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Obedience is an old-fashioned and emotive word, isn’t it? Memories of childhood and school. Makes me want to yell “SHAN’T” at the top of my voice!
It’s one of the three vows Benedictine monastics take. I’d love to know how you react to the word and the concept.
What is Benedictine obedience?
First let me offer my interpretation of what this means in the context of Benedictine spirituality:
Image by Vieux Bandit
The first word of the Rule of Benedict is Listen. Obedience is about listening. The listening ear, the listening heart, humility before God.
Benedict’s primary model is Christ himself, and his obedience to God, unto death.
The Superior holds the place of Christ in the monastery, the monks as disciples, who listen and learn in obedience, although Benedict accepts the Superior may not always be right.
Benedict also says we must show obedience to one another, to respect and be patient. He says no-one should pursue what is to his or her advantage, but rather what is for the good of others. Tough one.
Joan Chittister says this:
How is it that a Rule that purports to deal with the spiritual life can possibly put so much stock in the human dimensions of community? Obedience to God is imperative, yes, but so much emphasis on obedience to a prioress or abbot, to leaders whose mundane lives are as limited as our own, almost seems to make a mockery of the very concept. If this is a life centered in the call of God, then why so much attention to the human?
“The answer, of course, is that the human is the only place we can really be sure that God is. It is so easy to love the God we do not see but it is so much more sanctifying to serve the God we learn to see in others.
What about the need for disobedience?
Joan Chittister is quite a good example of this, actually, because she is certainly considered very disobedient by the Vatican. She believes the Catholic Church should have female priests (gasp!) and is not shy about expressing this belief. For her, the moral issue overrides church leadership diktats.
And what about everyday life? How does the artist reconcile the imperative to express her art with her responsibility of caring for her children? How does the businessman make a decision about closing his company and putting people out of work so he can be obedient to a deeper calling? For that matter how does a Benedictine monastic make the decision that it’s time to leave that life behind?
What do you think?
I’d love to know what you make of this rather old-fashioned word, obedience. What are you obedient to? How do you listen for the still small voice within, and what it might be leading you to?
Elsewhere:
Over at Magpie Girl’s Flock, we’ve been talking about the importance of self-care, and I really liked this post in her main blog which talks about combining life as an artist with chronic illness. Listening to your own needs is an important part of obedience.
Image by Noel Zia Lee
Coming soon!
Finally, if you enjoyed my Greenspirit video, watch out for an interesting guest post coming here at Anchors & Masts this Friday, 9th July.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
I like Joan Chittister’s take on the concept of monastic obedience. Those of us with chronic illness learn that we must obey our bodies, or risk being brought to our knees. Manifesting our creative spirits, grasping hold of our art and artistry, this is, in part or whole, our medicine, our healing.
how does a Benedictine monastic make the decision that it’s time to leave that life behind?
the hardest times to be obedient are the ones in which others may accuse us of disobedience – but more often than not – that is the exact time we must be obedient to where we believe God is leading us
Peace Tess,
A though-provoking post, as usual. The Islamic tradition has a similar coupling of hearing and obedience. Believers are those who say, when they hear something, ‘We hear and we obey’. Within the Sufi tradition, we are taught to be obedient to our teachers, in way that seems similar to your description of the Benedictine tradition. In much the same way, we are taught to obey our teachers, even though they are not themselves infallible – perhaps deep, inner listening is the real point.
The Persian word ‘Darvish’ (one of the most common terms for a Sufi) seems to come from a root meaning ‘pauper’ and also ‘one who waits at the door’. That is, a darvish is one who seeks to always be at God’s door, listening and ready to obey.
Blessed be…
Abdur Rahman
I am not one who finds decision-making easy. It takes me time and I am naturally inclined towards listening. In the end, I make what I believe to be the best decision on my own. For me, the term obedience is not forbidding, at least as the Benedictines portray it. I listen with my gut to the advice I seek from others, to my own perceptions, to the “voice” I hear in prayer. When I sense some wholeness, some integrity, some truth to a path, I can take it with a sense of peace. If I feel freer afterwards, it is confirmation of the rightness of my choice.
