WEBVTT 00:01.667 --> 00:02.267 PAUL FREEDMAN: We're going to talk about 00:02.267 --> 00:04.467 monasticism today. 00:04.467 --> 00:11.597 And monasticism in the popular imagination, and accurately, 00:11.600 --> 00:13.170 is linked to learning. 00:13.167 --> 00:16.927 We all have this image of monks quietly copying 00:16.933 --> 00:22.733 manuscripts, and those manuscripts being how the 00:22.733 --> 00:25.533 learning of the ancient world was transmitted. 00:25.533 --> 00:27.573 We're going to talk a little more about that when we come 00:27.567 --> 00:31.127 to near the end of the course on intellectuals in the court 00:31.133 --> 00:32.503 of Charlemagne. 00:32.500 --> 00:35.970 But monasticism and learning are linked in our mind, but 00:35.967 --> 00:38.797 they are not intrinsically linked. 00:38.800 --> 00:43.770 There is no logical reason why monks should copy manuscripts. 00:43.767 --> 00:45.297 They should pray. 00:45.300 --> 00:51.930 They should live in some kind of renunciation of the world. 00:51.933 --> 00:54.673 Generally speaking in the medieval West, they live in 00:54.667 --> 00:56.167 communities. 00:56.167 --> 00:59.597 Generally speaking, they are engaged in a kind of corporate 00:59.600 --> 01:01.430 rather than individual prayer. 01:01.433 --> 01:05.803 All of these things follow from the way 01:05.800 --> 01:07.430 monasticism was conceived. 01:07.433 --> 01:12.073 And the major text, though not the only one, but the most 01:12.067 --> 01:15.867 influential text about how monasticism is conceived, was 01:15.867 --> 01:20.227 the sixth century Rule of Saint Benedict. 01:20.233 --> 01:25.673 The Rule of Saint Benedict has some possible references to 01:25.667 --> 01:30.467 sacred reading as it calls it, or to some kind 01:30.467 --> 01:33.797 of program of knowledge. 01:33.800 --> 01:37.870 It assumes that the monks are literate, for example, a lot 01:37.867 --> 01:39.627 to assume at that time. 01:39.633 --> 01:42.803 But nowhere does Benedict say, "Please preserve the classical 01:42.800 --> 01:46.830 tradition by being scribes and writing and the Scriptorium." 01:46.833 --> 01:52.303 So how does this come about, is one of the problems that we 01:52.300 --> 01:53.470 will deal with. 01:53.467 --> 01:56.697 But what we're really interested is monasticism 01:56.700 --> 01:57.800 without the learning. 01:57.800 --> 02:01.730 And the reason we're interested in that is not only 02:01.733 --> 02:05.603 is this the prevailing spiritual movement of the 02:05.600 --> 02:10.870 early Middle Ages, but it has a tremendous influence on 02:10.867 --> 02:14.567 society outside the monastic walls. 02:14.567 --> 02:17.897 Because central to our discussion is a paradox. 02:17.900 --> 02:21.830 The paradox is that while the monks are trying to escape the 02:21.833 --> 02:25.433 world, the world is following them. 02:28.233 --> 02:31.733 The world is very interested in their prayers, because 02:31.733 --> 02:37.433 their prayers are thought to have a powerful real-world, 02:37.433 --> 02:39.833 this-world, effect. 02:39.833 --> 02:43.933 So as the monks become more distant from society, God 02:43.933 --> 02:47.333 hears their prayers with more and more sympathy. 02:47.333 --> 02:52.403 Therefore their prayers have a kind of power, a power to 02:52.400 --> 02:54.630 benefit others. 02:54.633 --> 02:58.133 This notion of power is like some kind of 02:58.133 --> 03:00.233 almost electrical utility. 03:00.233 --> 03:03.133 They're building up an incredible amount of 03:03.133 --> 03:06.033 electricity, if you want to call it that, or let's say 03:06.033 --> 03:10.333 spiritual energy to be more accurate. 03:10.333 --> 03:15.873 Way more than they need; way more than they can consume. 03:15.867 --> 03:22.067 They're like some little Persian Gulf state that is 03:22.067 --> 03:24.997 producing ten percent of the world's oil. 03:25.000 --> 03:28.530 There's no way they can use all of that. 03:28.533 --> 03:32.973 In this case then, how does the surplus get distributed? 03:32.967 --> 03:36.297 It gets distributed through the generosity of people 03:36.300 --> 03:37.430 outside the [correction: monastic] 03:37.433 --> 03:40.873 world worried about the condition of their souls. 03:40.867 --> 03:45.397 The notion that I, possessor of spiritual reserves and 03:45.400 --> 03:51.800 spiritual power, can pray for you, sinful knight, sinful 03:51.800 --> 03:56.470 king, sinful merchant, is called intercession. 03:59.467 --> 04:03.027 The notion that I can intercede for you-- 04:03.033 --> 04:05.503 and we've already seen this, haven't we? 04:05.500 --> 04:09.600 We've seen this with the saints in Gregory of Tours and 04:09.600 --> 04:10.870 in other texts. 04:10.867 --> 04:14.967 We've tried to emphasize how important the saints are, not 04:14.967 --> 04:18.897 just for our understanding of medieval religion, but for our 04:18.900 --> 04:21.200 understanding of medieval society. 04:21.200 --> 04:24.730 Remember that I tried to emphasize that one of the 04:24.733 --> 04:27.173 problems, once you're done with the Roman Empire, is how 04:27.167 --> 04:29.127 society is held together. 04:29.133 --> 04:30.873 In the Roman Empire, it's pretty clear. 04:30.867 --> 04:33.327 It's held together by institutions that, although 04:33.333 --> 04:39.473 not the same as our own, are translatable to our own: law, 04:39.467 --> 04:47.867 administrative structure, land holding, the whole panoply of 04:47.867 --> 04:50.197 what passes for civilized life. 04:50.200 --> 04:52.700 But in the early Middle Ages, after the collapse of the 04:52.700 --> 04:57.470 Roman Empire, we've seen the society does not have as much 04:57.467 --> 05:00.767 literacy, does not have very good records. 05:00.767 --> 05:02.797 The kings are thugs. 05:02.800 --> 05:05.600 The political order is very unstable. 05:05.600 --> 05:07.330 There's an awful lot of warfare. 05:07.333 --> 05:09.803 There's a lot of disorder. 05:09.800 --> 05:13.430 You can't just dial 9-1-1 and expect a response. 05:13.433 --> 05:16.003 So the question then becomes what holds 05:16.000 --> 05:18.230 that society together? 05:18.233 --> 05:23.033 And we mentioned some things, including the Church. 