A few years ago, I was your typical office-worker: stressed out, uneven energy, overweight, and inconsistent complexion. Now I'm just your typical 28-year old urban hunter-gatherer on a quest to be healthy, and having a few adventures along the way. See my full bio.
Mark Sisson just had a nice post on the power of solitude. Well, I'll see your day of hiking, and raise you three days in a Trappist monastery. Yes, I'm going to a Trappist monastery for a three-day retreat during Holy Week. I will be a guest at the Abbey of Gesthemeni, located in Trappist, Kentucky, which is about an hour south of Louisville. I'm going to be silent most of the time, and I plan on fasting for all three days. I will spend my time thinking, reading, writing, barefoot running, and moving. I will also be attending the hours: Vigil (3:15am), Lauds (5:45am), Terce (7:30am), Sext (12:15pm), Vespers (5:30pm), and Compline (7:30pm).
The Trappists are a Roman Catholic religious order of monks and nuns who live a monastic life. (Incidentally, I'm not Catholic.) They were founded as part of a reform movement in in 1664 (the Cisterians were getting a bit lax), and became their own official order in 1892. There are 170 Trappist monasteries throughout the world, home to almost 4,000 monks and nuns. The monks are not necessarily priests. They follow the Rule of St. Benedict, a rule book for monastic life written a little after 500 AD. Monasteries usually support themselves through the sale of simple crafts and foods. In the outside world, Trappists are perhaps best known for their ales, like Chimay. (Consumption of alcohol in small quantities is not forbidden.)
Trappists live an ascetic life -- eschewing material possessions and much technology, isolating themselves from the outside world, and living humbly. Contrary to one popular belief, Trappists do not have to take a vow of silence. However, they do very little speaking, even to the point of having their own sign language. St. Benedict didn't have any specific rules against computer usage, but I have a feeling that live tweeting Vespers will be frowned upon.
I'm not sure if fasting is a part of the Trappist tradition. That was my idea. I will only drink water or tea (if tea is available). The longest fast I've ever done is about 24 hours. Maybe 36, I forget. So I may do a 48-hour fast in the next week or two. (By the way, if you've heard someone say they fasted for a week or 10 days, they're usually drinking at least some sugar water / fruit juice.) This will just be 3 days and 3 nights - not 40 days and 40 nights - but 72 hours should be enough to get interesting.
Comments
If I went to a Trappist
If I went to a Trappist monastery, the only kind of fasting I'd be doing would be a beer fast. Followed by a beer feast.
Wow, good for you! That
Wow, good for you! That will be a great experiece. I'm a huge fan of Thomas Merton! His story is amazing, talk about a 180, and such a great writer - he was so real (and so right) about faith and doubt - some of my favorite quotes. Sounds like you have Merton covered so I'll suggest one of my other favorites, Peter Kreeft - Jesus-Shock. Its a quick read but thought provoking, and very fitting for the experience - highly recommend it! Hope you find what you're looking for - enjoy!
As Chris said, fasting
As Chris said, fasting during Holy Week has a long and ancient pedigree. I am actually at a monsatery right now in upstate New York (Holy Trinity Monastery) and have been here since the first week of Lent. During that first week we spent about 10 hours a day in the church, celebrating the various offices as you will be doing for your three days.I have gone two weeks just on water. It is certainly doable and perhaps even more so in the type of environment you will be in.
