The Destruction of Distraction

T. S. Eliot described modern people as “distracted from distraction by distraction”. It’s one of the thickest obstacles between the present and a better future. 

Practical advice on clearing the mind abounds. In recent years, meditation has surged in popularity. But a motivational vision or image of an undistracted mind can sometimes be just as helpful as all the practical advice in the world: 

“When the intellect is in…a state of equilibrium, it searches out its enemies like a hound searching for a hare in a thicket. But the hound searches in order to get food, the intellect in order to destroy.”

—Hesychios the Priest, On Watchfulness and Holiness

One of the mind’s primary functions is to see the world. But to see the world clearly, it needs first to watch itself for the entrance or presence of enemies that can disrupt its clarity. We can’t see very clearly before the destruction of distraction.