Pro monachismo

(For the Latin-impaired, the title means "For [or in favor of] monasticism.")

Back in 2018 I posted a piece I had written Marie in 2016, about my tangled feelings towards the academic life. I couched it in terms of a reflection on monasticism, and therefore called it "Contra monachismum."

Just now, scrolling through some old emails, I found a link to an article I had found in the same year (2016) in favor of monasticism, which I obviously intended as a counterpoint. You can find it here.

I don't have a quick-and-easy synthesis of these two opinions just at the moment. But I hold both of them, in different degrees and at different times. It's a puzzle.