A Way of Life: For the Third Millennium

Book excerpt: False ways litter the world. Even the great religions have become prisoners of colonial frameworks or of a selfishness that betrays their essence. As a result, our planet faces climate catastrophes, nuclear holocausts, and internet surveillance that makes us prisoners of unseen predators. There is a Way, however, whose time has come. It is ingrained in the psyche of humanity. It resonates with Perennial Wisdom, with Chinese who understand it as Tao, with the Buddhist Eightfold Path, the Five Pillars of Islam, indigenous peoples whose insights have been summarised as The Harmony Way, and above all with Jesus who declared ‘I AM the Way’ (John 14:6) and whose first disciples were known as ‘followers of The Way’, based on Jesus’ Beatitudes (Matthew 5-7). Whereas traditional monasticism restricted its vows to celibates cut off from the world, new Monasticism makes vows rooted in the Beatitudes accessible to everyone. One reason Benedictinism survived through the second millennium is because its founder wrote a detailed commentary on its rule. Here the founding guardian of a new monastic community writes a commentary on its Way of Life which he has reflected on daily for over a generation – and which promises to flourish through the third millennium.