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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Creating an Art Monastery
Living in intentional community is not for everyone—the idea triggers an autoimmune response in some people, for whom it might signify the sacrifice of personal autonomy and individuality—but once you develop a taste for the stuff, it doesn’t fade. I unabashedly love it.
Since I began this blog-inquiry into monasticism just six months ago, dissecting Taoism, Vedanta, Eastern and Western Christianity, as well as the various vehicles of Buddhism into what I have called the elements of monasticism, community is an element I haven’t written about directly much at all. Yet it figures in my mind as an important piece of what all monasticisms are aiming at. For those individuals who dwell in abbeys, ashrams, friaries, priories, sketes, lavras, mathas, mandirs, koils, gompas, lamaseries, wats, viharas, community is a powerful spiritual practice.
So we’re making a monastery.Living in intentional community is not for everyone—the idea triggers an autoimmune response in some people, for whom it might signify the sacrifice of personal autonomy and individuality—but once you develop a taste for the stuff, it doesn’t fade. I unabashedly love it.
Since I began this blog-inquiry into monasticism just six months ago, dissecting Taoism, Vedanta, Eastern and Western Christianity, as well as the various vehicles of Buddhism into what I have called the elements of monasticism, community is an element I haven’t written about directly much at all. Yet it figures in my mind as an important piece of what all monasticisms are aiming at. For those individuals who dwell in abbeys, ashrams, friaries, priories, sketes, lavras, mathas, mandirs, koils, gompas, lamaseries, wats, viharas, community is a powerful spiritual practice.
So we’re making a monastery.
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, ...
Disrobing “Big Mind”
I don’t know what kind of monk Genpo Roshi actually intended to be, but his recent disrobing brings up some good issues around a few of the elements of monasticism I’ve been writing about. Celibacy & Sexuality (can monks be sexually active? how ’bout unfaithfully so? polyamorous?) Vows (where do marriage vows and monastic vows overlap?) Hierarchy ...
Rohan Gunatillake on the Social Life of Meditation
I just came across this video on the “Social life of Meditation” from Rohan Gunatillake of 21awake.com and the Here & Now Project. After wrapping up a series of posts on monastic separateness and engagement a few days ago, it’s great to see these issues confronted from a different perspective. Rohan identifies “four major ways in which meditation is ...
Announcing 10 Artmonk chapters. Are you an artmonk?
Apropos of my recent posts on activism and monasticism, and the fact that I’ll be working on developing the San Francisco chapter, I repost this, written by the Labro artmonks: The Art Monastery Project has launched Artmonk chapters in the following 10 cities: Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Reno, Bloomington, Indiana, Chicago, Buffalo, New York City. If you are an Artmonk ...
Monastic Separateness & Engagement (part 4): a Challenge
[This series of posts, "The Elements of Monasticism" asks the question, what exactly is monasticism? "Separateness & Engagement" will unfold in a series of 4 posts (links: 1, 2, 3, 4).] Looking back at some of the questions I asked in part 1, the assumptions I unpacked in part 2, and the different perspectives I explored in part 3, here’s a 10-part ...
