Skip to main content

Light Was Expensive /////// Isabelle Ferguson

I have a sweatshirt with a Leonard Cohen quote on it that reads, "There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in."
Now, before I get to what I really want to talk about, I am going to take a quick detour. This may be a bold statement. I could live by the schedule of the monks and nuns. Their way of life really fascinates me. Rising at midnight sounds brutal, but I unintentionally get up at 12:00 a.m. anyway. When you break it down, the rest of their day somewhat resembles a day of college, but it was centered around God (thus, it was better). Study, pray, praise, eat, study, mass (maybe), work. Work, praise, work, praise, work, praise. Eat, study, pray, praise, bed. College when broken down is all work, eat, pray, and praise for passing that test you didn't study for. The going to bed early would mess with me a little, but I could adjust. The monks lived a simplistic life down to the food they ate. In summary, I really admire their way of life. Their day builds a habit of praise and prayer. Every other item on their "To-Do List" is praise.  
Moving on to what I really want to talk about, the sentence at the end of the schedule on page 27 of The Roman Liturgy struck me. “...Nuns or monks retired relatively early, since once daylight ended, light was expensive and rarely bright.” Light is something the modern age takes for granted. If I have a nightmare in the dead of night, it takes nothing for me to get out of bed and flip on the light. Illuminating the room provides a reassurance, because you can see everything. The light makes the shadows recede. Reading through a monk or nun's day, I have wonder what it was like to not have the option of turning on the light. Did the monks and nuns have nightmares, since their lives were so dedicated and centered around Christ and not worldly pleasures? If they did have nightmares, what would they do upon awakening? Would they go immediately into prayer? Would they walk outside under the light of the stars? 
I believe, based on their schedule, that their reaction should be prayer and praise. My reaction is to turn on the light because that is what I have built a habit of doing. They spent more than half their day praying and praising. Their immediate reaction would have been what they were taught: go to God. That's just my observation. Thoughts?

P.S. I commented on Lily's post and Logan's post.

Comments

  1. Caroline TuckerFebruary 8, 2021 at 9:22 PM

    I agree! My family likes to go tent camping. Our favorite places to camp are in the middle of nowhere with limited lighting. Why? To see the stars. But, I think it also shows how reliant we are on things that are not ultimately important or distract us from what is important. Like the example you gave with light or, as I notice a lot, the internet. Sometimes, I think we need to have a day like the monks and focus on prayer and praise. What is great is we do have those days. That is one of the many reasons why the Sabbath is important.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Haylee LyndFebruary 8, 2021 at 11:28 PM

    I love that you pointed this out. We take so much for granted. I think about how much I hate the way in which we lose daylight in the winter. I can't imagine going to bed at 5PM. I would be so mad to not be able to work or study or praise anymore simply because I could not see. They really had a peace about things that I don't know that I may ever achieve.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lovers of Wisdom, Not Power—Lily Caswell

In Book VIII of Plato’s Republic, Socrates talks about the possibility of having a well-governed city. However, he also talks about how that particular form of government is impossible to have. A well-governed city becomes a possibility only if you can discover a better way of life for your future rulers than holding office.” (Plato, p 215) Maybe his version of a better life was for those in office to not be lovers of power, since it would then become a fight among rival lovers. Socrates gets to the point that the only rulers who don’t love power are true philosophers. Philosophers are lovers of wisdom and knowledge and not power, ergo they are the perfect rulers. Absolute power corrupts and power corrupts absolutely, so I’m thinking that maybe the trick to being a good ruler is for you to be a philosophical person who loves wisdom and not power. I commented on Jamie’s and Isabelle’s posts.
4 comments
Read more

How to Make a Clone - Clabo

I found books three and four to be very cringy. I mean, to me the idea of structurally producing good soldiers/guardians through heavy censorship is somewhat inhumane. I feel as if human beings should be allowed to experience every bit of knowledge they can at some point in their lives. To me, it seems as if the guardians are being guarded against information throughout their entire lives so they can solely fulfill the duties they were birthed into.  However, the influence and importance Plato places on poetry and music do make me wonder what it would be like if we had the same values as our military today. What if the United States military invested in the souls of its soldiers and placed within them emotional and intellectual values outside of what they have learned previously. Perhaps the military instills values and principles within soldiers to fulfill the same purpose as the guardians would in Plato's Republic and that is to only be that which the government wants you to be....
5 comments
Read more

Dystopian Origins Uncovered ////// Isabelle Ferguson

  I think that ideas eventually run out of originality and circle back to the original idea. During this week's reading, many of Socrates’ suggestions for a place of perfection reminded me of some novels I’ve read depicting dystopian worlds. Disclaimer: There are spoilers ahead. You have been warned.        To begin, in  The  Giver  by Lois Lowry censorship is a major theme. The novel is centered around a boy who is receiving memories withheld from the population! The government in The Giver is especially careful to censor the memories that may cause strife, anger, fear, sadness, etc. In the adults, this society is cemented. So, the government is especially strict with the youth. Socrates talks about verses to “obliterate” to prevent the descriptions from doing “harm to our future warriors” for the better half of Book III (Plato, page 44). The warriors he speaks of are the youth. He goes on to list the multitude of verses that should be done ...
7 comments
Read more