05:23.033 --> 05:26.733 And here we're looking at a particular instance of how 05:26.733 --> 05:27.333 that works. 05:27.333 --> 05:32.433 Because the monks, far from being kind of out there in the 05:32.433 --> 05:37.303 forest or desert or some remote region, or even if they 05:37.300 --> 05:40.600 are in the forest or desert and some remote region, are 05:40.600 --> 05:45.430 extremely important to how society functions. 05:45.433 --> 05:48.873 Because this is a society in which the spiritual, the 05:48.867 --> 05:53.697 military, the political, the economic, are not easily 05:53.700 --> 05:56.300 conceptually separated. 05:56.300 --> 05:58.170 This is the Middle ages, OK? 05:58.167 --> 06:00.527 You love the Middle Ages, otherwise we 06:00.533 --> 06:01.703 wouldn't be here together. 06:01.700 --> 06:05.800 But this is the part of the Middle Ages that is perhaps 06:05.800 --> 06:07.870 most medieval. 06:07.867 --> 06:10.627 What could be more medieval than monasticism? 06:10.633 --> 06:14.533 When I started teaching, which wasn't that long after the 06:14.533 --> 06:18.803 Middle Ages, but when I started teaching, monasticism 06:18.800 --> 06:21.830 was a real problem, because it was so alien. 06:21.833 --> 06:24.373 What are these people doing? 06:24.367 --> 06:28.427 In a way the situation is better, because monasticism is 06:28.433 --> 06:33.333 sort of chic, at least temporary weekend monasticism. 06:33.333 --> 06:36.433 People think of monasteries sort of like spas. 06:36.433 --> 06:37.973 You go there to get cleansed. 06:37.967 --> 06:42.327 In fact a lot of monasteries have taken on a lot of new 06:42.333 --> 06:46.903 business with retreats, and detoxification, and 06:46.900 --> 06:50.200 pilgrimage, and these kinds of concepts. 06:50.200 --> 06:55.100 But at the same time, while I think we understand the desire 06:55.100 --> 06:59.430 to renounce the world or to take time off from the world 06:59.433 --> 07:05.233 or to leave the personal digital devices at home and 07:05.233 --> 07:11.533 think about something for more than three seconds at a time, 07:11.533 --> 07:12.733 all of this is temporary. 07:12.733 --> 07:14.573 The whole point of detoxification is that you 07:14.567 --> 07:20.767 then go and re-toxify yourself or go back to normal life. 07:20.767 --> 07:22.927 What we have to understand here are people who have 07:22.933 --> 07:29.573 decided to embrace a world-renouncing 07:29.567 --> 07:33.727 way of life for good. 07:33.733 --> 07:37.933 Now monks therefore, are clergy. 07:37.933 --> 07:41.333 They are professional members of the Church. 07:41.333 --> 07:42.633 But they're not priests. 07:42.633 --> 07:45.773 It's key that you understand the difference. 07:45.767 --> 07:49.767 Priests interact with the laity. 07:49.767 --> 07:55.127 Layman, laity, are people who are ordinary people, believers 07:55.133 --> 07:58.233 but not clergy. 07:58.233 --> 08:06.203 The priests interact with the laity through mass, the 08:06.200 --> 08:10.300 performance of the sacraments, things like baptism, a little 08:10.300 --> 08:18.400 bit later than this period, confession, 08:18.400 --> 08:21.630 anointment of the sick. 08:21.633 --> 08:26.403 These are things in which the sacred is conveyed from the 08:26.400 --> 08:31.900 spiritual world to laypeople via priests. 08:31.900 --> 08:36.530 Priests are in that sense the intermediaries between the 08:36.533 --> 08:40.673 divine and the material. 08:40.667 --> 08:44.367 But because priests are involved in the world, there 08:44.367 --> 08:47.867 are certain aspects of their differentiation from the 08:47.867 --> 08:50.697 world, and there's a lot of debate in the Church at 08:50.700 --> 08:54.700 various times over whether that includes celibacy, not 08:54.700 --> 08:56.170 getting married. 08:56.167 --> 08:59.267 In the era that we're dealing with, there are married 08:59.267 --> 09:05.297 priests, or there are priests who are more or less married. 09:05.300 --> 09:07.430 And then there are priests who are celibate. 09:07.433 --> 09:10.803 But monks are not supposed to interact with the world. 09:10.800 --> 09:14.000 They are leading a life of contemplation and self-denial. 09:17.000 --> 09:23.600 True, they cannot focus only on their own salvation. 09:23.600 --> 09:25.600 Because that would mean ignoring the 09:25.600 --> 09:28.300 Christian's duty to others. 09:28.300 --> 09:31.700 One of the problems about being a contemplative in the 09:31.700 --> 09:34.870 Christian tradition is as soon as you say something like, 09:34.867 --> 09:39.667 "Boy, I am really contemplating great today." 09:39.667 --> 09:43.727 Or, "Wow, I am really seeing the mysteries of the 09:43.733 --> 09:47.203 universe." Or, "I can't believe I haven't had anything 09:47.200 --> 09:51.170 to eat or drink for three days and am feeling great." 09:51.167 --> 09:52.297 You are falling off. 09:52.300 --> 09:53.270 You're falling away. 09:53.267 --> 09:53.967 You're selfish. 09:53.967 --> 09:56.867 You're taking pride in your own accomplishments. 09:56.867 --> 10:01.697 So from the beginning is the notion that the monks have to 10:01.700 --> 10:06.070 abandon everything, including self-satisfaction. 10:06.067 --> 10:10.027 In fact even most importantly self-satisfaction. 10:10.033 --> 10:14.433 And this is where Benedict's notion of humility comes from, 10:14.433 --> 10:17.333 which is very strong in The Rule of Saint Benedict. 10:20.300 --> 10:22.500 Where does this desire to rid oneself of 10:22.500 --> 10:23.730 the world come from? 10:26.300 --> 10:30.170 It's very strong in Christianity. 10:30.167 --> 10:34.027 It's all over the New Testament. 10:34.033 --> 10:37.033 That is actually part of the Christian message. 10:37.033 --> 10:40.473 It's awkward, because most people don't follow that, 10:40.467 --> 10:42.897 including most people who are believers. 10:42.900 --> 10:45.930 They don't in fact give away everything they have to the 10:45.933 --> 10:53.133 poor and follow Christ. They don't renounce the pleasures 10:53.133 --> 10:56.373 of life, of the flesh, and so forth. 10:56.367 --> 10:59.727 But that is sort of what they are telling you to do. 10:59.733 --> 11:08.103 The first monk, the first guy who we know of to decide to 11:08.100 --> 11:10.930 run away to the desert and lead a life of contemplation 11:10.933 --> 11:12.833 is Saint Anthony of Egypt.