Conference on Work II: Current Challenges
In my previous conference on "work" in the Rule of Benedict,
I noted that "ora et labora" is really a false description of our monastic life,
that it should really be "ora et lectio et labora."
I concluded with some larger reflections on the monastic project itself
as our fundamental work; that is,
the "inner work" of obedience, stability, and conversatio.
In this work I wish to reflect on our current culture.
Contemporary culture, like all cultures before it,
has an enormous impact on the life of monastic communities.
For better or for worse,
our culture provides the social and economic matrix
within which monastic life is lived.
What follows are some thoughts on some of the dilemmas
I see in this relationship, particularly in relationship to work.
A Nation on Overtime
We have become a "nation on overtime."1
Many workers have said goodbye the 40-hour work week.
Never mind family.
Never mind community.
What many Americans do is work and increasingly,
those who are able, do it overtime.
In fact, work seems to have become an end in itself,
a definition of our self worth and identity.
Ben Hunnicutt, professor of leisure studies at the University of Iowa, says,
"Nothing is higher, nothing is better. Everything else is subordinate."2
He argues that work has, in many respects,
replaced religion, providing answers to such questions as
"What am I here for? Where am I going?
What must I do to get out of the mess I am in?"
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that production workers
put in an average 4.6 hours of overtime per week.
In the "downsizing" that has become a way of life for corporate USA since the 1980s,
companies have become reluctant to hire additional workers.
Instead overtime is expected of most employees.
Daniel Yankelovich has studied patterns among white collar workers
and discovered that they put in 50-70 hours per week.
In short, US workers are moving in the opposite direction from those of Japan and Europe,
where a 35 hour work week is becoming standard.
The shockwave of "downsizing" and other cost cutting measures
are now rolling through education, health, and other areas of the American economy.
The major impact is on the level of efficiency
and productivity and management practices.
Education and health care are beginning to feel the impact of cost cutting measures
which were implemented some years ago at a variety of levels in the economy.
Workers at all levels are feeling the impact of being part of a global work force.
This cultural situation has a direct impact on us
because it sets the often unspoken cultural expectation for us.
Information
Recently the following description appeared in an editorial
in a professional journal devoted to "information."
"The scene in the TV commercial is idyllic.
It looks like a remote section of the Pacific Coast.
The sun, low in the sky, glints off the misty ocean.
Waves roll gently against the rocks.
A runner moves alone easily,
obviously enjoying the beauty of the moment.
He slows and pulls a vibrating electronic device from his jacket pocket.
He reads the e-mail message, keys in a response to it, and receives a response -
all while on the jogging trail.
The technology displayed in the ad is now routine
and the implied message is a bit scary as well:
one should never be out of the information loop,
not even for as long as it takes to relax a little and enjoy the beauty of nature.
The information revolution is truly here.
The ability for anybody to communicate instantly
with practically everybody else and every available database on any topic and at any time
is no longer just a wild idea, but an everyday reality.
Computers first and now handheld devices are changing
how information is transmitted and received,
generated, used, recorded, presented, published,
analyzed, processed, protected, classified, stored, searched, and retrieved."3
The editor concludes the editorial:
"One hopes that we remember in the excitement and enthusiasm
of the information age that electronic gadgetry, however sophisticated,
enhances, but never replaces knowledge, experience, and intuition.
Also, it is okay to disconnect from the electronic world once in a while
and take time to think (emphasis mine.)"
It is at once ironic and astonishing to have to make explicit
that "it is okay once in a while to take time to think."
Technology and work
It has been a common belief that personal technology
such as computers and PDAs were supposed to help us get more work done more quickly,
thereby boosting leisure time.
They certainly boost efficiency, allowing us to more done in a given period of time.
However, that increase in efficiency has not increased leisure time.
In a study of 2,134 adults published in September 2008 by the Pew Research Center,
participants were asked if the availability of the Internet, e-mail, cell phones,
and instant messaging have actually increased the demand that they work more hours.
