Another instance of transplant shock concerns the contrast between monastic and domestic/vocational forms of life.
Many of the spiritual practices Protestants try to recover—fasting, fixed-hour prayer, contemplation, silence, solitude, a rule of life—were cultivated within monastic communities. Consequently, these practices were not designed for ordinary family life or the demands of a modern workplace. These practices emerged within a social ecology where the rhythms of the day revolved around prayer.
This is easy to forget because we tend to think of spiritual disciplines as isolated techniques. But in their original context these practices were not stand-alone habits. They formed an integrated way of life within monastic communities. Everything revolved around prayer, work, silence, fasting, and worship.
By contrast, modern Protestant life is very different. Our days are structured around work and family. Yes, we’re busy, and that’s a problem, but the crucial thing to note is how our lives are organized around entirely different rhythms and focused upon very different concerns. Consequently, many monastic practices can feel unnatural rather than organic. Fixed-hour prayer conflicts with work schedules and errand running. Silence is interrupted by children. Solitude competes with domestic chaos and busyness. We’re back to transplant shock. We’re trying to grow a plant in soil very different from where it first originated.
More, monastic disciplines were not intended to add to an already crowded to-do list. The practices were the to-do list. There wasn’t a challenge to find time for prayer within a busy schedule because prayer was the schedule. We, however, are forced to ask, “How do I fit some time for contemplation into my schedule today?”
As a consequence, the practices we adopt can easily become technologies of self-improvement. Something we use to optimize our spiritual lives. In such cases, a rule of life can become akin to a productivity regimen with a spiritual twist. Contemplation is used for relaxation and stress management. Sabbath is a day at the spa or a weekend getaway. To be clear, none of these things are inherently bad. But the goal of the practices has subtly changed. Rather than a way of life ordered toward God, the disciplines become techniques for optimizing the self.
The issue, again, is transplant shock. That said, there is good work being done on this front. Tish Harrison Warren's Liturgy of the Ordinary. Ronald Rolheiser's Domestic Monastery. And Rabbit Room Press' Every Moment Holy. Holiness and sanctification have to be pursued in the midst of the domestic and the vocational. There is nowhere else for our spiritual transformation to occur. It happens there or nowhere. But at the same time we have to attend to the chronic desolations of trying to transplant monastic practices into the the soil of ordinary family life, neighborhoods, friendships, and daily work. The transplanting can happen, but it has to be done with thoughtfulness and care.
