Letter 1.33

…As for music - yes, I sometimes miss it, but of course, one can't have everything (anything?). It may be of interest to you, by the way, that one of the more important reasons that led to my taking robes was my reaction to hearing a performance of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Walter Poole, playing Shostakovitch's Symphony #5. I didn't know its significance at the time, but the memory of it has never left me… As for your offer of insect spray – well… I have vows, both public and private, and in some ways of many years standing, against killing - and yes, included are insects as part of the monastic vows…