-- 11:12.833 --> 11:14.473 Well Anthony, you know how to spell that.-- 11:14.467 --> 11:17.697 He lived from 251 to 356. 11:17.700 --> 11:20.330 I have trouble believing this. 11:20.333 --> 11:21.703 The sources are pretty good. 11:21.700 --> 11:27.870 I have trouble believing that anybody could live to be 105 11:27.867 --> 11:30.197 in the Roman Empire. 11:30.200 --> 11:36.230 Or indeed, at any time before ten years ago or so. 11:36.233 --> 11:37.473 But there it is. 11:37.467 --> 11:43.597 At least we know that in 270, he heard the saying of Jesus 11:43.600 --> 11:48.300 in a Church: "Go sell all you have. Give to the poor and 11:48.300 --> 11:52.070 follow me." And he followed this literally. 11:52.067 --> 11:56.397 He established himself as a solitary hermit in Egypt. 11:59.000 --> 12:03.870 And Egypt is a great place for monasticism, because Egypt has 12:03.867 --> 12:08.597 a very narrow strip of incredibly fertile land on 12:08.600 --> 12:10.370 either side of the Nile. 12:10.367 --> 12:14.427 The Nile, which until the building of the Aswan Dam, 12:14.433 --> 12:16.103 flooded every year. 12:16.100 --> 12:20.730 And its silt, that it brought down from its sources, was so 12:20.733 --> 12:26.373 rich that it created this marvelous soil on which all 12:26.367 --> 12:27.627 sorts of things could grow. 12:27.633 --> 12:32.533 But once you got beyond that limit, you were in the desert. 12:32.533 --> 12:38.373 So you have absolute and total really Sahara-like desert, 12:38.367 --> 12:40.927 very close to fertile land, the best land of the 12:40.933 --> 12:42.673 Mediterranean. 12:42.667 --> 12:45.867 So that you could have a kind of interaction between-- 12:45.867 --> 12:48.727 I mean, it's not like you decide that you want to be a 12:48.733 --> 12:51.033 hermit and you live in Manhattan. 12:51.033 --> 12:53.903 And you drive and you drive and you drive, and you get to 12:53.900 --> 12:56.400 Long Island, and you're in the suburbs, and then you're in 12:56.400 --> 12:57.200 the ex-urbs. 12:57.200 --> 12:59.770 And then you're in sort of gas stations and strip malls. 12:59.767 --> 13:01.427 And then you're in the Hamptons. 13:01.433 --> 13:02.873 It's very, very hard-- 13:02.867 --> 13:07.297 I mean you can, actually, if you go north, pretty soon 13:07.300 --> 13:09.830 you'll get if not hermit country, at 13:09.833 --> 13:13.503 least a decent isolation. 13:13.500 --> 13:16.830 Of course the problem with New York is that it's really cold. 13:16.833 --> 13:23.533 It's great to be a hermit in September. 13:23.533 --> 13:27.773 But the Adirondack hermitages present 13:27.767 --> 13:30.197 problems in the winter. 13:30.200 --> 13:34.070 Egypt is hot, all right, but certainly no 13:34.067 --> 13:35.967 exposure to cold problem. 13:35.967 --> 13:37.827 Anyway, the first monks are in Egypt. 13:37.833 --> 13:40.473 And they are known as the Desert Fathers. 13:40.467 --> 13:43.797 Often, they live alone as hermits, but sometimes they 13:43.800 --> 13:45.630 live in communities. 13:45.633 --> 13:48.373 They have their own cells in these communities, but they 13:48.367 --> 13:52.527 can come together for prayer or for some sort of spiritual 13:52.533 --> 13:53.773 companionship. 13:56.233 --> 13:59.403 What's interesting is that right from the start, these 13:59.400 --> 14:03.700 hermits or first monks, appealed to the people who had 14:03.700 --> 14:06.830 no plans to become monks. 14:06.833 --> 14:10.803 They appealed to the people of the cities of Alexandria or 14:10.800 --> 14:12.370 Thebes, etc. 14:12.367 --> 14:13.627 of Egypt. 14:19.567 --> 14:23.597 The reason is, and the reason why people would become monks, 14:23.600 --> 14:27.200 is the establishment of the Church as the official church 14:27.200 --> 14:29.030 of the Roman Empire. 14:29.033 --> 14:32.533 There are no monks in the first years of Christianity, 14:32.533 --> 14:37.203 because just being a Christian means denying the world. 14:37.200 --> 14:42.330 The threat of death at the hands of the Roman authorities 14:42.333 --> 14:46.933 and the illegality of the religion means that you are 14:46.933 --> 14:51.633 already in a world-renouncing position. 14:51.633 --> 14:54.533 But once the church becomes established, once all sorts of 14:54.533 --> 14:57.303 people start joining it for motives that have nothing to 14:57.300 --> 15:02.230 do with spiritual reasons, or maybe ten percent spiritual, 15:02.233 --> 15:07.173 ninety percent it's time, my career, I want my kids to grow 15:07.167 --> 15:10.897 up in the sort of right faith. 15:10.900 --> 15:18.330 Then those of real spiritual bent, devotion, desire, have 15:18.333 --> 15:24.433 to present themselves as more than merely attending church 15:24.433 --> 15:28.803 as serious about Christianity in some sense. 15:28.800 --> 15:32.470 So monasticism has to be understood in its earliest 15:32.467 --> 15:39.627 years as a reaction against the compromises and comfort of 15:39.633 --> 15:41.633 official Christianity. 15:41.633 --> 15:48.273 And we see this in Augustine's Confessions. 15:48.267 --> 15:51.797 Where, you will recall, the emotional crisis that finally 15:51.800 --> 15:55.730 tipped Augustine over the edge into his conversion experience 15:55.733 --> 16:00.633 was hearing about the monks of Egypt from someone who had 16:00.633 --> 16:06.633 come to Milan and had been in Egypt, and described these men 16:06.633 --> 16:12.903 and actually women who were not well-educated were 16:12.900 --> 16:17.530 certainly not trained in rhetoric, law, and the 16:17.533 --> 16:22.133 classics to the extent of Augustine. 16:22.133 --> 16:26.673 Yet nevertheless, they had in Augustine's words, "stormed 16:26.667 --> 16:31.527 the gates of heaven." They had by their spiritual 16:31.533 --> 16:37.303 renunciation hence their spiritual power, become close 16:37.300 --> 16:40.870 to God in ways that he, Augustine, and his friends 16:40.867 --> 16:43.697 with all their knowledge, had not. 16:43.700 --> 16:48.970 And this contrast is what decides Augustine to embrace a 16:48.967 --> 16:52.067 way of life that although not monastic and much more active 16:52.067 --> 16:55.727 in the world, is a renunciation of the standard 16:55.733 --> 16:58.933 career, the standard definitions of success in the 16:58.933 --> 17:03.533 Roman Empire, and involvement in the world in things like 17:03.533 --> 17:08.933 marriage, property owning, etc. 17:08.933 --> 17:13.273 So in fact, if the monks are these not very well-educated 17:13.267 --> 17:19.827 people, if embracing their values means giving up Cicero 17:19.833 --> 17:24.803 and the classical tradition, it looks as if monasticism is 17:24.800 --> 17:26.730 an anti-intellectual movement. 