"I decided that islands were natural monasteries. (After all, monasteries are often compared to islands, and are called islands of peace, or serenity, or civilization, so why should the reverse not be true?) This explained why Selkirk was " a better Christian in his solitude", why Marietta believed she could listen to herself on Isla Crusoe, and why Lax found he could write poetry on Patmos.
And, like monasteries, islands were refuges offering the community life, silence, and solitude that encouraged contemplation and creativity. This explained why when islanders went to mainlands they suffered the dislocation of monks outside the cloister. Patmos was a double monastery: a natural monastery whose landscape and life was dominated by an actual one, and thereby doubly hospitable to miracles and visions, and to listening to yourself, and hearing God."
Page 164. "Searching for Paradise (formerly titled Searching for Crusoe) - A Journey among the Last Real Islands."
Thurston Clarke
Excerpts and Amazon link- http://www.thurstonclarke.com/id4.html
And, like monasteries, islands were refuges offering the community life, silence, and solitude that encouraged contemplation and creativity. This explained why when islanders went to mainlands they suffered the dislocation of monks outside the cloister. Patmos was a double monastery: a natural monastery whose landscape and life was dominated by an actual one, and thereby doubly hospitable to miracles and visions, and to listening to yourself, and hearing God."
Page 164. "Searching for Paradise (formerly titled Searching for Crusoe) - A Journey among the Last Real Islands."
Thurston Clarke
Excerpts and Amazon link- http://www.thurstonclarke.com/id4.html
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