Chapter 28

Work Should Not Distract From God

You have touched on work. Since your work is not by obedience but by your own will, you can arrange it so that it does not distract you at all from your inner labors. Follow in this Saint Isaac the Syrian. He does not favor work and permits it only when necessary, rarely. For it distracts the mind. One must acquire a special habit so it does not distract. One cannot avoid work entirely. There is a natural need for it; yet one should not be drawn away by it either. The Egyptian monks worked all day long; yet their minds did not depart from God. (4, 407–408)