text: I had very close friend who was 25 years a cloistered Carmelite. It was, for her, a prison-like existence.  Like under house arrest. More mildly, a greenhouse existence.  Of course, young women agreed to these conditions without realizing their extent until caught in the life.  Analogously, seminarians, young and dumb, agreed to celibacy without knowing its implications. Sequestration from "the world" is part of a virus in Roman Catholicism & Orthodoxy, like a multitude of cults whose members are restricted from freely, uninhibitedly contacting "the world."  There are control mechanisms that restrict personal freedom to decide. Even prisoners often had more contact with family members than cloistered and non cloistered religious. The sick theology was a literal interpretation of Luke 14:26.