The Carthusians Are Cool

As I am discovering in Jordan Aumann's Christian Spirituality in the Catholic Tradition.  As Aumann says,

Carthusians are totally cut off from the world; their sole occupation is to cultivate and maintain a direct and immediate contact with God.

That's the order of hermits depicted in the movie Into Great Silence.

The New York Times review of the film has one of the best lines I've ever seen:

I hesitate, given the early date and the project’s modesty, to call “Into Great Silence” one of the best films of the year. I prefer to think of it as the antidote to all of the others.

Here's a letter considered a classic of Carthusian spirituality.  He explains how to read the Scriptures according to the method of lectio divina in four stages:

"Reading is the careful study of the Scripture, concentrating all one's powers on it.

Meditation is the busy application of the mind to seek the help of one's own reason for knowledge of hidden truth.

Prayer is the heart's devoted turning to God to do away with what is evil and obtain what is good.

In contemplation the mind is in some way lifted up to God and held above itself, so that it tastes the joys of everlasting sweetness."