August 29, 2007

Six days at a Scottish monastery.
  • Really fascinating. I have a good friend who is one of the monks of Pluscarden! I'll send this on to him. The abbey has its own website.
  • Wow, velvetrabbit, what a small world! Interesting. I would have liked to know more about the area and the routine. Somehow the article says more about the writer than the subject.
  • Tell me,do you find the idea of monastic life attractive? I do, in a way. I'm a complete agnostic, yet the idea of the scheduled days, and especially, listening to the silence has an appeal I can't explain. I have to assume that I'd hunger to check out the internet and would fail at saying "no" to that addiction, but it does call to me. Maybe I was just over-influenced by Salenger's Franny and Zooey, in my youth.
  • Sounds like an awesome spot to spend a few days! Like you, path, I've often wondered if I wouldn;t enjoy monastic life. But I probably have too much of a stibborn streak. When my college choir went to Italy, they stayed in convents the whole time. I was having surgery and couldn;t go with them. But my best friend sprained her ankle getting out of a gondola near St. mark's, which made me feel oddly better about it.
  • some wander by mistake - thanks again. Have had the chance to read though the article properly and finding it very interesting. I'm not religious either. But I had to respect my friend's choice. It's a challenging life but he felt that he wanted to be part of it. Everyone has to play some part in keeping the place running. I can see how that would appeal. He's certainly not shut away and has had the chance to do some fascinating things. He has sent me some wonderful pictures. It does look like a beautiful, peaceful place and I get all grumpy because I'm stuck in my stupid stuffy office pointlessly shuffling paper. Then I read his description of muck spreading on a freezing cold day and I remember that I'm not a Christian and would die without chocolate biscuits and the Internet.
  • If you haven't seen it, I can't recommend "Into Great Silence," the documentary film mentioned in the article, highly enough.
  • Path: I, too, would like to try a monastic existence. Problem is that I'm too lazy and not a believer, both things that wouldn't work. Externally, it would be peaceful, but internally, it would be chaos.
  • It is a small world- I stayed and worked part-time as a tour guide at Pluscarden when I was but a lad of 15. The experience was indelible. I was there on retreat but decided to stay- they let me stay (in my monastic cell) in exchange for working as a tour guide and I spent the better part of a summer there. Father Dom Maurus (the old monk who mysteriously vanished a few years ago during a walk) took me under his wing and every day he allowed me to go to the music room where I played the excellent grand piano they had there. The monastic life must have agreed with me, because that was the time when I started composing seriously. I have actually sought that kind of experience all my life since then (and been mostly frustrated) as I find solitude most conducive to creativity. Even though I find am mostly at odds with the Monks' ideology, I envy them their easy access to that solitude. What I remember the most was the understated humour of the monks when they were allowed to speak (for one hour per day), the great food (they grew a lot of it themselves) and the incredible atmosphere of being in a half-ruined medieval monastery in the misty Scottish Highlands. Thanks for the link.
  • Lovely memories and comment, kamus.
  • What Abiezer said.
  • Thank you, kamus, for sharing a memory of an unique experience. I would think the monks would be very interesting to talk to--given that they study, and ponder, don't waste their time, energy and minds on worldly, frivolous things, and would be great observers of human nature, living as close as they do. Do you have any 'take' on what may have happened to Father Dom Maurus? Would it have been ill health, or something like walking off a cliff--is it wild and dangerous country there? Are there scavengers? I can't believe it would have been murder--seems like from the website the country is isolated. Although, it's a strange, strange, world.
  • Exactly, Bluehorse- the fact that speaking was only allowed for one hour a day (I think some of the Monks never spoke though all were allowed to speak if necessary if some important information had to be exchanged) and it had the effect of improving the quality of discourse. Generally, we (the guests and a few of the senior monks) would gather in the Abbot's sitting room after dinner and we had fascinating discussions on philosphy, history, the Loch Ness Monster (the Abbott had been stationed at Loch Ness and he *swore* he seen it on multiple occasions) politics, religion etc. As far as poor old Father Dom Maurus, he was quite sick at the time and had serious problems with his legs. The countryside is fairly remote (though Elgin is not far) and rugged, if you got off the roads so it's just possible he became disoriented and perhaps he fell in a bog etc. but it remains an enduring mystery and not a shred of evidence ever turned up. I'm assuming dogs were used but I know whatever they used to search for him not a trace was ever found- spooky! He was a great and kindly man with a penetrating intellect and he was also a good friend of our family and we all miss him.
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