The Bubble

 I don’t want to live in a bubble.  To live in a bubble is where you can live with others, but be alone in your bubble.  How does this work?  Well, you find a way to get what you want without needing to deal with the other people with whom you live any more than is necessary.  You are not a community, but rather separate bubbles in the same house or monastery.  Bubble is not the same as routine.  In routine, when something comes up that should have attention, but is not part of your routine, you break the routine to attend to it.  In a bubble, you just ignore it.  Delayed maintenance is the result of people living in bubbles. I have seen monks who I think live in their bubble.  Bubbles are never much open to the distraction of new people coming in.  Thus, too many bubble monks and the monastery will die.  Bubble monks only live with others for the sake of convenience.  They don’t care to deal personally with all the things that make a household function.  So they don’t become hermits.  A hermit has to cook, clean, shop and avoid delayed maintenance.  A cenobitic monastery is supposed to be a community of monks living together which is a lot different than living alone with others.  More on this tomorrow, but I try to avoid living in a bubble.