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Monk Manifesto

Sign the 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.
  • Subscribe to the Abbey email newsletter and receive regular soul nourishment.
  • Watch the visual meditation version.
  • Share the monk love with others by sharing this page with others.
  • Join the Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks!

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.

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. I commit to a lifetime of ongoing conversion and transformation, recognizing that I am always on a journey with both gifts and limitations.
  8. 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

 

1,705 Responses

  1. Thanks, Christine, for sharing your gifts through the Abbey of the Arts.
    Sending you prayers, gratitude and many blessings,
    Warmly,
    Victoria

    Reply

  2. What a blessing to discover this Abbey and manifesto! As a Benedictine oblate in Butte, Mt, community is a little sparse but the Abbey of the Arts is wonderful community and I look forward to more connections…may it be so. Susan

    Reply

  4. I am a Secular Franciscan and I am so glad to be making this journey of Monk in the World. St. Bonaventure says that monks who live in the world, such as Franciscans, bring their cells with them into the world. Everyday is a conversion for me because everyday brings new challenges and opportunities to develop my relationship with my Lord in a deeper way while still being a in the world.

    Reply

  5. After 49 years as a loyal “church guy,” I find myself beginning again. I aspire to “a deeper way of being.”

    Reply

  6. As a perpetual seeker, I have found the expressed essence of my deepest longing. As such, I formally commit to the monk manifesto which resonates deeply to the depths of my soul. Considering it all grace as I begin again.

    Reply

  7. I’ve been coming to the Abbey for about a year, having found it through Facebook. I was even blessed to take a retreat here this past Lent. Only now do I sign, because I’ve had trouble finding a Sabbath (hazard of working for a church), and although I have trouble sometimes, I’m more intentional of the need for that.

    Reply

  10. Basically, you have written the very manifesto that I have wished to write and to live for many years now. Thanks so much!

    I commit to this manifesto with the movements of my body, the winds of my mind, the waters of my heart and the singing of my soul! May God bless all ouf journies!

    Evangeline

    Reply

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