A couple years ago I was introduced to Bayo Akomolafe who, among other things discusses post-activism. “What if the way we respond to crisis is part of the crisis?” is one of his questions for contemplation. This, after considering Charles Eisensteins’ invitation to move away from solutionism was/is seductive. It feels ‘right’.
However, it is only recently that I have actually begun to take up that invitation and disengage from the endless commentary and analysis towards contemplation and prayer. Towards engaging with ancestors. Towards responding to requests for prayers on behalf of those in need. Towards finding the joy in the life I have right now - even in the things that have not turned out the way I would have hoped.
As I mentioned in another substack comment to you Jack, there is something emerging from this, though I know not what it is, and I dare not attempt to presupposes what it is, lest I distort its creation and shape and miss its true power in my life. My feeling is that it won’t emerge from devouring more information but during my immersion in the here and now of life.
Micah- This is well and beautifully said. It is a topic that comes up in discussion with the monks here. I had a good one today right before the noonday meal. There may or may not be some grand awakening, but there is a subtle shift happening. This is my gut feeling, as well, and it seems right.
There is a deeper and more attuned response to the meta-crisis other than diving into it and thinking we can fix it. We can learn to be still. This is the more disciplined and compassionate response. Though we are primed to think we need to *do something*. If something needs to be done I believe we will see it more clearly in contemplation than in our endless information consumption.
Thank you for being part of this discussion. Be well. -Jack
“Instead, we have become increasingly technocratic, and obsessed with control.”
Technology aside, even in our personal lives we need to be careful with control. There’s a clenching, grasping element within, partly instinctive, partly interwoven with how we talk to ourselves and others, that seems to struggle for control, and gets frustrated when we don’t have it. Living with less control over things, even no control, is an act of faith and deep trust. When I’ve been able to do this, which is not nearly as much as I’d like, I feel a unique sort of peace; nothing mystical, but definitely peaceful and more open.
Peter- This is a central insight, I think. It is something that I have been grappling with lately. It is completely at odds with our current civilization to say, but there is a peace that comes with admitting one is completely powerless. And in that, one might begin to actually let things be done rather than hindering them with our needless interference.
There is a saying in the martial arts that, "it's the reply that usually causes the fight". I think we all have met people who are inexplicably peaceful at their core. They are rare, but they can change the atmosphere around them without doing anything. Or as Seraphim of Sarov put it, "acquire inner peace and thousands around you will be saved".
Not pesky at all. And again you've caught me in a bit of hedging. This is always appreciated! I also wonder whether civilization is necessarily synonymous with the will to power. In fact, I don't really wonder, it is clear that it is.
Naomi- Thank you. And thank you for being a part of the discussion here.
I am well. Autumn is almost done and winter is starting to show up here. Which means I get to use the woodburning stove! I have never done a winter at quite this altitude. I am not sure what to expect. We shall see.
I hope all is well with you and your family. -Jack
Jack, I'm so happy to have discovered your substack. Although I am about half your age, I have come to many of your conclusions as I see the insanity of modern life especially played out living in a big city for the past 3 years. Your last Taoist quotation, and your theme brings to mind a saying from Fr. Richard Rohr, "One cannot resolve a conflict with the same level of consciousness that got you into it in the first place." Using more of our technological muscle to try and resolve the problems that techne has gotten us into in the first place is lunacy, if not outright diabolical. I fear that if we don't change, our world will face its very own Butlerian Jihad. Beyond that, however, I believe you are spot on. The contemplative mind is the salvific mind is the mind of Christ that will light the way out of the darkness we find ourselves in precisely because it is "no-mind." It is the mind of the emptiness and ineffable Eternal Mystery we call God.
Eduardo- It is very good to hear from you. Thank you for being part of the conversation here. There is a monk here at the monastery who is probably around your age and we have good discussions on this topic. It gives me hope. I think there is something of a small awakening happening. And though I kind of understood intellectually when I was younger I had a more difficult time putting it into practice. Maybe in part because it didn't seem quite so urgent to me at the time--a mistake in retrospect. That has changed and think the current crisis offers us an opportunity to start putting this understanding into practice in deeper ways.
I had to look up "Butlerian Jihad". I haven't read the Dune books. How do you see this possibility unfolding? I am curious.
