fridays

Fridays

by Bob on May 4, 2007

Fridays are an interesting concept and pleasure to behold, especially if one has a normal week schedule.

T.G.I.F.

One wonders what the differences are between the days anymore. Sunday used to be quiet and all shut down when I was little. Shops were closed. It was a day of joy and rest. But not anymore, one fears. The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath says the bible. We should, nay, we must have one -- a day of rest.

Today's book for me, given to me by a Benedictine monk, is "Meditations: On the Monk Who Dwells in Daily Life" by Thomas Moore, 1994, Harper Collins. It's a beautiful book.

Let me open it to a random page, knowing there really is no such thing as opening to a really random page. Here we are. Page 29. I copy it out here quoting from the page in its entirety.

* * *

"In the best of monasteries the pursuit of beauty and spiritual practice go hand in hand. Music, architecture, decoration, language, gardens, and libraries flourish. Community life is the object of central concern. Learning, study, reading, and the preservation of books are all integral to spiritual practice."

"We get into trouble in the spirit when we give up any of these: when beauty turns into sentimentality or propaganda, when architecture and the other arts are unconscious or considered secondary, when we forget the importance of ongoing, lifelong learning in all areas as support for the spiritual life, and especially when we make spiritual practice the project of creating a certain kind of self."

* * *

Fascinating. And the Sabbath. And resting.

The art of leisure is quite an important subject. As is the pursuit of happiness. Let alone life and liberty. Leisure would seem to give us liberty. Or vice-versa. The circle of life. The eternal sun. The symbolism of the triskelion. It's all inter-twined.

So it goes.