The New Monasticism: An Interspiritual Manifesto for Contemplative Living

235 Pages·2015·2.05 MB·English

by  Bucko, Adam & McEntee, Rory

THE NEW MONASTICISM
An Interspiritual Manifesto for Contemplative Living
Rory McEntee
and
Adam Bucko
Founded in 1970, Orbis Books endeavors to publish works that enlighten the mind, nourish the spirit, and
challenge the conscience. The publishing arm of the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, Orbis seeks to explore
the global dimensions of the Christian faith and mission, to invite dialogue with diverse cultures and
religious traditions, and to serve the cause of reconciliation and peace. The books published reflect the
views of their authors and do not represent the official position of the Maryknoll Society. To learn more
about Maryknoll and Orbis Books, please visit our website at www.maryknollsociety.org.
Copyright © 2015 by Rory McEntee and Adam Bucko All interior art is the work of Deborah Koff Chapin.
We extend tremendous gratitude to her for making her art available for our use. The drawings were
produced with an original methodology called “touch art,” most of them during presentations on New
Monasticism during the international conference Dawn of Interspirituality. For more of Deborah's work
please see: ww.touchdrawing.com/.
Published by Orbis Books, Maryknoll, New York 10545-0302.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval
system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
Queries regarding rights and permissions should be addressed to:
Orbis Books, P.O. Box 302, Maryknoll, New York 10545-0302.
Library of Congress Cataloging -in-Publication Data McEntee, Rory.
The new monasticism : an interspiritual manifesto for contemplative living / by Rory McEntee
and Adam Bucko.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-62698-126-3 (pbk.)
1. Monastic and religious life. 2. Monasticism and religious orders. 3. Spiritual life –
Christianity. I. Title.
BX2435. M396 2015
255– dc23 2014039837
To Griffin, my son, my ground in this world, this is a song for you…
Rory McEntee
To New York City's Homeless Youth, Whose courage continues to be one of my
greatest teachers….
Adam Bucko
Contents
Foreword by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
Preface by Mirabai Starr
Introduction: Beginnings
Man, Woman, and Language
Why “New Monastics?”
New Monastics’ Relationship with Traditional Monasticism
The Heart of New Monastic Life: Spiritual Praxis
Daily Practice
Weekly, Monthly, and Yearly Practice
Sacred Activism: The Spiritual Practice of Vocation
Formal Study
Shadow Work
Spiritual Direction
Spiritual Friendship and Community
A Commitment of Vows
The Book and the Manifesto
Movement 1: The Manifesto
Remembrance: Brother Wayne Teasdale as New Monastic Guide and Elder
The Manifesto
New Monasticism: An Interspiritual Manifesto for Contemplaltive Life In
the Twenty-First Century
Prologue
Prelude
The Beginningless: The Archetype of the Monk
New Monastics: Monks in the World
Building Bridges: Contemplative Life in the Twenty-First Century
An Interspiritual Path
Epilogue: Touching the Horizon
Movement 2: Unpacking the Manifesto
Questions Kindled by the Manifesto: A Dialogue with Tradition
A Global Mythos
In the Midst of Epochal Change
Complexity, Consciousness, and Convergence An Evolutionary Story
Unification
A Second Axial Age
Religious Traditions in a Second Axial Age
A New Generation
Interspirituality
Origins
The Present-Day Movement
What We Mean by Interspirituality
An Interspiritual Path
Dialogical Dialogue
Dialogical Sophiology
Sophia
Dialogical Sophiology
Personalization
The Archetype of the Theologian
Return to Sophia
Meditations on Vocation
Meditation One: What Is Vocation?
Meditation Two: Finding Vocation
Meditation Three: Incarnating Vocation
Meditation Four: Vocation as Transformational and Revolutionary Act
Meditation Five: Vocation as Community—Notes in the Symphony of Life
New Monastic Communities
Movement 3: A Dialogical Interlude
On the Snowmass Dialogues, Grace, and Incarnation
On the Snowmass Dialogues as Methodology
On Dialogical Intimacy in Spiritual Direction, Superpersonalization, and
Enlightenment
On Mentorship
On a New Generation of Seekers
Movement 4: The Path
Orientation: The Way of the New Monastic
The Importance of Modern Psychology
An Integral Framework: Lines, States, and Stages
“Stages” and the Pre/Trans Fallacy
States of Consciousness
Lines of Development
The Shadow
The Psychological Model of Father Thomas Keating: The Divine Therapist
Stages of Consciousness and Evolutionary Development
The Development of the False-Self System
The Divine Therapy
The Dark Nights
The Dark Night of Sense
Fruits of the Night of Sense
The Dark Night of the Soul or Spirit
The Nine Elements of Spiritual Maturity
Element 1: Actual Moral Capacity
Element 2: Solidarity with All Living Beings
Element 3: Deep Nonviolence
Element 4: Humility
Element 5: Spiritual Practice
Element 6: Mature Self-Knowledge
Element 7: Simplicity of Life
Element 8: Selfless Service and Compassionate Action
Element 9: The Prophetic Voice
The Evolutionary Imperative
Afterword by Father Thomas Keating
Bibliography
Notes
FOREWORD
Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
The spiritual or mystical journey is the heartbeat of humanity, always present
even if hidden beneath the surface. It is the most primal calling of the heart, the
song of the soul going back to God, from the outer world to the formless Truth
that resides within each of us.
Over the centuries this journey has been woven into the fabric of our history,
