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Monk Manifesto

Want to join us in starting a monk revolution?

For a PDF version of the Monk Manifesto click the link to download a printable file.

The Monk Manifesto is also available in Spanish, German, and Norwegian translations. Click here for PDFs of Manifesto del Monje, Mönchs Manifest, and Munkemanifestet.

We invite you to. . .

Sign the Monk Manifesto below (scroll all the way to the bottom for the comment box). State your solidarity with others who want to express their inner monk in everyday life.
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Watch the visual meditation version.
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Monk: from the Greek monachos meaning single or solitary, a monk in the world does not live apart but immersed in the everyday with a single-hearted and undivided presence, always striving for greater wholeness and integrity

Manifesto: from the Latin for clear, means a public declaration of principles and intentions.

Monk Manifesto: A public expression of your commitment to live a compassionate, contemplative, and creative life.

I commit to finding moments each day for silence and solitude, to make space for another voice to be heard, and to resist a culture of noise and constant stimulation.
I commit to radical acts of hospitality by welcoming the stranger both without and within. I recognize that when I make space inside my heart for the unclaimed parts of myself, I cultivate compassion and the ability to accept those places in others.
I commit to cultivating community by finding kindred spirits along the path, soul friends with whom I can share my deepest longings, and mentors who can offer guidance and wisdom for the journey.
I commit to cultivating awareness of my kinship with creation and a healthy asceticism by discerning my use of energy and things, letting go of what does not help nature to flourish.
I commit to bringing myself fully present to the work I do, whether paid or unpaid, holding a heart of gratitude for the ability to express my gifts in the world in meaningful ways.
I commit to rhythms of rest and renewal through the regular practice of Sabbath and resist a culture of busyness that measures my worth by what I do.
I commit to a lifetime of ongoing conversion and transformation, recognizing that I am always on a journey with both gifts and limitations.
I commit to being a dancing monk, cultivating creative joy and letting my body and “heart overflow with the inexpressible delights of love.”*

*quote is from the Prologue of the Rule of Benedict

1,542 Responses

vilma says:

February 10, 2011 at 6:38 am

Gracias

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bill halpin says:

February 7, 2011 at 11:25 am

Signed, sealed, delivered…with gratitude!

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Betsy McCall says:

February 4, 2011 at 1:26 pm

Thank you so much for the beauty and light that you are putting out into the world. It is contagious!

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Gari Sprott says:

February 4, 2011 at 11:35 am

Charged, Humbled and Honored to sign this Manifesto.
Alan Kaufman’s words from 1.16.11 seem appropriate here:

The mind dreams and the heart hopes and the hands do, and the impossible becomes manifest and in time is understood by the grateful to be a gift called from the deepest regions of the human spirit—in order that it may be housed and preserved within each of us—to thrive and illuminate our own way forward into the world, that we may endure as the true miracles that we are, each and every one of us, here, today, gathered, each of you: a precious miracle, all of us, each human one of us, miraculous and free.

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Zacharias says:

January 22, 2011 at 11:05 am

It is good to find another voice in the desert that also serves as a mentor for others in this walk that has chosen us. Blessings to you, Christine. To formulate what we do as Solitaries of the Word into a Creed, a Manifesto to live by, serves as a reminder of our daily purpose and why it was we were called to leave the secular world behind. It is my pleasure to sign it, and to affirm it.

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Dori says:

January 15, 2011 at 11:42 am

Thank you for your inspiring words. May we all grow in compassion…..

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Joan says:

January 14, 2011 at 6:19 pm

I am blessed to find and share this inspiring community.

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Kimberly Walker says:

January 9, 2011 at 1:27 pm

My heart is singing as I join the chorus of voices that have already made a spirit, soul, and body commitment to live in the world as ONE with Christ in Love. Thank you for the invitation. Shalom.

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Yejide Safiyah Amahle says:

January 4, 2011 at 8:39 pm

I feel so uplifted by these words…I have been longing to say them!

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Edelle Rose says:

January 1, 2011 at 5:30 pm

Thank you for this opportunity to explore with you and others the amazing world of possibilities when we open our hearts to Spirit. I am very grateful for your work.

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