I appreciate you taking the time to offer a thoughtful response. The Jihad, begins after a "thinking machine" working in a hospital calculates that it is "better" to abort a woman's unborn child. We already see AI functionally running the economy in the stock market and that only increasing at an exponential rate since faster thinking machines making trades a fraction of a second faster than the competition is more profitable. Soon these massive global capitalist markets won't even be run by people. It will be tweeked by a programmer to be more efficient more blindingly fast, and more dehumanizing (I believe it was Jung who said hurry is the devil). I think as self-learning machines become more ubiquitous, and if we do not seriously sit down to have these conversations about the ethics of machine learning and their involvement in human industry, I think we will follow a similar course. The outcome is likely to be bloody.
This is interesting. It is the ability to squeeze out nanometric advantages that seems to gain an exponential increase in power, profit, prestige (and pleasure--the 4 p's). I think you are right in your concern. Yet since the ruling class holds the cards it will be very difficult to get them to stop. In a very real way they know where their actions are taking us. It is a game of chicken. The only way to win is to keep driving straight into the oncoming disaster. Whoever swerves loses and becomes the dominated--this is unacceptable. As Thucydides put it, "the strong do what they can, the weak suffer what they must." It is that simple of a game however complex it has obviously become in strategy.
We can see this playing out in many spheres at the moment. The deeper issue is the human will to power and whether it can be dismantled. A very open question. Those in the system--like all of us-- have the means, but not necessarily the understanding.
Have you ever read A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller?
As David Bentley Hart rightly observed, the end-point of industrial capitalism (and the later Marx in Das Kapital for that matter as well) is a handful of ultra wealthy elites totally isolated from the wasteland they have helped create. Why are Musk, Bezos, et.al. so interested in flying to Mars and starting a colony there? They most certainly do not care about normal people, and if we colonize the cosmos it will simply offer more opportunities for industrialists to keep flying unflinchingly towards the cliff of societal and ecological cataclysm. Because at the end of the day they'll be able to take-off into the stars leaving the smoking wreck of our planet in the rear-view.
Our salvation is, as you have rightly stated, the contemplative mind. The non-dual mind that can see deeply and sees human connection, community, transcendental values, and simplicity as being of far higher value than the conveniences of our modern technological web. To walk away from the never-ending cycle of human commodification that our post-modern world revels and functions off of. Of course, a base Ludditism isn't the answer. Rather, I think we can look to the amish (and monastics of course) in their understanding of how to incorporate technology into their communities. Their view is not that technology is bad, but that any new technology can only be introduced into the community if and only if it is understood how it will be used by the community for the community. Therefore, local amish communities come to different understandings of what is acceptable for their community or not, hence the wide range of "high" and "low" amish that exist.
Well said, and I have little to add. Only that it is clear that technology is not neutral in that it necessarily has inherent goals built into it. And it has, as you say, social and personal consequences. An appropriate and limited technology would have to take into account an entirely different set of goals. Those goals being community, the integrity of nature, and the contemplative nature of the human aspiration to the Divine. Any technology that inhibits these goals would need to be rejected outright any that furthered these goals might be tentatively adopted.
Of course, here we are typing away on one of the most disruptive forms of technology one that has proven to be destructive to community and even personal sanity.
This is again where I see the drive for power as the central issue. How can humans resist the temptation to use a technology designed to enhance power? Not only use it but use it against those we don't like, or have possession of something we want, but stop using it at all. We throw thieves and robbers into jail. We create magnificent civilizations doing the same thing just on a larger scale. Of course this has all been pointed out by perennial wisdom throughout the ages. It just takes a few to not listen for the whole thing to go on endlessly.
We may be now facing the very impossibility of continuing to do indulge this behavior without destroying ourselves. Hence, the quote from William Carlos Williams at the beginning of the post. The Desert Music was written, as I recall, after the testing of a nuclear weapon in the desert Southwest. Also, a fine piece of music by Steve Reich.
I think this is the great question we will have to answer and not merely intellectually. Can we really live differently? Honestly, I don't really know. Our track record does not inspire confidence. The fact that we point to Amish, however correctly, speaks to the paucity of those truly living an alternative.
But despair is not an option either. So we keep trying.
Mark- Beautiful poem and, I fear, all too apt for our times. I have been praying Lectio on Galatians 5 lately and it resonates with the Berry poem.
13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!
