An Experiment in Monkery

Monkery is not a word in case you were wondering, but I think it is accurate for this latest crazy idea of mine.

One of the activities that I enjoy most is thinking and contemplating things, but unfortunately it’s very hard to make a living doing such things. So I figured I would pursue a path that would allow me to think and contemplate as well as earn a living, enter seminary. My main goal with seminary is to be able to communicate biblical truth in a fresh and engaging way to reach people who are ordinarily not interested in theology for some reason. This way I should be able to cultivate my ideas and, hopefully, bring them into the mainstream to benefit others as well as earn a living.

Recently though I read a news story about a monastery in North Dakota that had to shut down because they were ranchers and had an issue finding monks with cowboy skills. After reading the story I realized that thinking and contemplating things was exactly what monks did! So I did some quick research into the daily lives of monks and came up with the idea to try out the monk life for a while.

 The experiment will work like this:

• 3 times of prayer/meditation daily (morning, noon, evening) of at least 1 hour.
• Time between meditations will be spent doing necessary daily work, like walking the dog, laundry, cooking, etc. Time may also be spent reading and writing.
• The experiment will start October 1 and last through the entire month (31 days).
• I will not be abstaining from television, radio, or the Internet. I watch hardly any television now as it is and spend very little excess time on the Internet (meaning I don’t watch YouTube videos for hours on end because I am bored). Plus, I intend to blog about my experiences during this experiment and need to use the Internet to update all of you!
• I will not be taking vows of any sort.
•  I will not be walking in around in a hooded robe.
• I will not be immolating myself in protest of anything.

If you are curious I am not considering becoming a monk in real life at this point. There are several not-so-small barriers that would need to be overcome in order to make that happen.

• Seminary is still the main plan at this point. My application has been submitted and is under consideration but I have not heard back yet. If I were to be rejected for some reason then I might consider this in real life.
• Being Protestant the only denomination that I am aware of that has a monastic tradition are the Episcopalians/Anglicans, which I don’t belong to. Besides that the other options are Catholic and Orthodox.
• If I were to pursue a monastic life for real I would probably need to belong to one of the above denominations. This is an issue because there are very real reasons why I am a non-denominational Protestant and not Catholic, Orthodox, or Episcopalian/Anglican.

So that’s the experiment. I plan to do an update for each day about my experiences, and maybe include some of my reflections for the day.