As for the obedience to one another, seeking the advantage of others above one’s own, can be a problem for me. It is a great temptation to be the martyr and, for this reason, I find consulting others to be a wise thing to do. It holds me back from that temptation.
There is a great expression in Spanish, Obedezco pero no cumplo. i.e. I obey but I do not comply. It was used by the Spanish colonials towards the rule of the Spanish Crown…
It has taken me a long time to get to that point because as the oldest child of an authoritarian mother I was taught to obey, even though she was not particuliarly obedient herself.
On the other hand, again as a child, when I was told to respect ‘grown-ups’ my answer was that they had to be respectable in the first place. My critical mind rarely found them so. Anouilh’s Antigone has always been a heroine of mine and obedience brings her back to my mind…
All this to say that my critical mind usually overrides my training in obedience. Mainly I let authorities do their thing and I do mind… I follow my conscience
I would make a very bad Benedictine, wouldn’t I?
Lovely blog today. At the risk of being a predictable feminist I’d like to suggest that obedience has very problematical resonances for women? Being ‘a good girl’ usually has a power dynamic behind it somewhere or other, and unthinking obedience is a potentially dangerous structural state both politically and personally? I know that’s not what you’re on about today, your arguments are subtler, but the dangers are still there.
As an 8 year old Brownie in 1949 I was very lucky not to be a child rape and murder statistic as I went off with a man on a bike who had reminded me that Brownies should always be good girls, ready to help other people and he needed some help to find his way to the next village. When I finally got home, very late, I was too scared to tell my mother what had happened because that would have made me ‘a naughty girl’! Women can get caught every which way in the obedience trap?
Respectfulness and Patience seem to me to be admirable underpinnings for behaviour in this world where we look for God in the other, but I’m really not so sure about obedience. The church could have done with a bit more challenge and a bit less obedience at many points in its history I fear?
Thanks everyone, what great comments.
@Roxanne: yes, I think this part about obeying our bodies is very important, and awareness/acceptance of the body is something the Christian church has been pretty bad at.
@Kel: well put – it’s the discernment process, isn’t it?
@Abdur: I’m glad you commented, because the Islamic concept of surrender went through my mind when I was writing this. I had no idea about the word Darvish (which I’d always known as Dervish, presumably anglicised). Waiting at the door – very lovely and again a possible Benedictine link – with the requirement of hospitality.
@Barbara: your first paragraph is a lovely description of discernment, thank you. And awareness of the martyr temptation is important.
@Claire: I’ve not heard that Spanish expression, it’s very apt. I think perhaps you would make a good Benedictine – that critical ability and following of conscience is a higher obedience.
@Maggie: Thanks for your comment and I’m sorry to hear about your childhood experience. Horrible, and a good illustration of being “caught every which way”. Girls are definitely socialised to our disadvantage in many ways. Couldn’t agree more with your last remark about the church (but then you know that!). It’s the deeper listening of the heart that is more Benedictine in spirit, and that spirit is something the church has not often had. (BTW I first floated the contents of this post as part of the last Enneagram workshop – I thought it would be interesting to see how different types would respond, and indeed it was but not as predictable as I’d imagined!)
Interesting post Tess, and I like the photo of the cat as an example!
I think “obedience” means different things at different stages of our lives. For young children, it is necessary for safety, such as in rules about crossing the street. As we get older, it might refer to teachers who have more experience and wisdom and who we can learn from. At some point, I think we enter into our own hearts (conscience) and follow what we hear there. We must be, above all, obedient to our informed conscience.
I don’t subscribe to “blind obedience” in maturing adults as it is often used to maintain power structures and is an abuse of the virtue of obedience.
Just some thoughts on a hot morning!
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