Exploring community, solitude, and loneliness through literature, philosophy, and one very human document.

What could a 6th century monk, Benedict of Nursia, writing in the chaotic last days of the Roman Empire possibly have to say to help our sophisticated 21st century selves? We will find out as we use a telescopic lens to zoom from the inner life (vita contemplativa) to the public life (vita activa), exploring community, solitude, and loneliness.

Just as Mick Fleetwood and John McVie provided the steady rhythm section that powered Fleetwood Mac songs, the Rule of St. Benedict will provide us the foundational beat for our exploration. Written as a simple beginner’s rule for monastic life, it is truly a human document, full of wisdom, flexibility, and knowledge for surmounting the difficulty of living together in this world. Benedict touches on themes that resonate today: balance, hospitality, community, and stability. While the Rule is rooted in Benedictine spirituality, our reading of it will be open to all, regardless of belief.

Using the Rule of St. Benedict as a touchstone, we will travel through time with poetry, short fiction, and essays that complement and challenge different aspects of this Rule. Collectively, these works will help us understand how to build community, appreciate solitude, and reach out to others who are lonely.

Complementing our reading, we will offer optional journaling prompts each month to promote reflection on the works we discuss to move toward personal and group action. We will incorporate opportunities to share reflections during our time together. To promote experiential learning, in lieu of our December meeting, we include an optional group activity to serve the Providence community, followed by a holiday celebration. We will identify a suitable organization to serve during our first meeting. Finally, pending sufficient interest, we will offer additional opportunities to get together.

The group meets in the Bound on the fourth Tuesday of each month from 5:30-7pm. In November, the meeting will be held on the second Thursday in the back of the Children’s Library. In April, the meeting will be held on the third Tuesday due to Passover.

Texts: The facilitator will email PDF copies of the readings to participants one month in advance of the discussion.

Tues, September 22 (Setting the environment: Listening, attention, leadership, and meaning; 32 pages of reading)
Rule of St. Benedict: Prologue; Chapters 2, 64, 65
“Wild Geese”, Mary Oliver
“Solitude and Leadership”, William Deresiewicz

Tues, October 27 (Inner life: self-control and self-reflection; ~28 pages of reading)
Rule of St. Benedict: Chapters 4, 5, 7, 42, 49
“Otherwise”, Jane Kenyon
“The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”, Ursula K. Le Guin
“Of practice”, Book 2, Chapter 6 of Essay, Michel de Montaigne

Thurs, November 12 *Meeting on the second Thurs, in the back of the Children’s Library (Hospitality and the Stranger; ~34 pages of reading)
Rule of St. Benedict: Chapters 53, 58-61, 66
“Kindness”, Naomi Shihab Nye
“The Guest”, Albert Camus
“Creating Space for Strangers” from Reaching Out, Henri Nouwen

December (Optional community service group activity and Holiday celebration)

Tues, January 26 (Work, rest, and belonging: routines that build community; ~75 pages of reading)
Rule of St. Benedict: Chapters 8–20, 22, 31-41, 47-48, 54-57
“Sabbath Poems IV”, Wendell Berry
“Bartleby, the Scrivener”, Herman Melville
“The Problem of Community” from The Quest for Community, Robert Nisbet

Tues, February 23 (Conflict, forgiveness, and staying, even when difficult; ~29 pages of reading)
Rule of St. Benedict: Chapters 3, 6, 21, 23–30, 43-46, 62-63, 69-71
“Adam’s Curse”, William Butler Yeats
“Sunday in the Park”, Bel Kaufman
“Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King

Tues, March 23 (Loneliness: Its Faces and Responses; ~27 pages of reading)
Rule of St. Benedict: Chapters 1, 50-52, 67
“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, T. S. Eliot
“The Garden of Forking Paths”, Jorge Luis Borges
“A Creative Response” from Reaching Out, Henri Nouwen

Tues, April 20 (How solitude feeds engagement with the world; ~14 pages of reading)
Rule of St. Benedict: Chapter 68, 72
“I wandered lonely as a Cloud”, William Wordsworth
“The Bet”, Anton Chekhov
Letters 9 and 10 from Letters on Ethics to Lucilius, Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Tues, May 25 (Conversion of life, stability, and beginning again; ~14 pages of reading)
Rule of St. Benedict: Chapter 73 (This Rule Only a Beginning)
“The Summer Day”, Mary Oliver
“A Sunrise on the Veld”, Doris Lessing
“The Almond Trees”, Albert Camus

Bryan Olin is a retired medical device industry executive and statistician currently residing on Cape Cod. He has lived across the US and in London, receiving his Ph.D. in statistics from Iowa State University. He has a lifelong love of literature and philosophy, and has enjoyed participating in many discussion groups on these subjects.