A new silent film
Germans Flock to See Silent Monks
An unlikely film has been filling cinemas in Germany in recent weeks: a three-hour documentary with hardly a single spoken word, set in a monastery.
[Thanks, FR!]. This is really interesting. The movie-- called Into Great Silence-- documents the austere and devoted life of Carthusian monks who live in the French Alps. Their life is very simple, consisting of single-minded devotion to God and to their religious practice. Through this life, they have gained deep peace. As the filmmaker, Philips Groening, says, "I have had the privilege of living with a community of people who live practically without any fears."
I know very little about Christian meditation or monastic life. But some of these less-known orders do seem to resemble the Eastern monastic practices with which I am more familiar. Using silence, repetition, and meditation to still the mind and open the heart is a time-honored practice in contemplative religions the world over.
I was surprised to find that the Carthusian monks (and nuns) maintain a web site. It tells about the order, their practice, and how a person might go about joining. It's a rigorous path, requiring many years of service before attaining full ordination. And it is not available to older people, so this sort of life cannot be a retirement option-- the renunciant must devote a portion of his or her "working" years to it.
The other thing that is interesting is the movie's popularity. Why would average German laypeople be fascinated by a 3-hour nearly silent movie about French Christian monks? We are curiously drawn to things like this-- retreat, silence, contemplation, insight, mysticism, etc. I certainly feel that in myself, and I know many other people do too, even if they don't act upon that interest.
Actually, it's not so fundamentally different from what drives people to be scientists or artists either. The sense that the Universe is fascinating, beautiful, and somehow here to be experienced deeply. The sense that there is "something more" beyond eating, working, sleeping, and even having relationships with people. And that this "something" is accessible by looking inward, in silence, alone.
In a sense, we are here to be the Universe. What were you today?
An unlikely film has been filling cinemas in Germany in recent weeks: a three-hour documentary with hardly a single spoken word, set in a monastery.
[Thanks, FR!]. This is really interesting. The movie-- called Into Great Silence-- documents the austere and devoted life of Carthusian monks who live in the French Alps. Their life is very simple, consisting of single-minded devotion to God and to their religious practice. Through this life, they have gained deep peace. As the filmmaker, Philips Groening, says, "I have had the privilege of living with a community of people who live practically without any fears."
I know very little about Christian meditation or monastic life. But some of these less-known orders do seem to resemble the Eastern monastic practices with which I am more familiar. Using silence, repetition, and meditation to still the mind and open the heart is a time-honored practice in contemplative religions the world over.
I was surprised to find that the Carthusian monks (and nuns) maintain a web site. It tells about the order, their practice, and how a person might go about joining. It's a rigorous path, requiring many years of service before attaining full ordination. And it is not available to older people, so this sort of life cannot be a retirement option-- the renunciant must devote a portion of his or her "working" years to it.
The other thing that is interesting is the movie's popularity. Why would average German laypeople be fascinated by a 3-hour nearly silent movie about French Christian monks? We are curiously drawn to things like this-- retreat, silence, contemplation, insight, mysticism, etc. I certainly feel that in myself, and I know many other people do too, even if they don't act upon that interest.
Actually, it's not so fundamentally different from what drives people to be scientists or artists either. The sense that the Universe is fascinating, beautiful, and somehow here to be experienced deeply. The sense that there is "something more" beyond eating, working, sleeping, and even having relationships with people. And that this "something" is accessible by looking inward, in silence, alone.
In a sense, we are here to be the Universe. What were you today?
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