Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Leading the Good Life


For all good men and true:  a suggested emploi du temps, pour la vie dévote.

(1) Dawn:  Rise with il frate sole.  Recite matins; Gregorian chants; break the fast on a radish, perhaps.

(2) Morning:  Intensive research into the Riemann Hypothesis (or any other deep idea of your own choosing).

(3)  Lunchtime:  Lunch, consisting of a carrot.  Silence should prevail at this meal, while the astonishing results of the morning’s labors are mulled-over and digested.

(4) Afternoon:  Labor in the vegetable garden.   And should Peter Rabbit come hopping, hopping, -- slipping and swiping a cabbage or two -- Ah, go easy with the rascal, he is God’s creature too.

(5) Supper:  The abbot reads from Scripture, while the brothers sup on beef and red wine.
[Note:  This is the regime for Sunday through Friday.  On Saturday night, we break out the abbey ale, dispensed in massive tankards.  Lusty songs are sung in Latin.  This too is the time for scrumptious strumpets to drop by:  for as C.S. Lewis puts it:  Sins of the flesh are bad;  but they are the least bad of all the sins.]

(6) Evening:  Free time.  Backgammon;  card games; quiet talk; prayer; crossword puzzles; detective stories (Murphy is particularly recommended); comparing notes on the morning's discoveries; and deeper researches  which we cannot begin to describe, since we do not understand them:  let us call them “pataphysical geometry”, simply to have a name.

(7)  Bedtime:  Kneeling, say your prayers;  then dream in the bosom of Abraham.

Gratias agimus tibi, domine ...



~

(For additional epiphany, click here: )

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