#monasticism

The Lord does not require us to wear a [cassock] — He wants us to be good and kind. ↗

— Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

#eastern-orthodoxy #jesus-christ #kindness #monasticism #spirituality

...for you know that soft is stronger than hard, water stronger than rock, love stronger than force." Vesadeva to Siddartha ↗

— Hermann Hesse

#buddhism #monasticism #siddhartha #siddhartha-gautama #love

And while over-indulgence destroys the virtues, frugality destroys the stronghold of vice. ↗

— St. Neilos

#monasticism #religion #religion

The monk's ultimate goal is direct union with the Godhead. But to aim at that goal is to miss it altogether. His task is to rid himself of ego so that consciousness, once its usual discordant mental content is dumped out of it through ritual prayer and meditation, may experience nonself as a living formlessness and emptiness into which God may come, if it please Him to come. ↗

— Walter M. Miller Jr.

#experience

Often the best way to access a treasure is to imagine its loss. ↗

— Br. Jerome Leo

#monasticism #st-benedict #imagination