I stand by the statement that we must become contemplatives or perish. The fruits of the spirit, which are also, I think, the fruits of contemplation are the only antidote: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
either that or:
Those who will not learn
in plenty to keep their place
must learn it by their need
when they have had their way.
We've too long "had our way" and now we might see better where it has gotten us.
Eric- How were your travels and with the Meister in tow? I hope all went well.
Yes, there does seem to be this simultaneous overload and breakdown in the ability to express what is going on. Maybe we weren't really meant to have language for what is currently going on. The more we try the more we have to try and explain. It never ends!
Thank you for being part of the discussion here. I hope all is well.
Eric- Your comment on trees makes me think of a visit years ago to the redwoods in Northern California. As I recall, their range had already been greatly reduced. Even so, they were magnificent. Unbelievably large and steadfast. Primordial even. It is humbling to think how long it took for them to come into being and how long they had stood. And how quickly we could destroy them. But they still stand!
I am glad you have had good travels with friends and family and with the trees.
I have been dipping a bit into the Meister myself lately. Always good.
Yes, sequoias are something apart. We have a good number in New Zealand- ‘gift’ of the gold rush, miners moving here after the ‘49 rush died back. (Gold rushes never lasted long in one place, contrasting with the redwoods. Wendell Berry thought we out to seek to live life more at the pace of trees)
For myself it is that sense of Livingness, that we share which brings me deep joy in the presence of trees. One comes to understand how once upon a time folk considered them ‘spirit’ dwelt. (Tolkien and Lewis Understood trees)
Pardon me is I repeat myself but on our Section in Southern NZ we have 8 native beech with classic snake like root systems on the surface. I’ve preached several times on ‘The Tree of Life’ with these fabulous [lit.] trees in mind
I think that wonderful gift of Life apart from the animal kingdom is so precious
Thanks Jack for your insightful writing and giving us a peek at the contemplative life in the monastery where you reside! I must admit a twinge of jealousy since I feel somewhat trapped in that information overload which you wisely advise us to eschew! I have spent my last 2 “administrative “ days doing data entry into the electronic medical record to complete notes of patients’ I have examined recently. Thousands of “clicks” I need to complete to satisfy the demands of the healthcare system. I thoroughly enjoy interacting with my patients in person, but loathe the numerous hours I need to spend to document those gratifying encounters. And always the drumbeat from our superiors is for providers to become more “efficient.” When I applied to ophthalmology residency in the early 90’s I included in my personal essay a quote from Milton’s “On His Blindness” which concluded that “they also serve who only stand and wait.” Your quote from Magister Liu was spot on! And btw, I have a plaque of Galatians 5:22-23 on a wall in my foyer! Keep inspiring us Jack! Blessings, Melanie
Melanie- Thank you for your kind words. I have read those with far more wisdom than I will ever have who say it doesn't matter if you are at a monastery or not. Meister Eckhart, among others, says so, and I don't doubt this is true. But from my small vantage, it doesn't seem so simple. The monks here have said to me, that if the Church is a hospital, a monastery is the intensive care ward. This seems right to me.
For example, monasteries are quite frequently in remote and beautiful locations. This alone is helpful, if for nothing else than it is often silent and largely free of worldly distractions. It is simply far easier to focus one's attention on what is most important (though distractions, alas, are always available if one wants it, regardless of location). Guests who come to stay here remark on this within the first few minutes of their arrival. It is unmistakable.
There is also the sense that places of prayer become a kind of deep well of grace and healing. Something that others can tap into. It certainly seems that way. There can be a kind of cumulative effect of contributing to the prayerfulness of certain places. I am hardly alone in noticing this.
So, I will gently encourage you or anyone so inclined to visit a monastery. I think it will be clear from the very beginning if any particular place is worth a longer visit, i.e., whether or not there is a peace there that surpasses understanding. If it seems off, it probably is.
I know that Benedictine monasteries are welcoming to anyone, regardless of tradition. But there are certainly other monastic traditions. Not only is this good for us in our reception and cultivation of the fruits of the spirit, but we non-monks can also bring it back to the world with us.
I wish I had done so earlier in my life than I have. Anyway, take all that for what it is worth.
Btw Jack, not directly relevant to this post, but have you listened to the music of Sigur Ros? They are an Icelandic band, and their music is in my view quite religious and completely mystical.
Particularly I would recommend their albums Takk and Valtari - very mystical and beautiful and moving.
