Hee; thanks, guys!!

Were there Christian orders that did meditation in something close to the Buddhist sense? That is doing some form of meditation or prayer ritual or whatever that resulted in highly altered states of consciousness, ideally altered states that were believed to have profound mystical and religious significance?

Typo, I can't recall if the practice is associated with a particular order or not (I think so, but would have to double check), but Teresa of Avila definitely practiced and taught that sort of prayer.

Typo, what Anne said. I don't think there were any orders as such that practiced that level of meditation, but there were several saints that followed an ecstatic path. Some of the hermetic mystic sorts also used a trance state. I think in the Christian tradition, that sort of altered state is considered a visitation of God on/to the individual, not something that was pursued as a group. The mystics would have acolytes who waited to transcribe the visions and would tend to the mystic's needs.

Look for saints classified under mystics or visionaries.

Ugh. It is too early to be at the airport. Especially on a Sunday. And my tummy is rebelling.

Ugh. It is too early to be at the airport. Especially on a Sunday. And my tummy is rebelling.

What she said. I'm not at the airport yet, but soon.

What a delightful party! I really enjoyed meeting Strix's friends and her sister. As one might expect, they were witty and funny and friendly. I attained the perfect level of drunkenness, and stuck to my goal of smoking one ceremonial clove cigarette in the birthday girl's honor.

B showed up, that is who I was talking to. Stayed up way too late talking and then making out, which was great fun. Such an odd duck, that one. I'm glad to have reached a kind of peace with that one, because he's a good friend (if completely unreliable) and an EXCELLENT kisser.

Typo: Jesuits, Benedictines, Trappists, Carthusians... pretty much any of the orders that include hermetic orders where followers fast and pray all day...the praying is basically meditation focused on the specific christian divine.

I have discovered the crack that is Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Covered Tahitian Vanilla Caramels. Thank god they only come in a 2 oz. package.

Did not need to know about this.

Hi all,

Skipping a bunch more to say that I have now traded a few short emails with my dad, and have spoken on the phone with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandma sounded good, which she apparently does sometimes, but she didn't want to have more than a very brief phone conversation (as I expected).

Also, I'm very sorry to hear about your friend, Shir.

Hey, Seanie. Glad you checked in, and that you're talking to your family.

Gronk. Back in NOLA. I need to do a ton of laundry and prep for hunkering down or evacuating. All I want to do is sleep. I am a somewhat hungover and very, very, very tired.

Thank Anne and Erin.

Also, Jilli - insent to Gothic Charm School Email. Don't have your gmail address.