RE: Atheism and monasticism?
August 5, 2017 at 6:50 pm
(This post was last modified: August 5, 2017 at 7:09 pm by mordant.)
Monastic systems are, by design, supposed to collect food / clothing / $$$ from ordinary people (householders, in Buddhist terminology) so that a subclass of people can be exempted from having to earn a living in order to devote themselves to the pursuit of disciplined learning and transmission of esoteric knowledge. The motivation for a religion to have a monastic order is really not much different from why Christianity has seminaries that churn out pastors / priests. This is also a special class that doesn't have to earn a normal living.
I remember once that a pastor I sat under expressed frustration that people didn't spend more time in Bible study and prayer, to the detriment of their faith. I suggested to him that maybe he had gotten a little out of touch with the laity because he gets PAID to do little else day in and out, aside from writing a couple of sermons per week and visiting the sick as needed. It's easy but tone-deaf to tell people they should spend a minimum of one hour daily "in the Word". Most people work too many hours for too little $$, get too little rest, and have too many demands on their limited time (wife, kids) and frankly find watching TV more relaxing than a contrived devotional. Don't shoot me, I said, I'm just the messenger.
So ... if you want to be a "monk" you're going to have to convince a bunch of people to finance you. Atheism wouldn't do that because it has nothing to perpetuate. You can learn 100% of atheist dogma in like 15 seconds. Out and done.
I remember once that a pastor I sat under expressed frustration that people didn't spend more time in Bible study and prayer, to the detriment of their faith. I suggested to him that maybe he had gotten a little out of touch with the laity because he gets PAID to do little else day in and out, aside from writing a couple of sermons per week and visiting the sick as needed. It's easy but tone-deaf to tell people they should spend a minimum of one hour daily "in the Word". Most people work too many hours for too little $$, get too little rest, and have too many demands on their limited time (wife, kids) and frankly find watching TV more relaxing than a contrived devotional. Don't shoot me, I said, I'm just the messenger.
So ... if you want to be a "monk" you're going to have to convince a bunch of people to finance you. Atheism wouldn't do that because it has nothing to perpetuate. You can learn 100% of atheist dogma in like 15 seconds. Out and done.
