Simeon the Stylite separated himself from sinful society by choosing to live at the top of a narrow pillar many stories high. He spent thirty-seven years living at the top of various pillars as a sign of devotion. Other monks became jealous of Simeon's religious devotion, so they began building their own pillars to live on. Soon, pillar-sitting became a full-blown competition.

Agnes de Rochier was a nun who lived in the 1400s. At the age of eighteen, she asked to be entombed in a cell inside a church. Workmen built a brick cell around Agnes' body, leaving only a small opening through which Agnes could breathe, hear the prayers and Masses performed, and receive food. She lived eighty years inside this self-imposed prison. Instead of going out into the world to minister to others and to share the good news of Christ, people like Simeon and Agnes spent their lives in this absurd, self-contained state of supposed devotion. There are still people today who believe that the Christian life is one of rules and regulations, rather than transformed living.