See, this is where I think we run into trouble, Rod. I expect you meant "retreating behind defensible borders" metaphorically (though we have joked about decamping to Lost Cove, TN), but just for the record, we should recognize a geographic retreat like that would be futile. Too many burned-out utopians precede us. And, if push came literally to shove, we certainly could not physically defend our borders.

The alternative is the kind of thing Evangelicals have been doing for a few decades, building a separate, parallel culture that offers an equivalent for every content-carrying product the diseased general culture provides (rock music, romance novels, news magazines, you name it). But most Christian households are porous, and their members use these "pure" sources in addition to, not instead of, the mainstream's offerings. Among Evangelicals there is a renewed sense that they need to quit the biodome and go back *into* the mainstream culture, and train to be responsible journalists, screenwriters, etc.

St. Benedict had the advantage of being a monk, and the kind of life he was able to build was founded on some very exacting principles that ordinary Crunchies are not likely to emulate. He *did* start with a geographic center. He attracted people who were willing to hold all things in common, and to be celibate. Well, already you've lost most readers of this list.

It would be different if the culture and its institutions were falling apart physically and economically, and the only safe place to live was behind monastery walls. Instead we're living in a culture that is debased and sordid, but quite strong, and able to provide a very high level of comfort to most members. The more comfort, the less self-discipline necessary to survival. Paradoxically, one thing St. Benedict had on his side was that the physical state of affairs was much more bleak.

Can we approximate his work while living as individuals, geographically scattered, holding property, and consuming mainstream content? I'm doubtful that you can build an alternative culture under such diffuse circumstances.

I think you can live a holy life, however. And in a local religious community (church, temple or synagogue) you can find and give support. And, guided by the lamp of the Permanent Things, become competent to discern how to safely navigate the common culture we must continue to inhabit. And hopefully children raised in such dedicated households will likewise be stable and discerning, though we cannot prevent heartbreaking contrary choices. Eventually we'll reach the point where Evangelicals now stand, of wanting to go back into the common culture and be an influence for good.