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09 March 2025
Trust and care can easily be compatible. But we sometimes use "trust" to mean "trusting and not caring". A negative word for "trusting and not caring" is being "careless", while a positive word could be being "carefree". Or, a more religious word for being carefree might be to be "resting".
If we need to have the heart of God in order to be saved, then we need to care. In the Bible, people were given six days to practice caring, and one day to practice resting. While the Bible doesn't have to be normative in every way for MSLians, and perhaps Christians don't think the number of days of work have to literally be six, this gives some idea that rest and care are supposed to alternate, and that there probably should be more time of care than of rest. However, like in the Bible, in MSL there is the idea that after all the work of existence is done (after everyone who will become holy has become holy), then all of existence will rest. There will be no more risk and evil to bear in mind, so the truth-aligned thing will be to not bear it.
It feels good to go to heaven for a bit, and to let go of the burden of caring. It's dangerous to stay there forever when there's work that needs to be done.
In a state of rest, a foretaste of heaven, you can be clothed with a holy spirit, which prevents you from sinning. So this is a form of holiness. But if your heart underneath isn't good, when this spirit is removed, you'll sin again. It's possible to receive the holy spirit (Christians might say "the Holy Spirit") for years, and other people, and even you, might see you as a good person. But your heart needs to be revealed so that you can be tempted and reject whatever sins are in it. So the spirit may be taken away, and you, and other people, might not recognize you, as you act on your real heart. So it can be good to be wary of a good feeling and good behavior, not that they are bad things in themselves, but because they might not really be you.
However, a good-hearted person will desire to be a good home for the holy spirit, and want to behave well, empowered by the spirit, as the spirit also wants them to, because good behavior makes the world better. And rest is a way to invite in that spirit.
Resting helps people have the strength to care, and also allows them to end chapters of their lives and start new ones. Sleep (speaking physically) allows the mind to process the day, and times of rest allow people to make sense of the past.
Work and care are naturally self-limiting. Too much of them is painful and wearying. But rest is not as much self-limiting. Perhaps it can be boring, but if it's not, it can be enjoyed "forever".
Most people are exposed to the need to work and care, because life is dangerous. They might want to rest all the time, having turned against work and care from over-exposure to them. But if life really did become easy, and such people still really needed work and care to become holy, the danger of resting indefinitely might be one they couldn't see through.
Charisma is the promise of rest. Or, you could say, charisma is a vacation. Rest is the mind not thinking. Not thinking lets anything happen. Normally we say 2 + 2 = 4, but when we rest, 2 + 2 could equal anything, as far as we're concerned. That's what "trust" means. But in the real world, not everything that is trust-producing is actually trustworthy. So to rest is a risky thing, even if, and especially because, what makes it virtuous is that it tells you to disregard risk to at least some degree.
Charisma gives people the power to do whatever they want, without being checked. Pathological rest culture is a way to allow Satan to rule us.
Sexual and romantic thoughts and feelings can be a "vacation". Perhaps the desire for nice things of any sort can be. Sinful thoughts can be a relief -- and be as sinful as they ever were. If you can't rest in a good way, perhaps you will seek rest from bad sources of rest. Maybe giving in to an addiction is always a seeking of rest.
I fear somewhat that my own writing style is often too much one of rest and not of care. The good side of this is that those who seek rest may like it. What I have to tell them, overwhelmingly, is to care, spend the "six days" of life in caring, and only "one day" in resting. But the bad side is that that writing style (and also speaking style) can put people in a state of rest. And when they rest, 2 + 2 no longer has to add up to anything in particular. I want the "math" of my writing to have effect, so that something "follows" from it. But if the writing voice says "rest", that may be all you hear, and the "math" may no longer be able to work to show you the truth.
Having read this, if this bothers you, you can now discipline yourself to try not to let the voice overrule the "math", when you read "restful" writing.