At last a craved spiritual moment amongst the dumbed down commercial farce that has become Christmas.... Some of us Mooters went to see the film of the The Grande Chartreuse, the mother house of the legendary Carthusian Order, based in the French Alps. The film emphasised central monastic themes of Silence, Repetition and Rhythm. The film is an austere, next to silent meditation on monastic life in a very pure form. No music except the chants in the monastery, no interviews, no commentaries, no extra material. Changing of time, seasons, and the ever repeated elements of the day, of the prayer. A film to become a monastery, rather than depict one. A film about awareness, absolute presence, and the life of men who devoted their lifetimes to god in the purest form. Contemplation. An object in time.

You start out feeling a bit like a spiritual tourist watching monks, but you soon get into a pattern - yes based on looking at others, but never the less very spiritual.

I was pleasantly surprised how so much of it felt quite familiar from the osmosis of Moot being at St Matthews. The pattern of the seasons, the place for contemplation, stillness and simplicity, there is even a benediction very similar to what Moot did in September at the Affirming Catholicism conference - except they had a better monstrance - with the same chant that we sang. It was for me a profound moment - where a cinema for a brief 3 hours became a silent spiritual centre rather than a place of entertainment. As Mike said, the Director stretched the audience in the cinema to engage with silence far more than is usual, in a profoundly spiritual and asthetic way. Again, the emerging church in its new monastic forms has much to learn from the premodern church and its original monastic forms. I highly recommend going to this, but take an early viewing!! - Its on at the Curzon Soho and Barbican. The words of wisdom of one of the blind monks near the end of his days will remain with me for a while.