Of the respondents who held professional or managerial positions,
59% said that work-hour demands have increased.
Of those who own Blackberries and PDAs,
63% said their gadgets have increased demands
that they work more hours.
So Americans work long and hard,
and personal technology leads us to work more, not less.4
We recognize the double edged character of information technology.
On the one hand, the use of computers for writing and editing
has dramatically simplified the task of writing.
It is much easier to organize ideas,
to get hunches and intuitions onto a page,
and then review and edit, subtract and add,
noting where transitions are weak or illogical.
The task of writing letters of recommendation for students going to medical school
is much simpler today because the body of the letter has to be keyed only once.
The availability of information and images on the Internet
makes basic information available with a few keystrokes,
not buried in some volume in the library.
We still use the library but in a different way.
E-mail is overwhelming at times
but I don't think any one of us would want to give it up
because of its efficiency and convenience.
I don't think any one of us
would want to give up the capacity to share documents as attachments.
However, working in a balanced way with this technology
requires a new set of skills and habits.
We have to learn how to manage this technology
so that it doesn't rule us and our lives,
so that it doesn't become a false god
that insists on a response to its every demand.
What is monastic work?
What kind of work do monks do?
Three short phrases from chapter 48 give the characteristics:
RB 48:3 ...they will spend their morning after Prime
till about the fourth hour at whatever work needs to be done;
RB 48:6 ...they are to return to whatever work is necessary;
RB 48:11 ...and they are to work at their assigned tasks...
There is no such thing as work
that is beneath the dignity of a monk,
whether that is sweeping the floors,
harvesting apples, taking care of the grounds,
celebrating Eucharist and other sacraments with parishioners,
bringing a listening heart and mind to spiritual direction,
bringing trays of food to the elderly and the sick,
or driving them to the doctor,
cantoring and reading at Eucharist and the Liturgy of the Hours,
preparing and preaching homilies,
cooking meals and serving them,
washing clothes, teaching classes, advising students,
designing and making furniture,
making, analyzing, and tracking budgets and other financial details,
and all the other things that are part of the life of our monastery.
Benedict imagines that monks
will attend to the "nuts and bolts" workings of the daily life
such that conversatio, a monastic manner of life, is possible.
Benedict believes that work is a human activity
and part of monastic life.
If monks have to help bring in the harvest
they should not grumble.
This is hard work with mechanization;
you can imagine the difficulty when the work was all done by hand.
Benedict does not imagine that the monastic community
is a privileged class, with lots of hired servants.
Nor does Benedict imagine his monks so involved in work
that participation in community life, the Liturgy of Hours, Eucharist,
is seriously compromised.
Many times manual labor does not occupy one's whole attention
and thus allows for continued reflective processing
of the work of lectio divina or prayer.
(For Benedict this is not a problem;
for the Master, the major reason for manual work
is precisely to keep the hands and mind occupied in order to avoid sin (RM 50:2-4,23,55).
There is something wonderfully liberating about cleaning one's room
or working a patch of ground in the summer
as a break from the normal routine of the office.
I don't want to romanticize manual labor --
most of us are not engaged in back breaking work
in the heat and humidity of a summer day,
or in the awful cold of January and February.
Most of our work today demands our complete attention.
One only has to spend a few hours staring at a computer screen to be completely drained,
and then in a microsecond of absentmindedness,
lose the fruit of that effort.
Because of the intensity of work in this situation,
we need to learn how to relieve stress during the course of the day,
by standing up and stretching, letting our eyes focus on something else,
and walking up and down the hallway.
Because of the intensity of our interaction with technology,
we need to develop skills to remain fresh during the day,
and to know when enough is enough.
For our faculty, computer technology is increasingly important
to the art of teaching.
We are finding that we need to raise the level of computer literacy
across the board within the community
because so much of our work requires familiarity with the basics.
