Meditations: Monastic values for everyday life

John Miedema writes "Meditations: On the Monk Who Dwells in Daily Life, by Thomas Moore" for Open Reading. Miedema includes a quote in his presentation that continues to guide Thomas Moore's vision and writing, more than fifteen years after the publication of this book: "What I envision is a rebuilding of monasticism without the need for monasteries, a recovery of sacred language without a church in which to use it, an education in the soul that takes place outside of the school, the creation of an artful world accomplished by persons who are not artists, the emergence of a psychological sensibility once the discipline of psychology has been forgotten, a life of intense community with no organization to belong to, and achieving a life of the soul without having made any progress toward it."

Miedema describes Moore's monasticism: "It takes a person out of the usual path. It is inconvenient, incomprehensible, isolating, uncomfortable, and non-conformist. In short, none of the pat answers."