Once Upon A Monk
Memoir Essays
by
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The Abbot of Scourmont told me, while visiting the Abbey in Belgium that we have experienced many reincarnations. So it is no surprise that sometimes I’m uncertain if I may be at the beginning of my life or approaching the end. If my life was a river, I suppose it would be the Mississippi, broad, flowing over its boundaries, meandering on its way to the ocean, but also with some clear direction and a swift current. What is it that gives us direction and boundaries in life? More precisely what makes us spiritual or whole? Does the world suffer today because it seems as if we may have lost a simple but profound spirituality of the past or are we on the path of evolution to a place where monasteries, temples and other spiritual traditions are viewed by some as fossils of extinct forms? My life has been, and to some degree still is, a living experiment searching the answer to many of these questions. If there is only one person who reads something here that opens a door or gives a new insight, then my task has been worthwhile.
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About the Book
You are about to embark into a book that has taken four years in the making. Once Upon a Monk will hopefully support all readers in better understanding life woven into a fabric of monklore over the centuries. This living story of one monastic man, who continues an ongoing discovery of his real self, will help to turn the pages of your life if you so desire. In experiencing his personal process of Individuation, time never stops but takes him through many reincarnations. These pages tell his story of his twenty year monastic lifestyle that enriched his ongoing growth on the trellis. Much of this transformation is available to everyone. As John Henry Newman wrote over a century ago, “In a higher world it might be otherwise, but here below, to live is to change and to be perfect is to change often”.
About the Author
In addition to Tom’s twenty years as a monk, he has done graduate studies for a Master’s in Sociology and Doctorate in Pastoral Theology. He currently conducts yearly retreats as well as working in his private practice as a therapist. Tom lives in Louisiana in a city along the Mississippi River named “Red Stick” by the First Americans.