8 ms·
I would also note that, etymology of the term and famous examples notwithstanding, the monastic lifestyle is a fraternal one, such as rarely exists anymore: you
by saalweachter 5y ago
I would also note that, etymology of the term and famous examples notwithstanding, the monastic lifestyle is a fraternal one, such as rarely exists anymore: you are living and working within a community of people doing and living the same way as you. "Brother" is even the common title for a monk.
This used to be the most common way to live; a farmer with 10-40 acres finds himself in a community of other farmers, but there aren't many farmers today and industrialization has pushed them far apart.
Aside from the military, most of us just have day jobs, and go home to our separate lives at night.
- neaden 5y agoTraditional farming in Europe and most of the world wasn't even a farmer having their own plot of land. Most farming was collaborative, fields were held in common and individuals owned certain portions of the fields mixed with others. Much of the work of weeding, plowing, etc had to be done as a community. 10-40 acres is also far more than someone would be capable of farming as an individual household before modern technology.
- dexwiz 5y agoCorrect. Most villages had one large field surround a few buildings. The split was split up some standard ways. If the village was on a road, the divisions usually fanned out from the road, making the division map look striped. I’d the village sat on a river, often the divisions would radiate out making the map look like a corner of a pie with many slices.
- watwut 5y agoThe Christian monastic life is nothing like living in farming community. The monasteries rules every detail of your life. There are rules about what and when you can do, say, eat, wear, everything. On the extreme end, you have monks who can see other people for like 1 hour a day or did wow of silence. Oh, and they dont get to pick person they will be with during that 1 hour of socialization. The rest of time is in isolation and activities for every minute are prescribed. And even in more moderate monasteries, you still have whole day prescribed. Who you socialize with is controlled too. You don't get to voice opinion about rules. You don't get to pick up friends you have fun with in the evening.
- antongribok 5y agoI agree with everything you said, except your last centence: "You don't get to pick up friends you have fun with in the evening." At some point in my youth I visited a monastery on weekends, because I was friends with some seminarians studying there. People knew how to have fun. Perhaps not every day, only on some days of the week, but you certainly could hang out with friends. There was at least one or two people in the group with a car, and there were favorite spots people liked to go to. I'm sure there are a lot stricter places, but for what it's worth, I know more than one person from this group (class?) that went on to become priests, working at churches today.
- watwut 5y agoPriest and monk are operate under two massively different rule sets. The "you don't get to pick up friends you have fun with in the evening" is something I got from reading rules of various monasteries (both male and female). First, having friend, as in favorite person you spend more time with and prioritize, was literally against the rules. You are not supposed to do that. Second, evening was not free recreation time. You eat dinner, you pray, you have chores, you study etc.
- cratermoon 5y ago> something I got from reading rules You read some books but you want to argue with someone who literally socialized with a monk? How about this: I was a monk. What you're saying is wrong. You do get evenings off at times. Yes, there are some orders that are very strict and isolated, but there are also mendicant and missionary orders. I know it's tempting to feel we are smart thus we can speak to things of which we have only read, but (and I'm assuming you're in software development because you're here) if a consultant with no actual experience came along and told you how to do your job because "these are best practices", wouldn't you be a bit skeptical?
- davidw 5y agoWould be interesting to hear what countries you all are talking about. I mean, what "Catholic" means in Italy, Ireland, Mexico and the Philippines varies to some degree, for instance.
- imgabe 5y agoLately I’ve suspected that monasteries were just Medieval frat houses. I mean, come on, they spent all their time figuring out how to make better beer.
- thrwyoilarticle 5y agoThey make Buckfast!
- monocasa 5y agoThere were two vague time periods to medieval monastic life. By the late middle ages it had transitioned to pretty much as you say (although, every monastery was different). Centuries of donations of land from nobles had meant that they didn't really need to work anymore in order to have an extremely upper class life style. And centuries of 'donations' of second and third born male offspring (who otherwise wouldn't get an inheritance anyway) had eroded the spirit of a lot of the piety rules they operated under since a lot of these kids never really wanted to be monks in the first place.
- vgeek 5y agoWhat about Craggy Island?
- dorchadas 5y agoThat would be an ecumenical matter.
- codyswann 5y agoAdd social media in there, too.
- datavirtue 5y agoThe farmers still meet in local diners and bitch about people shooting their cows. True story.
- trutannus 5y agoYeah, Hell is other people does not mean "other people suck". It's more that people perceive you one way, that you then perceive this perception of you resulting in painful dissonance between who you are viewed as, and who you are subjectively. To others you're an external object. To yourself you're the subject. Your inability to escape this dissonance is what the hell here is. Basically, it would be less confusing if it were phrased 'hell it my perception of other people's perceptions of me'.