MONKS

One of my paternal aunts joined the so-called religion sect Opus Dei. I remembered her mom telling that there was a stage of being confined in solitary like a monk, distancing themselves from the material world.

This actually came to mind when I heard of the Jain monks of India. That they detach themselves from the world, too. I remember one of their beliefs that al forms of life are sacred. What’s more peculiar, is their idea of all plants and insects having souls.

Grotesquely odd, yet, they hurt no one with this belief. In fact, they don’t want to hurt “anything at all”. That’s why they don’t eat carrots, because according to them, pulling them from the ground may hurt its roots. They even steer clear of leafy vegetables for fear of unintentionally biting an ant inside. They are also carefully avoiding dark areas for they may step on insects for which they cannot see.

Too much you say?

Not until you hear this…they do not cut their hair or use any razor when they remove them, they pull it strand by strand to be certain that they don’t cut the insect that may be living in their scalps.