Benedict’s “Conversatio Morum”, Ezra Pound’s “Make it new” & Confucius’s “日日新”
I discussed the panoply of translations of Benedict’s vow Conversatio Morum. I wonder if the intent of Coversatio Morum, is similar to the Confucian 茍日新，日日新，又日新. “If you renew yourself for one day, you can renew yourself daily, and continue to do so.” [1. “The Great Learning 大學”, Translated by A. Charles Muller] Ezra Pound fixated […]
All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well
Speaking of the inner life of nuns… Most of the scholars I’ve met who study Western monasticism are also hardcore medievalists, and some of them would fit well into All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be a well, the first novel by Tod Wodicka. The description from GoodReads: […]
Separateness: “Outdoors and Out of Reach, Studying the Brain” (NYtimes)
In a recent New York Times article, “Outdoors and Out of Reach, Studying the Brain,” a reporter followed a group of brain scientists as they went out into nature to experience first-hand what being separated from technology does to our brains. This plays into one of the Elements of Monasticism that I’ll be exploring here: […]
The Elements (part 1): Conversatio Morum » “Conversion of Life”
[This series of posts, “The Elements of Monasticism” asks the question, what exactly is monasticism? The first three Elements are from the Catholic Benedictine tradition: Conversatio Morum, Stabilitas Loci, and Obedientia.] Conversatio Morum (or Convertio Morum) is interpreted variously: from merely “to live the Benedictine form of the cenobitic life” / “fidelity to the monastic life,” to […]
Baroque nun’s music
Last night I watched my fiancé Phoebe sing with Cappella Artemisia in St. Elizabeth Cathedral in Wrocław, Poland. Cappella Artemisia performs music by/for 16th-17th century Italian nuns. Cappella Artemisia is an ensemble of voices and instruments which attempts to provide some answers to an intriguing mystery. Throughout the late 16th and 17th centuries, the chronicles […]
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 […]
Guest Post by Naomi & Andrew: First week in Italy
Among the artmonks-in-residence in Labro this summer are Andrew Pulkrabek, a fantastic bassist & beatboxer, and Naomi Hummel, a fabulous dancer & aerialist. They’ll be sharing their adventures over at their new blog. Read their first post here: –––––––––––—————————————— First week in Italy Hello friends! We have survived our first week at the Art Monastery, […]
Art Monastery Spring Newsletter
The Fall and Winter of 2009 held great progress for the Art Monastery Project: the first Artmonk Retreat, the Burning Opera, and articles in Classical SingerMagazine, Lonely Planet Tuscany&Umbria. WILD SUCCESS OF THE FIRST ARTMONK RETREAT The first week in January 2010 we held the first Artmonk Retreat (pictured above) at the Integratron in the magical Mojave Desert […]
Put your miles to work for art!
Are you one of those intercontinental travelers with thousands of frequent flyer miles just waiting to be spent? At the same time, are you starting to feel a little guilty because your company measures its carbon footprint in megatons? Yet you can’t just let all those frequent flyer miles go to waste. You might say […]
Limoncello
Over at her new blog, “La Fermata”, Brittney Williams talks about making limoncello with lemons from the Casale Santa Brigida, our guesthouse in Umbria. If it’s anything like what she made last year, we’ll have a hard time keeping our hands off. She even lets us in on her recipe! Lemons + a cello = […]
