 | |
| Author | Pico Iyer |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Riverhead Books |
Publication date | January 14, 2025 |
| Pages | 240 |
| ISBN | 978-0593420287 |
Aflame: Learning from Silence is a 2025 memoir by Pico Iyer, published by Riverhead Books. It concerns Iyer's experiences with his many retreats to a hermitage in Big Sur and his reflections on solitude and spirituality. [1] The book is due to release on January 14, 2025.
Iyer first began retreating to a Benedictine hermitage in Big Sur, located in central California, after his house burned down along with all of his possessions. There, he learned that "solitude was really just a means to community... And that really solitude is a means to the much greater end of compassion and community, and the virtue of my spending time alone was so I could bring much more back to my mother and my bosses and so on." [2] Since his first visit in 1991, Iyer made over a hundred trips to the retreat over the course of three decades. [1]
Iyer noted that although he hasn't identified as a Christian, the Benedictine monks still allowed him to participate and observe in the monastery's practices: "The Catholic monks who don't share my faith open their doors and their hearts absolutely to me and everyone else who doesn't share their fundamental faith but shares their humanity. It's a reminder of how this is all about finding our common humanity." [3]
In a starred review, Publishers Weekly stated "The author brilliantly illuminates philosophical insights about the nature of the self, the world, and how silence serves as a conduit between the two, often in elegant, evocative prose" and concluded, "This is stunning." [4]
Also in a starred review, Kirkus Reviews called the book "Essential reading for anyone interested in the monastic tradition and those who follow it" and concluded that it was "A lovely complement to the monastic writings of both Thomas Merton and Patrick Leigh Fermor, Iyer's book speaks well to the qualities of those who live both outside and firmly within the daily world and the wisdom, rough and refined, that monks have to offer". [5]
Library Journal called the book "A nice addition to the literature on the blessings of quietude. lyer's observations about people, places, and himself are beautifully written and may offer readers some reassurance about these troubled times." [6]
Shelf Awareness stated that "Pico Iyer offers an assortment of reflections on his love for the Catholic monastery in California he visits to cultivate self-renewal in silence." In particular, the reviewer observed Iyer's effortless structure, as well as his interfacing with his various influences:
Iyer forgoes any attempt at temporal or geographic continuity, slipping effortlessly backward and forward over the years and across the globe at will. He weaves insights from thinkers like Meister Eckhart, Albert Camus, and Thomas Merton into his own reflections and evocative descriptions of the Hermitage's physical surroundings in brief, epigrammatic sections that occasionally partake of the quality of Zen koans. [7]
Thích Nhất Hạnh was a Vietnamese Thiền Buddhist monk, peace activist, prolific author, poet and teacher, who founded the Plum Village Tradition, historically recognized as the main inspiration for engaged Buddhism. Known as the "father of mindfulness", Nhất Hạnh was a major influence on Western practices of Buddhism.
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which may be a chapel, church, or temple, and may also serve as an oratory, or in the case of communities anything from a single building housing only one senior and two or three junior monks or nuns, to vast complexes and estates housing tens or hundreds. A monastery complex typically comprises a number of buildings which include a church, dormitory, cloister, refectory, library, balneary and infirmary and outlying granges. Depending on the location, the monastic order and the occupation of its inhabitants, the complex may also include a wide range of buildings that facilitate self-sufficiency and service to the community. These may include a hospice, a school, and a range of agricultural and manufacturing buildings such as a barn, a forge, or a brewery.
The Carthusians, also known as the Order of Carthusians, are a Latin enclosed religious order of the Catholic Church. The order was founded by Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and includes both monks and nuns. The order has its own rule, called the Statutes, and their life combines both eremitical and cenobitic monasticism. The motto of the Carthusians is Stat crux dum volvitur orbis, Latin for 'The Cross is steady while the world turns'. The Carthusians retain a unique form of liturgy known as the Carthusian Rite.
The Cistercians, officially the Order of Cistercians, are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contributions of the highly influential Bernard of Clairvaux, known as the Latin Rule. They are also known as Bernardines, after Saint Bernard, or as White Monks, in reference to the colour of their cowl, as opposed to the black cowl worn by Benedictines.
Thomas Merton, religious name M. Louis, was an American Trappist monk, writer, theologian, mystic, poet, social activist and scholar of comparative religion. He was a monk in the Trappist Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani, near Bardstown, Kentucky, living there from 1941 to his death.
