What Is the Essence of Monasticism?

Thomas Merton and the Dalai Lama, November 1968

WHAT IS THE ESSENCE OF MONASTICISM?

Classic interpretation of Saint John Cassian:

“The end of our profession, indeed, as I said, is the kingdom of God or heaven. But the immediate aim or goal is purity of heart, without which no one can gain that end. Fixing our gaze steadily on this goal as if on a definite mark, let us direct our course as straight towards it as possible. And if our thoughts wander somewhat, let us revert to our gaze to it and check them accurately as by a sure standard, which will always bring back our efforts to this one mark, showing at once if our mind has wandered ever so little from the direction marked out for it.

“As those whose business it is to use weapons of war, whenever they want to show their skill before a king of this world, try to shoot their arrows into small targets which have the prizes painted on them--for they know that only by the line of their aim will they be able to secure the end and the prize they hope for, which they will enjoy only when they have been able to hit the mark set before them. ...And so when this object is set before us, we shall always direct our actions and thoughts straight towards the attainment of it. For if it is not constantly fixed before our eyes, it will not only make all our toils useless and force them to be endured to no purpose and without any reward, but it will also excite all kinds of thoughts opposed to one another. For the mind, which has no fixed point to which it may return and on which it may focus, is sure to rove about from hour to hour and minute to minute in all sorts of wandering thoughts, and from those things which come to it from outside, to be constantly changed into that state which first offers itself to it.”—John Cassian, Conferences, Book I, Chapters 4-5

Consistent with Cassian, the Monastery of Christ in the Desert describes the essence of monastic spirituality as interior, “single-heartedness”:

“Defying a simple definition, Christian monastic spirituality is primarily an approach to God in response to God’s invitation found in Sacred Scripture: ‘Seek first the Kingdom of God’ (Mt 6:33). Monastic spirituality implies a single-heart (solitary) seeking of God. This may or may not be carried out in the company of others (the monastic tradition has embraced both), but the focus is clearly on returning to God, and making use of certain specific practices: prayer, fasting, silence, vigils, reading, good works.” (Text retrieved from Monastery of Christ in the Desert website on May 9, 2013.)

The Catholic Encyclopedia understanding emphasizes exterior attributes, cloister in particular:

“Monasticism or monachism, literally the act of ‘dwelling alone’ (Greek monos, monazein, monachos), has come to denote the mode of life pertaining to persons living in seclusion from the world, under religious vows and subject to a fixed rule, as monks, friars, nuns, or in general as religious. The basic idea of monasticism in all its varieties is seclusion or withdrawal from the world or society. The object of this is to achieve a life whose ideal is different from and largely at variance with that pursued by the majority of mankind; and the method adopted, no matter what its precise details may be, is always self-abnegation or organized asceticism. Taken in this broad sense monachism may be found in every religious system which has attained to a high degree of ethical development, such as Brahmin, Buddhist, Jewish, Christian, and Moslem religions, and even in the system of those modern communistic societies, often anti-theological in theory, which are a special feature of recent social development especially in America. Hence it is claimed that a form of life which flourishes in environments so diverse must be the expression of a principle inherent in human nature and rooted therein no less deeply than the principle of domesticity, though obviously limited to a far smaller portion of mankind.”

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10459a.htm 

 —Gilbert Huddleston, “Monasticism,” The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911)

Similar to the above description is the account of Encyclopedia Britannica:

“The truly universal characteristic of monasticism follows from its definition: the monastic separates himself from society, either to abide alone as a religious recluse (hermit or anchorite) or to join a community of those who have separated themselves from their surroundings with similar intentions—i.e., the full-time pursuit of the religious life in its most radical and often in its most demanding guise.

“Monasticism does not exist in societies that lack a written transmitted lore. Nonliterate societies cannot have monastic institutions, because the monastic responds to an established written body of religious doctrine, which has undergone criticism and then generated countercriticism in a dialectic process that presupposes a literate, codified manipulation of the doctrine. The monastic founders and their successors may either support or oppose the official religious tradition, but the presence of such a tradition is indispensable as the matrix of all monastic endeavour.”

https://www.britannica.com/topic/monasticism

—Agehananda Bharati et al., “Monasticism,” Britannica.com, last updated Nov 20, 2020

If the essence of monasticism is separation from society for spiritual purposes, the concept of “a monk in the world” is an oxymoron.

On the other hand, an emphasis on understanding monasticism as an essentially interior orientation allows us to interpret a spirituality that seeks and pursues “spiritual perfection” in society as that of “a monk in the world.”

We agree with Thomas Merton’s understanding of monasticism as essentially interior:

“What is essential in the monastic life is not embedded in buildings, not in a habit, not necessarily even in a rule. It is somewhere along the line of something deeper than a rule. It is concerned with this business of total inner transformation. This kind of monasticism cannot be extinguished. It is imperishable; it represents an instinct of the human heart.”—Thomas Merton, Marxism and Monastic Perspectives

http://gratefulness.org/resource/dsr-merton-crack-of-dawn/

—Brother David Steindl-Rast, “Thomas Merton: Now at the Crack of Dawn,” Gratefulness, 2000-2002

Marxism and Monastic Perspectives is the last essay Thomas Merton wrote, which he delivered in Bangkok, Thailand on December 10, 1968, the day he died. It is published in The Asian Journal of Thomas Merton (1975).