Those St. Benedictine Monks
These past two weeks as I have been “cleaning” my room at home in Iowa I have been stumbling across little questions all over the place. Whether it is in a box of notes I had received in Jr. High or an old journal of mine from High School or even a term paper written my freshman year at Wartburg – I continue to see God moving in strange and bizarre ways.
I think the gem that I have found thus far is a one page reflection paper written for a half credit class my senior year. This class focused on the “Spirituality” and a good portion of time in this class was spent talking about the St. Benedictine monks. The reflection I was asked to make dealt with the importance of both contemplative time in solitude and the act of loving your neighbor in community. The passage stated (in paraphrase) that people can spend all of the time in the world in prayer, reading scripture and learning doctrine and theology but if they do not put down the “books” to help a brother/sister in need, they are unrighteous in the sight of the Lord. This is ironic for a group of people that disciplined themselves to live in solitude, yet in community.
While I agree with that, I wonder if we look a step further. How do we find balance between those two things? Community and solitude- two key components to Christian faith. I am finding as I sit in my home in Chariton, Iowa I am back to spending much time in solitude…after spending a year in community. Both extremes are unhealthy in excess. Like the monks that lived so long ago, I think that I struggle with the same question. How do we create a lifestyle where both community and solitude flow evenly from our soul?
Laura
2 Comments:
Laura, did you sneak into the WBC computer lab to type that blog?
i agree that this is an interesting and difficult balance. that said, i'm not sure that for me solitude is dependent upon physical isolation. at times my interaction w/ others consists in an interaction that has me focused on another person, feeling a peer. at other times, i am more analytical and contemplative, feeling the other as more an object. by object i mean a thing not of me and perhaps not like me such that i am able to feel alone, inward. i am not referring to anonymity here. rather, i am thinking about the relationship between emotional and ?intellectual?/?spiritual? contact with others.... to the extent that meditation is an intellectual/spiritual act, i don't feel like i need to be 'alone' to have that experience.
did ALWAYS being w/ someone this year cloud things a lot, make it hard to have that "solitude"? i can't imagine the wealth of inputs and how you process them.
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