Will an age of monks and nuns return?

Edward J. Bartek · Post by **Edward J. Bartek** » August 11th, 2008, 9:46 pm

As the Roman civilization began to reach its depth, many of its citizens fled into the dseserts and moungtains to live like hermits, and later as monks and nuns. They escaped from a civilization that had no common human values, for the the sources of human values was gone. Religion was dead, philosophy was dyng, and science was sick. With no common values,individual made their own values with no authority to tell them whast was right, fair, or wrong. One can live in dissipation,degradation, and perversion so long before the slime smothers him. Out of the desert and mountains came monastic oders of monks and nuns who egan a new Western Christian Civilization. Isn't that happening again?

Akhenaten · Post by **Akhenaten** » August 30th, 2008, 7:59 am

Only if there are four criteria met first:

1: There must be a god.

2: He/she/it/entity has an ineffable sense of humor that is quite simply not funny. (I.E. see Rosie O'Donnell for an example of what I mean)

3: Man kind would require a disaster in order to onset a transition of this nature, as the rigid enforcement or borders and boundaries restrict the abilities for those of isolationist mentalities.

4: Your average individual, in any halfway 'modern' society, couldnt take care of themselves on a week long camping trip without technology... much less activly seek out solitude, and a ceasing of the flow of new, or any, technology.

Edward J. Bartek · Post by **Edward J. Bartek** » August 31st, 2008, 10:05 pm

Akhenaten wrote:Only if there are four criteria met first:

1: There must be a god.

ejb: Many believe there is.

2: He/she/it/entity has an ineffable sense of humor

ejb: Why? An age of hermts occurred in the fall of the Greek, Roman, and Byzantine civilizations.

3: Man kind would require a disaster in order to onset a transition of this nature, as the rigid enforcement or borders and boundaries restrict the abilities for those of isolationist mentalities.

ejb: Isn't the collapse of a civilization a disaster? When there is no civil government, there are no border guards. There is not much stopping of illegals crossing the US border now.

4: Your average individual, in any halfway 'modern' society, couldnt take care of themselves on a week long camping trip without technology... .

ejb: A hermit on a mountain top will live on nothing. Have you heasrd of many leaving the USA to live as hermits in Alaska?

Akhenaten · Post by **Akhenaten** » September 1st, 2008, 7:31 pm

I will grant, that while the core of the population cannot, there is a good deal of individuals whom can live a reclusive life... However, these same individuals do not make up the largest portion of societies in general.

So, I grant you the point that there are indeed the possibilities of this outcome, I will still have to say that I believe that the largest portion of people would not accept this transition.

willowtreeme · Post by **willowtreeme** » September 2nd, 2008, 1:37 pm

Published on Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Monks, nuns may defeat dictatorship

No, courage showed itself in an unusual place - Myanmar - and wore robes the color of old blood, older bricks. Pluckiness sported a shaved head and bare feet. Defiance was armed only with holy words and photos of Buddha.

What began as a protest of government fuel price increases has morphed into a full-blown uprising led by monks and nuns in Myanmar, the Southeast Asian nation formerly known as Burma.

A week ago, 10,000 monks reportedly led 100,000 citizens in a march through the capital, Yangon, in defiance of the country's generals.

In an age of improvised weapons and suicide bombers, when everyone is as mad as hell and packing heat, it was nothing short of inspiring to see a long saffron line of monks armed with nothing but righteousness and prayer stand up to one of the globe's cruelest regimes.

Invictus_88 · Post by **Invictus_88** » September 22nd, 2008, 1:02 pm

http://www.bakersfield.com/900/story/249548.html

Source for above.

Ishi-Ishi, Lover of Goats · October 3rd, 2008, 1:09 am

While I think that monks/nuns/religious leaders still have the ability to influence many, I do not see an age where any religious institution reaches the point where it will be mass converting people, and dictating the way these people live their lives.

In order for this to happen, the world would need to go through a HUGE, and I mean HUGE crisis, that science and modern technology could not solve. When this happens, many people will turn to their higher power, and ask for salvation. When the crisis is over, the survivors will have it in their mind that the being(s) they prayed to were what kept them alive (true or not is for another topic), thus giving the church the power it once had.

Unless something along those lines happens, I very much doubt it.

You said "Isn't that happening again?"
What did you mean by this?

df544 · Post by **df544** » February 24th, 2009, 11:32 am

NO, any age of monks and nuns are DECLINING.

Catholic parochial schools are closing. Men are not entering the priesthood in developed countries. The Chinese have taken over Tibet because God cannot save the Dalai Lama. Capitalism is taking hold and India and keeping the gurus in the slums.

Also porn is easy to access. Men do not have to hide from their sexuality anymore. Women do not have to hide behind the cloak anymore.

The age of monks and nuns are OVER.

What you DO see these days are those idiots into the New Age movement. However, they are one step above monks and nuns who gave up the sexual pursuit.

anarchyisbliss · Post by **anarchyisbliss** » February 24th, 2009, 5:47 pm

I could easily see the return of a Nun and Monk class for the exact reasons that were mentioned above. There is easier access to antirelgious material, and there is an increasing number of people who want to put a stop to that. In fact, what is MADD? What is the FCC? They are simply modern organizations that reflect the works of Nuns and Monks but iunder the guise of modernism. If you put a cloak on a MADD member, what to you get? How about a robe around an agent from the FCC?

Invictus_88 · Post by **Invictus_88** » February 26th, 2009, 2:15 pm

df544 wrote:NO, any age of monks and nuns are DECLINING.

Catholic parochial schools are closing. Men are not entering the priesthood in developed countries. The Chinese have taken over Tibet because God cannot save the Dalai Lama. Capitalism is taking hold and India and keeping the gurus in the slums.

Also porn is easy to access. Men do not have to hide from their sexuality anymore. Women do not have to hide behind the cloak anymore.

The age of monks and nuns are OVER.

What you DO see these days are those idiots into the New Age movement. However, they are one step above monks and nuns who gave up the sexual pursuit.

The matter at hand is 'Will it happen?' or 'Could it happen?'.

Not 'Is it happening?'.