In my youth I had heard of an association of men deep in the Rocky Mountains that lived in solitude, silence and relatively free of temptation. I had always thought this was a strange lifestyle for people to freely join and want to belong to. Basically these men were monks, but with one key difference from actual monks, they had no religious affiliation or at least no religious reason to be doing what they were doing. This organization was officially named the ‘Societas de Animi’, a Latin expression meaning ‘The Brotherhood of the Mind’. I didn’t hear much else about them except that they were a fairly exclusive group and devoted toward the betterment of humanity, but how they hoped to achieve this end, I wasn’t entirely sure. I had a passing curiosity about them throughout the years, but paid them little mind other than an occasional thought, and that, only when someone mentioned them (which was a rare occurrence). They were a difficult group to find out about, most people had never even heard of them, which meant that I really knew next to nothing about them, other than what I have already said, until one day in my nineteenth year.
At that time, I had graduated from high school and was just beginning to go to university (where is not exactly important) to study journalism. When at first I went to college, I felt it would be a bastion of intellectualism and full of like-minded young people with whom I could learn and exchange new and interesting ideas. After spending some weeks there, I was devastated to learn that indeed this was not quite the vast realm of human achievement and knowledge I had envisioned. This is not to say there was none of what I had hoped for, but it became very evident to me very quickly, that most of the students were there for two main reasons: to party and to get a better paying job. Were they concerned with the spirit of academics or the advancement of knowledge, not the least of it, saving a few isolated pockets of the student population. After several months of this, highly discouraged, I began to seek refuge, outside of the pools of sex and drugs, elsewhere. I began to join some of the many clubs my university had to offer, only to discover they were just social groups as immersed in gossip and the social goings on as any other organization, rather than their designated purposes.
This was not as discouraging as I may make it sound, and I am not particularly opposed to using such clubs for this sort of socializing. All the same, I badly wanted to express and learn new ideas from interesting people from all over the world and it simply was a much more difficult task than I had expected. Near the end of my freshman year of college, I started to consider investigating the Societas de Anime, and see if I may not want to join it, surely this organization would have the pools of intellect I was seeking. This being the illusive organization I had mentioned before, it was not easy to simply call them up and ask how to join. Rather curious in my journalistic sort of way, I began asking around about them, to see if I could find anyone who knew about them. As it turned out, a professor I had asked about it, knew someone that was somehow associated with the Society, and further he offered to send my name and my interest to this man. I was excited about this certainly, but some time had passed where I hadn’t heard anything from him, and figured it hadn’t worked out. Then one day, I received a phone call from a man who was claiming to know my professor and he asked if I was interested in the Brotherhood, to which I enthusiastically replied that I was. He told me that he would call and make the necessary enquiries and if I truly wanted to visit this place it would happen in a matter of weeks. Before I could get a word in to ask him about who he was, or what he knew about the Society, he suddenly hung up, leaving me slightly confused and curious.
Nearly a week after this, I received another call from a man who claimed to be associated with the Societas de Animi, who said I could call him Corvus. The man oddly didn’t ask for my name and only said my initials when asking for me. Corvus asked me if I might be interested in coming and seeing the grounds, and perhaps even living there for some amount of time. I told him I was certainly interested but mentioned I wasn’t sure for how long at first. He said this was by all means understandable and then he asked if I had any great pursuits of mind I was hoping to work on. I mentioned that I had none specifically other than perhaps investigating this place and reporting upon it. He said that sounded like a fine pursuit, and asked if I could be there in two weeks, I gladly replied that I should like to, and we thus ended our conversation. Two weeks later, I was on my way to the Rocky Mountains, on what I felt was a very charming drive full of beautiful scenery of rocks, trees and wild flowers. It felt serene and inspiring, which I had no doubt was not a coincidence for the placement of the Monastery. When we reached the grounds, I saw what seemed to be a Christian monastery, built of stone in the style of an medieval Austrian monastery I had once seen as a child in the Alps, only this particular monastery had nothing that associated it with Christianity or anything else for that matter, it was quite simple and plain, and as I left my father’s automobile, I walked up to the gates with my light backpack full of minimal clothes and goods to get me through what I thought would be a two day stay at this place
I was a little lost, but walked up to the large gates in front, which were shut of course, only to see an old man in a very modest grey robe and medium sized beard running up to me, saying
“Greetings, you must be S.W, I’m so happy to see you’ve made it, I was in doubt whether you’d actually come… my name is Brother Corvus, and I am the Abbot here.”
