Jan Hendriks

Early Christian monks went out to live in the desert in order to find emptiness. Modern life is becoming so full that we need our own ways of going to the desert to be relieved of our plenty. Our heads are crammed with information, our lives busy with activities, our cities stuffed with automobiles, our imagination bloated on pictures and images, our relationships heavy with advice, our jobs burdened with endless new skills, our homes cluttered with gadgets and conveniences. We honor productivity to such an extent that the unproductive person or day seems a failure.
Monks are experts in doing nothing and tending the culture of that emptiness.

Thomas Moore, 1994 (from his book: Meditations: on the monk who dwells in daily life, HarperCollins Publishers)