Introducing Philosophy. Philosophy since the Enlightenment, by Roger Jones. Benedictine Oblates: Interesting Thing of the Day. Thanks to Kathleen Norris, being a Benedictine oblate is almost hip these days. Norris is the author of the critically received books Dakota: A Spiritual Geography and The Cloister Walk. Both tell the story of a literary New Yorker who moved to the Great Plains and found a spiritual life at—of all places—a Benedictine monastery. More than any other person since Thomas Merton, Norris has helped rekindle interest in monastic spirituality among the “thinking crowd.” While I’d like to think that I became a Benedictine oblate before reading Norris (somehow I think it is morally superior to choose a path before it becomes popular), the truth is that her ruminations on the relevancy of Benedictine spirituality for contemporary life were formative in my own choice.
The Life of a Saint So what is a Benedictine oblate? All monastic communities require some kind of “rule of life” that orders their common spiritual life together. Obedience. Krishnamurti Foundation of America - Home. Springwater Center: Meditation Retreats | Rochester | New York. Tchl.