Marvelous Medieval Wisdom
my motto motive motivation for the new year: "DO AS NO ONE DOES, AND THE WORLD MARVELS" From St. Bernard Of Clairvaux (Twelve century founder of the Cistercian Order of monks) The Cistercian order has a literary heritage of Christian contemplative and instructional writings which should be re-discovered by today's 3rd Millenium Men. The treatise by Aelred on Friendship, "De Spirituali Amicitia", for instance, is a wonderful work on the nature of neoplatonism, not as St. Augustine proposes - that friendship among men is separate from the friendship of God (John 15:15) - but as the relationship between men with Christ as the third and centre of that friendship, around which persons relate and their relations revolve (John 15:13). In addition, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, whose friendship and affection for others have inspired many writings and reflections, taught explicitly on the wisdom of proper conduct for the Christian disciple. Much is based on the work of St. B...