I am thinking of becoming a monk lately.

Again thinking of becoming a monk...

"For who has ever met a pure and natural human being? We are always social beings, clothed in our skin, our class, income, our history and as such, our obligations to each other are always based on difference. Ask me who I am responsible for, and I will tell you about my wife and child, my parents, my friends and relations, and my fellow citizens. My obligations are defined by what it means to be a citizen, a father, a husband, a son, in this culture, in this time and place. The role of pure human duty seems obscure. It is difference which seems to rule my duties, not identity."

~ Michael Ignatieff

Freedom is confusing, freedom from define oneself is tiring, freedom from belief is taxing. I guess I would become a monk and a lot of other things for the sake of getting a belief, for the sake of getting an identity, for the sake of having some guidelines to follow even if I do not believe in them.

Michael Ignatieff believes that our duties, obligations and identity are derived from socially differentiating ourselves from others. The claims of others on us are based on the differences between them and the rest. We respected the ways we differ, and ignored the fundamental universals that underly all of us, in the form of our basic humanity and vulnerabilities. And as such, we miss the point in the way we care about people, by neglecting strangers' claims on us, which are often based on our common denominators.

To be a human being is to be lost. To be a human being is to be without a direction.

To be a monk, I guess is to have someone define you and to have someone finally telling you where to go.

Order arises from chaos, and I wonder if it is time I give up my madness.