What Crisis Teaches: A Benedictine Perspective The Great Conversation series began several years ago to convene people around pressing issues of the day. The purpose was not simply to describe an issue, but to explore its meaning in light of the Benedictine tradition. This Conversation, which ends the series as the Center pauses its ministry,…
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Writing From the Center: The Noble Truths of Writing
Writing From the Center The Noble Truths About Writing At the end of January, ten writers attended our annual “Just Write” retreat. This weekend event provides time to sit in a quiet space and write – or think about writing. We gathered around the “Four Noble Truths of Writing” created by writer and Buddhist priest,…
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Writing from the Center | Revision: Writing Until You Find Your Meaning
One of the exciting aspects of writing is the process of discovery also known as revision. An idea or image comes to mind, and we sit down to describe it because we want to remember it or share with others. Yet, it often happens that as we write, what seemed so clear and evident at first seems to fade. Or we suddenly find numerous threads of ideas with no pattern. When that happens, just keep writing until you come to whatever feels like the end. At this point you are ready to embrace the process of revision – the nearly magical process of discovery. Like a sculptor standing before a block of marble, you chip away at the mass of words on the paper or screen.
Writing From the Center | Wisdom for Putting It In Words
Writing from the Center: Wisdom for Putting It In Words I am convinced that writing from the center of who we are requires time and companionship. In that spirit, we recently held a weekend retreat for writers. The invitation was to come into the embrace of the monastery with a single focus: to sit at a…
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Calling It To Mind: A Great Conversation On Virtue
Calling It To Mind A Great Conversation On Virtue Most of us take virtue for granted since its absence conjures images of people who are venal, self-absorbed, and indifferent to the common good. In a recent session of the Great Conversations series, we discovered that a full-face look at virtue helps us to remember the…
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Writing from the Center | The Journey of a Poem
PHOTO CREDIT: A local man helps a Syrian refugee swimming exhaustedly from a dinghy to a Lesbos beach, Sept. 17, 2015. Yannis Behrakis / Reuters Writing From the Center Writing from the Center is a new feature in the Benedictine Center's regular eBulletin. For nearly ten years we have been convening writers to explore how…
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