Looking up at the hilltop convent in Archidona
There is a short but quite steep walk up to the convent above the town of Archidona. This vicinity also has a number of defensive walls from earlier times, and those above the convent have recently been restored, quite sensitively and thoroughly. It is worth the further climb up there, as then the view opens up in all directions from this vantage point in central Andalucia. It is quite appropriate that monasteries should be isolated, and also on the heights.
The walls of a monastery keep the world out and provide a safe community for inner contemplation. But we could also say that the walls keep the contemplators inside. How many have regretted those vows that forgo the pleasures, activities, and variety of the outside world?
Apart from some of one’s friends who have passed on, the number of people that one is in touch with is shrinking, because we tend to drift apart from some friends, if there has been no contact. Luckily I have quite a strong tolerance for solitude. But, it is true, unless we have our attention on things they weaken.
Thinking of monasteries, in this lifetime I was quite attracted to residential communities. When I was in Edinburgh after university, I had a difficult time finding my place in the world of work, until I finally did teacher training. Ironically, during that time, I remember that I was for a short time in charge of a hostel for people who were undergoing assessments for employment re-training; they may have been out of work for a long time, or they may have had an accident and could not do the same work. It was called the Employment Rehabilitation Centre, and it had a hostel. I had to arrange social activities for the residents. so sometimes I had to stay overnight.
I used to talk to the psychologist there. It was ironic since I was looking for my own employment path. He gave me some suggestions, for example, that I could train as an archivist … but I think that despite my love of books, I would have gone nuts working in a library … I was better off in schools, with all the energy there, despite all the stress; and teaching suited the acting element in my personality, as I had done amateur dramatics in my mid 20s, which boosted confidence a lot.
Later on, I was quite attracted to boarding schools. Once I had an interview for the famous boarding school in Malawi, Kamuzu Academy. There was an impressive panel of eight people in London, but I didn’t get that position. Finally I worked in the great St George’s College, for five years, in Quilmes, Argentina. Tiring, but the best experience I had in any school. Then, in Nepal, the school had weekly boarding. I wonder if all this might be linked to predilections, sanskaras from former lives, for example living as a monk. We are usually not aware of the details of past lives, but we might get an idea of themes. Probably I was involved in Christianity. It would be quite interesting to find out, but only when one would be even more detached about it.
looking south …. calm winter sky
Withdrawal from the world has been a conscious choice, as I have seen in the Buddhist communities in the Tsum Valley, Nepal, and in other residential communities in all the religions. Yes, we do need to withdraw, not only when in the sleep state, but at least at some point during the day, to explore and contemplate the infinity within. Perhaps detachment is the better option in the twenty first century. And we need to find those birds of a feather who share the same essential quest.