"The spiritual seeker’s guide to living with authenticity and integrity in troubled times.
This book is a dialogue between two spiritual seekers—one a Trappist monk and the other a married professional woman. It is two people 'stuttering to articulate life's universal questions from diverse contexts and perspectives.' Brother Paul writes as one steeped in silence and the daily rhythms of the ancient prayer practices of monasticism. Judith Valente writes as a professional woman attempting to bring a sense of prayer and contemplation to a scattered life in the secular world.
Valente uses the story of Brother Paul's interview for a PBS documentary as a jumping-off point: When asked the purpose of the Trappist life in the modern world, he said that it is 'to show you don't need a purpose.' The purpose of life, he said, is life. 'You're to live your life.'
How to Be offers a window into two people living their lives on purpose (or not) and struggling to come to terms with the big issues everyone faces: faith, mortality, mystery, prayer, and work. It is a book that provides insight and inspiration for those walking the spiritual path—particularly for those interested in the contemplative path."
"Monastic life and its counter-cultural wisdom come alive in the stories and lessons of Br. Paul Quenon, OCSO, during his more than five decades as a Trappist at the Abbey of Gethsemani. He served as a novice under Thomas Merton and he also welcomed some of the monastery's more well-known visitors, including Sr. Helen Prejean and Seamus Heaney, to Merton's hermitage. In Praise of the Useless Life includes Quenon's quiet reflections on what it means to live each day with careful attentiveness.
The humble peace and simplicity of the monastery and of Quenon's daily life are beautifully portrayed in this memoir. Whether it be through the daily routine of the monastery, his love of the outdoors no matter the season, or his lively and interesting conversations with visitors (reciting Emily Dickinson with Pico Iyer, discussing Merton and poetry with Czeslaw Milosz), Quenon's gentle musings display his love for the beauty in his vocation and the people he's encountered along the way.
Inspired by his novice master Merton, the poet and photographer's stories remind us that the beauty of life can best be seen in the 'uselessness' of daily life—having a quiet chat with a friend, spending time in contemplation—in our vocations, and in the memories we make along the way."
