Commitment

"When a monk joins a Benedectine community and enters

the monastery, he promises to live according to the Benedectine

way of life.  Three commitments essential to this way of life are

obedience, stability and conversion.

Each is countercultural and challenging the status quo - 

the way we usually go about our lives.' - extract from The Artists' Rule

by Christine Valters Paintner

'Stability is perceived as an antidote to the restlessness of mind

and heart in which a person searches for new experiences, new relationships,

and new geographical locations to escape difficulties or to solve problems

by avoiding them.  This unceasing search for the new and extravagant,

of course, can too often make life and relationships superficial,

and any intimacy between people extremely fragile. 

Stability, however, can help a person stand still and listen,

truly listen, as the Rule encourages one to do. It is similar to what

the Quakers call 'centering down' and Buddhists 'mindfullness';

the discipline of paying attention to 'what is going on in

the present moment; which can give rise 'to insight, awakening and love'.

- Edward C Sellner, Finding the Monk Within

Om Shanty, Shalom, Peace