Archive of "Technology" Category

Laser Monks: Printer Toner and Contemplative Prayer

PatJuly 24, 2008

Ahh, those of us in the web-driven world and those of us in who practice contemplative prayer should all check out this blog post about the Laser Monks.

Monasteries all over the world have been self-supporting for centuries, and the practice of monks running a small business is nothing new. Most of them, however, don’t end up experiencing 700% annual sales growth, selling 30,000 products, and competing with Fortune 500 companies.

Instead of baking fruitcakes for the occasional visitor, the monks from Our Lady of Spring Bank Cistercian Abbey sell laser toner and business supplies throughout the United States. They’ve creatively branded themselves as LaserMonks, but they offer more than just a great story. They also help businesses save an average of 40% off printer ink and toner, and in turn, the monks donate all of their profits to charity.

There is nothing conventional about the LaserMonks web site. Next to “fax supplies” and “inkjet cartridges” is a link to send in prayer requests. The content is devoted equally to product details and information about the monastery. In addition to business supplies, they also offer fun monastery items like “Benevelent Blends Coffee” and “Holy Hot Chocolate.”

(I’m seeing the most entertaining and enlightening things with my technorati search feeds for various terms like ‘monasticism’, ‘monastery’, etc…)

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Listening to voices unlike yours

PatJuly 8, 2008

I ran into a Calvary Chapel pastor’s blog post that referenced the article I write for Next-Wave a while back. It’s a fun blog to read, as I think that the author thinks he and I are way more different in our theology and our practices than I suspect we are (even though I also “overuse the bromidic catchphrases like missio dei, neo-monastic, and incarnational” ;-))

In fact, it’s funny to me that I found that article not ego-surfing for links to the Next-Wave article itself, but in a Technorati search for the word “monastic”. I set up a few such searches a while back to notify me when people are writing about topics I’m interested in (and most specially, topics that may be helpful to me in doing my doctoral dissertation on spiritual formation in the suburbs).

The greatest learning from the article though, was the author’s approach of making sure to read from people that he disagrees with. As a critic of the emerging church movement, he still reads it, but not for why you might think:

1. To fight the natural tendency towards provincialization in thinking that happens when one drinks from his own bathwater, intellectually speaking, and, close on the heels of the first reason:

2. To be challenged in my thinking. I already agree with myself; because it’s simple human nature to have blind spots in our thinking, and by definition we can’t see our own blind spots, it’s a great habit to get into to read/listen to/interact with as broad a range of thinking as possible to constantly challenge your presuppositions, and hopefully thereby identify and deal with those blindspots.

Being that I’m no friend of Emergent, I specifically choose to read as much of their stuff as possible (by the way - not for the purpose of proving them wrong; if that’s the motive, stop; you’re not thinking, you’re reacting - and besides, the ECM is hugely self-defeating anyway), and one of the ECM sources I like to read is the Next-Wave e-zine.

That posture of learning is a wonderful thing, no? I happen to think that the wisest of people spend time learning from those they disagree with. And although I don’t really consider myself “part of Emergent” in particular, I think that any church or Christian which seeks to live the Gospel of Christ in a shifting, postmodern culture would do well to listen to a wide variety of voices.

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Ira Glass on Working Through the Suck

PatJuly 7, 2008

Here’s a great little (5 min) video from This American Life storyteller Ira Glass about how to work creatively when you’re not feeling very creative and your output shows it.

From four videos of a Storytelling series on Youtube

via Merlin Mann/43Folders

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Following the Celtic Trail wordle

PatJune 22, 2008

On a whim, I created a Wordle for my whole paper for the Following the Celtic Trail course for my D. Min at Bakke Graduate University. Click through for best effect, and go create some wordles for yourself.

In the Coracle

Pat Loughery’s thoughts on life, faith, sports, motorcycles, photography, music and other details

Archive of "Technology" Category

Laser Monks: Printer Toner and Contemplative Prayer

Listening to voices unlike yours

Ira Glass on Working Through the Suck

Following the Celtic Trail wordle