The Inward Odyssey

Share this post

Evelyn Underhill: Make a Simple Rule and Stick to It

www.jonathanrbailey.com
Letters from Saints

Evelyn Underhill: Make a Simple Rule and Stick to It

It looks impossible till you do it, and then you find it is possible.

Jonathan R. Bailey
Nov 29, 2022
Share this post

Evelyn Underhill: Make a Simple Rule and Stick to It

www.jonathanrbailey.com

In this letter, Evelyn Underhill

1
, advises a more structured life, including everyday practices like going to bed earlier and limiting letter-writing at night.

May 5, 1935

You should take Fr. X's directions about sleeping, and a more ordered life, very seriously indeed.

Of course, he expects you to carry out what he said!!

And, though I fully understand it is quite against your whole temperament, if you would make a simple rule and stick to it regardless, you would find it bracing and quieting, and would get all that really needs doing done!

If as I expect you don't have breakfast till 8:30 or 9 am, three-quarters of an hour for prayer and reading could surely come before that if you go to bed in reasonable time?

You once mentioned letter-writing as one of the things which kept you up late – it is also one of the things that should be disciplined, both as to length and frequency!

No letter-writing after 10:15 pm, as an act of obedience to God, would probably bring a quite new sense of leisure, and no one would be a penny the worse.

It looks impossible till you do it, and then you find it is possible.

2


Thanks for reading The Inward Odyssey from Jonathan R. Bailey. Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

1

Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941) was a British author and spiritual teacher who wrote extensively on the topics of mysticism and meditation. Her best known book, Mysticism, published in 1911, remains a profound and classic text. Underhill championed the contemplative life, believing that only by stilling and quietening the soul can one come to true knowledge and understanding. She once wrote: “Mysticism is the art of union with Reality.”

2

Underhill, Evelyn. The Letters of Evelyn Underhill. United Kingdom: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1991.

Share this post

Evelyn Underhill: Make a Simple Rule and Stick to It

www.jonathanrbailey.com
Previous
Next
Comments
TopNew

No posts

Ready for more?

© 2023 Jonathan R. Bailey
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
Substack is the home for great writing