17:26.733 --> 17:30.173 We've come back to this paradox of the monks as 17:30.167 --> 17:31.997 custodians of learning. 17:32.000 --> 17:36.900 It's not quite the fox as the protector of the hens, but it 17:36.900 --> 17:44.000 is not automatic that the monks would find themselves in 17:44.000 --> 17:46.530 the position of copying down Cicero. 17:51.500 --> 17:55.400 So the first forms of monasticism are those of the 17:55.400 --> 17:58.270 Egyptian desert. 17:58.267 --> 18:03.097 There's a kind of tension from the start between ascetic 18:03.100 --> 18:07.900 individualism and collective monasticism. 18:07.900 --> 18:11.800 Ascetic individualism means one person engaging in 18:11.800 --> 18:16.500 practices that dramatize the renunciation of the world. 18:16.500 --> 18:20.900 A classic example is not from Egypt but from Syria. 18:20.900 --> 18:25.430 These are the saints who sit on top of pillars for 18:25.433 --> 18:28.803 decades at a time. 18:28.800 --> 18:30.470 Individual, right? 18:30.467 --> 18:34.867 They're alone on this pillar, maybe it's this wide, or maybe 18:34.867 --> 18:40.227 this wide at the top, thirty feet high, fifty feet high. 18:40.233 --> 18:43.973 These saints collectively are known as Stylites. 18:43.967 --> 18:45.867 A "stylite" is a pillar. 18:45.867 --> 18:48.797 And the most famous of them, Saint Simeon of the Desert, or 18:48.800 --> 18:56.930 Saint Simeon Stylites, lived on top of this pillar for what 18:56.933 --> 18:58.273 is it, thirty-five years? 18:58.267 --> 18:59.767 Something like that. 18:59.767 --> 19:05.827 Thirty-five years up there, in the rain, in the sun. 19:05.833 --> 19:08.373 Imagine the sanitary arrangements. 19:08.367 --> 19:10.567 Imagine this. 19:10.567 --> 19:14.397 I mean this is world renunciation. 19:14.400 --> 19:17.500 But he was not alone. 19:17.500 --> 19:19.200 He was alone on top of the pillar. 19:19.200 --> 19:20.530 He was a hermit. 19:20.533 --> 19:22.573 But people came and visited him. 19:22.567 --> 19:26.767 There are pictures of ladders going up to him, people 19:26.767 --> 19:29.167 climbing these ladders, sometimes delivering a little 19:29.167 --> 19:32.267 message: "Would you pray for my child who is dying of"-- 19:32.267 --> 19:34.767 well I don't know what he's dying of. 19:37.400 --> 19:42.400 Asking for things in the world: "Please deliver me from 19:42.400 --> 19:48.030 a bankruptcy;" "Please deliver me from illness;" "Please 19:48.033 --> 19:50.933 protect me on this voyage." 19:50.933 --> 19:52.673 Why don't they ask God themselves? 19:55.600 --> 19:58.930 Save a trip to the desert out of Antioch? 19:58.933 --> 20:02.203 Save perhaps a donation to the Saint Simeon Stylites 20:02.200 --> 20:05.070 Foundation? 20:05.067 --> 20:09.327 Because God is going to listen to Simeon, right? 20:09.333 --> 20:10.603 Why? 20:13.533 --> 20:15.433 STUDENT: Because he's worthy to speak to him. 20:15.433 --> 20:17.273 PROFESSOR: And why is he worthy? 20:17.267 --> 20:19.967 What has he done to make himself worthier? 20:19.967 --> 20:22.427 You're quite right. 20:22.433 --> 20:24.103 He's renounced the world. 20:24.100 --> 20:26.270 STUDENT: And he knows Latin. 20:26.267 --> 20:27.197 PROFESSOR: Yeah. 20:27.200 --> 20:30.270 He's not unbelievably cultivated, probably 20:30.267 --> 20:32.827 Syriac in this case. 20:32.833 --> 20:34.973 Probably those notes are in Syriac. 20:34.967 --> 20:41.167 But his world renunciation has imbued him with power. 20:41.167 --> 20:43.927 This is not unique to Christianity, right? 20:43.933 --> 20:50.103 Shamanism, the idea of a person who is an outcast in 20:50.100 --> 20:52.570 society, or who has renounced the 20:52.567 --> 20:56.167 normal comforts of society. 20:56.167 --> 20:59.027 What's the problem with just getting married, having kids, 20:59.033 --> 21:01.333 having a job? 21:01.333 --> 21:02.573 Wondering what's for dinner? 21:04.833 --> 21:08.973 From the Christian point of view. 21:08.967 --> 21:12.767 That's what most practitioners are doing. 21:12.767 --> 21:14.927 STUDENT: You're focusing on the world and not on the-- 21:14.933 --> 21:16.703 PROFESSOR: You have to focus on the world. 21:16.700 --> 21:18.770 Supposing you wake up one morning and say, "I'm going to 21:18.767 --> 21:21.527 be a much more spiritual person." And then there's 21:21.533 --> 21:26.133 wailing from your kids, and your spouse is nagging you 21:26.133 --> 21:29.433 about fixing the dripping faucet. 21:29.433 --> 21:31.303 I mean this is stuff you've got to look 21:31.300 --> 21:33.100 forward to, most of you. 21:33.100 --> 21:36.300 I don't expect you to go into monasteries. 21:36.300 --> 21:40.870 But this is a distraction from what the New Testament 21:40.867 --> 21:41.827 tells you to do. 21:41.833 --> 21:44.903 The New Testament doesn't say, "Go ahead. 21:44.900 --> 21:45.500 Be happy. 21:45.500 --> 21:46.370 Amass property. 21:46.367 --> 21:47.727 Get a great job. 21:47.733 --> 21:49.373 Make a lot of contacts. 21:49.367 --> 21:52.467 Get ahead Have a bunch of children. 21:52.467 --> 21:54.667 Get them into good schools. 21:54.667 --> 21:57.567 Get them coaches for the SAT's." And so 21:57.567 --> 22:00.427 forth and so on. 22:00.433 --> 22:04.073 If you have done that, because you just got trapped-- well, 22:04.067 --> 22:07.227 one thing led to another and here you are. 22:07.233 --> 22:09.833 If insofar as you have spiritual anxieties and 22:09.833 --> 22:11.603 desires, then you're going to want to have a patron. 22:11.600 --> 22:14.330 You're going to want to have someone who can intervene with 22:14.333 --> 22:16.833 you, just like way back when you had somebody write a 22:16.833 --> 22:21.033 letter recommendation because they were on the board of some 22:21.033 --> 22:25.533 company, or they had some influence. 