community and death and beauty

what does it mean for a community to be able to say
our reason for existence is in something beyond us

we exist so that by exhausting our need for existence
we give witness to something else

we are being deliberate about our obsolescence

there may be a day when this community no longer exists
but for as long as it does we give witness to that thing
which is well beyond us
we live by ideals so that in that by the successful expression of those ideals
we eventually have no purpose...our duty is complete

i was thinking about this recently as a way of not stating
what is obvious in monastic life
i was thinking about this during the funerals of two recently deceased monks

one of the monks was an artist and he spent a good deal of time
in his life trying to give beautiful expression to things
during his life he was never acknowledged for any particular piece
people tended to know he was an artist
but most people could not name any particular piece he had crafted

the other monk was a scholar a reader a linguist
he took great pride in knowing the origin of words
he was famous for his enjoyment of bawdy limericks
he understood the expression of christianity as being
a festival spirit of joy
a festival that is always nearly over and forgotten

the truth about community is that it will live
according to the transcendental values held close held true

for a christian community to say
we are in this world but not citizens of this world
leaves the community with the problem of having to organize
life
around practical matters as if they are necessary for matters that transcend our most practical designs

in the rule of benedict garden tools are given a status
equal to that as the vessels of the altar
so that the notion of survival is granted both a practical and
a transcendental purpose
we are beholden to partake in the mystery of creation
and beholden to acknowledge our dependency
on the creator and we aim our efforts
toward a hoped-in perfection

a bronze sculpture will endure quite a long time
many generations
and the name of the artist may disappear
but that is no matter for the artist
his goal is something to which he perhaps
cannot even bring adequate words

yet

he must try

new post

i suppose the last post was a bit too combatative in form to attract the wider scientific community whom i most certainly thought would by now have answered the relatively innocent query into communal dispositions if you will

in a recent life event i was able to experience first hand how the scientific mind might be valuable for community living...in a recent bout with skin encrustation a horrific combination of dry red nervous treacherous skin rash afflicted i was with discomfort and pain and stress

through a manner of "knowledge deduction"  a process of rather quick but patient observations of the characteristics of my dis-ease for most certainly i was truly dis- eased i was relieved unwillingly of my desire for contentment ah well such is physical mayhem

any how

this intellectual mind went through a process of tipping the scale to one or two characteristics eliminating these in order to address the skin...he cured me

i took his "scientific "  advice

and i took it seriously

i went to a tanning booth i drank cocanut milk smoothies i took some benedryl i finally got some sleep my nerves settled down i stopped swimming in a chlorinated pool

in short i submitted my very life to well reasoned medical opinion and i benefitted greatly

so just by way of dialectical detante
i want it known far and wide that i have accepted and seen the value
in some form of  medical science

and thus i enjoy the necessary communal attitude that attitude that makes community so
much better let me tell you
gratitude the attitude of gratitude can be brought forth happily from the generous bestowal of medical science

i also receive accupuncture from the same guy

he's a wizard

first class

and i guess i must admit however grudgingly that i am sitting at a computer console spelling out inane thoughts to the whole of the cyber world and nobody listens....i mean that is some science too  can't forget that

so bring along the scientists
let one sit in the garden
let another make the food
let another dispense good medicine
let another fix the cars
let another paint the house
let another chop some wood
let another clean the floor
let another light the incense
let another make the incense
hey there's another use
a scientist may be able to make incense

invaluable possibility

where will we put the microscope
that's the only question

wind energy
now there's a good project for a scientist

artists are probably more problematic for community life
they're so needy and reactive and expressive
maybe we need to encourage the artists to just be a bit more didactic
and systematic and diligent
and this too will benefit the art work

anyway

worthless servants
that's all we are