Going without for the sake of it, as one English bishop in the early twentieth century explained, is “a weakness, not a strength. The only purpose, the only justification [for going without]…is that [a monk] may be more free.” By detaching from material things, the monks are freer to attach to a bigger thing. If everything is everyone’s, nothing takes on any special significance beyond another tool for the job. It’s gear, not stuff.