I say this because I've enjoyed your recommendation of that desert music album, which was quite good.
But do check out Sigur Ros - they are remarkable, and the spiritual music of our time.
Benjamin- Have you listened to Polyphonic Spree? Not in the same class or depth as Sigur Ros, but similar in the heart opening hope, love and joy. Both operate in something beyond the dark spirit of the present age. I am listening to Valtari at the moment. Not without its own acknowledgement of darkness, at least so far. Thanks again for the recommend. -Jack
Benjamin- I have listened to Sigur Ros. And you are right, they are quite good. Though it's been a while maybe I should give a listen again. I had a disc someone burned for me, so I'm not sure what album it was.
For some reason I kind of categorized them in the same musical world as Radiohead, but the flipside. Where Radiohead tends towards a negative and almost fatalistic view of the world, Sigur Ros seems to be able transcend that into capital-J Joy!
I think we need to be able to do that as well. There is something "cool" about radiohead. It's almost as if they are about staring unflinchingly at the machine and describing what they see. Which may be where one needs to start. But it isn't enough. Stare into the abyss and all that...
Thank you Jack, much appreciated again.
A couple years ago I was introduced to Bayo Akomolafe who, among other things discusses post-activism. “What if the way we respond to crisis is part of the crisis?” is one of his questions for contemplation. This, after considering Charles Eisensteins’ invitation to move away from solutionism was/is seductive. It feels ‘right’.
However, it is only recently that I have actually begun to take up that invitation and disengage from the endless commentary and analysis towards contemplation and prayer. Towards engaging with ancestors. Towards responding to requests for prayers on behalf of those in need. Towards finding the joy in the life I have right now - even in the things that have not turned out the way I would have hoped.
As I mentioned in another substack comment to you Jack, there is something emerging from this, though I know not what it is, and I dare not attempt to presupposes what it is, lest I distort its creation and shape and miss its true power in my life. My feeling is that it won’t emerge from devouring more information but during my immersion in the here and now of life.
Be well,
Micah
Micah- This is well and beautifully said. It is a topic that comes up in discussion with the monks here. I had a good one today right before the noonday meal. There may or may not be some grand awakening, but there is a subtle shift happening. This is my gut feeling, as well, and it seems right.
There is a deeper and more attuned response to the meta-crisis other than diving into it and thinking we can fix it. We can learn to be still. This is the more disciplined and compassionate response. Though we are primed to think we need to *do something*. If something needs to be done I believe we will see it more clearly in contemplation than in our endless information consumption.
Thank you for being part of this discussion. Be well. -Jack
Beautifully articulated, Micah - thank you!
“Instead, we have become increasingly technocratic, and obsessed with control.”
Technology aside, even in our personal lives we need to be careful with control. There’s a clenching, grasping element within, partly instinctive, partly interwoven with how we talk to ourselves and others, that seems to struggle for control, and gets frustrated when we don’t have it. Living with less control over things, even no control, is an act of faith and deep trust. When I’ve been able to do this, which is not nearly as much as I’d like, I feel a unique sort of peace; nothing mystical, but definitely peaceful and more open.
Peter- This is a central insight, I think. It is something that I have been grappling with lately. It is completely at odds with our current civilization to say, but there is a peace that comes with admitting one is completely powerless. And in that, one might begin to actually let things be done rather than hindering them with our needless interference.
There is a saying in the martial arts that, "it's the reply that usually causes the fight". I think we all have met people who are inexplicably peaceful at their core. They are rare, but they can change the atmosphere around them without doing anything. Or as Seraphim of Sarov put it, "acquire inner peace and thousands around you will be saved".
Be well. -Jack
“It is completely at odds with our current civilization.”
Not to be a pesky contrarian, but the words “our current” are arguably unnecessary!
Not pesky at all. And again you've caught me in a bit of hedging. This is always appreciated! I also wonder whether civilization is necessarily synonymous with the will to power. In fact, I don't really wonder, it is clear that it is.
Ah, you’ve articulated the heart of what I was trying to say above. Thank you Peter.
Indeed. I think you both captured it well.
I nodded my head so much whilst reading this piece that my husband became interested in what I was reading! Spot on Jack. Hope you're well 🙏
Naomi- Thank you. And thank you for being a part of the discussion here.
