The Monastery and Greek hockey

I watched a show I had on dvr last night called The Monastery, about these 5 men who volunteered to be part of it for about 6 weeks.  I didn't know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised to find the time went by quickly and I'm waiting for the next episode.  It is a Benedictine monastery in England and none of the men are Catholic, only one being particularly Christian at all.  My favorite so far is the man who is studying his PhD and has also spent time in a Buddhist monastery.  He likes the rules, finds it easy to obey them.  One man is a party animal and I have no idea what he's doing there.  He doesn't seem to be constrained by the rules...during silence he talks non-stop on his cell phone.  Two of the guys jogged into town for cigarettes and candy.  One guy is Irish and protestant, but has spent time in prison due to his activities in the "troubles" Ireland has had politically.  He seems to be getting the most from time spent there. 

But back to Nick, I think his name is, the guy who seems to like all the rules.  His adviser tried to pin him down on how he felt about Jesus and he just wouldn't be pinned down.  He doesn't seem to believe in a man/God as he put it, and while he agreed to think about it, it seemed to me that it was pressuring him to a degree I didn't see the other guys being pressured.  It was almost evangelical in nature.  Of course, it's probable that the other guys' interactions of that nature were just edited out or will be seen in other episodes.  But this guy struck me as being perhaps Pagan in his spiritual make-up.  He loves to spend the silence outdoors just watching the beautiful scenery, at times seems to be meditating, and is generally enjoying the time spent there.  The others are chafing at the rules, second-guessing their decisions to be there.

I intend to watch the entire series, if possible.  It won't change my mind about how I feel about Christianity at all, but I hope to learn more about how people live with or without spirituality in their lives.  I just can't go back knowing what I know about the origins and the deceptions about those origins. 

I did have an interesting dream last night.  I dreamed I was playing ice hockey with the Greek Gods on a gym floor and managed to score against Zeus.  He got pissed off and kept cheating after that.  I have no idea where this dream came from but it was very entertaining.

And no, I'm not leaning toward the Greek pantheon again.  I'm very happy with the Celtic god/desses and all the mythologies and spirituality that goes with it.

I'm doing much better as Spring wakes up in my northern clime, but today was roasting with temps in the 80, which I'm not prepared for.  All my shorts are in bins and the fans are in the basement.  It is cooling off with a thunderstorm heading this way, but that means the windows will be shut.  So the fans will be making their way upstairs to spend time with us.

I'm getting excited about Beltane and plan on studying up on it, finding rituals and prayers and hope to have a mini-bonfire in my weber grill/fire pit.  A small fire though.  Don't want the police coming around.

Off to let Professor out and then I think I'm going to shower and head for bed.  I've been sleeping a lot lately.