Ryeberg's video: Ryeberg Home Movie: Vespers S nanque Abbey Gordes

The Order of Cistercians dates back to the eleventh century, when a group of Benedictine monks and nuns broke away to more strictly observe the Rule of St Benedict (the 516 book of precepts for monks living communally under the authority of an abbot, as set down by set down by Benedict of Nursia). In other words, the monks wanted to return to an earlier time of austere self-abnegation and self-sufficiency—poverty, silence, isolation, manual labour, frugal meals, uncomfortable cells to sleep in. Vespers, when the evening light illuminates the stained-glass windows, and the men can sing in harmony, is the sensual explosion of the day. Here Ryeberg is within the darkness of the 12th-century Sénanque Abbey, down in a valley next to the Sénancole River, not far from the hilltop, Provencal town of Gordes. The dozen or so monks of Sénanque grow lavender and make honey and welcome tourists, and that is their livelihood. Visit http://www.ryeberg.com Ryeberg publishes good essays about YouTube videos. It's a video "show and tell" for writers and artists.