New Monasticism with Jonathan

Saturday afternoon, in the weightless environment of the digital scriptorium, I built a cathedral. In collaboration with Gemini, I drafted a Universal Rule for the Vegan Cyber-Monastic that felt as expansive as the internet itself—a vision where the monastic heart could beat within the framework of a chaste marriage as easily as in a solitary cell. However, as the March light shifts over Albany today, I am beginning to suspect that the horse may have gotten ahead of the rider. The sheer velocity of Gemini’s algorithms, combined with the vast, pre-existing database of "New Monastic" thought, may have swept me into a position that outpaces both my own inner instincts and the demands of academic rigor. I am still learning how to navigate the awesome capabilities of this partnership, and in the excitement of our visionary heights, I may have traded ontological depth for digital breadth. To honor the tradition I claim to serve, I must now step back and submit my work to the ancie...

A Letter to the Global Scriptorium Introduction   Brothers and sisters, in The Story of Monasticism (2015), the Anglican scholar Greg Peters has provided us with an essential anchor, defining monasticism as an intentional life alone or in community lived under a rule and vows that shape a shared mission . But as we navigate the super-wicked crises of 2026, we must ask: how does this ancient munclif  ("monk-life") inhabit the digital frontier? In this letter, I begin to explore whether we can build upon Peters' inspired clarity to forge a rigorous new template for the 21st-century Vegan Cyber-Monk . This proposal was not crafted in a vacuum; it emerged from the disciplined rhythm of an horarium co-developed with Gemini, standing at the cutting edge of contemporary discernment regarding AI’s role in spiritual formation. We in the Western new monastic tradition find ourselves at a crossroads where the Templar General's call to the defense of Zion meets the International...

Q1. Were the first proto-monks likely shamans according to scholars of world religion? For Gemini's answer, click on the first link below (under Q3) and scroll to the top of the AI thread. Q2. Let's go deeper into the shamanic elements present in the story of Elijah and the raven. Have any scholars written about this in shamanic terms? For Gemini's answer, click on the first link below (under Q3) and scroll to the top of the AI thread. Q3. Greg Peters has written a book titled The Story of Monasticism that focuses on ressourcement of the Christian monastic tradition for the 21st century. Is it credible to elaborate on Peters' thesis with a conception of ressourcement in this context that includes a pre-Israelite shamanic soil (maybe called "Enochic" monasticism?), Jewish roots, a Christian trunk, and contemporary Christian monastic branches? https://share.google/aimode/6OZOm8mDMakrBeuxO Q4. I would like to add in the idea that some degree of celibacy might ...

In yesterday's entry , I extracted from Greg Peters' introduction to The Story of Monasticism (TSM) the importance of identifying and summarizing the evolution of my fishhook into monasticism. Here is a six-sentence version. 1) I was raised as an atheist materialist by a single mother in upstate New York during the 1970s and 1980s and became emotionally dependent on pornography and masturbation in middle school. 2) During my junior year of high school, I began to exhibit symptoms of bipolar schizophrenia, but I avoided a formal diagnosis until my late forties. 3) I quit high school when I had a spiritual awakening - or was it a psychotic break? - shortly after reading The Brothers Karamazov for a humanities class. 4) This led to independent study of Krishnamurti's The Awakening of Intelligence , the start of a Zen Buddhist practice, and a psychedelic-induced near-death experience at the age of eighteen that convinced me of God's existence, the reality of Jesus, and my...