That is an amazing
That is an amazing opportunity. Glimpse of something "ancient" in our culture. The monastery represents so much, I can see intersections of thought of a sort of necessary nature to the inquiries into the ills of the civilized world raised in the whole paleo stream. The whole bread thing is interesting...and what if they were to eat lots of meat? Do they recognize meat as a valuable sustenance but abstain because of modesty, aversion to violence, and a little penance? I always thought they would eat meat, just rarely and it was seen as a special thing. Supposedly also fuels lust so other monks around the world give it up for that too. Interesting how monasteries were like these breweries and distilleries and wineries...I remember reading something about, I think it was St. Benedict, who could never convince his monks to totally give up wine! Guess they had a reputation Chaucer was keen on. It's good to be in silence and then just pray or whatever you want like that. The paleo world, like monasticism, and the church in general, views culture as suspiciously involved in our destruction, whether it be through bad nutritional advice on the one hand, or the fear-driven greed of a CEO of a sugar water company or idiots who defend bad science because of fear...The problem is that a natural human tendency toward survival, ie a self-sustain-driven life, is essentially what evolutionary theory allows as the "driving force" of "life"...well if the strong survive then the weak shall perish, to paraphrase Brecht the acknowledgement that will have to be made is that the weak perished not because they were good, but because they were weak. There's got to be something to organize by, things develop and novelty increases, we obviously can't go back in time in any sense of Marty McFly or anything, but you can adopt behavior that is sort of a "blip in the fractal" of time and human history if you know what I mean? Eating likea freekin cave man: Not so much role playing as resonance, a sort of harmonics of time. well Anyway, that's just waxing on some work I'm doing on the origins of religion and church history, I really want to visit that same monastery at some point in my life. Thomas Merton wrote beautifully and you can feel the truth pushing through. Also a hulk of a dude, but was probably that way already from his life in the world. Kept up on manual labor, bread and vegetables, cheese and milk. I dunno, as far as ethics or plant or meat eating? I don't really cccccaaarrrrrreeeee? I guess I sort of feel out of the loop because the survival of the species probably does not depend upon me alone...but I kind of only care about eating what tastes good and is good. If that means supporting actual good farmers or butchers or hunters, uh, then that's who I want to support. Simple, you find the good meat that you like. You keep buying it. It keeps getting put out on the shelf or ready for pick up in the freezer and that ensures your community, if it is truly offering good meat, or whatever it happens to be, will be one where the people are strong and robust cause they eat good freekin meat all the time.
I did a three day fast once.
I did a three day fast once. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be but it was really boring. I really needed to find something to keep my mind occupied, sitting around doing nothing wasn't really an option since then I'd be constantly thinking about hunger.
well, I'm bringing a lot of
well, I'm bringing a lot of books and hopefully will be able to do some writing. we'll see.
I thought I would share this
I thought I would share this NPR story I heard yesterday:http://www.npr.org/2011/03/24/132745785/how-western-diets-are-making-the-world-sickDr. Kevin Patterson of Canada explains how diabetes rates have increased among the Inuit due to enculturalization, to which Terry Gross of “Fresh Air” asks “What’s the difference between eating whale blubber and French fries?”
I thought I would share this
I thought I would share this NPR story I heard yesterday:http://www.npr.org/2011/03/24/132745785/how-western-diets-are-making-the-world-sickDr. Kevin Patterson of Canada explains how diabetes rates have increased among the Inuit due to enculturalization, to which Terry Gross of “Fresh Air” asks “What’s the difference between eating whale blubber and French fries?”
wow, Terry Gross, what a
wow, Terry Gross, what a comment. thanks, appreciate the link.
My longest fast is 48 hours,
My longest fast is 48 hours, drinking water and coffee. I find that the caffiene helps hunger, so maybe thats cheating a little. Surprisingly, my energy levels while fasting 24-48 hours are just fine, even enough energy for a pleasent 5 mile run. Sounds like you could have an interesting trip.
I'm reading a book about that
I'm reading a book about that abbey right now called Keeping Faith...A Skeptic's Journey Among Christian and Buddhist Monks by Frenton Johnson. Sounds like a beautiful place!
cool, looks like an
cool, looks like an interesting read
That's awesome. I'm assuming
That's awesome. I'm assuming this along with some of your trips to dog shows are all some kind of research for your book? If that's the case I'm really looking forward to a paleo book that is not just about food...
