The Uncloistered Monk

"Love all the earth, every ray of God's light, every grain of sand or blade of grass, every living thing. If you love the earth enough, you will know the Divine mystery."

(The monk on his death bed from The Brothers Karamozov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky)

On his death bed, the monk talks about what he learned through living a spiritual life. It was about love. Not that it is easy. It is about opening your heart and paying attention.

I wonder if it is easier to do that living in a monastery, not that I am inclined to do that, but I wonder.

"It is not an easy task, but a most rewarding one, to bless the marketplace with a contemplative presence. It seems to me that the life of work and prayer is not only possible, but greatly enhanced by standing firm in the real world with one's being anchored solidly in the Ultimate Reality. It is the harmony of the universe that echoes in the heart of the 'new monk' who works and prays, lives and loves, re-creates and recreates in the center of the present world. The mystical monastery is the whole of society; the marketplace is one of its cloisters. The Holy Rule of the New Monk is the solid perspective of the spiritual practice embraced."

~Theresa Mancuso from A Monastic Life