“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 […]
Otherhood, the Podcast: Episode 1, Christine Valters Paintner and “The Artist’s Rule”
Meet Otherhood, the Podcast. In this, the first episode, I interview Christine Valters Paintner about her new book (the Artist’s Rule: Nurturing Your Creative Soul With Monastic Wisdom), the oblate life, and what it means to be both an artist and a monk. BTW, we’re giving away a free copy of the Artist’s Rule to […]
Tolle on Collective Egos vs. Enlightened Collectives
How have the various monastic traditions embodied the two possibilities that Tolle writes about below? “How hard is it to live with yourself? One of the ways in which the ego attempts to escape the unsatisfactoriness of personal self hood is to enlarge and strengthen its sense of self by identifying with a group—a nation, […]
The First Robot Was a Monk*
Check out Radiolab’s fascinating piece on the miraculous sixteenth-century creation of a clockwork automaton of a Franciscan. *Actually, this monk robot is but an “early and very rare example of a self-acting automaton.” Please excuse the hyperbole.
Peter Zumthor is an artmonk (don’t tell him, though)
Two things to notice in this Guardian profile of artmonkish architect Peter Zumthor: 1) what it takes to be called a monk by the architecture world, and 2) that it’s an insult, synonymous with “otherworldly” and “arrogant.” You would be wise not to call Peter Zumthor a monk. He may be white-bearded and dark-clad and […]
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, […]
The force of gravity
A new job and a series of events more art than monk have kept me from posting much here lately. There will be time soon, I hope, for more of the interviews, reviews, articles, and other things that give modest life to this project. For now, something from Jerzy Grotowski, whose work attracts me more […]
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 […]
Coming soon: “The Artists Rule: Nurturing Your Creative Soul with Monastic Wisdom”
From the author of the Monk Manifesto, Christine Valters Paintner. Pre-order yours today. Amazon.com: The Artists Rule: Nurturing Your Creative Soul with Monastic Wisdom 9781933495293: Christine Valters Paintner: Books
Monks for life? « Madhushala
Madhushala asks about the length and permanence of monastic vows in different traditions, and gets some interesting responses: Monks for life? There was a discussion on Twitter recently about the topic of monks disrobing. It is commonly thought that once monastic vows are taken they are for life. I did not think this was so as pretty […]