I won't lie, I love when
I won't lie, I love when non-catholics hang out with monks just cause they're sweet. Is there a religious angle on this, or are you just going for the self improvement? Personally, I may try this fast. I'm a pretty large guy (and constantly shrinking) so it's not like my body will run out of fuel.
Mostly self-improvement. I'm
Mostly self-improvement. I'm not particularly religious, though I was raised fairly religious and am not a strident atheist.
Great post - would you mind
Great post - would you mind talking a little bit more about why you're going? Is it a religious experience? You said you're not Catholic, but there's a lot of other Christianity out there. I love hearing how other paleo people reconcile it with their faith. Not challenging at all, just curious...
Thanks, Jim. Will blog more
Thanks, Jim. Will blog more about why. The short answer is that I was raised in a religious family (father was the sunday school teacher). At this point in my life, I'm not particularly religious. At the same time, I'm not a strident atheist. I think there's a lot of wisdom in tradition, including religious tradition.
Great post - would you mind
Great post - would you mind talking a little bit more about why you're going? Is it a religious experience? You said you're not Catholic, but there's a lot of other Christianity out there. I love hearing how other paleo people reconcile it with their faith. Not challenging at all, just curious...
Yes, I agree. This is a very
Yes, I agree. This is a very interesting and challenging problem, I think. Since many of the early Christian fathers and some of the late Temple Jewish theologians rejected a seven day creation and literal interpretations of the Pentateuch, I was never troubled by any notions of evolution qua history. However, the notion that people are designed not to live on grains and other products of civilization I find to be a significant challenge. It is of course very interesting that Cain offerred flora while Abel offerred fauna (and the fats, to boot!). And I can dig wine. But didn't Jesus know better than to institute a wheat product as the cornerstone of the sacraments? Maybe if he hung out with Melissa McEwen instead of Mary Magdalene, we would have sacramental kale chips now instead of bread wafers?
As I understand it, bread was
As I understand it, bread was associated with the poor. And so Jesus being the bread of life was really taking a symbol of the downtrodden.
I don't know if fasting is
I don't know if fasting is particular to the Trappist tradition, but it's a pretty ancient tradition to fast during Holy Week. St. Benedict was heavily influenced by St. John Cassian, who was from Rome and transmitted the wisdom of the fathers of the Egyptian dessert to the west. Cassian is worth reading, and has some interesting cognitive insights. He talks about how he fled into the dessert to seek frreedom from anger, so he wouldn't be around the people always making him angry. Then he found himself getting angry at rocks and other inanimate objects and realized it was something inside himself he needed to work on. Chris
My family has lived in the
My family has lived in the area near Gesthemeni since the 1700's. My visits there during the summers as a child are the most memorable of my life. That rural part of Kentucky is picturesque, at least to my eye. While in the area I recommed stopping to see St. Thomas, a church not to far away, that was built in 1812. Much of my family was baptized, married and buried there and even bought some of the stained glass in the building itself.While anything but paleo, the monks' fudge and fruit cake are fantastic. While you're in the region of course you'll need to sample the local speciality, bourbon! It's gluten free!May you find what you seek.
Nice. This makes me think
Nice. This makes me think of a really incredible documentary I watched recently (off Netflix). It's called "Into Great Silence" and explores the lives of monks at a silent monastery in France. Really beautiful and it quickly becomes this relaxing, hypnotic experience. Have fun out there!
You should read The Seven
You should read The Seven Story Mountain before you go. It's a page-turner and, anyhow, you should be used to speedreading literature from Harvard. If I remember correctly from it, the Trappists at Merton's time had a diet composed mostly of bread and cheese. Fasting was a large part of monastic life and occurred so frequently that the monks were actually fasting for a total of more than 6 months out of the year. However, that was pre-Vatican II, I believe, so who knows what sorts of rules they have now.
If you're used to fasting at
If you're used to fasting at all, you'll do fine for 72 hours. I've done a bunch of them. You might be finding yourself wanting to do a little more resting than barefoot running though, but that can be done as well. See my Kill To Eat experiment.