Your stance

I've been reading centuries-old 'rules of life', rules written by monastic founders that serve as a guide for how their communities are to live.

The rules have two distinct parts,

The one we are most familiar with is the structure of time. How the community should structure their days, weeks, months and years. Prayer times, meal times, work, etc. Basically the daily habits and routines of the community.

The other half is where it gets interesting. These parts have to do with your stance in the world and in society. How should they act and engage with the rest of the world?

In short, these are the values of the community with specific examples of how those values play out.

Some of the Benedictine values are stability, hospitality, stewardship, and learning.

We are pretty good at structuring our habits and routines ala Tim Ferriss and the like.. but what do we value? What is our stance towards the rest of the world?

I'm a proud Westerner, the western values of Wisdom, Justice, Courage, and Temperance resonate deeply with me.

How do you want stand in the world?

Something to think about this week.

pierre