…become like little children…
I’m always on the look out for secular and artful pieces of contemplative wisdom. Here’s one (which I stumbled upon here), from a young adult novel called Looking For Alaska. When adults say, “Teenagers think they are invincible” with that sly, stupid smile on their faces, they don’t know how right they are. We need ...
“the simple way” » 12 Marks of New Monasticism
Through a google alert pointing me to this article, I just stumbled on The Simple Way, “a community in inner-city Philadelphia that has helped birth and connect radical faith communities around the world.” I am looking forward to exploring more. But first, I love this clear exposition of their values (how many elements of monasticism can you ...
NY man sues Minn. monastery, alleging clergy abuse – WSJ.com
ST. PAUL, Minn. — A New York man filed a lawsuit Tuesday alleging that he was sexually abused at a Bronx church in the 1960s by a priest who went on to become abbot of a Minnesota monastery and helped found an institute to deal with the problem of clergy sexual abuse. via NY ...
Economies of Merit
In many monastic and religious traditions, ethical and spiritual “merit” gets traded like a commodity.1 Nuns and monks agree to live a certain way, abiding by a certain kind of behavior (which their society has deemed the most virtuous or ethical), and in exchange they don’t have to earn their own money to stay alive, ...
Celibacy: the View of a Zen Monk from Japan
A zen precedent for married monks, from Celibacy: the View of a Zen Monk from Japan: Examples of the marriage of monks in Japan can be found as early as the Heian period (794-1185). Moreover, beginning from the time of Shinran (1173-1262) and Ippen (1239-1289), who were known as hijiri, or wandering mendicants, there are many examples ...
Linguistic Monasticism
How important is the distinction between female and male monastics historically? Linguistically? In terms of a contemporary movement of secular monastics? Historically, no profession is as defined by splitting men from women as monasticism. In fact, it’s written into the DNA—the monastic rules and vows—of most orders that for the process to succeed, monks (or bhikkhus) ...
Links for August 29th 2010
Monos, “a non profit organization that is concerned with the current engagement between monastic culture, spirituality and contemporary society,” “an attempt to offer a facility for the on-going dialogue between monastic spirituality, society, culture and church, and to begin to ask serious questions concerning the relationship between Secular Monasticism, Church and society, both historically and ...
Female Artmonks vs. Artnuns
My monastic community, the Art Monastery in Labro, Italy is open to people of all religious beliefs, races, ethnicities, ages, genders, sexes, creeds, sexual orientations, financial situations and contemplative experience levels. We’re men and women, and we call ourselves “artmonks.” Occasionally, we wonder if that’s what we should really call ourselves, and the conversation always ...
Getting the questions right
Examples of the secular world learning from the world’s ancient contemplative and spiritual traditions abound. Neuroscientists, psychologists, doctors, cognitive scientists and cosmologists are learning from inner technologies of meditation and contemplative practice. But what of the outer, visible, measurable technologies of those traditions? How are we learning from those technologies that fit into what is ...
