If your spirit still
If your spirit still looks around at the time of prayer, then it does not yet pray as a monk. You are no better than a man of affairs engaged in a kind of landscape gardening. Evagrius Ponticus
Monk
A monk is a
A monk is a man who considers himself one with all men because he seems constantly to see himself in every man. Evagrius Ponticus
In a quiet Franciscan
In a quiet Franciscan monastery kind and silent monks looked after me. After many weeks I was discharged. Unfit for further service. Ernst Toller
I listened to King
I listened to King Oliver and I listened to Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, John Coltrane, Archie Shepp… I listened to everything I could that came from that place that they call the blues but, in formality, isn’t necessarily the blues. Eric Clapton
The day has gone
The day has gone by when a monk can tear a Hypatia from the pursuit of philosophy and throw her to a rabble of insane monastics to be dragged to a violent death…. Man has made himself a law unto himself, publishing it in his pretended \”heavenly\” revelations, dogmas, and statutes. Woman is not constructing … Read more
I want to have
I want to have a lasting experience with God. Sometimes I feel like I understand the divinity of this world, but then I loose it because I get distracted by my petty desires and fears. I want to be with God all the time. But I don’t want to be a monk, or totally give … Read more
Creativity itself doesn\\’t care
Creativity itself doesn’t care at all about results – the only thing it craves is the process. Learn to love the process and let whatever happens next happen, without fussing too much about it. Work like a monk, or a mule, or some other representative metaphor for diligence. Love the work. Destiny will do what … Read more
Possession of books denounced
Possession of books denounced as heretical was made a criminal offense. Copies of such books were burned and destroyed. But in Upper Egypt, someone, possibly a monk from a nearby monastery of St Pachomius, took the banned books and hid them from destruction – in the jar where they remained buried for almost 1,600 years. … Read more
[All] the manly virtues
[All] the manly virtues were oppressed by the servile and pusillanimous reign of the monks. Edward Gibbon
The retirement of Athanasius,
The retirement of Athanasius, which ended only with the life of Constantius, was spent, for the most part, in the society of the monks, who faithfully served him as guards, as secretaries, and as messengers; but the importance of maintaining a more intimate connection with the catholic party tempted him, whenever the diligence of the … Read more