Hey John Donne, ask not for whom the bell tolls, ask how many times it tolls. I wonder if I missed the 4am bells this morning, or if they don’t do them on Sundays. Because the first I heard were at 6:50, at which time I opened my new counting app and started keeping track. Every time the bell tolled from then until 9am, I logged it. The total? 452.
If I’m doing my math correctly, there are 130 minutes in that span, so that averages about 3 and a half tolls per minute. That doesn’t sound like a lot, and of course they weren’t all evenly spaced. But think about trying to sleep if there is a (loud) bell ringing every 18 seconds. It doesn’t work.
But this is a working monastery, and I’m grateful for the experience. I went to the service in the basilica again this evening, as it included the famous boys choir. Because they do everything in Catalan around here, I could only catch a few words here and there. But it was cool to be part of the ritual.
It was kind of strange sitting through that ritual, though, after having read the chapter on rituals this afternoon in the Evolution of Reigion book. Dunbar has said a few times that he’s not asking the question of whether religion is real or true in some sense, he’s just trying to understand why it evolved the way it did. I appreciate that he doesn’t come right out and say that religion is obviously false, but you kind of get that vibe from his writing. I just don’t understand why authors like this can’t make stronger claims like, “this scientific understanding doesn’t undermine the truth of religious claims at all.” And of course there are lots of religious people who accept the same sort of binary division according to which only one thing can be true at a time. One of the central tasks of this book I’m working on is to show how multiple things can be true at the same time — primarily, I’m talking about a scientific explanation for some event, as well as a theological explanation of the same thing. So for example it really might be true, as Dunbar claims, that religious rituals are a very effective means of releasing endorphins in us, and bonding communities together. And those things might really have been advantageous for the survival of our species. But at the same time it could also be true that there is a God, and the many forms of religious ritual have developed in response to our attempts at worship of that deity. The fact that such rituals also have contributed to our survival as a species shouldn’t surprise us (and definitely shouldn’t count against the legitimacy of religious claims).
My day’s activities were mostly the same as yesterday: got up after I couldn’t ignore the bells any more, went out for a seven mile hike, rested in my room in the afternoon while reading and watching obscure sporting events on Spanish TV (add to yesterday’s list: jet ski racing), made the same dinner as the previous two nights with my groceries (I have a lot of garlic left over, if anyone is in the area and needs some), went to Vespers, and wrote up my account of the day.
The hike today was more rugged — less concrete on the path, and more stones. There are a bunch of old chapels and hermitages spread out through the area that were built centuries ago. Today’s trek took me past several of these on less populated trails. The main challenge today was to not be so awed by the scenery that I didn’t pay attention to where each foot was coming down. There were stretches of the trail that had the possibility of twisted ankles (or tumbling down the mountain!) if you didn’t watch where your feet were going. But the scenery really is very, very amazing.
Tomorrow I’m off to the next destination. Getting there will involve a train, a bus, a plane, and a rental car. Wish me luck!