BBC: Free Trial as a Monk
Religious orders are advertising for people to try being a nun or a monk for a weekend in an attempt to slow the decline of new vocations.
In 2007, Catholic orders had just 29 novices in England and Wales, down from over 200 in 1972.
Imagine a god who wants a select number of his creatures to become professional sycophants - cloistered ascetics who kiss His Ass from sunrise to sunset and make entreaties of which He, in his omniscience, is already aware. What arrogance! What massive insecurity! What a petty little jerk!
If god did exist, and was as great as everyone thinks he is, I think he'd want you to do something constructive with your life. Become a nurse. Join the Peace Corps. Give to charity. Coach Little League. Find something more imaginative than living a repetitive life of self-denial and prayer.
As far as I can tell, the last worthwhile things achieved by monks were the brewing of beer and the preservation of ancient texts during the middle ages. Other than that, monasticism has been perhaps the most systematic and successful waste of time in human history.
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To be wise, observe; for observation is the source of wisdom.
"A wonderful, maaaagical animal!"
To be wise, observe; for observation is the source of wisdom.
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Why the learned pig?
In early 19th-century America, a certain traveling show featured a remarkable pig that, on command, could spell out letters to form words. This "pig of knowledge", or "learned pig", baffled superstitious mobs, and excited frenzied accusations of witchcraft. In response, the pig's trainer published a pamphlet that sought to dispel the rumors by detailing his methods of instruction, and demonstrating that this apparent miracle could be accounted for through reason and observation alone.
Tacitus once wrote, "everything unknown passes for something splendid." Humans by nature desire to know, and when they encounter something seemingly inexplicable, they tend to fill in the holes with religion, superstition, or inane anti-intellectualism that dismisses the need for knowledge altogether. But these are cowardly subsitutes for reason and observation. The learned pig reminds us that if we wish to be wise, "observe; for observation is the source of wisdom."
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2 comments:
I know very little about monastic life, what exactly it is that monks and nuns do, or why they do (or don't do) it. To my (limited) knowledge, they do take vows of poverty and devote much of their day to prayer (in some orders, perhaps the whole day) and their lives to proselytizing, but in many cases their missions also include caring for the sick, elderly and poor and providing shelter and food to the homeless and hungry. It is also worth noting that prayer is not simply an exercise in communication. As with any arduous routine, it requires discipline, commitment and patience. If we impugn the monastic life we might similarly question what value could be found in the life of a mountain climber, olympic athlete, mail clerk or anyone else whose lifestyle or vocation is inherently repetitive and, at first blush, not all that consequential to society.
Monks and nuns indeed devote themselves to altruistic causes, but you can do those things without dedicating your life to superstition. Nurses care for the sick, and community organizers make life better for the poor.
Sometimes religion is just as good at limiting altruism as encouraging it. For instance, Mother Teresa - who is unfortunately remembered as a good person - thought that unbaptized children were less deserving of medical care, tried to prevent thousands of women raped in the India-Pakistani war from getting abortions, and campaigned in Ireland against legalizing divorce.
My point is not that nuns and monks don't do any good, but that they could do more good if they started living for this life instead of the next.
As for prayer, I agree that it requires discipline, commitment, and patience. Those are noble virtues, which is why I think they are tragically wasted on faith.
One could argue athletes also "waste" those virtues on something inconsequential or meaningless. Both the athlete and the monk cultivate those virtues to improve themselves; but the monk, it seems to me, is striving for self-improvement in order to bring his life into better harmony with superstitious laws and a self-deceptive worldview. I think that's why I can admire the dedication of an athlete and scoff at that of a monk.
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