“The End of Your World” and Other Resources
I’m adding a few more books to the resources section. First, a new section, on Vigils & the Monastic Cycle: Art & Death, by Chris Townsend Each of the following books represents a unique take on awakening, a broad term that factors in our vision statement: “The Art Monastery Project is dedicated to cultivating personal awakening and cultural ...
Vigils: Intimacy with the Void
The title of poet Paul Celan’s 1967 collection, Atemwende (in English: Breathturn), suggests that mysterious moment at the end of the out-breath and the beginning of the in-breath. What happens in that gap is… a gap. It permits no concepts (not even “emptiness”) and yet, ineffably, is a part of the fullness of human experience. The breathturn has its ...
Thomas Merton: “Contemplation cannot construct a new world by itself” cannot construct a new world by itself”
Thomas Merton, in the introduction to the Spanish language edition to his complete works: Contemplation cannot construct a new world by itself. Contemplation does not feed the hungry; it does not clothe the naked… and it does not return the sinner to peace, truth, and union with God. But without contemplation we cannot see what ...
“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 ...
Alan Wallace on DharmaCafe.com: Renunciation as Emergence Out of X and Towards Y
In this excellent interview from dharmacafe.com (via @c4chaos), Alan Wallace says that what often gets translated from Buddhist texts as “renunciation” is something closer to “emergence,” as in when we emerge from childish strategies that don’t work toward something more authentic and fulfilling. It’s more than a radical disillusionment, like Sartre or Camus… They’re renouncing something, ...
5/5/11 in Berkeley: “Artmonk Sangha: the Bay Area’s Ritual Laboratory for Artmonks”
Based on practices that we have been developing at the January 2010 & 2011 Artmonk Retreats in the Mojave Desert, these weekly (or semi-weekly) meetups will provide an opportunity for anyone in the Bay Area who is interested to explore the path of the artmonk. DEFINITIONS: “Artmonk”: someone who dwells (alone or in community) at ...
Seeking iPad app developer for Touchsight
I’m looking for a partner who can help me make this idea a reality. If someone is willing to do the bulk of the coding, I’m happy to give them the bulk of the profit (should there be any!). The rest will go to making another dream happen. Contact nathan@artmonastery.org
Contemplating Second Life
It’s been years since I stopped into Second Life, but here are a few spots for contemplatively inclined avatars: Saint Francis Church and Monastery “Saint Francis Church and Monastery offers a serene and quiet location perfect for personal reflection, meditation, prayer, or a religious service. Enjoy the stunning beauty of this tranquil island and take ...
Immanence
I’m heading off the grid for a week, but I really look forward to giving this more attention when I get back: ”artmonks: children of Thoreau & Whitehead,” a post by Adrian Ivakhiv. If Thoreau’s quest to “live deliberately ... and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived” were cross-bred with ...
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, ...
