The Rule of St. Benedict and Life

The lifestyle portrayed in "The Rule of St. Benedict" seems like it would be very fulfilling for those who choose to live that way. Many people would not want to live in this way, and I think that those living the Monastic life know that and are ok with that. I think that people differ in many ways concerning how much satisfaction they get out of their life. If others are pursuing a path in life which they feel gives them the most satisfaction and long term pleasure, and are not interfering with others who are trying to do the same, then I think that they are doing what is best for themselves, which is what truly matters in the end.

In class we went around the room and answered whether we agreed with doing things for either the benefit of the many, or the benefit of the one (or something along those lines). Me and Iris said for the benefit of the one, Erin said the benefit of the few, I believe, and everyone else said for the benefit of the many. When I say that I think things should be done for the benefit of the one, I do not mean that people should be selfish-rather, I observe, or think I observe, that the root cause of any decision or action one takes lies completely in self-interest. I have no problem with people putting others before themselves, and I think that I do this fairly often as well, I just think that no one actually sacrifices self fulfillment/happiness/satisfaction/utility or whatever you want to call it, on purpose, for others.

Granted, people do not always know how relatively satisfied they will be given two opposing decisions, but I think that we subconsciously make these calculations with every decision we make and choose the one that leaves us better off. People may think that they are self-sacrificing others, but I think that in every case they knew beforehand that they with feel more satisfied within themselves with their altruistic decision!

Although the Cenobite monks that are discussed in "The Rule of St. Benedict" seem to be living an unselfish lifestyle serving the Lord and living by his Rule, I think it is just another prime example of humans living solely for themselves. The end that all of them seek is to live gloriously through the Lord, and be viewed accordingly on judgement day. They want to "attain life everlasting" "in His kingdom."

What I enjoyed most about the lifestyle of these monks, was the lack of arrogance that seemed to exist in their lives. Although I think that in the end they are living for no one but themselves, the way in which they do this seems very admirable to me. They have something that they firmly believe in, work with everything they do in the name of this belief, and do not credit themselves for anything. They just expect a fair judgement in the end. One of my biggest problems with humanity is our arrogance. Everybody has so much confidence in themselves and thinks they deserve credit for useless things they did. We also think that morals only exist in humans because of our "rationality", if people are going to make up things like right and wrong, they should at least apply the same moral laws to all creatures, not just the ones whose brains developed "best" or with the highest capacity or however you want to phrase it. I myself have my own belief of how I view right and wrong, just like everybody else does. I also understand that the "rules" I use to aid my actions aren't overarching and that people can disagree with them.

I am basically just indifferent to however anyone wants to live their life. But when the ways that different people get fulfillment out of their lives conflict, I fully expect people to pursue what they think is the right thing to do.