imaged in icons, written in prayer books. It has taken on different forms, been
followed by Zoroastrian priests and Sufi dervishes, Christian nuns and Buddhist
monks. Each pilgrim makes the solitary soul's journey from the alone to the
Alone, and yet also in the company of fellow travelers, of others who have been
called by Truth, by the heart's desire for what is endless and eternal. Each form
of this journey, whether that of the Desert Fathers or the Beguine women
mystics, of a Himalayan yogi or a Zen monk, is colored in the images of the time
and the place: the austerities of the desert, the mystical passion of medieval
women, or the empty begging bowl of the monk. In the following pages we will
see this journey told anew, in the colors and images of the twenty-first century,
full of freedom and joy as well as the simplicity of the heart's calling. Always it
is a journey from words to silence, from images to emptiness and yet at the same
time it needs to speak to us in a language we can understand, a call to prayer we
can hear and recognize.
Adam and Rory have responded both to their heart's calling and the need of
the time. With the sincerity of true pilgrims, they have shared their map of the
journey with fellow travelers. Here is the path from separation back to union
with God told once again, in a language both ancient and modern. It speaks to
the present day, of a “new monasticism” without the walls and regulations that
are too limiting to most of today's seekers, but with the same spirit that sounded
in the cloisters of earlier centuries. It is interspiritual, referring to a contemporary
movement that looks beyond any one form to a sharing of the wisdom that lies at
the root of all religions, to the “mystic heart,” to quote Brother Wayne Teasdale.
It celebrates the single human family to which we all belong, and the unity that
lies at the root of all our diversity.
Reading their words one can hear God's call to the soul and our response.
They show that this journey is always alive, that it is as essential and needed in
the cities of today as in the monasteries and hermitages of an earlier time. Their
new monasticism is not an escape from life, but a celebration of what it really
means to be alive. It comes from the deepest core of our being—humanity's need
to experience the Divine.
This spiritual calling is like a primal stamp within all of humanity, and yet for
each of us it is unique, and nothing is more intimate than our relationship with
God, our partnership with the Divine. It is our own innermost being that speaks
to us. The authors state that the new monasticism is about honoring one's own
unique path, cultivation of one's unique relationship to life, to God, in trust,
fidelity, and partnership with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. One of life's
wonders is the uniqueness of everything that is created, every bird and every
butterfly, every cloud and every raindrop. The Great Artist has made everything
different—no two brushstrokes on life's canvas are the same—and each moment
is new and never repeated. On the spiritual journey this uniqueness is embraced
and lived—it is the journey from the alone to the Alone. No one else can make
this journey for us: it is our heart that cries out, our feet that bleed. And yet this
unique path takes us into the realization of the oneness that is at the core of our
being and within all of life. All is one, and each cell embodies and reflects this
primal oneness—the unity of being. The journey home, of the soul back to the
Source, is a journey back to unity, to the mystical realization that we are the
Divine Oneness.
And so we discover that what we thought was our individual journey, is in
fact just an expression of the one great journey—there can never be more than
one. The real story, in fact the only story, is that of the Divine awakening within
the soul. Within the heart of every pilgrim is this calling to return home, and yet
we are already home and there were never two. The relationship to God is this
secret of divine oneness—lover and Beloved are one—there is no other. And this
intimacy is always alive, even if hidden deep within the heart, as the Sufi mystic
Rumi exclaims:
It is he who suffers his absence in me
Who through me cries out to himself.
Love's most strange, most holy mystery
We are intimate beyond belief.
Every moment the Divine is coming into manifestation, and every moment the
Divine is returning home. Each breath sings the song of being and nonbeing. We
head to the mountain and we return to the world, only to realize the simple truth
that there is neither mountain or world—there is not even a journey, just the
unfolding mystery of the Divine.
New monasticism is a way to live this mystery, to breathe this primal breath.
It is both a call and a response: a call to prayer, to the interior journey, and also a
response, a path to follow. But rather than the tolling of the monastery bells for
matins and vespers, the canonical hours and strict observance of prayers, Adam
and Rory offer a set of principles, of blessed simplicity, contemplation, spiritual
friendship, and an awareness of the inner values that belong to the core of what it
really means to be a human being. They also stress the grounded need for
psychological work, an essential part of the transformative journey that takes one
toward spiritual maturity. This is an organic, evolving vision that speaks to the
need of the time, of a moment in our human history when the spirit is coming
alive in a new way. It is a doorway to walk through into sacred space.