I am well. Autumn is almost done and winter is starting to show up here. Which means I get to use the woodburning stove! I have never done a winter at quite this altitude. I am not sure what to expect. We shall see.
I hope all is well with you and your family. -Jack
Jack, I'm so happy to have discovered your substack. Although I am about half your age, I have come to many of your conclusions as I see the insanity of modern life especially played out living in a big city for the past 3 years. Your last Taoist quotation, and your theme brings to mind a saying from Fr. Richard Rohr, "One cannot resolve a conflict with the same level of consciousness that got you into it in the first place." Using more of our technological muscle to try and resolve the problems that techne has gotten us into in the first place is lunacy, if not outright diabolical. I fear that if we don't change, our world will face its very own Butlerian Jihad. Beyond that, however, I believe you are spot on. The contemplative mind is the salvific mind is the mind of Christ that will light the way out of the darkness we find ourselves in precisely because it is "no-mind." It is the mind of the emptiness and ineffable Eternal Mystery we call God.
Eduardo- It is very good to hear from you. Thank you for being part of the conversation here. There is a monk here at the monastery who is probably around your age and we have good discussions on this topic. It gives me hope. I think there is something of a small awakening happening. And though I kind of understood intellectually when I was younger I had a more difficult time putting it into practice. Maybe in part because it didn't seem quite so urgent to me at the time--a mistake in retrospect. That has changed and think the current crisis offers us an opportunity to start putting this understanding into practice in deeper ways.
I had to look up "Butlerian Jihad". I haven't read the Dune books. How do you see this possibility unfolding? I am curious.
I hope you are well. -Jack
I appreciate you taking the time to offer a thoughtful response. The Jihad, begins after a "thinking machine" working in a hospital calculates that it is "better" to abort a woman's unborn child. We already see AI functionally running the economy in the stock market and that only increasing at an exponential rate since faster thinking machines making trades a fraction of a second faster than the competition is more profitable. Soon these massive global capitalist markets won't even be run by people. It will be tweeked by a programmer to be more efficient more blindingly fast, and more dehumanizing (I believe it was Jung who said hurry is the devil). I think as self-learning machines become more ubiquitous, and if we do not seriously sit down to have these conversations about the ethics of machine learning and their involvement in human industry, I think we will follow a similar course. The outcome is likely to be bloody.
This is interesting. It is the ability to squeeze out nanometric advantages that seems to gain an exponential increase in power, profit, prestige (and pleasure--the 4 p's). I think you are right in your concern. Yet since the ruling class holds the cards it will be very difficult to get them to stop. In a very real way they know where their actions are taking us. It is a game of chicken. The only way to win is to keep driving straight into the oncoming disaster. Whoever swerves loses and becomes the dominated--this is unacceptable. As Thucydides put it, "the strong do what they can, the weak suffer what they must." It is that simple of a game however complex it has obviously become in strategy.
We can see this playing out in many spheres at the moment. The deeper issue is the human will to power and whether it can be dismantled. A very open question. Those in the system--like all of us-- have the means, but not necessarily the understanding.
Have you ever read A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller?
-Jack
As David Bentley Hart rightly observed, the end-point of industrial capitalism (and the later Marx in Das Kapital for that matter as well) is a handful of ultra wealthy elites totally isolated from the wasteland they have helped create. Why are Musk, Bezos, et.al. so interested in flying to Mars and starting a colony there? They most certainly do not care about normal people, and if we colonize the cosmos it will simply offer more opportunities for industrialists to keep flying unflinchingly towards the cliff of societal and ecological cataclysm. Because at the end of the day they'll be able to take-off into the stars leaving the smoking wreck of our planet in the rear-view.
Our salvation is, as you have rightly stated, the contemplative mind. The non-dual mind that can see deeply and sees human connection, community, transcendental values, and simplicity as being of far higher value than the conveniences of our modern technological web. To walk away from the never-ending cycle of human commodification that our post-modern world revels and functions off of. Of course, a base Ludditism isn't the answer. Rather, I think we can look to the amish (and monastics of course) in their understanding of how to incorporate technology into their communities. Their view is not that technology is bad, but that any new technology can only be introduced into the community if and only if it is understood how it will be used by the community for the community. Therefore, local amish communities come to different understandings of what is acceptable for their community or not, hence the wide range of "high" and "low" amish that exist.
And I have not read it! I'll add it to the list.
