I recently came across the quote: “There is a pervasive form of contemporary violence to which the idealist fighting for peace by non-violent methods most easily succumbs: activism and overwork.”
Working in the nonprofit space, I’ve seen this up close. Good people, people who care deeply, burning themselves down in the name of the cause. Helping others at the cost of themselves, their relationships, their health. I looked up the author and found this was actually part of a longer passage:
“There is a pervasive form of contemporary violence to which the idealist fighting for peace by non-violent methods most easily succumbs: activism and overwork. The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything is to succumb to violence. The frenzy of the activist neutralizes one’s work for peace. It destroys one’s inner capacity of peace. It destroys the fruitfulness of one’s work because it kills the roots of inner wisdom which make work fruitful.” — Thomas Merton
The cruel part is that this overwork turns into martyrdom and looks like virtue. The exhaustion becomes a badge. But Merton is saying something sharper: the hustle isn’t just unsustainable, it’s counterproductive. It “kills the roots of inner wisdom which make work fruitful.” You can’t pour from an empty vessel, sure… but more than that, you can’t think clearly from a scattered one.
Thomas Merton (1915–1968) was a monk, writer, and mystic. He entered the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky in 1941 and spent the rest of his life there, writing prolifically on spirituality, contemplation, social justice, and interfaith dialogue. His autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain became a surprise bestseller and brought monasticism into mainstream American conversation. What made him unusual was the range…. he corresponded with everyone from Czesław Miłosz to Thich Nhat Hanh, wrote about Zen Buddhism and nuclear proliferation, and managed to be both a cloistered monk and deeply engaged with the political turmoil of his time.