“Well actually my name is…” I said, as Brother Corvus immediately interrupted me saying
“Shhh, I’m sorry I should have mentioned earlier, but please, never tell me, nor anyone else here, your real name, the moment you came here you left your identity at the premises, and there it’ll stay. Here you will be known as Ericiolus, meaning little hedgehog.”
“Why, little hedgehog” I asked him.
“Because, all brothers here are named after animals in Latin and furthermore, they are called the diminutive form of whatever that animal is, while they are in the probation and novice stages, for example a brother normally called the Latin form of ‘dog’ would have been called ‘puppy’.” Corvus replied.
“Yes, but why ‘hedgehog’?” I asked again, still somewhat confused.
“Oh, that is simple enough” the abbot answered “because of a hedgehog’s quills, it is representative of the fact that you are in essence a writer. And, furthermore, the hedgehog is a particular favorite animal of mine.” And no more was said of the matter.
“Why must we lose our identity?” I then asked, to which he responded
“Because the point of this monastery is to nurture everyone’s creativity for the sake of creativity itself, not for the sake of one’s own ego. The reason for the monastery is deprivation of all earthly luxuries including names, which is inherently connected with ego, so that our brothers are wholly devoted to their various arts. Thus we use animal names in order to have a reference to each other within the order, but no identity beyond that to one another. However, I have a feeling you may break that little rule, with your particular assignment, should you choose to join our ranks more permanently, Ericiolus. Having said all that, I would like to introduce you to one of our most esteemed brothers Canus. He’ll show you the grounds and introduce you to the members and answer most of the questions you may have concerning the Order itself. ”
The abbot led me to the grounds where he found the member he had mentioned named Canus. Canus wore a brown robe, with a white belt, he was tall and looked to be around 40 years of age, but he probably looked older than he was with his long beard. Corvus spoke to him saying “Canus, this may be our newest probate, Ericiolus, I leave him in your charge, since you are in an interim at the moment… please look after him and help him to adjust and answer any questions he may have to the best of your ability. Oh, and please indoctrinate him in Latin if you’d be so kind, I’ll do the bulk of his training later, but as you’re with him now, take him in your charge.”
Afterward, Corvus left, leaving Canus and I alone together taking a brief walk together to what was to be my new cell. Canus didn’t say much during this walk, except for giving me some standard greetings and so on. I was a bit overwhelmed by the whole ordeal and therefore, forwent asking any questions, I just wanted to reflect on what I was now doing, and why I was doing it. The walk was not too long, and along the way, I had taken particular notice of the open yard within the confines of the abbey. There was a great deal of open space, and several trees in isolation scattered throughout these vastly open grounds. On the opposing side of the monastery itself, there seemed to be no enclosing wall, with only a few small buildings standing before a crystal blue lake. This lake was in the most literal sense ‘picturesque’ because it was both breathtakingly beautiful, and well hidden, making one simply want to leave and explore it to its depths, but seeing that I was now with Canus, that didn’t look like a possibility. We walked along the cloister and finally reached what seemed to be the monks’ dormitories, where Canus showed me to my cell.
I had not considered how Spartan these rooms would truly be, and once there, had the full implication of what a monastic lifestyle would truly entail. The contents of my room, were a simple bed of regular mattress on a bare metal frame, with one plain adequately sized pillow, and plain white linens next to it. Additionally, there was a simple desk with one drawer, filled with plain white paper and pens of two or three colors within. Sitting upon the desk were a few leather-bound books, the titles of which were “Societas de Animi: Philosophia Nostra”, and a few books for beginning, middle and advanced Latin, as well as a few dictionaries in a few languages, including, Latin and English. In the room, there was also the plain, but not unattractive wardrobe made of wood, in which three simple robes hung. When I saw these habits, Canus asked me to try one on, and see if it fit and after saying this, he left my cell briefly closing the door behind him, to give me privacy. As I changed into this habit, I was surprised at how comfortable the fit was, and as I was getting ready to change back, Canus knocked at the door and asked if I was in my habit yet. I told him I was and he entered the room and told me it looked adequate and that they wouldn’t need to change the robes.
