Jean-Paul Surin (b. 1946). Seaside, Cotes d'Armor, Brittany.
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“As a mystical practice, meditation has always been a primarily masculine discipline. One of the most interesting speculations on its origins, suggests that it evolved from hunting behaviors—the need for radical stillness and silence, for focused awareness, and for the pinpoint readiness to act, when the moment was precisely right. Bead practices, on the other hand, seem to have evolved from the gathering behaviors of women, as they collected seeds, nuts, and berries. If the hunter is quiet and concentrated, the gatherer is a multi-tasker—chattering, muttering, moving about, and communing with others. Legions of grandmothers have wrapped their rosaries around their wrists, sneaking in a prayer or two, between the dishes, and the laundry. Children can be tended, old people cared for, and the carrots chopped for dinner, all while staying in conversation with the Lady.”
— Clark Strand, Perdita Finn, The Way of the Rose: The Radical Path of the Divine Feminine, Hidden in the Rosary