The archetype and impulse that is in us all.
plus the monastery as a model for mutual aid, and a perfect TV show for the revolution.
Last you heard from me I was headed to the Collegeville Institute at St. John’s Abbey in Minnesota. I spent the month of October writing, reading, and walking the grounds of this monastery and college campus. Here I am outside Stella Maris Chapel, a chapel dedicated to Mary across the lake (and a walk through the woods) from campus:
The Monk as Universal Archetype
A highlight was having so much time, and access to an incredible theology library, so I took the opportunity to dive into a book I originally picked up several years ago: Blessed Simplicity: The Monk as Universal Archetype by Raimundo Panikkar. Based on a lecture he gave in 1980 about the archetype of the monk, he argues that a constitutive monastic dimension exists within each of us. Monkhood, he says, is “not the monopoly of the few but a human wellspring… Every human being has a monastic dimension that everyone must realize in different ways.”
Panikkar’s articulation of “the archetype of the monk,” or what he calls throughout the text the “new” or “modern” monk, has been a foundation for many “new monastic” movements over the last few decades. It has also helped renew traditional monasteries self-concepts of their identities and tradition. Monkhood, he states simply, “represents the search for the center.” Certainly that is a call many of us are drawn to.
This book is a gift for such contemporary seekers. In it, he legitimizes the deep spiritual longings of many of us who desire to live integrated, wholehearted lives—especially those outside the monastery. And he challenges those within the monastery to understand those expressing “new” forms of monkhood to recognize them as such. While he didn’t belong to a monastic order, he was a Catholic priest, theologian, and mystic, who also claimed his own type of monkhood. In his words:
“Since my early youth I have seen myself as a monk, but one without a monastery, or at least without walls other than those of the entire planet. And even these, it seemed to me, had to be transcended–probably by immanence–without a habit, or at least without vestments other than those worn by the human family.”
The Monastic Impulse
In the end of the book, there are several excellent responses to his thesis. In the last one, Myriam Dardenne, OCSO articulates exactly that which animates this Substack: the monastic impulse. Years ago I began to use this language because I thought that an “impulse” pointed toward this heartbeat of the tradition that is a potential in each one of us. Dardenne’s understanding confirms my use of it:
“What is the monastic impulse? . . . a tendency to move from dispersion to centeredness, from fragmentation to wholeness, from a “nothing-but” attitude, boredom and weariness to a meaningful life enriched by symbols, relationships, silence, prayer, simplicity of heart, enriched by the Logos of the soul.”
Basically, the monastic impulse is that which calls us to the center, to our wholeness, and thus the wholeness of that which we are a part. The monastic impulse pulls us into a relationship to and with all that is sacred.
What I like about that is it feels both spacious and challenging. I suspect many of us can see ourselves in that longing to move from “fragmentation to wholeness,” and it invites us to engage in that work intentionally, perhaps even communally.
I am sure that my experiences in October will continue to filter forward into my writings and reflections. Read on for further post-election reflections, what I read in October, and the TV show I’ve been obsessed with in light of what we face with the next president of the US.
The Monastery: A Mutual Aid Society
The Benedictine Sisters of Erie—in conjunction with their launch of the Benedictine Peacemakers program—have a Substack! Brick by Brick “provides generative space to allow young people to grow, explore, and see how monastic wisdom, paired with their unique experiences, takes root in their life.”
In light of a frequent theme that came up in my friends and I’s conversations after the results of the 2024 Presidential election—mutual aid! IE, we gotta show up for each other—I wrote a reflection on how the monastery is a model of a social/economic order rooted in mutual aid. You can read that piece, and then subscribe to their excellent newsletter, here.
Also, for folks local to Erie — come tour the monastery on December 7! You’ll get to see the monastery, hear stories from sisters, join for dinner, then participate in the monastery’s beautiful Advent Vigil Prayer that night at 7pm (where, btw, I’ll be offering the brief reflection).
The monastery is a radical place because it returns us to this communitarian way of being together. For seekers living in the world today, the monastery is a spiritual center and social institution that can form us in such a commitment as a way of life. It makes the embrace of justice and mercy seem not only more possible, but the only way forward.
Books on books!
Y’all, like I said. So many good books last month. I particularly leaned into spiritual memoirs, especially those that help us heal and reimagine our relationships to our root traditions. I also dug into some more recent church history and theology, and was exceedingly grateful to be reminded of the riches of liberation theology, and renewal movements of the past half-century. Here’s what I read (and recommend!):
Hijab Butch Blues: A Memoir by Lamya H
Rift: A Memoir of Breaking Away from Christian Patriarchy by Cait West
Fully Alive: Tending to the Soul in Turbulent Times by Elizabeth Oldfield
Church: Charism & Power: Liberation Theology and the Institutional Church by Leonardo Boff
The Path to Hope: Fragments from a Theologians Journey by Leonardo Boff
The Way We Were: A Story of Conversion and Renewal by Joan Chittister
Cloistered: My Years as a Nun by Catherine Coldstream
(And finally a “fun” / fiction one!) Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
Also…in lieu of a chilly walk up to the Abbey for morning prayer, I made my own morning prayer with two texts: Being Here: Prayers for Curiosity, Justice, and Love by Páidraig Ó Tuama, and The Book of Hours by Rainer Maria Rilke (trans. by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy).
“It’s like Hannah Arendt is the showrunner!” - on the best TV show to watch right now: Andor
This Star Wars series prequel to Rogue One is the best show I’ve watched in years. I particularly delight in the review from Glen Weldon (via NPR Pop Culture Happy Hour review of the show (Nov 9, 2022)): “It’s like Hannah Arendt is the show runner!”
Basically, it is a story of empire and resistance. It shows the banality of evil and bureaucratization of violence on one side, and the impact of fascism on individuals as well as the power of human communities united in common cause against oppression on the other. The rebellion across the universe is in its early stages—it’s messy, fragmented, and so far away from being a viable alternative to the empire. But people find their way to it, and struggle in it, and the resistance becomes a way of life. They literally take a vow to the movement. It shows everyone from the mainstream politicians who secretly fund the rebellion to the Indigenous peoples of various planets who have the most at stake in the fight for freedom from the grips of empire.
Truly, gorgeous. I can’t say enough about it. I don’t want to spoil anything, but let me just say…there is a manifesto that one very sweet character writes, and when you hear it read aloud in the final episode, you will cry. The parallels to our own political moment are scary, but ultimately this show reminds us how much power we can wield if we stay awake to the repression and build relationships with our neighbors against it.
I came across this post as a recommended read and am glad I did. I went to undergrad at St. John’s! October is such a beautiful time there and I spent plenty a day on the trails around Stella Maris. Though am not Catholic, am profoundly grateful for my time learning from monastics, and have fond memories of time spent with the sisters at St. Benedict’s. I hope you enjoyed your visit.
My favorite poem in Love Poems to God is on page 119 :)