Monateries: Possible Utopia?

The Rule of St. Benedict was an interesting read, but I know why it was kind of related to our class. It was a small scale example of a possible utopian society. All I know is that there are a lot of rules when it comes to living the life of a monk or a nun and I don’t think I would be able to do it. I was surprised to find that most of the rules, punishment wise, were not too severe.  To sit and eat alone in isolation isn’t exactly the worst punishment that one could have. To me, that is like telling a rich kid to go to his room. One thing that I did like about one of the rules was the way that they handled their guests and children. Guest are really taken care of and treated with utmost respect. With children, I was happy that they did take into account that children are young and aren’t old enough to understand some of the harsh rules. I also liked how if one were to get expelled from the monastery, they could come back a certain number of times to try again before they had to be expelled for good. The Christian value of forgiveness was definitely evident in this rule and I liked that.

I didn’t like the idea that one could not receive letters from home unless the superior approved it. I felt a little agitated by the idea that there was to be no personal items in the area where everyone sleeps and that it had to be searched by the superior. That was almost spirit breaking, but I understand why that rule is put in place. I didn’t like the idea of one person being in charge of everyone else because I feel like there is always going to be that one person who gets out of control with power—yes, I believe that this can still happen with people that are in charge of monasteries. I don’t know what they would do to rectify this or make it better, but I just didn’t really like the thought of that. Overall, this was a good reading and I believe that a monastery considered a utopia because it is a community that is working in a way that works for the commonwealth (their community). In my opinion, this is a utopia for people that choose to live this lifestyle.