Increasing professionalization
We see professionalization taking place at all levels of our institutions --
from the position of president or headmaster,
to director of student life,
or the work of being a faculty member and a faculty resident.
These examples are specific to education,
but parallels can be drawn to other areas such as health
or being engaged in the work of a pastor or a chaplain.
All of these positions used to be filled by people
who had shown themselves capable in some other job
and could be expected to "learn on the job."
Our institutions are complex enough
that it is more difficult to leave room for "on the job training:"
monks need to have the appropriate experience,
preferably at another institution where there is greater opportunity for cross pollination.
At the same time,
having monks who are willing and able to lead in these positions
is a wonderful gift to the people they serve and to the monastery.
I suspect that some of the preparation of monks for work in our apostolates
will take a different approach from what we have done in the past.
Another dimension of being a professional
is it we are expected to work as other professionals do,
that is, to work until the task is completed.
Punching a clock will not do.
However, sometimes we work even longer and harder
than our colleagues do.
Why do we do that? What is the driver?
When we are out of balance
I suspect that each one of us has had times in his monastic life
when he was out of balance with respect to work
and the rest of our monastic commitment.
How does this happen?
For one, each one of us comes to this community with a generous heart.
We want to make a difference and we want to make our place
We are men and it is very easy for us to believe that our value, our worth
is directly proportional to how much we do, to how much we accomplish,
to how much we contribute.
A mistake I have often made
is to misevaluate how much time and energy a task will take.
Not on my best day, but on an average day.
Secondly, many times it's not the task itself,
but it's the larger work context within which it is happening.
That is, what else needs to get done on that day,
in that week, and in that month?
For those of us who have a tendency to overcommit
it is helpful to ask a trusted confrère when in doubt,
someone who knows how to say, "sit down until the idea goes away."
Or, "if you are going to put this on the plate,
what are you going to take off?"
We may be out of balance for a week,
because of some unexpected events
and this may make our regular engagement with lectio and the Liturgy of the Hours very difficult.
At other times, as a faculty member,
this may occur over the period of a semester.
In these situations it is important to talk to a superior,
to let one of us know what is going on.
We have all been in this situation.
The last situation any monk needs
is to feel both exhausted and misunderstood in this situation. Not helpful.
What is crucial is help in rebalancing,
is getting back on the wagon, so to speak.
It is easy to allow the distorted pattern to become a habit.
Bad habits are hard to break
and good habits are hard to establish.
Work and responding to the needs of the community
I think that we as a community have a strong sense and commitment
to developing the talents of each monk
and having each monk work where he is best suited.
Working out of our strengths does not mean that all will be well
because the "shadow" side is always operative.
However, this community also has some very specific positions
that need to be filled by monks.
There are situations when the abbot has to ask an individual
to do work that would not be his first choice.
This is not to justify putting a square peg in a round hole,
but it is to say that there are occasions when an individual
is asked to respond to the needs of the community.
In this community, there are countless stories of individuals
who have been asked to serve in ways they would never have imagined.
In giving themselves to the service,
they found talents and resources previously undiscovered.
There are also complementary stories
when individuals gave the service their very best effort
and it did not work out.
In this situation the Rule of Benedict wisely provides
a safety valve --chapter 68.
Our work is part of the commonweal, the common good.
Whatever we do contributes to the wellbeing of the community
by making our prayer and our life together possible.
We come as individuals into community,
generous, eager for the life, flexible,
and with our solemn profession,
we make an oblation of our life, of our vows, to God.
We give ourselves to God in the search for God in community,
through Christ, and in the Spirit.
But if I am not careful,
I can slowly, unwittingly, but surely
take back my vows, take back the gift of myself.
For whatever reason,
I reverse the gift giving of making profession.
This dynamic is not pervasive in our community
but it is always something to watch for.
Towards a Benedictine spirituality of work5
For us work is an act of integration because
it involves our whole person, our body mind and spirit.
And this is true whether the work is intellectual or manual.
