I thought I would share the following link. It has some great insights to take from Carthusian life.
Author: an absurd monk
… all voices sound different in solitude!
the invisible anchorhold
Yet, it is anchoritic contemplation (facilitated by enclosure) rather than anchoritic enclosure in itself which renders his recluse dead to the world. The shift is slight, but nonetheless discernible.
Reading Medieval Anchoritism: Ideology and Spiritual Practices
transform individuals
The Church is neither left-wing nor right-wing. It is both conservative and revolutionary. It seeks the transformation of the individual at the most fundamental level.
The Most Rev’d & Rt Hon Archbishop of Canterbury on April 28, 2022
oh, to be a carthusian
I am having one of those days. But this picture makes me smile (a little).
healing
quick update
I know I have not written much in the last week or so. Just have not had the energy to think much. I even find reading hard at the moment. So have been trying to do other things – more creative stuff. (I have been researching frumenty – medieval porridge. I really want to try it!)
I have returned to the approach that helped me through my last depressive episode – two goals a day. So today I have done my two goals so I can relax for the rest of the day. I am not really depressed, more stressed by life. I realise that I live in an extremely stressful context at the moment. But knowing and feeling are two completely different things for me.
So I am still here. I still have two meetings today but they will be ok – I hope!
a rant from the minister
The Evangelical revival in Scotland encouraged both much stricter conditions being placed on admission to Holy Communion and the maintenance of traditional discipline within the established church. … Lesser transgressors could be ordered by the kirk session to stand before the congregation for up to three Sundays, sometimes wearing sackcloth, and publicly acknowledge their sins before ‘being subjected to a “rant” from the minister’.
Nothing like a good rant from the minister!
inwardness?
The god one can point to is an idol, and the religiousness that one can point to is an imperfect form of religiousness.
Concluding Unscientific Postscript
come holy spirit
speaking?
One of the things that I struggle with is the desire to be heard. Yet most of the time, as soon as I start speaking, I am extremely sorry for having said anything. And I end up kicking myself for speaking at all.
Here is some advice from Walter Hilton:
And to sum up: inasmuch as you believe you can bring profit to your fellow Christian – in particular, spiritual profit – you should say what you can, if he will listen; and in all other cases keep silent as much as you can, and in a short time you will not have much of a crowd to bother you. That is how it seems to me.
