Monasticism defines the mode of life of people who live in seclusion from the world, under religious vows and subject to a fixed rule, as monks, friars, nuns, or in general as religious people do. The basic idea of monasticism in all its varieties is a withdrawal from the world or society. Its object is to achieve a life which ideal is different from the majority of mankind. There are many religions where monastic life is present such as Brahmin, Buddhist, Jewish, Christian, and Moslem. A monastic life is a synonym of self-renunciation and has three elements corresponding to the three evangelical counsels: poverty, chastity, and obedience.
Poverty: In monasticism, poverty is not referred to people that do not have food, clothes or access to basic social services. In this case, poverty means solidarity with that people; it means to live without wealth, in a simple way, and with basic supplies. This vow of poverty tries to promote sharing everything in common; everything that a member has is used for everybody on the religious order. A vow of poverty could be misunderstood because nowadays the entire world is trying to eradicate poverty, and maybe the action of living like a poor man may sound as mockery. The vow of poverty reflects the sacrifice and commitment with a belief and helps to not to pay attention to material aspects; it looks forward to being focus on spiritual aspects.
Chastity: If to leave material possessions is very hard for a human who decided to live in a monastic way, to leave things related to man's nature is really a challenge. The common sense of chastity is the sexual abstinence, but it is also in connection with sexual self control. Chastity means integrity in the sexual aspect according to moral standards; this gives chastity very much relevancy than many people do. People who practice chastity believe that their body is pure and that they are clean in their thoughts, words, and actions. For the effects of monastic life, chastity is related to not having sexual activity or sexual desires; that is a strong reason to say that monastic life is a very different lifestyle.
Obedience: A monastery is directed by a superior and all members live in obedience to that leader, and at the same time, this leader has to be obedient to what a monastic life dictates. Monastic obedience basically takes the normal concept of obedience but increasing its constancy and obviously its importance. When you decide to be obedient, you do not have to incur in any mistake or doubt respect to your leader and the rules of the monastery. Being “monasterially” obedient is not like being obedient in your normal life where you can sometimes follow the rules, but also you can incur in a little offense, etc. In this case you need to be strongly connected to the demands of the life you chose.
Monasticism is a very different lifestyle because it bases its meaning on just using and having only the minimal things required. It promotes the continence of sexual issues and requires fulfilling God’s purposes. Monasticism represents a heavy example of devotion and commitment with some people’s beliefs. As we can see, to live a monastic life implies to change in a big way our concept of a normal life where probably we have more than we really need; we do the minimal effort, and we choose what is good or bad. Monasticism gives us a chance to think if we are really dedicating time to important things such as our spiritual part.
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