check out the Happy Catholic. It's devout and it's funny.
Why thank you for the props!
I also tend to gloss over the bad news because it throws things way out of perspective. I usually note that it is there but tend to ignore it as much as I can because otherwise I go around all gloomy and mopey. Which makes it difficult to be a Happy Catholic! :-D