Pub (T)

[Lutestring]

Originally Posted by Wendywu

You're better gone if it's not right for you.

It was fun - we had enormous fun. There is a LOT of laughter and joy. Truly. People don't see that but there is a well-spring of pure joy that runs through a contemplative convent.

I don't know how it is in active orders - ones that do schools or hospitals and things. We prayed. A lot. I liked that. We all did or we wouldn't have been there. A contemplative convent or monastery is an absolute powerhouse of prayer, and a place of great joy.

But it wasn't for me. In many ways I have always regretted that it wasn't my calling - but you can't stay if it's not your vocation.

how long were you there?

Originally Posted by zan_chan

No one ever explained to me what any of it meant religiously. I think I have a childhood memory of my father telling me that Jesus was a man with a mental disorder who convinced lots of other people to have mental disorders, too...

LOL, i love that!

[Wendywu]

He should have been proud to think he'd raised you with a strong enough mind to be true to yourself, and not a conformist.


And let's face it, you're a long way from conforming to just 'bout anything

[Wendywu]

Originally Posted by Lutestring

how long were you there?

About 18 months - long enough to love it, long enough to hate it .....


and for time to have blunted all the things that drove me nuts, and to soften it all. Now I remember the joy, the tranquillity and the compassion - and I'm glad of that. I forget the - again - conforming to petty rules that was required, and the requirement to not develop myself but to suppress myself... absolute self-negation.

But I remember the joy

[Lutestring]

the book i mentioned, it's by one of my favourite authors, and it's a novel about a closed catholic order in sussex.

here's an exerpt i just found on someone's website
http://www.lunaea.com/words/rumer/spiritual.html

[NorthernTigress]

Well, for the sake of what's left of my health, I'm going to bed.

Good night all!

[Wendywu]

I have to say that unless she lived the life, for a reasonable length of time, seriously - then it's hard to understand. Outsiders never really "get it".

[Lutestring]

Originally Posted by Wendywu

I have to say that unless she lived the life, for a reasonable length of time, seriously - then it's hard to understand. Outsiders never really "get it".

fair enough. i just love the way she writes.

goodnight NT, i hope you feel better in the morning, and i hope your wallet turns up, and that we bullied you into stopping your cards quite unecessarily

[Wendywu]

Originally Posted by Lutestring

fair enough. i just love the way she writes.

Yes, she's an excellent author

[Wendywu]

Originally Posted by NorthernTigress

Well, for the sake of what's left of my health, I'm going to bed.

Good night all!

Hope you feel better in the morning - have a good night's sleep

[Flaxen]

Hi everyone,

Just finishing breakfast and then jumping into the shower.

Wu, I hadn't seen that book by JMD before...I've now ordered the ebook.

When I was younger, I had a real fascination with life in a convent. I was at a school with a beguinage nearby and at 7 years of age, I really wanted to be one.