Abbey of the Arts

Transformative Living through Contemplative & Expressive Arts

  • Welcome
    • Prayer Cycle
      • Introduction to the Earth Monastery Prayer Cycle
      • Day 1 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Cathedral
      • Day 2 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Scriptures
      • Day 3 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Saints
      • Day 4 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Spiritual Directors
      • Day 5 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Icon
      • Day 6 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Sacrament
      • Day 7 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Liturgy
      • Prayer Cycle Leader Resources
    • About the Abbey
    • About Christine Valters Paintner
    • About John Valters Paintner
    • About the Wisdom Council
    • Monk Manifesto
    • Join the Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks
    • Subscribe to Our Love Notes
    • Website privacy notice
  • Books
    • Sacred Time:
      Embracing an Intentional Way of Life
    • The Wisdom of Wild Grace: Poems
    • Earth, Our Original Monastery:
      Cultivating Wonder and Gratitude through Intimacy with Nature
    • Dreaming of Stones: Poems
    • The Soul's Slow Ripening:
      12 Celtic Practices for Seeking the Sacred
    • The Wisdom of the Body:
      A Contemplative Journey to Wholeness for Women
    • Illuminating the Way:
      Embracing the Wisdom of Monks and Mystics
    • The Soul of a Pilgrim:
      Eight Practices for the Journey Within
    • Eyes of the Heart:
      Photography as a Christian Contemplative Practice
    • The Artist's Rule: Nurturing Your Creative Soul with Monastic Wisdom
    • Desert Mothers and Fathers: Early Christian Wisdom Sayings Annotated & Explained
    • Lectio Divina–The Sacred Art: Transforming Words and Images into Heart-Centered Prayer
    • Water, Wind, Earth & Fire: The Christian Practice of Praying with the Elements
    • Awakening the Creative Spirit:
      Bringing the Arts to Spiritual Direction
    • Lectio Divina: Contemplative Awakening & Awareness
  • Poetry | Art | Music
    • Music + DVD
    • Poetry by Christine Valters Paintner
    • Poetry Videos
    • Dancing Monk Icons
    • Other Art Collaborations
      • Monk in the World art series by Kristin Noelle
      • Saints & Animals art series by David Hollington
      • Sacred Time art series by Alexi Francis
      • Mary block print art series by Kreg Yingst
  • Programs
    • Live Programs: Pilgrimage & Retreats
      • Monk in the World (Ireland)
      • Writing on the Wild Edges (Ireland)
      • Vienna Monk in the World (Austria)
      • Hildegard of Bingen (Germany)
      • Awakening the Creative Spirit: Experiential Education for Spiritual Directors in the Expressive Arts (Northwest)
    • Community Online Retreats
      • Lift Every Voice: Contemplative Writers of Color
      • The Way of the Hermit:
        A Spiritual Survival Guide for Dark Times
        with Kayleen Asbo, PhD
      • The Spiral Way:
        Celtic Spirituality and the Creative Imagination
      • Journey with the Desert Mothers and Fathers (Lent 2021)
      • Dancing with Fear in Troubled Times
      • Novena for Times of Unraveling
      • The Two HT’s-Harriet Tubman and Howard Thurman-on Being Free
      • Writing Into Bloom
        with Christine Valters Paintner
      • Sacred Time: Embracing an Intentional Way of Life (Spring 2021)
      • Poetry and the Sacred Garden of the World:
        An Online Writing Retreat
    • Self-Study Online Spiritual Retreats
      • Creative Flourishing in the Heart of the Desert:
        An Online Retreat with St. Hildegard of Bingen
      • Dreaming of the Sea:
        A women’s discernment journey through the story of the Selkie
      • Earth, Our Original Monastery
        A Companion Retreat to the Book (SELF-STUDY)
      • Exile and Coming Home:
        An Archetypal Journey through the Scriptures
      • Eyes of the Heart:
        Photography as Contemplative Practice
        (Companion retreat to the book)
      • Honoring Saints and Ancestors:
        Online Retreat for the Season of Remembrance
      • Lectio Divina:
        The Sacred Art of Reading the World
      • A Midwinter God:
        Making a Conscious Underworld Journey
      • Sacred Rhythms of Sky, Sun, Sea & Stone:
        A Creative Retreat with the Elements (SELF-STUDY)
      • Sacred Seasons:
        A Yearlong Journey through the Celtic Wheel of the Year
      • The Soul of a Pilgrim:
        Eight Practices for the Journey Within
        (a companion retreat to the book)
      • The Soul's Slow Ripening: 12 Celtic Practices for Seekers of the Sacred (a companion retreat to the book)
      • Water, Wind, Earth & Fire
      • Watershed Moments
        in the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures
      • Way of the Monk, Path of the Artist:
        A 12-Week Companion Retreat to The Artist's Rule
      • The Wisdom of the Body:
        A 10-Week Online Companion Retreat to the Book
      • The Wisdom of Mary and the Sacred Feminine
  • Calendar
  • Reflections
  • Contact

Monk in the World Guest Post Series

Wisdom Council: Guest Post from Ronna Detrick

I am thrilled to continue this weekly series of summer guest posts from each of the Wisdom Council members, with their reflections on what being a monk in the world and an artist in everyday life means for them, in the context of their own work and ministries.

