We Are All Monks

 Raimon Panikkar reminds us that we need—perhaps more than ever—to rediscover the wisdom of monasticism for our time.  While most of us will never live in a monastery or take monastic vows, we can learn to master the spiritual virtues and qualities of being that flourish in solitude and silence.  As we walk through the imaginative doors of the monastery, and figuratively enter its enclosure, we are immediately struck by the absence of superfluous noise.  There arises an intuitive recognition that much unhappiness in life is the result of never experiencing one’s own silence or the freedom of solitude.  In crossing the threshold between worlds, we discover a desire that is deeper and more fundamental than the attractions of material things.  We discover that passion for truth is the force or intention that leads us to practice spiritual disciplines and to uncover ancient structures of consciousness that purify our hearts and deepen our minds.