Well said, and I have little to add. Only that it is clear that technology is not neutral in that it necessarily has inherent goals built into it. And it has, as you say, social and personal consequences. An appropriate and limited technology would have to take into account an entirely different set of goals. Those goals being community, the integrity of nature, and the contemplative nature of the human aspiration to the Divine. Any technology that inhibits these goals would need to be rejected outright any that furthered these goals might be tentatively adopted.
Of course, here we are typing away on one of the most disruptive forms of technology one that has proven to be destructive to community and even personal sanity.
This is again where I see the drive for power as the central issue. How can humans resist the temptation to use a technology designed to enhance power? Not only use it but use it against those we don't like, or have possession of something we want, but stop using it at all. We throw thieves and robbers into jail. We create magnificent civilizations doing the same thing just on a larger scale. Of course this has all been pointed out by perennial wisdom throughout the ages. It just takes a few to not listen for the whole thing to go on endlessly.
We may be now facing the very impossibility of continuing to do indulge this behavior without destroying ourselves. Hence, the quote from William Carlos Williams at the beginning of the post. The Desert Music was written, as I recall, after the testing of a nuclear weapon in the desert Southwest. Also, a fine piece of music by Steve Reich.
I think this is the great question we will have to answer and not merely intellectually. Can we really live differently? Honestly, I don't really know. Our track record does not inspire confidence. The fact that we point to Amish, however correctly, speaks to the paucity of those truly living an alternative.
But despair is not an option either. So we keep trying.
-Jack
Jack,
Thank you for this reflection and update.
A prayer from Wendell Berry came to mind reading your reflection here (and the Williams Carlos Williams quote):
We who prayed and wept
for liberty from kings
and the yoke of liberty
accept the tyranny of things
we do not need.
In plenitude too free,
we have become adept
beneath the yoke of greed.
Those who will not learn
in plenty to keep their place
must learn it by their need
when they have had their way
and the fields spurn their seed.
We have failed Thy grace.
Lord, I flinch and pray,
send Thy necessity.
It strikes me that Berry wrote this in the early 1980s. 40 years later, it appears his prayer is being answered.
Mark- Beautiful poem and, I fear, all too apt for our times. I have been praying Lectio on Galatians 5 lately and it resonates with the Berry poem.
13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!
I stand by the statement that we must become contemplatives or perish. The fruits of the spirit, which are also, I think, the fruits of contemplation are the only antidote: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
either that or:
Those who will not learn
in plenty to keep their place
must learn it by their need
when they have had their way.
We've too long "had our way" and now we might see better where it has gotten us.
Thank you again for the poem. -Jack
Hi Jack
Thanks for this
Really resonates
Thanks for disciplining yourself re waiting for the right words
Funnily enough I am involved at this moment in an online chat where a friend said
‘Confused conversation is standard. . . Babel?’
My sense is that words not birthed in contemplation are simply wind
And it’s blowing a gale at present
Slow words and few
God bless you
I hope you are well
Blessings
Eric
Eric- How were your travels and with the Meister in tow? I hope all went well.
Yes, there does seem to be this simultaneous overload and breakdown in the ability to express what is going on. Maybe we weren't really meant to have language for what is currently going on. The more we try the more we have to try and explain. It never ends!
Thank you for being part of the discussion here. I hope all is well.
-Jack
Thanks Jack
My travels are drawing to an end
Conversation with the Meister will have to wait as there’s been much conversation with family and old friends :)
But it has clarified much for me, not least through the gift of time with the trees in my native England
Trees seem to me to be the last contemplatives
Rooted in life giving silence
Reaching towards the heavens
Blessings
Eric
Eric- Your comment on trees makes me think of a visit years ago to the redwoods in Northern California. As I recall, their range had already been greatly reduced. Even so, they were magnificent. Unbelievably large and steadfast. Primordial even. It is humbling to think how long it took for them to come into being and how long they had stood. And how quickly we could destroy them. But they still stand!
I am glad you have had good travels with friends and family and with the trees.
I have been dipping a bit into the Meister myself lately. Always good.
Safe travels to you.