Just as I was about to ask Canus to leave so that I may change back into my regular clothing, he asked me to follow him to the refectory to eat, it was nearly lunch time, and he could explain all to me, and answer any questions I may have once we began our meal. Along the way, I saw some of the other brothers, but too shy, I didn’t ask who any of them were. One thing was obvious though, my habit had a different cowl than theirs, mine being white on my brown robe, and theirs being uniformly brown all over. Many looked at me, in brief astonishment, and muttered amongst themselves in a language I couldn’t quite understand. I asked Canus what language they were speaking and in a gruff and direct manner, he told me it was Latin, this didn’t actually surprise me, but at the same time, I had absolutely not expected this from a society, which was supposed to separate itself from the church, and I felt that Latin was a language deeply associated with the Church. I asked him, if they always spoke in Latin. He told me they didn’t, but it would depend on when you spoke to a brother which language he would use, and for what reason. I said I didn’t understand and he said he would explain once we sat down to eat. One other point I made note of on our way, was that most of these men seemed to be of advanced age, with a few in their 30’s, but all of them had beards of various length and otherwise short hair.
Once inside the kitchen of the refectory, I met perhaps the only beardless man in the place, who was serving what looked to be a rather basic meal of beef stew, potatoes and some bread. The jovial rotund man looked at me and laughed. “Salve, iuvene! Ubi adhaec venis?”, he said mirthfully.
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”, I replied.
“Sorry, Porce, this is our newest postulant, as you may see, he doesn’t know any Latin yet”, Canus interjected.
“Oh, my sincerest apologies, young master, I didn’t realize who you were, I’m so used to just speaking to everyone in Latin, it slips my mind to use English with newcomers! A most hearty welcome to you, sir!”, the man apparently called Porce, said to me in an odd British accent and extended his fat hand to eagerly grip mine. When I reached out to shake his hand, he gave me a strong pull and laughed aloud again.
“My name is Porcus. Which is Latin for ‘pig’, now I know what you’re thinking…” he said with a momentary pause and a serious look on his face. “… you’re thinking, why would a man with a beautiful figure such as mine, and an obvious penchant toward cooking call himself anything to do with a pig?!” he said as he made a reference to his body with his arm and hand, and then started to smile. “The fact is, I named myself, now I know that most who come here don’t. But not me, I said, I love pigs, they’re some of the smartest animals, and they happen to like good food, all of which I can highly relate to!” He said with a chortle that led to a guffaw.
“Well, Porcus, my name is, um, Ericiolus”, I said shyly
“Well, Ericiolus, I’m mighty proud to meet you, if you ever have any particular tastes culinary-wise, I’ll be all to happy to oblige you! Providing of course I’m not sleeping!”, he said again and laughed more heartily
Saying goodbye to Porcus, Canus and I sat down with our meals at a long table but relatively in isolation from the other monks and Canus finally began to speak a little more liberally than before. “What do you want to know?”, he inquired rather genuinely in his brief way.
“Well, everything I suppose,” I replied “How and when did this start?”
“It began by Corvus, the abbot whom you met earlier, roughly twenty years ago. I believe he was sick of life in the outside world and so took his fortune to make a hermetic retreat for himself, and anyone else bold enough to follow him.”, answered Canus as verbosely as I think he would allow himself to be.
“What do the monks do here?”
“They, work on what we call their magna opera or ‘great works’, usually they come here for a trial period of a month where they are called postulants and then for another year where they are called novices and afterward they are full fledged monks for a tenure of roughly five years. During the postulant stage they are asked to attend and participate in monastic life, but to observe the more senior monks in their arts, and spend more time in self reflection and planning. Basically, they are asked not to just jump into their own works straight away. Also they tend to do a bit more of the chores around the abbey, which are not excessive, but keep them free from too much idleness. After this stage when they become full monks, they are then allowed and encouraged to practice their own works, which they continue for the rest of their tenure.”
“How and where do they actually finish these works? And also, what kinds of works are they?” I enquired.
“Well, they can range from great arts, like painting, sculpting, composing music and so on, to coming up with new business and economic models, or things of a more academic nature, such as natural research… basically, anything you can think of that is creative or in the spirit of human endeavor they can do. I suppose there are limits, but I have not yet seen or heard of a postulant denied any particular ambition. I’m sure there are financial limitations too, but from what I’ve seen, short of perhaps beginning a new space program, there really is nothing one couldn’t do,” he answered. “To answer your other question, they do most of their works here at the abbey, generally speaking, each monk is given his own studio, or office, which is in a separate building somewhat removed from here, so as to encourage movement, Corvus encourages a good deal of movement and exercise. Each studio is set up with generally state of the art technology, providing that is what the monk asks for, to perform his great works. Occasionally, but rarely, a monk may be given an assistant or two, if what he is doing he can’t do himself. Most often the assistant is a new postulant, or occasionally a novus, but as I said it’s rare. A lot of times, a monk will have only a small office, if he is doing things of a more research oriented nature. Some of the monks doing research, usually natural research, often leave the abbey in order to accomplish their tasks, but they are encouraged to keep the monastic mentality while away, meaning they adhere to a strict regimented schedule and keep their social habits outside of their work down to a minimum”
A little overwhelmed with this response, I thought for a while and then asked what the regimented schedule was for the monks in the abbey.
