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Monk in the World Guest Post: Amy Oden

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to our Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Amy Oden’s reflection on silence in academic settings. As a professor I live much of my life with students in learning and discovery. This happens in physical classrooms, outside classrooms, in retreat […]

Monk in the World Guest Post: JoRene Byers

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for JoRene Byers’s reflection and poem “New Moon, Beloved Darkness”. I wrote this poem after setting aside time to prayfully gather the beautiful symbolic elements, and lighting the candles in a sacred manner […]

Monk in the World Guest Post: Susan Miller Setiawan

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Susan Miller Setiawan’s reflection “the way is made by walking.” This past April, my partner and I returned from Indonesia, where we had spent the previous 4 months leading a semester abroad […]

Monk in the World Guest Post: Melinda Thomas

A sketch of a heron in the water by Melinda Thomas

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to our Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Abbey Program Coordinator Melinda Thomas’s reflection and poem Synonym. It is my great privilege to serve the Abbey as Program Coordinator and get to know all of you, our dear, dancing monks. […]

Monk in the World Guest Post: Deborah Foster

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Deborah Foster’s reflection and poem on the dark night experience. I have attempted to describe stages of my contemplative experience with the emergence of the Dark Night. Over many years I became […]

Monk in the World Guest Post: Elaine Breckenridge

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Elaine Breckenridge’s reflection on connection with the wisdom of her body, nature, and the healing presence within. In 2015, I took my first online community retreat with the Abbey, titled, The Wisdom of […]

Monk in the World Guest Post: Mary Francis Drake

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Mary Francis Drake’s poetry on “beauty, grit, and grace.” I call my poetry ‘soul snapshots’ as they reflect a contemplation and insight of a particular moment in time. These everyday moments open to […]