Monk Case

Busy schedule to look up ahead, new places to be, unfamiliar faces to meet - it is customary for people living in the big city, or province, to experience this each day. There is always something new each day-a nagging customer who is complaining over a trivial matter will make today different from yesterday even if the employee is at the exact same place, wearing the same uniform. However, looking at the life of a Chartusian monk, it seems that their life is running in a loop. Everything seems to be routinary. They wake up in the morning, and then pray. Gather after hearing a bell, and then pray. On the one hand, there are other activities to do aside from praying - clean dishes, shovel garden beds and feed animals - but, they devote much of their time in praying and in contemplating. A non-Carthusian monk perhaps will think that their lives are dreary and repetitive. However, it is imperative to note that one can never duplicate everything that one is experiencing now. A Carthusian monk's experience of prayer session at the moment is different from his experience of yesterday's prayer session even if we see him at the same place, bending the same knee he used to genuflect at yesterday's prayer session. Even if one says that the monk is chanting the same expert, one can never say that what he is doing now is the exact replica of what he did before. It is an event. Even if he seems to be doing the same thing, he is not able to replicate all of the details. On the side note, Carthusian monks are remarkable for they are able to find fulfillment even when at peace. "Step nearer, now, for the embrace of peace," says an elder monk as he welcomes yet-to-be monks into the Community of Order. Yet-to-be monks are first asked if they are ready to adopt their monastic way of life. They are free to leave the monastery if they think otherwise. Evidently, it takes discipline to become a Carthusian monk, but nonetheless they are able to find fulfillment in their daily activities in the monastery, like the way we find fulfillment in our noise-filled day to day activities.