Francis chose the well. He chose silence. He chose repetition (praying the same Psalms every day). He chose boredom—which is the necessary soil for true creativity and peace. I am not suggesting you give away your TV or delete your internet. But I am suggesting that Francis of Assisi is the patron saint of the burned-out binge-watcher.
But he was deeply reluctant to let it go. In fact, his conversion was less a lightning bolt and more a slow, painful drag. He hid from a beggar. He locked himself in a cave. Even after he started praying, he kept one eye on the door, hoping a troubadour would walk by with a better offer.
Here are three "Franciscan" rules for a healthier entertainment diet:
The torrent lifestyle promises freedom, but it delivers paralysis. The Francis way looks like poverty, but it delivers presence. reluctant saint francis of assisi torrent
Francis hated fine fabrics because they made him feel superior. Ask yourself: Does this show, game, or feed make me feel better than other people? If the answer is yes (reality TV schadenfreude, doom-scrolling anger, gaming rage), cut it out. Entertainment should humanize you, not harden you.
And then there is Francis of Assisi. The man who gave away his clothes. The man who kissed a leper. The man who looked at a pile of gold and saw a pile of garbage.
Netflix queues that stretch into the next decade. Spotify playlists with 3,000 songs we skip after 10 seconds. Hard drives (both physical and in the cloud) bursting with movies, games, and eBooks we swore we would read “someday.” Francis chose the well
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So, here is your challenge for the weekend: Turn off the torrent. For one hour, be bored. Stare at a wall. Listen to the wind. Let your brain feel the lack of stimulation.
He realized that a life flooded with everything leaves you with nothing . He chose boredom—which is the necessary soil for
Sound familiar? That is the feeling of scrolling for two hours before finding a movie you actually want to watch. Here is the brutal truth about the torrent lifestyle: A flood disperses energy. A well contains it.
Francis owned one tunic, one rope, and one bowl. For entertainment, try a single source for one hour. Not six tabs. Not dual-monitor streaming. One album. One chapter. One film, watched without your phone in your hand. The Reluctant Conclusion Francis did not wake up one morning a saint. He woke up most mornings a grumpy, reluctant ascetic who missed the old days of wine and song. But he stayed the course.
We call it entertainment. Technically, it is a torrent lifestyle —a flood of data moving at high speed, drowning our senses in choice.
Francis’s turning point was embracing what repulsed him. In your entertainment life, this means taking a break from the "optimized" algorithms. Read a book that is 20 years old. Watch a black-and-white film. Listen to a genre you hate. Reluctantly embrace the "un-entertaining." You will find strange joy there.
You might hate it. You might feel anxious.