Video
AudioMepkin Abbey
Faith and Doubt at 40 Below
Whether God exists is a legitimate question. That man needs a God is an incontrovertible fact. – Carl Jung One day at Mepkin Abbey monastery, Father Christian and I were in the breezeway that separates the monastic offices from the refectory. While chatting we were approached by a self-professed atheist who said he was visiting [...]
The Magical Umbrella: How a Monk’s Christmas Present Changed My Life
Christmas is rapidly approaching and each year my thoughts return to the Trappist monks of Mepkin Abbey. For many years I religiously spent several weeks over Christmas living and working alongside the monks, but unfortunately the last couple have been so busy that I’ve been unable to get away. But of all my wonderful memories, [...]
Let Go of My Ego
…is probably the best CEO I’ve ever known, and his mantra is that success relies on the courage to “face facts.” He constantly challenges his number crunchers to come up with data that prove him wrong rather than right. Facing facts means “putting things in perspective” and “getting some distance.” When we become identified or “attached” to a business plan, product line, sales model, or pricing strategy this is exactly what we fail to do….
August Turak Spends 10 Days as a Monastic Guest at Mepkin Abbey
Sweeping, dusting, mopping, scrubbing, waxing and polishing. I spent a whole day manhandling a fifty foot fiberglass pole with a dustmop strapped to the end of it, scraping the cobwebs off the ceiling of the church and all I could think about [...]
What are you looking at?
He said, “Go and tell this people: Keep on listening but do not see. Keep on looking but do not understand.” Isaiah (6: 9) Dear August – HAPPY NEW YEAR! I listened to a few of your video clips and feel compelled to add my two cents. We live in a world where people look [...]
Applying Monastic Business Secrets to Corporations
Despite many surface differences the monastic model can be applied to our secular organizations with the same [...]
I Do and I Understand: A New Model of Transformational Education
Fr. Francis Kline, besides being one of the most impressive leaders I have ever met, also happens to be a Julliard trained organist who, much to the disappointment of the New York Times, at the age of 21 gave up a lucrative recording contract and certain stardom to enter a Trappist monastery. I was thrilled when [...]
