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An unlikely film has been filling cinemas in Germany in recent weeks: a three-hour documentary with hardly a single spoken word, set in a monastery.

The film Into Great Silence is an intimate portrayal of the everyday lives of Carthusian monks high in a remote corner of the French Alps.

It came about 17 years after the director first requested permission to make it.

At the monastery, only the candles break the darkness.

It is the middle of the night and in the icy cold of their stone cloister, the monks sit in their thick habits reciting Gregorian verse.

"I think they simply do it because they choose to... become close to God," says the film's director Philip Groening.

"It's a very simple concept, the concept is God himself, is pure happiness, the closer you move to that, the happier you are."

Repetitive lives

He first requested to film in the remote monastery of Grande Chartreuse 17 years ago. When he finally got in, he found a regimented world that is largely unchanged since the founding of the Carthusian Order 10 centuries ago.

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Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
 
So 11th century monks believed God to be unembodied Happiness?
 

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Posted by Jacare Sorridente (Member # 1906) on :
 
I hope those monks go to heaven, because they certainly seem unlikely to derive much enjoyment from this life.
 

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Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
 
Erm, from reading the article, it did not seem like they were unhappy. Quite the opposite.
 

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Posted by jeniwren (Member # 2002) on :
 
I'm struggling not to have contempt for their choice. I know that's not a very Christian attitude and I will need to work on that, I think. I just think that God put us here to help each other, not go off and contemplate His greatness from the heights of the French Alps. I'm sure it must be very free of fears as the director said, and likely seems like it's bathed in innocence, but it strikes me as terribly self-involved.

I'll try to work out how this might be God's plan and maybe I'll understand how this isn't way off the mark.
 

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Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
 
I know of some spiritual philosophies that say that people who have achieved a certain spiritual elevation help the whole world. For instance, I believe at a certain time each year, many persons converge on a certain spot to meditate on world peace. They firmly believe they have made the world a better place because of their far-removed efforts.

I think it's also worth noting that some people believe that each of us is ultimately responsible for the state of his or her soul.

I do understand what you are saying, though, Jeniwren. I guess it just doesn't bother me because, like some ascetics do, they don't hurt themselves or others, and because they are happy.

I think you are right in an objective sense, though, that in the end, crass, selfish materialism and selfish spirituality come down to the same thing if no good deeds are done.

But, me personally, I'm kind of selfish, so I guess their choice resonates more with me because of that.

[ January 11, 2006, 08:05 PM: Message edited by: Storm Saxon ]
 

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Posted by Shan (Member # 4550) on :
 
Y'know - I pretty much long for some great silence in my life.

I wonder how much of this movie is resonating with a spiritual void or longing that people may feel.

I'll watch it with you, Stormy.

*smiles*
 

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Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
 

 

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Posted by Brian J. Hill (Member # 5346) on :
 
Count me in with the "I want to see this film" crowd.
 

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Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
 
Ick. What a total waste of human potential. At least they aren't passing on their genes.
 

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