I spent a lot of time last year exploring the Christian monastic tradition and it’s wonderful.

But Liz Bucar is totally right.

Read “The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks” and there’s a lot of value there for us today but also much that was an expression of its time that was really more applicable to people in their specific circumstances in the North African deserts in the first centuries after Christ.

Monasticism and mysticism in their raw forms can be very extreme, even dangerous. Their purpose is to transcend the self to reunify with God. But not all paths to this purpose are equally wise. Many are very painful.

For some reason a bit of George Harrison wisdom stumbles out of my head: when you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.