Air Monastery: Something We Did Quietly

air monastery: 

something good WE did … quietly

Somewhat randomly, Emily (great person) sent me a text, asking me to go to a monastery or convent with her during the first week of January.  We looked at a bunch of monasteries nearby (Tennessee/Alabama) and nothing seemed right or to have the right equation, meaning:

1. we wanted to go to a monastery or convent

2. we wanted to practice monastic living

3. we were seeking spiritual renewal/refreshment/intentionality

4. we don’t want to pay a lot, if anything, to do it

5. we didn’t want to come away exhausted because of travel

6. we didn’t want to get crazy about this (we had never done this before), so low commitment (in case we hated it)

7. we didn’t want to have to entertain each other or anyone really (which seems difficult when meeting new people (nuns/monks))

So, after researching local monasteries/convents, we were feeling doubtful of our monastic week, until I thought, because I’m always wondering if people are doing things right…

“What is the definition of ‘monastery’ anyway?” 

And it’s this…LOOK CLOSELY at the origin of the word, it’s breakdown into its parts

This is what created air monastery this past January.  

Let me tell you what we did...but first,

The definition/word origin that breaks down the word “monastery” into its parts:

monos = “alone”

monazein = “live alone”

Other definitions (Webster’s, dictionary.com, etc) speak of work being involved in monastic life, too, of course…such is life…we work.  Also mentioned often was silence.

So, I synthesized that info into saying,

"OK, SO BASICALLY, IT'S DOING SOMETHING/LIVING IN SOLITUDE/SILENCE... WE COULD DO THAT FROM MY HOUSE.  ANYONE COULD DO THAT FROM HOME, RIGHT?"

At the time I was 

     1) living alone and in a quiet little town called Algood in Tennessee.  Truly a perfect location for this.  The church I work with could not pay me but could offer housing, which is great, 

so I’m also 

     2) right next to a really old, small church that does not have a lot of activity and was willing to let us use their space if we so desired.  Conditions were perfect.  

So, I explained my findings to Emily (great person and logical, science-minded nurse),

“What if we just have it at my house?”

She agreed and we started making plans.  

I’ll tell you some of them, but what’s important for you to know is this: 

WE WERE NOT STRICT ABOUT ANY OF THIS MONASTIC BUSINESS, 

which I believe is also a monastic way… 

Okay, here’s how we made a monastery—THE INGREDIENTS:1. we would keep silence 2. we would do things that were life-giving and creative during that silence

Here’s how that fleshed out (what the people did):

WHY?

We needed, after holidays that are often spent buying and being extroverted, to refocus, to live life again, to devote the year to a sort of Namaste to God, where the greatness in us (writing, drawing, running, eating healthy, being still, being creative) bows to the greatness of God.  

There’s a poem called “How Do I Love You” in Felicity by Mary Oliver that helps summarize that thought and the wordlessness of what we did.

WHO?

Friends who I felt this would resonate with…the more the merrier, you’ll see how that’s actually possible in the “WHERE” section.

WHAT DID THE PEOPLE DO?

We would keep silence and do creative or life-giving work during that time.  Some people wrote for upcoming jobs (me), some people painted to practice (Emily and Laurel (other great person—also science-minded), some people did those adult coloring books to rest (Jimmy (yes, another great person and science-minded (by that I mean, he’s cool with experiments))…some people ran and biked (Skye, me, Laurel, and who knows who else) because that’s life…and some people napped (Blake, another great person).

WHERE?

this might be the coolest part

It didn’t matter where!  That’s the “air” part!

Originally it was called Mobile Monastery, but Air Monastery seems a little more heavenly and also, I’m from Mobile, AL, so that terminology was confusing/misleading for friends.  You can call it Mobile Monastery if you want to, even if you’re from Mobile, but call it Air Monastery so maybe we can be consistent, unless you just have a thing for M’s.  

For location, Some people came to my house because it’s peaceful/quiet and their space wasn’t that.  Some people observed the silence/solitude from their own homes, because they might have a panic attack if they had to be at someone else’s house for very long without all of their things and such…totally understandable.

WHEN?

We decided initially that this would be a 7-day/7-hour experience, symbolic of wholeness (7’s), ending, on the 50th hour we would have a dance…7x7=49, therefore the 50th hour would be the end of our time…this is symbolic of the Hebrew practice of Jubilee, celebrated on the 50th year.  

It actually didn’t turn out that way. 1)not everyone could come for the whole time, 2)there were some pleasant surprises along the way that interrupted our monasticism.  Thank God.

When folks arrived, Day 1, we realized 

-we wanted/needed to catch up and rest after a little travel

-we weren’t ready to be quiet

So, here’s how the when went:

Day 1: Catch up day..we watched TV and YouTube and caught up

Day 2: Silence & creativity/life 10am - 5pm, It snowed that day and, having come back from a short run, I wasn’t sure how this first silence would be.  When I saw Laurel and we didn't talk, I knew, Okay, we're really doing this. 

