Canticles, Anchorites, and Mountain Monasteries
Seeking Wisdom
Teagan Justice Quinn was a life-long seeker of wisdom. Whether it involved reading the words of Ancient Anchorites, visiting Mountain Monasteries, or Chanting beautiful Canticles, Teagan was there, ready to discover teachings that had been passed down for millennia. The desire for joy, serenity, and prosperity was all consuming, and a community of hopeful friends had been part of the continuing journey. Now at the mid-life of many years, the long quest was settling down to a single challenging question: How can anyone be free, knowing there are those all around who are not free?
Teagan enjoyed traveling to sacred places including the local grocery store, where people brought their shared common behaviors, beliefs and needs, while examining and sorting the vegetables and fruit by hand to select the very best - ahead of the person with the next cart. These were all people who would sleep, work, worry, grow old, and finally be buried by their loved ones. Teagan’s favorite thing to look for was the tea shelf – Matcha, Pu’er, Oolong, Green – they were all favorites. A grocery store is one of the best places to observe humanity because everyone goes there, whether they be of high or low station. Without regard to economic, social or emotional status, people in grocery stores tend to present a face of normality. Everyone is doing “good enough” - there are few complaints. Of course, knowing actual realities of daily life, the most common experience of shoppers is probably anxiety. There are many challenges - life is more ephemeral than a bubble on a stream of water - and only a few people are able to exist in relative freedom and happiness.
Reflecting on this grocery store insight, Teagan became acutely aware of a dilemma, “how can I live ethically knowing that others have great needs?” To explore this question, Teagan decided to move to a volunteer farm in isolation from society, a farm where labor was donated in exchange for room and board. It was very much like being in prison, only people could leave any time they wanted. This was the simplest form of existence, where all worldly possessions of workers were stored in individual canvas bags. Each bag had a journal and pen, several pairs of socks and underwear, a data-address book, and a few personal hygiene items. At first, Teagan loved knowing the exact schedule for each day. Any decisions were already made, there were no unexpected responsibilities, and there was singing and chanting all day. But after several weeks the physical challenges started to intrude, and there were unmet needs for emotional and communal support – the need for outside friends. Teagan was not getting enough food and rest, and the body pains and isolation became too much to bear.
Reluctantly, Teagan decided to leave the farm. It was clearly time to consult with someone knowledgeable about living consciously in society. So Teagan decided to visit an Anchorite who lived in Appalachia – the ancestral home of family relatives, a place where generations of people lived hard lives working in coal mines, inhaling fumes of kerosene lamps, and developing Black Lung disease. Traveling the road up Cub Mountain that passes through Crawford, Tennessee, Teagan located an abandoned coal mine where the Anchorite lived - surrounded by an enclave of followers singing resonant harmonic chants in a primitive monastic communal setting.
As Teagan entered the cave, the Anchorite looked up and immediately spoke...
Just drop it!
Well, I …
Forget it!
I am here in search...
You have come here seeking personal enrichment, you will fold your hands together, you will listen and then you will leave, but you will not understand. You will completely miss the point.
But I have read your books…..
Drop the spiritual consumerism! You cannot accumulate endless ideals and identities and then expect to lose your attachment and find freedom. The “self” you have constructed is just a collection of neurons firing in your brain – you stress about fleeting concerns that have no basis in reality.
I have studied…..
If you are just trying to redecorate your old thought patterns with new wall paper, that is not going to get you anywhere, it will only make your struggle more futile. Drop it, let go and move on.”
Teagan was disappointed and turned to leave the Anchorite’s cave, concerned about being caught between materialism and asceticism. How would it be possible to find freedom in the midst of all this – not freedom from restraint, or freedom to accumulate, but freedom to be generous with others?
Teagan returned home. For days, the question remained – what about the freedom of an individual in balance with the freedom of others? Finally, it all came down to a simple event with a single small object. Teagan had a teapot that was a gift from many years earlier. The blue and white porcelain treasure dated from the Qing dynasty, and Teagan had never used it, fearing damage, not to mention cobalt poisoning. A prized possession, it was difficult to give away because it connected to an old friend. Teagan held the teapot, and invented three simple questions: “Is this something I am grateful for? Is it basic to my survival? Can I let go of it?” These three short questions pointed to a way where attachment to physical and spiritual possessions could be looked at and questioned, allowing for a greater balance in each, with an increased capacity for joy and wonder. It was a beginning.
For a great example of a blue and white porcelain teapot check out
who writes - Look for her article Out of Oxford.
You can look everywhere for something to fill the void in your heart, but answering these three questions can help.
The only true way to fill, and clean, the heart is through the faith in God.
I looked in many places for what i thought was important, but soon lost interest or felt stifled and moved to something else, or somewhere else. Always felt good at first, but slowly dwindled.
Then i came back to Christ and the hole started filling in. Lots of miracles happened in my life fighting cancer twice. Many more to come, but keep the three questions in mind, pray, pass what you do not have control of to the Lord, pray on the rest, and laugh at if all.
Don't let it get to you or it will eat you from the inside out.
Have a blessed day
Wonderful three questions. I think I'll put them to use in my life. It might lead to a beginning!