I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to our Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Krissy Kludt’s reflection and poem Of Dust and Water. Several years ago, I texted my father from a snowbound house in Tahoe, where I was spending a weekend away from my Bay Area home: “I miss winter so much it hurts.”  “Of course you do,” he told me. “You have a deep sense of place, fully integrated with your sense of self.” Wisconsin-raised, I’d known lakeshores, streams, and maple forests from childhood. I was born in the

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Anne Barsanti’s reflection on kinship with creation and poem “Ice Storm.” I find myself connected to all that surrounds me – human and nonhuman.  In reverence and reciprocity, I find the Divine. Earthwork is my everyday work of attention and appreciation. I try to be attentive to God’s work in all that surrounds me. I am in awe and stand in gratitude. I believe that God is in all things. I was inspired as I both witnessed and

May 22–29, 2026 and September 4–11, 2026A few places remain Our good friends Nóirín Ní Riain and Owen and Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin are once again offering in-person pilgrimages to Ireland. Rooted in music, poetry, story, and sacred landscape, these journeys invite participants into a slower, more attentive way of walking; with place, with one another, and with the movements of the soul. Many of you have shared your longing for the kinds of pilgrimages Abbey of the Arts once led. While Abbey no longer hosts these journeys directly, we wholeheartedly recommend this pilgrimage with Turas d’Anam as a meaningful and resonant alternative.

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Kathleen Deyer Bolduc’s reflection Light in the Darkness. One of my favorite scriptures—one that I repeat to myself often—is from the book of John: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:5 NIV) As a woman who has lived with chronic illness these last few years, I’ve become familiar with darkness. It manifests some days as depression, some days as anxiety, and, on my worst days, something bordering on hopelessness. 

As a virtual monastery, our community reaches around the globe. As of November 2025, over 1700 people have affirmed the Monk Manifesto to join the Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks, committing to live a compassionate, contemplative, and creative life.  We love how our virtual format allows dancing monks around the world to stand in solidarity with one another. At the same time, our leadership team has longed to find ways for our community to connect locally and face-to-face. While technology offers many gifts, there is also something special about being in the embodied presence of other kindred spirits. A unique