Ronna DetrickI first met Ronna Detrick in person as I was in the throes of selling my home in Seattle a year ago and preparing for this great life adventure I am on now.  I had seen Ronna's work and felt a kinship to her spirit, so I am grateful for our chance to talk in-the-flesh, even in the midst of so much transition, because her passion and our conversation inspired me to ask her very soon after to co-create the Women on the Threshold program with me and two other fabulous women.  Ronna's yes was the start of a deepening dance of friendship and collaboration for which I am grateful.  Here is some of her wonderful wisdom about the contemplative and creative life:

Christine graciously asked me to speak about how to be a monk in the world and an artist of everyday life. Here’s my honest answer:

I have no idea!

Making things even more complicated, particular images flood my mind at their mere mention:

The monk: a man in a hooded robe who takes vows of silence, poverty, and then some. Deliberate choices, actions, behaviors, and beliefs that enable him to give his life entirely to God. Devotion and selflessness in spades. And somehow, in the chosen sacrifice, becoming more holy, more pure, more God-like.

The artist: a tortured soul in front of a canvas who rarely engages with polite society. Brooding, dark, and possessed in some way. At the mercy of his/her craft and living in poverty until discovered. Every-once-in-a-while the muse shows up and inspiration strikes…until the inevitable return to lonely solitude.

Of course, there are more romantic notions: The monk who sits in quiet contemplation for hours, able to capture the very voice of God, and drafting sentences and sonnets, poems and prose that enable us to hear the same. The artist who sees beauty at every turn and then, in unencumbered and inspired freedom, makes that accessible to the rest of us.

Whether I go with the first or second set of caricatures, I am hard-pressed to see myself in either. But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t love to understand and experience such; to live my life completely immersed in my spirituality and my craft; to somehow hear God speak through my discipline and devotion and enable others to hear/see the same through my art.

Here’s the thing: as long as I see either the monk or the artist as someone even slightly out of reach then, in effect, I conveniently shield myself from what it takes to become such. And as long as I can find reasons to not practice the disciplines of the monk or the habits of the artist, I can idealize them both and maybe even pout a little (albeit, humbly) about how the same isn’t true for me; a privilege apparently saved only for the special few.

It doesn’t take very sophisticated reasoning skills to realize that this may, in fact, be why there are so few monks and artists in our world. It is not easy. It can be grueling. It is often thankless, anonymous, and unrewarded. And it’s a life-long vocation, commitment, and way of being.

I realize that for me, more important than the question of how, is that of the why. Why would I want to be a monk in the world and an artist of everyday life? Why would I want to take on the disciplines and practices and day-in, day-out requirements for such a life?

Because being a monk in the world and an artist of everyday life is the closest I can get to God.

Ultimately, even when I feel resistant to admitting it, this is what I most want, long for, and endlessly search for. So if there are ways in which I can more consistently and closely hear God’s voice, I want them. If there are ways in which I can feel the very Spirit of God work through me in creative acts, I want them. And if, in the doing of these things I somehow have the privilege of inviting others closer to the God that they desire then that is gift and grace beyond compare.

And from the why comes the how:

Being a monk in the world and an artist of everyday life happens when I boldly and blatantly acknowledge my desire for God.

I can’t sort-of want to be a monk or an artist, nor can I sort-of want God. This desire is enflamed, alive, and hot. The desire pursues and compels. This desire requires commitment and conviction when ambivalence rears its head; when there are more days than not in which I’d rather choose lukewarm interest over on-fire passion. This desire means that I tirelessly seek new ways of understanding the Divine when well-known creeds, time-worn hymns, and dogged textual interpretation though comfortable, no longer challenge. This desire means that I speak and create in truth-filled, unedited, no-holding-back ways. All of these far easier said than done. No sort-of allowed.

Which takes me right back to where I started. To be a monk and/or an artist is not the glamorous or easy choice. It is one that is impassioned and intentional; made over and over and over again. The why is what matters most.

When I choose – in naming my deepest desire – to be a monk and artist – I am open to any and all ways in which God might show up, might speak, might be made manifest and revealed and real. When I choose – in naming my deepest desire – I can create from a raw and unedited place, less concerned with what others think and completely consumed by the Spirit within who longs to come forth. When I choose – in naming my deepest desire – I remain hungry and thirsty for God.

This is the why. This is the how. This is the challenge. This is the call. And all of these, at least for me, are impossible to ignore (even if I wanted to). Long robes, difficult vows, and tortured souls aside (more likely, included). I press on and fail and re-engage. I doubt and question and wrestle. I swoon and gush and laugh. I listen to and for God. I create because I can’t not.

How to be a monk in the world and an artist of everyday life? Say that you want to. Lead with your longing. And know that wherever desire dwells, God shows up. Ask any monk or artist: that’s what they’re looking and longing for, too. Just like me. And probably just like you.

May it be so.

To learn more about Ronna's wonderful work click here>>

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Leave a Comment June 24, 2013

Upcoming Programs

The Way of the Hermit:
A Spiritual Survival Guide for Dark Times

January 22-24, 2021
with Kayleen Asbo, PhD

The Spiral Way:
Celtic Spirituality and the Creative Imagination

Hosted by the Rowe Center
February 1-21, 2021
with Christine Valters Paintner, PhD

Recent Reflections

  • Hildy Tales 3: Ní heolas go haontíos ~ by John Valters Paintner
  • Humility + Join us today for live prayer! ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
  • Hildy Tales 2: Tús maith leath na hoibre – by John Valters Paintner
  • New Book Club for 2021: Lift Every Voice ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
  • Hildy Tales One: Dia dhuit, is mise Hildy! by John Valters Paintner, Your Online Prior

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