Step to the Skies: A Documentary on the Valaam Monastry in Russia

[Colonel Frank Grimes]

They seem to have found meaning in their lives. In what else would they find meaning?

And I applaud their efforts. I would think going out in the world and helping others would be more meaningful and bring them closer to God than hiding from the world and spiritually masturbating. I don't know how long these people hang out there or what they do when they leave. If it's temporary, then it's fine in my eyes. I didn't watch much. I simply commented on the reason behind what they're doing.

[Herr Abubu]

And I applaud their efforts. I would think going out in the world and helping others would be more meaningful and bring them closer to God than hiding from the world and spiritually masturbating. I don't know how long these people hang out there or what they do when they leave. If it's temporary, then it's fine in my eyes. I didn't watch much. I simply commented on the reason behind what they're doing.

It depends. People go there for many different reasons. You should watch the RT documentary I posted, which is shorter and delves less into the life of monks and more into the life of mere visitors of different sorts and purposes. Many go to a monastery like that of Valaam simply to contemplate and "find themselves". Others have a serious interest in the monastic life and try it out. If they feel fit and if the monastic community see them as fit, they can become monks, which means that they would have to spend the rest of their lives as monks.

Monasteries perform a lot of functions and are usually self-sufficient economically. Any monastery is basically a household, a large, collective economic unit. Historically, due to the centrality of labour and monastic asceticism, which in practice is an extremely low time-preference lifestyle, monasteries came to own huge swathes of land. They were absolutely central to medieval economics, and not for no reason. That changed with the Protestant reformation, with German princes taking church property; and then with the ideological developments within Europe and the creation of the modern state (of which Protestant reformation politics was a forerunner of). Other than that, it also performs many purely social functions, as clearly shown in the RT documentary.

[HERK]

Many people look for a 'safe place' when they lack meaning in their lives. It's better that they find it in a monastery than some cult but lets not pretend the cause is something different than it actually is.

You won't find the meaning of this life if you do not believe in God, and please do not answer me the usual "Love is the meaning of life" bullshit please.

[Colonel Frank Grimes]

You won't find the meaning of this life if you do not believe in God, and please do not answer me the usual "Love is the meaning of life" bullshit please.

The meaning of life is the meaning we give it.

[Herr Abubu]

The meaning of life is the meaning we give it.

How can something meaningless give meaning to anything? When we talk about meaning, we don't mean a lie we tell ourselves to feel better about ourselves.

[Sarmatian]

It's an escape from reality. Nothing more or less.

Interesting theory. Were they escaping from reality in 15th or 12th centuries too?

[Herr Abubu]

Interesting theory. Were they escaping from reality in 15th or 12th centuries too?

Undoubtedly they chose the far more burdensome and demanding monastic life to escape the lesser burdens and demands of "reality".

[Sarmatian]

Undoubtedly they chose the far more burdensome and demanding monastic life to escape the burdens and demands of "reality".

Some things Americans won't understand. How could they comprehend the spiritual tradition 2-3 times older than their whole country?

[Herr Abubu]

Some things Americans won't understand. How could they comprehend the spiritual tradition 2-3 times older than their whole country?

Understanding requires personal change is what I've come to realize. I wouldn't have understood it years ago either, because we are raised to see the world with modern eyes. Then we only see the world from modern assumptions, which are false and extremely simplistic.

[Colonel Frank Grimes]

Interesting theory. Were they escaping from reality in 15th or 12th centuries too?

The entire concept behind monastic life is to escape reality.