-Jack
Yes, sequoias are something apart. We have a good number in New Zealand- ‘gift’ of the gold rush, miners moving here after the ‘49 rush died back. (Gold rushes never lasted long in one place, contrasting with the redwoods. Wendell Berry thought we out to seek to live life more at the pace of trees)
For myself it is that sense of Livingness, that we share which brings me deep joy in the presence of trees. One comes to understand how once upon a time folk considered them ‘spirit’ dwelt. (Tolkien and Lewis Understood trees)
Pardon me is I repeat myself but on our Section in Southern NZ we have 8 native beech with classic snake like root systems on the surface. I’ve preached several times on ‘The Tree of Life’ with these fabulous [lit.] trees in mind
I think that wonderful gift of Life apart from the animal kingdom is so precious
Blessings
Eric
Thanks Jack for your insightful writing and giving us a peek at the contemplative life in the monastery where you reside! I must admit a twinge of jealousy since I feel somewhat trapped in that information overload which you wisely advise us to eschew! I have spent my last 2 “administrative “ days doing data entry into the electronic medical record to complete notes of patients’ I have examined recently. Thousands of “clicks” I need to complete to satisfy the demands of the healthcare system. I thoroughly enjoy interacting with my patients in person, but loathe the numerous hours I need to spend to document those gratifying encounters. And always the drumbeat from our superiors is for providers to become more “efficient.” When I applied to ophthalmology residency in the early 90’s I included in my personal essay a quote from Milton’s “On His Blindness” which concluded that “they also serve who only stand and wait.” Your quote from Magister Liu was spot on! And btw, I have a plaque of Galatians 5:22-23 on a wall in my foyer! Keep inspiring us Jack! Blessings, Melanie
Melanie- Thank you for your kind words. I have read those with far more wisdom than I will ever have who say it doesn't matter if you are at a monastery or not. Meister Eckhart, among others, says so, and I don't doubt this is true. But from my small vantage, it doesn't seem so simple. The monks here have said to me, that if the Church is a hospital, a monastery is the intensive care ward. This seems right to me.
For example, monasteries are quite frequently in remote and beautiful locations. This alone is helpful, if for nothing else than it is often silent and largely free of worldly distractions. It is simply far easier to focus one's attention on what is most important (though distractions, alas, are always available if one wants it, regardless of location). Guests who come to stay here remark on this within the first few minutes of their arrival. It is unmistakable.
There is also the sense that places of prayer become a kind of deep well of grace and healing. Something that others can tap into. It certainly seems that way. There can be a kind of cumulative effect of contributing to the prayerfulness of certain places. I am hardly alone in noticing this.
So, I will gently encourage you or anyone so inclined to visit a monastery. I think it will be clear from the very beginning if any particular place is worth a longer visit, i.e., whether or not there is a peace there that surpasses understanding. If it seems off, it probably is.
I know that Benedictine monasteries are welcoming to anyone, regardless of tradition. But there are certainly other monastic traditions. Not only is this good for us in our reception and cultivation of the fruits of the spirit, but we non-monks can also bring it back to the world with us.
I wish I had done so earlier in my life than I have. Anyway, take all that for what it is worth.
I hope you are well. -Jack
Btw Jack, not directly relevant to this post, but have you listened to the music of Sigur Ros? They are an Icelandic band, and their music is in my view quite religious and completely mystical.
Particularly I would recommend their albums Takk and Valtari - very mystical and beautiful and moving.
I say this because I've enjoyed your recommendation of that desert music album, which was quite good.
But do check out Sigur Ros - they are remarkable, and the spiritual music of our time.
Good luck, my friend.
Benjamin- Have you listened to Polyphonic Spree? Not in the same class or depth as Sigur Ros, but similar in the heart opening hope, love and joy. Both operate in something beyond the dark spirit of the present age. I am listening to Valtari at the moment. Not without its own acknowledgement of darkness, at least so far. Thanks again for the recommend. -Jack
Benjamin- I have listened to Sigur Ros. And you are right, they are quite good. Though it's been a while maybe I should give a listen again. I had a disc someone burned for me, so I'm not sure what album it was.
For some reason I kind of categorized them in the same musical world as Radiohead, but the flipside. Where Radiohead tends towards a negative and almost fatalistic view of the world, Sigur Ros seems to be able transcend that into capital-J Joy!
I think we need to be able to do that as well. There is something "cool" about radiohead. It's almost as if they are about staring unflinchingly at the machine and describing what they see. Which may be where one needs to start. But it isn't enough. Stare into the abyss and all that...
I'd be curious to know how you see it.
Thank you for the nudge. -Jack