Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 3-I woke to the same sounds and the same scene that I woke to yesterday. It took me a few minutes to get my bearings. The previous day's difficulties had left me feeling disoriented and fuzzy brained, but oddly, I felt strong physically. After the morning hosing and breakfast, I was given two more items to help me to withstand the broiling Tennessee heat. I received a large straw hat, and a large goatskin filled with water. As I made my way out into the fields, I felt peaceful with the prospect of another day's labor in the sun. I have not labored like this in years, decades really, so it will be some time before my body adapts to this new lifestyle. In the mean time, I will try to pace myself and drink liberally from the goatskin.
The hills here are rolling and green. There is at least one large pond on the property, and several creeks. I have only seen a small portion of the land here, and I look forward to exploring the rest when I get an opportunity. I see many of the Brothers traveling back and forth between the Monastery and a low hill to the east. They travel over that hill in the morning in pairs, usually, and they return about a half an hour before dinner. There always seems to be different Brothers making this trek, and I have no idea what they are doing or where they are going. I asked Brother Ken once, but he didn't answer me. He is not much of a talker. Most of the other Brothers spend their daylight hours working within my eyesight, hoeing or pruning or some other agrarian activity. Brother Henry rarely joins them in their labors and he seems to be kept rather busy in his office. I have yet to get a good look at the chapel where the brothers go to pray and celebrate Mass. I look forward to joining them there when they feel that I am ready.
I worked through the morning with no problem, and I made my way back to the dining hall at sound of the lunch bell. After a strangely filling lunch of raw bell peppers and hemp porridge, I went back to my field. I have completed the pruning of this field, and now I am hoeing between the rows. The hoeing isn't hard since the large, leafy, hemp plants don't allow enough sun in to support much weed growth. I paced myself and drank plenty of water, so I had no difficulty making it back for dinner. I sat next to Brother Henry, and he was gracious enough to answer many of my questions. I asked him about the small town I passed through on my way to the Monastery and he said that it's name is Tarcoat. There are about fifteen thousand souls living there, and for the most part, the townsfolk ignore the Monastery and it's activities. I asked him if there is any commerce between the two communities, and he answered, "Some." Man, these Brothers. They're so talkative. Brother Henry is a severe looking man about 5' 8" with a full head of graying hair. He has what appear to be deeply etched laugh lines around his eyes, but I have yet to see him smile. Maybe, in an earlier part of his life, he laughed long and hard, and now he is making up for that foolishness here at the Monastery.
When I asked Brother Henry about the daily sojurn of a pair of Brothers over the hill to the East, he seemed reluctant to answer me. Then, as if he gave himself inner permission to broach the subject, he began to tell me the story.
"When the Order bought this land in the early Nineteenth Century, there was a band of Cherokee Indians living on the land here. They had hidden here while their families went on the famous "Trail of Tears" walk in which the Federal Government forced them from their Southeastern lands west to a reservation in Oklahoma. The band that hid here decided to wait until their people regained their former strength, at which time they would come out of hiding and help fight to regain their birthright. The Brothers who originally built the Monastery were more than happy to let the Cherokees stay there. The Indians lived simply, and the Brothers figured that given enough time, they would convert the heathens to Christianity.
What happened instead was that the Cherokees living within the Monastery borders began to have an impact on the Brethren. The simple life of the Cherokees and the primitive but effective living skills that they employed appealed the the Bretheren, who were working hard to learn a method of simple living themselves. The Brethren watched carefully and began to experiment themselves with many of he ways of the Cherokee. Meditation has always been an important part of the mission of our Order, and the Meditation was also an important part of Cherokee life. The two groups began to exchange philosophies. Though the Bretheren continued to be Staunch Christians, many aspects of Cherokee philosophy appealed to them. The use of seclusion during meditation turned out to be an effective meditative tool, and the Brethren have used it ever since. It has been decades since the last of the Cherokees walked this land, but their influence on our culture here remains. The Cherokees who were hiding here when our Order took over this land were mostly old men, and the few younger men who lived here eventually moved away. The older Cherokees lived here in peace until they finally expired.
What you observe when you see Brothers leaving for the day and walking to the East is a remnant of the Cherokee way of life that was adopted by our Order. We have a pair of meditation lodges tucked into a valley to the East. The Brothers go there in rotating pairs each day and spend the entire day in silent meditation in these lodges. Occasionally one of the Brothers will choose to spend several days alone in meditation, and he is given permission to go to another lodge which is located at a remote location on Monastary land. This experience is similar to the Native American "Vision Quest" and is another remnant of the Cherokee influence on our Order."
After dinner, I chose to take kitchen duty, and when I was through, I retired to my room to write down this story in my journal while it was fresh in my mind. Now, I am more than ready for bed.
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Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
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