Ora, lectio et labora -- work is an important third leg
of the Benedictine stool.
Our work shares in the act of creation.
Like all of creation, and especially so,
we are made in the image and likeness of God.
We share in the creative energy of God
and follow in the biblical pattern of working during six days
and resting on the seventh.
As sons of Benedict we treasure the "made" thing,
the task done with energy, intelligence and creativity.
We are grateful for the opportunity
to contribute to the life and health of the community.
In so many ways our work contributes in a dynamic way
to our search for God,
to our understanding of ourselves and each other,
not only in a psychological sense, but also in the spiritual sense.
In many ways in a fundamental way we come to understand this Body of Christ
in all of its particularity through both our individual and common work.
As we wish to give glory to God in our prayer, in our being,
so we desire to give glory to God in the work of our hands and minds.
In our work we follow Jesus of Nazareth,
who works each day to proclaim the reign of God.
There are many occasions in the Gospels
that describe Jesus as working to the point of exhaustion
but then going to a deserted place for rest and reflection.
Sometimes this does not work either
because people locate him and continue to come to him.
I am sure that each one of you has had this experience.
In his parables Jesus constantly refers to human labor:
the work of the shepherd, a farmer, the sower,
the householder, a servant, the steward, the fishermen,
the merchant, and the vineyard laborer.
Jesus also refers to the work of women
in baking bread, in cleaning and giving birth and raising a family.
In teaching his disciples Jesus speaks of working while there is still light,
saying that have special meaning in an agricultural environment.
There is another dimension of human work that we all experience.
All work, whether manual or intellectual, is inevitably linked with toil.
The Book of Genesis expresses this fact in a particularly penetrating manner.
The original blessing of work that is present in the mystery of creation
is contrasted with the curse that sin brought with it:
"cursed is the ground because of you;
in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life."
This toil connected with work marks the way of human life on earth
and is also an announcement of death:
"in the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken."
No matter what work we do,
it seems that much of it will be enjoyable
and some of it will be toil.
For faculty, grading papers, exams,
and lab notebooks is toil.
For anyone associated with the business office,
the audit is toil.
For pastors, getting enough teachers for faith formation
and readying young people for confirmation is toil.
And yet it is this toil that so often connects us to the work that Christ came to do.
His work of salvation came about through suffering and death on a cross.
By enduring the toil of work in union with Christ crucified for us,
we collaborate with the Son of God for the redemption of the world.
We are true disciples of Christ when we carry the cross every day
in the activity that we are asked to perform.
As the hymn in Philippians chapter two points out,
Jesus does not cling to divinity
but empties himself.
Surely there are days when we are particularly aware of spending ourselves
not only for the sake of others,
not only for the sake of the community,
but also for the sake of the reign of God.
Finally, all of our efforts on this side will be incomplete.
Excellence can be a reasonable goal for us, but not perfection.
Sometimes, the best we can manage in the presence of conflicting demands
is to do an adequate job.
Conclusion
The issues surrounding monastic work are complex
and demand reflection from a variety of disciplines and perspectives.
The above reflections are not an attempt at solutions
so much as an attempt to get some of the questions on the table.
Abbot John Klassen, OSB
November 18, 2008
--
1 Josephine Marcotty, Star Tribune, September 5, 1994, p. 1. See also Juliet B. Schor in
The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure (Basic Books: New York, 1992) for a rich and full analysis of
the American dilemma of overwork and overconsumption.
2 Ibid, p. 7.
3 Michael Heylin, Chemical and Engineering News, March 27, 1995, p. 5.
4 Joe Gentry, "Why working long hours doesn't guarantee job security" from www.cio.com, November 5, 2008.
5 See John Paul II's encyclical "On Human Labor" which I have used as a conversation partner in this section.
See also Norvene Vest in Friend of the Soul: A Benedictine Spirituality of Work (Cowley Publications: Boston, MA, 1997).
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