22:25.533 --> 22:28.503 Here your patron is a spiritual patron, and it is 22:28.500 --> 22:31.830 monks or hermits. 22:31.833 --> 22:38.633 So the role of the holy man in society is of somebody who has 22:38.633 --> 22:44.103 a heroic ability denied to most ordinary people. 22:44.100 --> 22:49.630 This is a spiritual superhero who, like comic book 22:49.633 --> 22:53.533 superheroes, isn't just a superhero for his own benefit. 22:53.533 --> 22:56.373 He doesn't just fly around because he likes the sensation 22:56.367 --> 22:57.967 of flying around. 22:57.967 --> 23:01.897 But who helps those who are weaker than him. 23:04.667 --> 23:06.227 And the intervention of somebody-- 23:06.233 --> 23:10.333 a very important Saint like Simeon Stylites, transcended 23:10.333 --> 23:13.933 the merely curative. 23:13.933 --> 23:19.133 Simeon was without fear of the emperor, for example. 23:19.133 --> 23:21.473 What could the emperor do to him that was worse than living 23:21.467 --> 23:25.267 at the top of a pillar, after all? 23:25.267 --> 23:28.597 The emperor Constantius, one of the sons of Constantine in 23:28.600 --> 23:31.700 the early fourth century, was going to punish the city of 23:31.700 --> 23:36.200 Antioch for defying the tax collectors. 23:36.200 --> 23:37.800 Tax had been collected in Antioch. 23:37.800 --> 23:39.030 There'd been a riot. 23:39.033 --> 23:40.903 Lots of people were killed. 23:40.900 --> 23:44.330 Normally, you'd expect the wrath of the emperor to come 23:44.333 --> 23:50.373 down on the city and punish it very severely. 23:50.367 --> 23:53.927 Simeon was able to intervene with Constantius to prevent 23:53.933 --> 23:55.373 this from happening. 23:58.000 --> 23:59.900 Constantius listened to him because he was a 23:59.900 --> 24:02.030 little scared of him. 24:02.033 --> 24:06.333 People are a little scared of those who are not only not 24:06.333 --> 24:12.103 playing the game, but who are playing a different game 24:12.100 --> 24:17.100 according to unique and very difficult to imitate rules. 24:17.100 --> 24:18.670 So there's a paradox here. 24:18.667 --> 24:24.367 Again, as the withdrawal from society becomes more dramatic, 24:24.367 --> 24:27.997 the imputed spiritual power becomes greater. 24:28.000 --> 24:30.770 If Simeon's renunciation were limited to 24:30.767 --> 24:37.897 something kind of small. 24:41.833 --> 24:44.573 Suppose he became a vegan. 24:44.567 --> 24:48.297 Would people believe in his power? 24:48.300 --> 24:52.100 And then this brings up the question of, then, what is the 24:52.100 --> 24:54.870 power of The Rule of Saint Benedict? 24:54.867 --> 24:57.267 If you read The Rule of Saint Benedict, there's nothing in 24:57.267 --> 25:00.127 there about living outdoors all the time at 25:00.133 --> 25:01.403 the top of a pillar. 25:01.400 --> 25:05.200 There's nothing about extreme asceticism. 25:05.200 --> 25:08.530 Yet Benedictine monasticism would prove more durable than 25:08.533 --> 25:09.533 pillar sitting. 25:09.533 --> 25:12.603 It would prove more durable than the desert saints even. 25:17.033 --> 25:27.073 Monasticism was brought to the West in several forms. But 25:27.067 --> 25:29.797 generally speaking, although there are lots of hermits, we 25:29.800 --> 25:33.870 hear more about the communities of monks. 25:33.867 --> 25:37.267 Monks who live in an establishment. 25:39.800 --> 25:43.100 And beginning in the late sixth, and particularly in the 25:43.100 --> 25:46.830 seventh century, a lot of monasteries were established 25:46.833 --> 25:51.703 in rural parts of Europe, rural or small 25:51.700 --> 25:53.870 town parts of Europe. 25:53.867 --> 25:59.267 Places like St. Albans in England, which is 25:59.267 --> 26:01.727 not far from London. 26:01.733 --> 26:08.803 Or Bede's monastery of Jarrow in Northumbria, more remote. 26:08.800 --> 26:14.930 Or Fulda in Germany. 26:14.933 --> 26:22.803 Reichenau, a monastery in southwestern Germany on a 26:22.800 --> 26:24.930 little island in Lake Constance. 26:28.733 --> 26:32.903 These monasteries owned property, and indeed many of 26:32.900 --> 26:34.470 them became very rich. 26:34.467 --> 26:39.027 Because one way of affiliating yourself with a monastery was 26:39.033 --> 26:46.573 to give to them, to donate land, money, serfs, coins, 26:46.567 --> 26:47.827 booty, whatever. 26:51.800 --> 26:55.030 And the reason people donated is because of the violence of 26:55.033 --> 26:56.603 their lives. 26:56.600 --> 26:59.730 The people who had the stuff to donate usually had gotten 26:59.733 --> 27:00.773 it by violence. 27:00.767 --> 27:03.997 Because it's a society that, as you've seen in the pages of 27:04.000 --> 27:07.600 Gregory of Tours particularly but not exclusively, it is a 27:07.600 --> 27:10.600 society organized around warfare. 27:10.600 --> 27:14.730 All of these guys in Gregory of Tours have 27:14.733 --> 27:16.103 blood on their hands. 27:16.100 --> 27:21.130 You cannot be successful without a certain amount of 27:21.133 --> 27:24.673 the infliction of pain on other people. 27:24.667 --> 27:28.297 And although the rich and wealthy in any society do not 27:28.300 --> 27:35.770 believe themselves to be rich and wealthy for vicious 27:35.767 --> 27:38.627 reasons, indeed the rich and wealthy generally speaking 27:38.633 --> 27:40.433 think they're great. 27:40.433 --> 27:43.233 In this society, the rich and wealthy think they're great 27:43.233 --> 27:47.003 all right, but they're also very anxious. 27:47.000 --> 27:49.470 It's not just a question of, what is the phrase that's 27:49.467 --> 27:53.927 often used by donors to universities, "give back to" 27:53.933 --> 27:56.533 Yale, for example, or give back to society. 27:56.533 --> 27:58.803 It's not just a question of giving back to society: "Yes, 27:58.800 --> 28:01.700 I made $40 billion, so I feel I need to give back 28:01.700 --> 28:06.970 something." It's a question of, "I'm going to hell. 28:06.967 --> 28:08.367 What can I do? 28:08.367 --> 28:12.367 I know I'm going to hell, because I killed 80 people in 28:12.367 --> 28:15.997 the course of just business deals. 28:16.000 --> 28:18.330 The closing of this deal required that 10 people be 28:18.333 --> 28:28.273 killed." Or 500, or 2,000. 