New Monasticism Quotes

“For the new monastic that is clearly not an option. She is required to do the hard work of bringing her personal philosophy and intellectual framework into the light, working on it and merging it with the wisdom of her heart, stretching it, molding it, and making it explicit so that it can function as a road leading her into a life of continual growth and spiritual maturity, allowing her unique talents to flower as benefactions to the whole. In particular, because the new monastic is often creating an individualized framework for her journey, her responsibility for this task becomes much greater. In a certain sense, when she simply relies on a framework given from a religious tradition, she may have the support and guidance of thousands of years of reflective thought and careful cultivation to lean on. This can be a tremendous support. The new monastic must soberly assess these frameworks and the support and guidance they offer, but must give primal credence to that which is arising in her own heart and the living, synthesizing presence of Sophia. In the next section we show why we believe that this personalizing of spiritual frameworks is a necessary step in bringing forth our unity as a human family.”
― Rory McEntee, New Monasticism: An Interspiritual Manifesto for Contemplative Living

“Unfortunately the majority of us allow our philosophical framework to form unconsciously, subtly in the back of our minds, or perhaps we simply accept a framework that is given to us—by society, by our religious tradition or spiritual teacher, by a close-knit group of friends or coworkers. Our own philosophies are not really our own at all, but rather a mysterious mix of social and cultural conditioning, impersonal forces inherited through various structures of consciousness, and faint or not-so-faint notions of our divinity. The less we take responsibility for what does exist in our minds and being, the more we become like puppets, acting and living not out of a sense of personal integrity, but rather through the inclinations of others, cultural conditioning, and the impersonal motivations of subliminal archetypes. The great tragedy is that many of us trick ourselves into thinking this is who we truly are. For the new monastic that is clearly not an option. She”
― Rory McEntee, New Monasticism: An Interspiritual Manifesto for Contemplative Living

“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.”
― Rory McEntee, New Monasticism: An Interspiritual Manifesto for Contemplative Living

“action should flow from our contemplation. It should not be a sideline or something inherently different, but should be integrated in our prayer and meditation…unless meditation is fed by concern with people's problems and the world's problems it loses its depth. There is no rivalry between contemplation and action.6”
― Rory McEntee, New Monasticism: An Interspiritual Manifesto for Contemplative Living

“We need to understand, to really grasp at an elemental level, that the definitive revolution is the spiritual awakening of humankind.”
― Rory McEntee, New Monasticism: An Interspiritual Manifesto for Contemplative Living

“We are not just humans learning to become Buddhas, but also Buddhas waking up in human form, learning to become fully human. And these two tracks of development can mutually enrich each other.”16”
― Rory McEntee, New Monasticism: An Interspiritual Manifesto for Contemplative Living