Remember this little ditty?
Monday: Wash Day
Tuesday: Ironing Day
Wednesday: Sewing Day
Thursday: Market Day
Friday: Cleaning Day
Saturday: Baking Day
Sunday: Day of Rest
Here it is, Sunday again. Yes, as I indicated in my morning musing, it can be a lonely day, but I am going to call it a Day of Thoughtfulness.
I’ve been rereading, “Ordinary People as Monks and Mystics,” by Marsha Sinetar, It was published in 1986, but I must have first read it in the ‘90’s when I began, in an intentional way, searching for…. For what? Something to define my life. God? Truth? Integration? Wholeness? Ultimate Meaning?...It’s impossible to put this longing into words, but since you’re reading this blog, you kind of know what I’m getting at. Let’s just say that we’re all sitting in the mystery.
Sinetar shares interviews that she conducted with ordinary people who, in their search for wholeness, have “pulled away physically as well as perceptually from conventional life.” She categorizes these people as “monks” or “mystics”. The monk is searching for social transcendence, for “emotional independence or detachment from societal influences.” The “mystic”, on the other hand, is seeking self-transcendence, is longing to know the Ultimate Reality as his/her own.
As I sit in the cottage pondering the monk/mystic question, I sometimes wonder if I’m too self-involved. But Sinetar assures me that although everyone she interviewed had pulled away from their usual public life, “in doing this they serve self-and others in highly creative, useful and fulfilling ways.”
So much for my Day of Thoughtfulness. Wash Day is coming up. I figure that by Market Day I will have posted some quotes by the people that Sinetar interviewed. Maybe they will help us figure out what we are, monk or mystic, although I think I know what I am.
Monday: Wash Day
Tuesday: Ironing Day
Wednesday: Sewing Day
Thursday: Market Day
Friday: Cleaning Day
Saturday: Baking Day
Sunday: Day of Rest
Here it is, Sunday again. Yes, as I indicated in my morning musing, it can be a lonely day, but I am going to call it a Day of Thoughtfulness.
I’ve been rereading, “Ordinary People as Monks and Mystics,” by Marsha Sinetar, It was published in 1986, but I must have first read it in the ‘90’s when I began, in an intentional way, searching for…. For what? Something to define my life. God? Truth? Integration? Wholeness? Ultimate Meaning?...It’s impossible to put this longing into words, but since you’re reading this blog, you kind of know what I’m getting at. Let’s just say that we’re all sitting in the mystery.
Sinetar shares interviews that she conducted with ordinary people who, in their search for wholeness, have “pulled away physically as well as perceptually from conventional life.” She categorizes these people as “monks” or “mystics”. The monk is searching for social transcendence, for “emotional independence or detachment from societal influences.” The “mystic”, on the other hand, is seeking self-transcendence, is longing to know the Ultimate Reality as his/her own.
As I sit in the cottage pondering the monk/mystic question, I sometimes wonder if I’m too self-involved. But Sinetar assures me that although everyone she interviewed had pulled away from their usual public life, “in doing this they serve self-and others in highly creative, useful and fulfilling ways.”
So much for my Day of Thoughtfulness. Wash Day is coming up. I figure that by Market Day I will have posted some quotes by the people that Sinetar interviewed. Maybe they will help us figure out what we are, monk or mystic, although I think I know what I am.