28:28.267 --> 28:31.797 So there is a symbiosis, to be cynical about it. 28:31.800 --> 28:34.330 And as you know, I'm not really a very cynical person. 28:34.333 --> 28:35.503 I hope that has come through. 28:35.500 --> 28:36.700 I hope it's come through that I'm a really 28:36.700 --> 28:40.700 idealistic, even naive. 28:40.700 --> 28:43.770 But if you'll forgive a moment of cynicism, there is a 28:43.767 --> 28:49.267 symbiosis between the monks, who are amassing this huge 28:49.267 --> 28:53.027 quantity of spiritual energy, and the leaders of society, 28:53.033 --> 28:56.433 who are amassing this huge quantity of sins. 28:56.433 --> 28:58.933 It's a natural trade agreement. 29:01.800 --> 29:03.030 So there are paradoxical 29:03.033 --> 29:04.503 consequences of monastic wealth. 29:04.500 --> 29:09.030 As these places get richer and richer, they become too 29:09.033 --> 29:13.633 important to the kings, the leaders of society, just to be 29:13.633 --> 29:18.233 left to a bunch of weird, world-renouncing hermits. 29:18.233 --> 29:25.603 They start to be administered by people who themselves are 29:25.600 --> 29:29.970 from high families, of high lineage. 29:29.967 --> 29:34.667 In order to become a monk at Fulda or Reichenau, you can't 29:34.667 --> 29:37.597 just wander in and say, "I'm renouncing the world." You've 29:37.600 --> 29:41.430 got to be from a good family. 29:41.433 --> 29:44.603 You've got to come with an endowment. 29:44.600 --> 29:47.930 Generally speaking to get into Reichenau as a monk, the 29:47.933 --> 29:54.403 family's going to have to pay a huge amount of property, 29:54.400 --> 30:00.570 money, some form of wealth that endows that monk. 30:03.733 --> 30:06.873 So at some point maybe people will stop believing that 30:06.867 --> 30:09.467 Reichenau is such a great place. 30:09.467 --> 30:13.697 Maybe they'll stop believing in its spiritual energy. 30:13.700 --> 30:16.230 This would happen later. 30:16.233 --> 30:19.103 But not yet. 30:19.100 --> 30:19.600 Not yet. 30:19.600 --> 30:23.730 The preservation of the monasteries and their growth 30:23.733 --> 30:28.833 and success is due to the rule of Saint Benedict. 30:28.833 --> 30:31.473 The most important development of Western monasticism-- 30:31.467 --> 30:34.427 and there are all kinds of other monasticisms in the 30:34.433 --> 30:35.273 Christian world. 30:35.267 --> 30:38.867 But the monasticism that would characterize Western Europe is 30:38.867 --> 30:42.897 the rule of Saint Benedict, late sixth century, who 30:42.900 --> 30:47.530 devised a set of regulations for communal monasticism. 30:52.167 --> 30:57.497 So The Rule of Saint Benedict is a manual for the monastic 30:57.500 --> 31:01.000 life, how to set up and run a monastery. 31:01.000 --> 31:06.170 It's not the first. It's based on an older rule. 31:06.167 --> 31:09.097 We don't have to go into sort of who is responsible for 31:09.100 --> 31:13.670 inventing Benedictine monasticism, as it's called. 31:13.667 --> 31:16.727 But the monasteries of the West would be for the most 31:16.733 --> 31:19.933 part Benedictine until the twelfth century, when you 31:19.933 --> 31:21.873 start to have other orders. 31:21.867 --> 31:24.567 That is, there would be thousands of monasteries 31:24.567 --> 31:25.597 throughout Europe. 31:25.600 --> 31:29.500 And they would follow more or less the rule 31:29.500 --> 31:30.770 that you have read. 31:34.167 --> 31:35.927 Why is this rule so successful? 31:38.533 --> 31:42.133 For one thing, it is moderate. 31:42.133 --> 31:44.873 It is reproducible on a large scale. 31:44.867 --> 31:47.767 It is ascetic, all right. 31:47.767 --> 31:50.027 It does involve giving up a lot of things, 31:50.033 --> 31:52.333 but not to an extreme. 31:52.333 --> 31:57.473 Not to be compared to the life of a desert hermit or a desert 31:57.467 --> 31:58.997 pillar-sitter. 31:59.000 --> 32:04.630 Or the harsh monasticism of the Irish tradition. 32:04.633 --> 32:09.133 You don't have to go to some little island that's one 32:09.133 --> 32:12.633 square kilometer large and out in the middle of the windy 32:12.633 --> 32:16.003 Irish sea, and build some little beehive 32:16.000 --> 32:18.630 hut and live there. 32:18.633 --> 32:21.433 Ascetic monasticism of the extreme sort is 32:21.433 --> 32:22.433 all over the place. 32:22.433 --> 32:24.773 Because hostile environments are all over the place. 32:24.767 --> 32:28.567 Now it's not as if Benedictine monasteries are all located in 32:28.567 --> 32:31.527 cheerful, hilly, fertile countryside. 32:31.533 --> 32:33.673 But a lot of them are. 32:33.667 --> 32:38.697 A lot of them are located in productive land. 32:38.700 --> 32:44.130 But more important than that, they require a certain kind of 32:44.133 --> 32:44.903 asceticism. 32:44.900 --> 32:49.500 The asceticism of a Benedictine monastery is 32:49.500 --> 32:53.670 renunciation of self in favor of the community. 32:53.667 --> 32:59.067 In that sense, it's almost an opposite of the kind of 32:59.067 --> 33:03.227 monasticism that hermits or pillar saints practice. 33:06.233 --> 33:09.303 What's ascetic about a Benedictine monastery is not 33:09.300 --> 33:15.300 only the celibacy part, or the prayer part, or the isolation 33:15.300 --> 33:18.400 from worldly stimulus part, but the fact that you're not 33:18.400 --> 33:20.230 alone most of the time. 33:23.067 --> 33:25.227 You have to subordinate your will to 33:25.233 --> 33:28.973 communal rituals and life. 33:28.967 --> 33:31.827 You have to subordinate your will to the abbot. 33:31.833 --> 33:37.303 Remember how much Benedict emphasizes obedience. 33:37.300 --> 33:40.400 This is not just a good management tool for making it 33:40.400 --> 33:41.970 clear who's in charge. 33:41.967 --> 33:49.267 It is a form of self-abnegation, a form of 33:49.267 --> 33:51.767 renunciation. 33:51.767 --> 33:59.867 Benedict also enjoins manual labor. 33:59.867 --> 34:03.427 This is a penitential tool. 34:03.433 --> 34:06.373 But it's also something that has perhaps something to do 34:06.367 --> 34:08.997 with the economic success of these foundations. 34:09.000 --> 34:12.430 These are monks who are engaged in primarily two 34:12.433 --> 34:14.833 activities, labor and prayer. 