While reading “The Civilization Of The Middle Ages” by Norman Cantor (which I do not recommend the book by the way), on pages 150, 151, 152, 153, 154,,, the author discusses how monasteries became a source of education in the middle ages. Monasteries were not well rounded education establishments, as they were only interested in teaching Latin and scripture. Creating literature outside of the Holy scripture was suppressed.
One thing that monasteries did do, they preserved scripture. One of the reasons why we have certain books in our modern Holy Bible, is because some scribe copied the books during the the middle ages.
Monasteries preserved scripture. The monks in the monasteries taught people how to read Latin, and thus how to read scripture.
How does this monk, monastery and scripture stuff tie in with survivalism?
As monks taught holy scripture, so should survivalist teach self-reliance.
As a survivalist, it is your duty to go forth and spread the knowledge of self-reliance.
When people hear the word “monk”, thoughts of living in silence, or roaming the country side preaching the gospel to peasants comes to mind. That is not how things were like. Monks lived in the monastery, some tried to isolate themselves from the outside world, they were educated, copied holy text (scribes), and tried to live a life separated from the outside world.
How is the life of a monk, and the life of a survivalist that much different?
Maybe this should be called “The Survivalist Monk Theory”?
For the sake of discussion, lets focus on the effect we have on those around us, and not what fills our head.
Where a monk may have spent a great deal of time in prayer, he also had a profound effect on society. As survivalist, what effect do we have on those around us? Opsec says we have to always consider security when dealing with others. Let us apply the idea of a monastery to our group.
Everyone inside the walls of the monastery are the people inside our group. These are the people that we can talk to, communicate with and share our plans with.
Everyone outside the walls of our monastery are the strangers. Those are the people we do not know, or fully trust.
While a monastery had walls of brick and mortar, survivalist have walls of trust and relationships.
Just as monks educated the people inside the monastery, so should survivalist train and educate the people inside their group.
Unlike monks that tried to isolate themselves from the outside world, survivalist stay knowledgeable on current events.
The monastery is part of society, but also separate. We live on the fringe of society, on the outskirts, ever visible, but in the distance, just a blink from sight.