“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 ...
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, ...
Monasticism: “putting one’s central energy into a life that revolves around awakening.”
From Benedict’s Dharma: What are sometimes called “lay monasticism” and “householder practice” are certainly not new, but as vehicles of awakening they are “really a big experiment,” as Joseph Goldstein said. “At a conference some months ago I met a psychiatrist, a very busy guy, who told me that in the last twenty years not ...
NaNoWriMo: A Self-Guided Artmonk Retreat
I’m 5,000 words into writing 50,000 words of novel for NaNoWriMo—National Novel Writing Month. What appealed to me about NaNoWriMo (enough to clear out my schedule a bit and make the commitment), and what I believe appeals to many of the 172, 000 participants who will make some kind of attempt to complete a 50,000-word novel ...
Khyentse Rinpoche’s advice to teenagers: Discipline & Depression
On discipline and depression: OK. One last word. Now, I hate to use the word discipline. The trouble is this is the one thing that you dont want to hear, discipline … But even to make a cappuccino, you need a discipline … you need a discipline, of course. Skateboarding, all these things, they all ...
Chapter 6 of Augustine’s Rule
Starting on October 2nd, I’ll be doing a Jesuit retreat on the Rule of Augustine (which I’ve written about here: “Up to our necks in Augustine”). Each day, I’ll read 1 of the 8 chapters of the Rule of Augustine: Chapter VI Asking Pardon and Forgiving OffensesStarting on October 2nd, I’ll be doing a Jesuit retreat on ...
Intrapreneur’s Ten Commandments
[Part of the Daily Lectio series, named after the Benedictine tradition of lectio divina, "divine reading." For instructions and background on the series, click here. Subscribe to Daily Lectio. Send comments or suggested readings to nathan@artmonastery.org] Gifford Pinchot III is one of the co-founders of the Bainbridge Graduate Institute, where I went for an MBA in Sustainable Community Economic ...
General Advice on Retreats
[Part of the Daily Lectio series, named after the Benedictine tradition of lectio divina, "divine reading." For instructions and background on the series, click here. Subscribe to Daily Lectio. Send comments or suggested readings to nathan@artmonastery.org] Whether Buddhism is compelling to you or not, Daniel Ingram’s Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha is a down-to-earth, in-depth outline of some ...
Up to our necks in Augustine
On Saturday the Art Monastery, a community of artists from a wide range of spiritual traditions working to apply the tools of monasticism to art-making instead of religion, will embark on a 7-day silent retreat in the Jesuit tradition, in which the primary form of activity (and inactivity) will be to read the Rule of ...
A Users Guide to Lectio Divina, or How to Feast on Words
I’ve been sending out daily readings on monasticism to a handful of artmonks at the Art Monastery. Why not post them here too? Hence, I’ll be posting readings from a variety of traditions and sources, along with commentary from a secular monastic, art monastic or “monastech” perspective, as a new series of blog posts called Daily ...