34:18.633 --> 34:21.173 Prayer, we'll talk about in a moment And is quite 34:21.167 --> 34:21.827 understandable. 34:21.833 --> 34:25.503 But labor is more interesting and innovative. 34:25.500 --> 34:29.930 Because the ancient world despised labor. 34:29.933 --> 34:34.503 The whole idea of how you should live in pre-conversion 34:34.500 --> 34:37.630 Augustine's opinion, which reflects that of late Roman 34:37.633 --> 34:44.103 society, is what was called leisure with dignity. 34:44.100 --> 34:49.500 Leisure with dignity is what most professors aspire to. 34:49.500 --> 34:56.430 That is to say, leisure but not just to take naps and play 34:56.433 --> 35:03.403 with your dog or surf various dubious sites on the internet. 35:03.400 --> 35:10.470 Leisure, to read, to think, to engage in a kind of genteel 35:10.467 --> 35:13.167 contemplation. 35:13.167 --> 35:16.627 And this is the ideal of those Roman senators who were 35:16.633 --> 35:18.073 writing philosophical dialogues. 35:20.767 --> 35:27.197 But work, actual work, is degrading, horrible in the 35:27.200 --> 35:28.900 ancient world. 35:28.900 --> 35:34.070 Not to be engaged in by anybody who could call himself 35:34.067 --> 35:36.197 a gentleman. 35:36.200 --> 35:39.130 So by making people work, including people who come from 35:39.133 --> 35:42.033 the upper classes, this is a penitential labor indeed, 35:42.033 --> 35:44.573 particularly labor with your hands. 35:44.567 --> 35:49.627 Though other kinds of labor were envisaged. 35:49.633 --> 35:53.173 In Section 48, Benedict talks about 35:53.167 --> 35:55.997 labor and sacred reading. 35:56.000 --> 35:59.700 And this is one of those places where you can draw out 35:59.700 --> 36:02.270 from its meaning that copying manuscripts 36:02.267 --> 36:03.827 is a form of labor. 36:03.833 --> 36:05.703 Reading texts is a form of labor. 36:08.633 --> 36:14.303 So the transformation, or at least the addition of learning 36:14.300 --> 36:17.370 as part of the mission statement of monasteries, is 36:17.367 --> 36:20.297 implicit here, but certainly not drawn out by Benedict. 36:23.333 --> 36:26.133 Prayer. 36:26.133 --> 36:29.433 One of the things that is involved in this surrendering 36:29.433 --> 36:33.173 of your will to the greater communal good is the 36:33.167 --> 36:34.527 performance of prayers. 36:39.033 --> 36:41.233 Benedict emphasizes humility. 36:43.733 --> 36:48.073 The monk's life as a ladder of humility. 36:48.067 --> 36:54.167 Humility is encouraged by obedience, silence. 36:54.167 --> 36:55.997 In Benedictine monasteries, you weren't 36:56.000 --> 36:57.670 silent all the time. 36:57.667 --> 37:02.867 But there is a discouragement against mere chatter. 37:02.867 --> 37:06.227 Labor, all of these are penitential activities in 37:06.233 --> 37:08.503 which the individual will is suppressed. 37:08.500 --> 37:10.900 And if you think of experiences in which the 37:10.900 --> 37:15.100 individual will is suppressed so that the person focuses on 37:15.100 --> 37:18.500 the community, we are all familiar, in fact you are more 37:18.500 --> 37:21.900 familiar than I am probably, more immediately, with such 37:21.900 --> 37:24.670 activities. 37:24.667 --> 37:30.767 Any kind of training or boot camp-like thing, or a senior 37:30.767 --> 37:37.397 society, or an a capella group, makes you do stuff with 37:37.400 --> 37:41.270 the group that may be unpleasant, difficult, 37:41.267 --> 37:43.627 self-sacrificing, but that reinforces 37:43.633 --> 37:45.203 the esprit de corps. 37:45.200 --> 37:47.900 This is the heart of the military. 37:47.900 --> 37:51.600 Military beats you up in order to make you 37:51.600 --> 37:53.100 focus on the group. 37:53.100 --> 37:56.930 And many other organizations, including businesses, this 37:56.933 --> 38:01.203 idea of going out into the mountains and turning you 38:01.200 --> 38:05.830 loose with a tent and some rope and seeing which groups 38:05.833 --> 38:09.003 are able to survive, or whatever they do. 38:09.000 --> 38:11.270 This is part of this kind of training. 38:11.267 --> 38:13.197 It's not just to train you into 38:13.200 --> 38:14.700 depending on other people. 38:14.700 --> 38:18.970 It's to train you into focusing on the success of the 38:18.967 --> 38:21.797 organization or group as opposed to your own 38:21.800 --> 38:23.030 aggrandizement. 38:23.033 --> 38:26.533 The difference again is, you come back from the little 38:26.533 --> 38:28.103 upward bound experience. 38:28.100 --> 38:30.030 Or you come back from the retreat. 38:30.033 --> 38:32.333 Or you come back from the scavenger hunt. 38:32.333 --> 38:35.203 In this case, this is your life. 38:35.200 --> 38:41.600 But in addition to obedience, labor, silence, prayer is the 38:41.600 --> 38:44.900 most important renunciatory activity. 38:44.900 --> 38:47.800 Because these are not just prayers like, "OK, I'm going 38:47.800 --> 38:51.470 to go in for five minutes and recite some prayers." These 38:51.467 --> 38:57.127 are prayers that go on all day with some breaks. 38:57.133 --> 39:03.033 One of psalms seems to suggest that you should make prayers 39:03.033 --> 39:05.903 seven times a day. 39:05.900 --> 39:08.400 So they begin a little bit after midnight. 39:10.967 --> 39:13.097 Then they go to sleep for a little while. 39:13.100 --> 39:15.670 And then they get up a little before dawn and they pray. 39:15.667 --> 39:17.867 And then they go back to sleep for a little while. 39:17.867 --> 39:24.197 And then they have a kind of early morning session, and so 39:24.200 --> 39:27.830 forth and so on, seven times a day. 39:27.833 --> 39:32.203 And these are prayers they go through the psalms primarily. 39:35.000 --> 39:37.470 Different monasteries have different liturgies. 39:37.467 --> 39:41.697 A liturgy is a kind of ritual cycle. 39:41.700 --> 39:46.030 Some monasteries have more prayer and less contemplation, 39:46.033 --> 39:50.033 or less prayer and more work. 39:50.033 --> 39:53.403 But they all are engaged in the performance of group 39:53.400 --> 39:57.930 prayers, not individual but the community. 39:57.933 --> 40:00.503 And these go on and on and on. 40:00.500 --> 40:05.070 And they take on a kind of rhythm or a monotony, or a 40:05.067 --> 40:11.427 kind of visionary power that's such experiences can convey. 