“Quite often” Canus responded “I’d say most monks have a great many times they do, after all, they tend to be highly motivated people, and rather passionate about their particular fields of interest.”
“Okay, I’m sorry to interrupt you, so what happens after five? Or is that it, then they do what they feel like until the go to sleep”
“No, from five until six we are given an hour of what you might call free time, but from six until seven we have our evening meal, and afterward we have what you might call vespers for half an hour, or more meditation. I might point out that our meditation is not what is commonly conceived of as meditation, but rather a time of solitary thought, where we are all asked to take with us a notepad and writing tool, usually a pen, and think anything we care to, and write down any interesting, and often uninteresting thoughts we may have,” he paused “ we actually have this for our morning meditation too, but I’d forgotten to mention it, it’s really an integral part of the process.”
“So, after mediation?”
“Oh yes, after meditation, generally the abbot gives a speech on an interesting and stimulating topic, something you might call a motivational speech, and then he inquires to each of us, what we accomplished today, without going into too much detail, because as you can imagine the monks are quite apt to talk about their work as they all take a keen interest in it, but not always each other’s. This goes on for about an hour, after which time we are encouraged to do further meditation by ambulating around the grounds, which are quite vast so allow a good deal of solitude, but often the monks walk together to discuss work, help each other, and otherwise talk about general goings on. The grounds are also kept in a particularly lovely and well groomed manner, so as to stimulate calm and creativity in its residents. Corvus, made special note of this, as he is of the philosophy that much of the creativity inspired by history, was due to environment, but I think he just believes that every little bit counts, and he may as well try to make things as profitable as possible. Oddly enough this goes against the very Spartan cells and studios of the monks themselves, where they have in them only what they need to work or do mundane tasks.”
“Who takes care of the grounds?” I asked.
“To some extent the monks and postulants do, especially the ones with the fields of horticulture and agriculture, but we also have a small number of servants or ‘the blesseds’ as we call them.”
“That seems like a mighty prestigious name” I ejaculated.
“Well, the simple point is, every monk here is entirely grateful for their services to us, and we are all rather fond of them, for they provide us with many services and do our more loathsome of chores, like cleaning, help Porcus with cooking, and do all of the ‘dirty-work’ around here, particularly when we don’t have any postulants.”
“So, what happens after these walks?”
“Well, between 8:30 and 9:00 we typically get ready for and go to sleep, to start the new day afresh.”
“And you do this everyday?” I asked.
“Most days yes, but there is generally a day each week, where any given number of members are encouraged to rest and partake in recreation, such as horseback riding, hiking, reading, or even watching films and the like.”
“Do all brothers always have to abide by this schedule?”
“No, this is only tentative, but they are expected to make a schedule much like this one, if it doesn’t quite work for them, like our astronomer, for example.”
“How many monks are here at any one time?” I asked.
“Usually around twenty to thirty, but it has been as low as twelve brothers and as many as forty. It all depends, right now, we have twenty-two, and if you join our ranks, twenty-three.”
“Have you had any one famous join, or become famous because of their work here?”
“We never really know for sure, because of the anonymity, but have strong suspicions about a few, based on what we know of the work from before they left, but again it’s impossible to say,” answered Canus.
“How is a place like this financed? Does the monastery have rights to the works of the monks?”
“Not typically, although many brothers donate generously to the monastery after their tenure is finished as a gesture of gratitude for the encouragement and means. Usually before a monk joins, he is asked to pay a one time fee of about $5,000 or so, just for some basic costs, but moreover to show serious intent to really commit for that time. Generally speaking it’s more like a deposit than an actual fee, because the money is most often returned to him after his tenure is over. The bulk of the money comes from Corvus’ private investments and some of the more financially oriented monks made some good investments and so on for the monastery as part of their opus. The monastery is really quite rich and resultantly, rather generous. The opera that the monks create and do, are totally theirs after they leave the abbey, and even to that extent they are allowed to put their names on them, there are no rules or requirements we have over them when they finish their time here.” After a long silence Canus asked if I had any more questions”
“Only one, what is your story?”
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