There’s to be a programme on UK telly tonight about five guys who spend 40 days at a secluded monastery, and apparently come out of it much happier people:
So, can we be happy if we give everything up and listen to the small still voice of God? Or does that lead to unhealthy self-obsession and the same unhappiness occurring, just in a petty institutionalised kind of way? How do you think you’d react to 40 days in a monastery/convent?
I wasn’t sure if this should be a GD or an IMHO, so let’s see how it goes.
What is the daily life at a monastery like these days? I sure as hell don’t want to be pulled out of bed at 2 A.M. for Matins only to awaken again for Lauds, go about my daily manual labor in complete silence, only to have them inturrupted by Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline. Who needs to pray 8 times a day? Could I keep a mistress of some kind, perhaps a nice young lady I can call my “neice” or a willing nun.
I wouldn’t be very happy as a monk. Although I can certainly see the appeal of getting away from it all for a period of time.
Taking time off in the peace and quiet to be with yout thoughts is refreshing for anyone.
I’d bet you could get the exact same results by renting a nice cabin in the mountains.
The cynic in me notes that every reality television show involving a dramatic lifestyle change, *Colonial House, 1900 House, Pioneer House, *and the like, is reported to be “life changing” by the participants. I don’t attibute that to the horrible nature of modern life, but that taking a nice, long break from your life and responsibilities, no matter if you spend that time shovelling cow shit, is refreshing.
Well, when it comes down to it, most people are most happy when sitting around (insert drinking if desired) talking with friends, preferably somewhere slightly warm or cool.
This idea would work exactly as much as it allows you the chance to reflect on your life and how you can improve it, which is an idea that’s been around for thousands of years, commonly known as the self-examined life. May we all lead one.
I recently browsed through the book “the Monk Who Sold his Ferarri”.–but I wasn’t impressed.
A super high-pressure lawyer who has a heart attack , and proudly runs away to a Buddhist monastery in India . If his heart attack forced him to re-evaluate his overworked, materialistic life,–why run away? Why not just slow it down a bit? Instead of being a high-strung, overworked, Wall Street millionaire lawyer, why not just quit,-- and turn yourself into a low-strung, non-overworked part-time lawyer. Drive a Chevy instead of a Ferarri–but don’t abandon your family and your own personal life story.
I really like backpacking in the wilderness (or as close to the wilderness as I can get), and I think there is appeal in any vacation from modern life’s complexities. One of my best trips was spending a week hiking in the Grand Canyon in late March/early April. Hardly anyone else was around. Members of my party got spread out at least a couple-hundred yards from each other, so there was plenty of quiet and seclusion if you wanted it. Ascending and descending with a heavy pack was hard work, but the goals of the day were so uncomplicated: Get up, eat, break camp, walk, eat, walk, set up camp, get water, eat, sleep hard; repeat until finished. All the while, gaze at enormous, spectacular vistas, watch mule deer run by, study the desert flora, listen to only the sounds of your footfalls and the wind.
I find more often than I’d like, when I’m back in the “real world”, I’ve got a small cloud of bullshit hanging over me, some laundry-list of Important Things I’ve got to do, and all of them are complicated. Very often, they provide no immediate gratification, and sometimes none ever. There’s no light at the end of the tunnel with these things, no apparent payoff, no tangible rationale; just a sense of inexplicable imperative made distressingly aversive for all the chronic drudgery on the proverbial gerbil-wheel. I rarely go to bed feeling like I’m Finished for the Day. In contrast, the simple life can be broken up easily into little conceptual bites, made all the more delicious for the cleansing physical effort they require. I guess some people find the voice of God in this life; I find the lack of any voice the most soothing aspect. I also find it makes me appreciate some of the comforts of Modern Life a bit more, which makes the aforementioned cloud of bullshit quite a bit more tolerable.
Wait a year and then see how they are, because people who leave rehab say they are changed for life then go back to their old life pretty quick. This could be the same thing.