Monk Thomas Quartier lives in Keizersberg Abbey in Leuven where the days are marked according to tidal prayer; in accordance with monastic tradition, this means that the day is typically defined by fixed times from sunrise (Lauds) to late evening (Compline). At first glance this should seem quite straightforward, but Quartier has not found it easy to achieve a work-life balance during the coronavirus period. And, he notes, it is especially since the second lockdown that his professional and personal life and prayer times have become intermingled. “This morning I promised myself that this would be the first day of my holiday, but here I am now talking to you and I also got a phone call this morning from a PhD candidate.”
Thanks to the coronavirus, the familiar demarcation lines have all but disappeared. “You used to be able to come home and say ‘that’s it, no more work’, but nowadays work seems to seep almost imperceptibly into our personal lives.” Quartier studies the meaning of rituals in everyday life, in which demarcation is the operative word: between night and day, between work and home life, between study and relaxation. Many people believe that the ‘involuntary reclusive lifestyle’ that young people primarily seem to endure – which includes symptoms such as fatigue and loss of motivation – is caused by a feeling of emptiness and a lack of social contacts. Although Quartier is aware of this concern, he believes that the explanation lies elsewhere. “The demarcation of time has fallen into disarray.”
Resetting your life
Quartier recommends that we use the summer holidays to ‘reset’ our lives. In essence, this means being free he says as he points out the origin of the word vacation. “Vacare means ‘freeing yourself from within’. In this sense, it’s the experience of being free and not doing anything at all that’s important.” In classical monastic teachings, ‘vacare’ is mentioned in the same breath as ‘Deo’: freeing yourself in order to be able to reach God. Quartier likes to interpret this more broadly: “If you’re able to do something in freedom, then you don’t have to commit to how something should be.”
Vacare is often associated with an exercise in boredom, an alleged act in which you completely empty yourself of everything in order to get in touch with your deepest aspirations, your actual soul. “It’s not a definition that will appeal to everyone; doing absolutely nothing is not necessarily the way to achieve the required emptiness.” In his study of rituals, Quartier has found a different definition: “A ritual is a framework within which you can listen to your inner self.” For one person, the reclusive lifestyle might offer the best form of compliance, while for another it might involve going for long walks or playing sport, and yet another person might choose an artistic form of expression. “Experiencing emptiness and boredom is not the only way for people to come to themselves,” says Quartier. “This summer I’m going to attempt an exercise in writing short, fictional stories. It’s a whole new way of writing, with which I hope to surprise myself.”
Tools for finding your natural rhythm
If his writing exercise goes as planned, Quartier will deem his holiday to have been a success. “A holiday can also be defined as a period in which you omit the very thing that threatens to take you away from your own essence, from who you essentially are.” The exercise will also hopefully provide us with the tools that we need to establish a better rhythm after our holidays have ended, and after the coronavirus pandemic has finally come to an end. “Be careful that you don’t inadvertently start to let things in that upset your rhythm. Structure is not automatically instilled in us. Awareness is required if you’re to establish a demarcation between the different parts of your life. Hopefully, the summer holidays will increase this awareness, and we’ll be able to hold on to it.”
Photo: Shazmyn Ali via Unsplash.