I'll Sleep when I'm Dead.

As a person with a newborn who, between his own idiosyncrasies and our failures to properly help him,  sleeps 3-4 hours at a time (on a good day) and 20-30 minutes at a time (on very bad days), I feel at a loss as to how I can effectively get the kind of sleep recommended by the book. In fact, the idea of the discipline of getting a lot of sleep is actually new to me. I think there is a certain Texas 'good ole boy' syndrome where keeping the midnight oil burning is actually a very respectable sign of a hard-working mature person. I remember quite a few late nights and all-nighters in grad school and still find it tempting to finish up something I was working on during the day when I get home.

Moreover, in the texts on spirituality I'm more acquainted with sleep (at least 9 hours of sleep) is actually considered to be an obstacle to spiritual growth. It was thought to encourage sloth and a passive state of mind that allows all sorts of influences to take root. Vigils were practiced in order to keep the mind sharp, focused on God, constantly aware of bad thoughts seeking to slip in. But this kind of literature was largely written for monks and I wonder if Mr. Smith's thoughts are of a different kind of discipline more suited for those of us "in the world."

Usually, I think the reasons why we don't get enough sleep is either because we're over-working, or caught up in some kind of addictive entertainment. These are cares that a monk wouldn't exactly face, but two very big temptations and distractions from God that can be very destructive to our biological and spiritual lives. Perhaps it is that we simply face different demons from those living outside of mainstream society.

To be honest, I feel a little bit in the middle. On the one hand, at this point in my life, I simply can't get 9 continual hours of sleep (not without leaving Sierra alone to fend with the little one). On the other hand, I certainly recognize the benefits and importance of it. But behind the amount of sleep I think we see the more important discipline of being still--not distracting ourselves to sleep, but rather simply getting into bed, lying still, and practicing controlling one's mind, not allowing it to fleet from our daily cares, interests, and desires. Instead, focusing our mind on better things. For me, this is my middle ground.