Ross and St. Benoit du Lac... and a Diogenes moment... of Snow...

I am a spiritual person... I respect rituals... and traditions... But I am not particularly religious individual... The homilies by semi-literate clergy make me sick... I get bored and my boredom metamorphoses into range and blasphemy... 
So I avoid church, but I listen to mass-Gregorian Chants- liturgical music every Sunday... at times I even burn incense at home... That's my household tradition... But at times I attend church services... The Armenian Orthodox tradition fascinates me and the chanting of the liturgy is divine... and transcendental... and spiritual... I hate the homily with a passion... It is like a downer... extremely temporal... and even materialistic... 
I had discussed these feelings with Ross in detail... and told him that I always wanted a monastic life... People bored me and their way of doing things, most of the time, infuriated me... He shared my views and apprehension... But, he attended church regularly... and I avoided the hypocrisy... and most of the time I stayed home...
One day, while roaming downtown and looking for a place to have our happy hour... We were talking about all these when Ross blasted... "Why don't I arrange for you to have few days at these monastery... St. Benoit du Lac...?"

   

The solitude and magnificence of the Abbaye de Saint-Benoit-du-Lac

I was enchanted by the idea... It mystified me... Deep down I wanted it to happen... But the temporal duties and societal restraints were absolutely a problem... So, I did not refuse Ross's fantasy, but put it away by... "Definitely... If things work out..." 

After all desiring a monastic life and living one are universes apart from each other...!

***

Eventually it happened... 

It was Summer... Like the lazy and hazy days... when people are bored of themselves and want to travel... I and my wife were living an empty nest life... and she was preparing to visit our daughter... Ross, also, was due to travel to Quebec... visiting his Irish-twin brother... He stayed at the rectory... where his priest brother lived...

I remembered Ross's tease... "Why don't I arrange for you to have few days at these monastery... St. Benoit du Lac...?" The memory of the offer stayed with me... During my long...two-three hours long walks... the monastery played tricks with my imagination... and eventually I could not resist... I succumbed to Ross's fantasy... 

I phoned him and he enthusiastically made all the arrangements... and we traveled to Montreal... I met the brother... had a boozy lunch together... and discussed the details of my stay... and we headed to the monastery... The countryside was beautiful, the lake was magical... and the monastery immaculately spiritual...

      

The interior beauty not only matched the enchanting countryside, but promoted the spirituality of the individual...

  

Pray, work and meditate... and chant and rise up from the temporal... 

What else a human wants...

  

The view outside... the tranquility of the lake... The sanctity of the hallways and the monastic life... were amazingly all that I had imagined... dreamed...

I did not pray... I did not chant... But walked the hallways... greeted the monks...the priests... with a smile... a simple nod... and then went to my room... small and cozy... only absolutely what is needed... what is essential... I did not have any books... I did not have any outside music... I did not want any outside intrusions... The good friars inside were sufficient...  

I stayed there for a week... seven days... and thanked Ross once and once again... The trip to heaven will stay with me forever... The memory of Ross will always be part of it...

When we returned I asked him not to mention my trip to anyone... "Let it be our secret... I am counting on you..." I said... never being sure that Ross will be able to hold himself... But he did... His brother and he and I shared the secret... and till now I had not mentioned it to anyone...

***

I discussed with Ross my thoughts and vision while at the monastery... He listened... Did not interrupt... and kept it for himself...

I told him...

The fear of the unknown compels humans to explore meaning in the randomness of life... in life after death... in the galaxies around us and beyond... If there is no limit... then what is next...?

Humans are selfish and have an inquisitive mind... Indeed “the curiosity killed the cat...” and being searching, asking questions, being scientific... may lead one into trouble... I knew it personally and in the monastery my life unraveled before me...

And then I told him... 

I have read this somewhere... Niels Bohr... the Danish physicist, Nobel laureate, escaping Nazis, and a leader in the Manhattan Project... The Project which produced the atomic bomb...The bomb which devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki... had a horseshoe hanging over his desk... A scientist visiting him was surprised to see the hanging horseshoe asked... “Surely you don't believe the horseshoe will bring you good luck, Professor Bohr?”... “After all, as a scientist …” he continued... But Bohr was not coy about it and smiled...

“I believe no such thing, my good friend,” he said... adding; “Not at all, I am scarcely likely to believe such foolish nonsense. However, I am told that a horseshoe will bring one good luck whether you believe it or not.”

There are deathbed conversion stories-myths about Darwin, the evolutionary scientist; and Einstein, the Nobel laureate physicist, the Theory of Relativity...; Antonio Gramsci, Italian Marxist theoretician-politician-political scientist-sociologist-linguist... and other well known scientists...
But whether these "deathbed conversions" are true or not... It makes sense, specially if we believe in Insurance policies. After all, why not... ? 
If there is something out there... Eternity...Eternal life..., then the conversion might help... But if there is not, then no harm is done... The guy is in deathbed, after all...!
The fear of the unknown is a powerful incentive... and being selfish as we are, the Insurance Policy... the Deathbed Conversions make sense... Whether they are stories or just myths... after all, being good is not the monopoly of any religion... Being good is human... and being human is divine... is eternal... is spiritual... like when I was at St. Benoit du Lac...

***

...And then a Diogenes Moment... Now that it is snowing on the East of North America... 

I loved the snow days... It made people stay at home and relax and think... 

I loved the snow days... gave me the school to myself... and to my music and to my dreams... I looked outside the window... and wondered why people are miserable... Snow is yet another wonder of nature...

 

People play... and stay home... dose away... talk with each other... The world becomes a wonderland and it is nature's way of bringing families                                               TOGETHER...

  

In the afternoon, after a snow-day... I was returning home... We encountered the snow cleaning trucks while exiting the highway... The trucks dumped the snow on us... The guy in front of me... Was furious... swearing colourfully... But it was what will happen...
Things are covered with snow... The trucks will clean the roads... and of course will dump the snow somewhere... It happened that we were just there... and it happened to us...
I did not have anything in the car other than my window wiper... I dug myself out of the snow slowly... patiently... and enjoyed it too... Besides, it was a good exercise too... I needed to be away from my desk more often... and nature wanted me to have some physical activity...  

With the brakes on... I had left my car to run... Slowly but surely I dug myself out... It took 10-15 minutes... and slowly drove home... The trucks had cleaned most of the snow... and I thanked them for their work...