That's neat. I can't help but think that it's amazing what we can accomplish when we don't have all the distractions of ordinary life. You pointed out several intellectual achievements from western monks, and we've seen mind-blowing physical achievements from Chinese monks. We waste so much time and energy with socializing, working, farming, and whatever else is a part of ordinary life, that we don't have a lot left for other pursuits. I know that I had a million great ideas when I was unemployed, but never had the money to pursue them. Now that I have the money, I don't have any of the ideas or creativity because I spend all my mental energy at work.

I've always thought it was so neat that all academics spoke Latin in the past, and they could communicate with other academics from other countries without issue. I suppose now they all speak English, but that leaves the English speaking academics without a bad ass second language to distinguish them. One of the coolest scenes in Tombstone is when Jonny Ringo says something in Latin to Doc Holiday and Doc says to his girlfriend "That's Latin darling, apparently Ringo is an educated man", and then they talk shit to each other in Latin for a couple minutes.