Thanks to everyone who joined last night. Session 1 recording is now live in the classroom for all those participating.

This year, spring cleaning has been a return to the concept of minimalism and simple living - physical, digital, and financial. I have been reading books ("goodbye, things" and "new minimalism" were both very eye-opening) and subscribing to youtube channels ("laura larson organizing", "sunny kind journey", "gabe bult") to retrain my consumer mind. Have any of you explored this philosophy? Do you have any resources to share which were influential in your journey? P.S. Enjoy these images of monastery guest houses.

Morning Basecampers. I'm hosting a four-part series beginning later this month called "The Art of Becoming." It's an evolution of one of our most popular programs - the Being and Doing Course, which is being sunset. I'm only going to host this live once. We wanted to offer it at a price-point that could make sense for everyone. Recordings will be available if you can't attend live. If you feel the nudge, I hope you'll join me. Everything will take place right here in Basecamp - just sign up in the classroom. You can learn more @ https://monkmanual.com/pages/the-art-of-becoming

Currently going through Aristotle for a research paper, and thought I’d share a fundamental idea of his that seems relevant to the ongoing discussion. This is a piece of quoted commentary on Aristotle’s general view of what nature and/or natural objects are: “Nature is, or natural objects are, that which itself contains the determination of what it is or is to be, while art is, or artificial objects are, that which has this determination elsewhere. In the plant the determination is in the plant; in the house it is in the builder. The plant makes itself under the conditions of its making. This the house does not do.” For Aristotle, the final end of a natural object, its purpose, its destiny, in some sense dwells within it from the moment it comes into being. This end, or telos, guides the growth and development of its matter, and its environment shapes this natural progression. Its path of becoming, then, is already set from its conception, and changes depending on how other natural objects and forces act upon it. While plants and animals certainly have this kind of determination in themselves, they do not have agency or possession over it. But humans do. And this is what it is to be an human being: to have a destiny, a journey of its own becoming, and perhaps more importantly, the capacity to intentionally engage the journey. Artifacts on the other hand, i.e., tools, buildings, machines, receive their end in a preconceived way. A builder has an end in mind, and chooses and shapes matter to bring his idea into existence; and it’s fitting and good for humans to work with the world in this way to bring forth art, expressing ideas by doing so. But something else happens in machine time. In machine time, an externally preconceived end is placed on the human person in way that’s indifferent to the end already existing within them. This industrial framework not only competes against the destiny of the human person, but blinds them to it. It also shapes the environment in which the person lives, making it difficult to even recognize the existence of the frame.

I want to share this here first. Enrollment for The Path is now open. Over the past few weeks, we’ve been exploring the shift from Machine Time to Human Time together, not only as an idea, but as something many of you have already begun to recognize in your own lives. The Path is where that shift becomes lived. It’s a six-week formation journey designed to help you begin inhabiting Human Time in your actual days - in your work, your relationships, and your inner life. This work has changed my life. It has changed how I wake up in the morning, how I make decisions, how I relate to my daily work, how I experience time (and life) itself. Time has shifted from something that consumes, to a daily invitation to create. To co-author one’s life, in time. And now, this is the primary way we are guiding others through that same transition. We begin March 16. If you feel called to take this step, you can learn more and join below… [ Join The Path ] Regardless of whether you join, I’m grateful you’re here. Steven