Then, I was warming milk for coffee on the stove, and, because I get distracted, it started to boil over.  Without speaking, Laurel, who was in the kitchen with me, making breakfast, moved the milk off of the stove to help and I didn’t apologize and she didn’t say anything.  

I learned a lot in that moment.  That “sorries” aren’t so necessary and neither is verbally acknowledging mistakes like that.  I apologize so often and it was liberating to not be able to apologize.  This is one of my favorite moments from the silence.

Day 3: Trip to a convent - pleasant coincidence!  A friend of mine (Waddy-another great person) was in an organic prayer internship at St. Mary’s convent in Sewanee and asked me the week before Air Monastery if I wanted to come visit.  I asked him if I could bring some friends…and so we got up way earlier than is pleasant, and drove to be with some nuns and have breakfast in their “tree house” with them.  I am telling the truth.  

When we described what we were doing I was nervous they would be offended at our arrogance or something—creating our own monastery when they have to go through a 5-year process to become nuns, but one of the nuns (the musical one) simply said, 

“That’s very monastic.” 

Then she explained that what we were doing was sort of like being an oblate, which a widow, who lived near the convent in the hermitage, was doing.  

The priest at the convent gave the homily with no shoes on. It was one of the most beautiful chapels I’ve ever seen—not in ornateness, but in light.  It was full of light instead of dingy dusty depressing whatnot, like we thought.  Sewanee is lucky on their location because their place overlooks mountains that they say you can see Alabama from (it’s in Tennessee).  Truly beautiful.  So many windows that were not opaque, but clear, because that’s what windows are for, right, so you can see out?  I am biased toward the clear type of windows, though.  They even had round windows, not just square ones….

Okay, so the priest gave us all these books called The Monastery of the Heart. I’m so happy that they were not offended by Air Monastery, but in support and wanted to hear how it went after.  I will go back and tell them once I regain energy to get up so early again.  I’ll have to bring people, though cause, go figure, monasteries are lonely places to be.  I’m not a nun/monk and think that I understand why they need 5 years of prep before committing to monasticism full time. So, 

We did not keep silence after the convent…It would have been too much, so we came back home and watched reruns of Seinfeld.  And we slept, ‘cause we had gotten up so early!

Day 4: Silence & creativity/life 10am - 5pm, Jimmy arrived - only observing a few days of silence with us.  Other friends came back in town as well - back from the January holidays, so we all did dinner and whatnot.  Much revelry in the evenings may be key to Air Monastery.  Not too much, ‘cause you gotta work the next day, but definitely enough :)

Day 5: Silence & creativity/life 10am - 5pm, the fullest day yet of those observing the silence.  It was so powerful to have a house full of people an be in silence.  I spent the days walking back and forth from my kitchen, to my desk, to my kitchen to my desk, passing silent/working/resting friends all the while.  

I worked so well within that.  Moreso, it was so awesome after the 7 hours, to pop my head around the corner and quietly say something like, “Well…” and we would all smile at the end of the silence.  Truly good.  I wonder why we smiled…Because it was neat to have done that together.  Similar, perhaps, to a smile to a friend you’ve just finished a run or climb or concert, or any type of simultaneous venture with.  

it is a good thing to do things together…

That phrase keeps coming back to me over and over again lately.  Maybe God is reminding me.

Day 6: Folks began to leave around this time, I think, so we ended up practicing silence for 3-4 days instead of the intended 7 and it was great!  

The point of mentioning that?  Air Monastery isn’t strict, but fluid.

Some people may only want to practice 1 hour of silence for a few days.  Nonetheless, observing together is powerful.  

Day 7: The tired ending.  Laurel helped me with a few things before heading out.  She was the last to leave, back home, back to normal.

We didn’t end with a dance, but with respect and, I think, joy from the shared experience.  The Namaste (Namaste: “the Spirit within me salutes the Spirit within you”…quoting urban dictionary's partial definition) to God turned into a Namaste to each other.  Isn’t that the right way…

Future: I think we’ll do it again next January if you wanna join us.  It doesn’t matter how long, but let’s do it the first or second week.  How can we know we’re all doing it together though… oh! a hashtag!  of course! 

#airmonasteryjanuary or #airmonastery

if you don’t want to do it in january, then don’t put january obviously…

the # can be how we’re together…

RIGHT THERE IN THE MIDDLE SQUARE OF THAT "#" SIGN, 

THAT'S WHERE WE'LL BE TOGETHER.

HOW BEAUTIFUL IS THE HASHTAG (#)  bringing us together is what it’s up to… 

That’s gotta be none other than the grace of God—the hashtag.  

See ya in January for Air Monastery.  

I’ll meet you in the hashtag…