40:11.433 --> 40:15.303 And it is these prayers that are what are really storing up 40:15.300 --> 40:18.070 those spiritual reserves I was talking about as 40:18.067 --> 40:20.727 characteristic of monasteries. 40:20.733 --> 40:24.433 There's this tremendous power that all these repeated 40:24.433 --> 40:28.673 prayers have that cannot be duplicated outside the walls 40:28.667 --> 40:30.667 of the monastery. 40:30.667 --> 40:33.567 So this heavy round of prayer involves a significant 40:33.567 --> 40:38.227 sacrifice of comfort and of the self. 40:38.233 --> 40:40.273 This is a kind of sleep deprivation. 40:40.267 --> 40:44.367 Monks never really quite make up the sleep deficiencies. 40:44.367 --> 40:48.967 They sort of stagger into Matins, as the first hours are 40:48.967 --> 40:53.967 called, or Lauds, the pre-sunrise hour. 40:53.967 --> 40:56.297 But this is very impressive to the outside world. 40:56.300 --> 41:00.900 The outside world, the donors, love this. 41:00.900 --> 41:02.700 They love the buildup of these prayers. 41:02.700 --> 41:05.170 And they would like the prayers to take place in a 41:05.167 --> 41:06.167 nice place. 41:06.167 --> 41:08.427 Rather than having the monastery church being some 41:08.433 --> 41:15.203 kind of dank or fire trap wooden structure, they'll 41:15.200 --> 41:18.730 build beautiful churches for them and beautiful dormitories 41:18.733 --> 41:19.803 for them as well. 41:19.800 --> 41:21.830 And beautiful refectories for them. 41:24.367 --> 41:27.927 If you're a donor, you would rather that the stuff that 41:27.933 --> 41:32.973 you're donating for take place in nice surroundings. 41:32.967 --> 41:35.967 Donors like it if the lawns at Yale are well-clipped. 41:38.567 --> 41:41.467 And I think I've said this before. 41:41.467 --> 41:47.467 The closest thing to a monastery is a college, with 41:47.467 --> 41:50.127 some obvious differences. 41:50.133 --> 41:52.773 But communal living? 41:52.767 --> 41:58.927 The quadrangle is like the cloister focused in on itself. 41:58.933 --> 42:01.903 The emphasis on the group. 42:01.900 --> 42:05.270 Identification with the institution. 42:05.267 --> 42:06.997 The notion that your activities 42:07.000 --> 42:09.130 will benefit society. 42:09.133 --> 42:13.073 Not so much your prayers, but all that great research we're 42:13.067 --> 42:14.327 allegedly doing. 42:16.567 --> 42:17.567 OK. 42:17.567 --> 42:23.397 The parallel does not carry perfectly. 42:23.400 --> 42:26.970 But it is no accident that this university looks a little 42:26.967 --> 42:28.497 bit like a monastery. 42:28.500 --> 42:36.570 It is to evoke a tradition of contemplation, isolation. 42:36.567 --> 42:38.997 People speak about the Yale bubble, but it's supposed to 42:39.000 --> 42:40.070 be a bit of a bubble. 42:40.067 --> 42:42.927 It was constructed that way. 42:42.933 --> 42:44.703 That is the ideal. 42:44.700 --> 42:48.570 Now you may not have chosen to go to the places that really 42:48.567 --> 42:53.267 reproduce the monastic ideal. 42:53.267 --> 42:56.427 I went to the University of California at Santa Cruz. 42:56.433 --> 43:00.333 It was like up on a hill in a redwood forest. That was sort 43:00.333 --> 43:01.433 of like a monastery. 43:01.433 --> 43:05.103 Or Earlham College in Indiana, or 43:05.100 --> 43:07.730 Marlboro College in Vermont. 43:07.733 --> 43:10.073 I know you rejected these places, I know you just 43:10.067 --> 43:12.567 laughed at them just thinking about going to them. 43:12.567 --> 43:17.227 But there are people who've decided to go-- no? 43:17.233 --> 43:19.003 Devastated that you didn't get into Earlham? 43:19.000 --> 43:20.970 Well, OK. 43:20.967 --> 43:26.697 But this is an American ideal that is similar to the 43:26.700 --> 43:27.800 monastic ideal. 43:27.800 --> 43:30.770 It is a sort of renunciatory ideal. 43:30.767 --> 43:33.527 And it is an ideal of learning. 43:33.533 --> 43:34.973 So how do we get to learning? 43:34.967 --> 43:37.767 In the last few minutes I just want to trace these 43:37.767 --> 43:39.327 connections. 43:39.333 --> 43:42.133 The Benedictine Rule, as you will have noticed, does not 43:42.133 --> 43:43.933 encourage learning. 43:43.933 --> 43:47.033 And Benedict himself did not regard this as a 43:47.033 --> 43:48.733 primary duty of monks. 43:48.733 --> 43:51.573 He did expect the monks to read the Bible. 43:51.567 --> 43:54.197 He expected them to listen to readings 43:54.200 --> 43:56.370 from the Church Fathers. 43:56.367 --> 44:03.127 And very key, he says that the monks should take out a book 44:03.133 --> 44:06.233 from what he calls the bibliotheca. 44:06.233 --> 44:08.233 "Bibliotheca" is the Latin word for library. 44:17.633 --> 44:21.633 It's not clear when monasteries had libraries. 44:25.000 --> 44:28.700 But really the idea of collecting books and copying 44:28.700 --> 44:35.800 them comes from late Roman culture, from a desire to 44:35.800 --> 44:45.230 understand the Bible and from a transformation of that world 44:45.233 --> 44:48.833 of cultivated leisure, where the intellectuals like 44:48.833 --> 44:51.773 Augustine and his mentors, were the custodians of 44:51.767 --> 44:56.097 learning, to a world in which the clergy and particularly 44:56.100 --> 44:59.970 the monastic clergy, were the custodians of learning. 44:59.967 --> 45:06.267 Because the monks had three key elements: They had 45:06.267 --> 45:08.267 learning, that is they were literate. 45:08.267 --> 45:11.227 They had time, even though the prayers consumed a lot, 45:11.233 --> 45:12.373 they're not in the world. 45:12.367 --> 45:14.297 And they had wealth. 45:14.300 --> 45:17.470 It's not inevitable that time, learning, and wealth should 45:17.467 --> 45:21.897 lead to a cultural efflorescence. 45:21.900 --> 45:24.370 But they are certainly favorable conditions. 45:27.800 --> 45:31.370 So I leave you with that implication of the rule. 45:31.367 --> 45:34.197 We will develop it further in a few weeks. 45:34.200 --> 45:37.200 What we're going to be talking about beginning on Monday of 45:37.200 --> 45:39.430 next week is Islam. 45:39.433 --> 45:47.103 So we are moving into a different post-Roman reality. 45:47.100 --> 45:48.330 Thanks.