A hermit, also known as an eremite or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions.
Siddharth Pico Raghavan Iyer, known as Pico Iyer, is an English-born essayist and novelist known chiefly for his travel writing. He is the author of numerous books on crossing cultures including Video Night in Kathmandu, The Lady and the Monk and The Global Soul. He has been a contributor to Time,Harper's, The New York Review of Books, and The New York Times.
Christian monasticism is a religious way of life of Christians who live ascetic and typically cloistered lives that are dedicated to Christian worship. It began to develop early in the history of the Christian Church, modeled upon scriptural examples and ideals, including those in the Old Testament. It has come to be regulated by religious rules and, in modern times, the Canon law of the respective Christian denominations that have forms of monastic living. Those living the monastic life are known by the generic terms monks (men) and nuns (women). The word monk originated from the Greek μοναχός, itself from μόνος meaning 'alone'.
The Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani is a Catholic monastery in the United States near Bardstown, Kentucky, in Nelson County. The abbey is part of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance, better known as the Trappists. Founded on December 21, 1848, and raised to an abbey in 1851, Gethsemani is considered to be the motherhouse of all Trappist and Trappistine monasteries in the United States. Gethsemani is the oldest Trappist monastery in the country that is still operating.
John Michael Talbot is an American Christian musician, author, television presenter and founder of a monastic community known as the Brothers and Sisters of Charity.
Weston Priory is a community of Benedictine monks who reside in Weston, Vermont. Founded in 1953, The Priory is situated within the confines of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington, which encompasses the entirety of Vermont. They are particularly known for the songs they have contributed to Roman Catholic worship over the past 50 years, their connection to Latin America, and the crafts produced at the monastery.
A hermitage most authentically refers to a place where a hermit lives in seclusion from the world, or a building or settlement where a person or a group of people lived religiously, in seclusion. Particularly as a name or part of the name of properties its meaning is often imprecise, harking to a distant period of local history, components of the building material, or recalling any former sanctuary or holy place. Secondary churches or establishments run from a monastery were often called "hermitages".
New Camaldoli Hermitage is a rural Camaldolese Benedictine hermitage in the Santa Lucia Mountains of Big Sur, California, in the United States. The Camaldolese branch of the Benedictine family was founded by St. Romuald in the late 10th century. The hermitage was consecrated under the Immaculate Heart of Mary and was known by that name for its first decades, but its official name is New Camaldoli.
Lutgardis of Aywières is a saint from the medieval Low Countries. She was born in Tongeren, known as Tongres in French, and entered monastic life at the age of twelve. During her life various miracles were attributed to her, and she is known to have experienced religious ecstasy. Her feast day is 16 June.
Below is a bibliography of published works written by Thomas Merton, the Trappist monk of The Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani. Several of the works listed here have been published posthumously. The works are listed under each category by date of publication.
Brother David Steindl-Rast, O.S.B., is an American Catholic Benedictine monk, author, and lecturer. He is committed to interfaith dialogue and has dealt with the interaction between spirituality and science.
The Abbey of Saint Scholastica, also known as Subiaco Abbey, is located just outside the town of Subiaco in the Province of Rome, Region of Lazio, Italy; and is still an active Benedictine abbey, territorial abbey, first founded in the 6th century AD by Saint Benedict of Nursia. It was in one of the Subiaco caves that Benedict made his first hermitage. The monastery today gives its name to the Subiaco Congregation, a grouping of monasteries worldwide that makes up part of the Order of Saint Benedict.
Monastic silence is a spiritual practice recommended in a variety of religious traditions for purposes including becoming closer to God and achieving elevated states of spiritual purity. It may be in accordance with a monk's formal vow of silence, but can also engage laity who have not taken vows, or novices who are preparing to take vows.
Jon M. Sweeney is an American author. His most frequent subjects are Catholic, particularly St. Francis of Assisi, about whom Sweeney has written The St. Francis Prayer Book, Francis of Assisi in His Own Words, When Saint Francis Saved the Church, The Complete Francis of Assisi, and The Enthusiast.
Silence Is My Mother Tongue is a novel by Sulaiman Addonia, published October 25, 2018 by Graywolf Press. The book was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Fiction and was longlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction. It follows " two siblings attempting to find stability within the chaos of a [refugee] camp."