SOURCE: "Care for the Individual in the Rule of Benedict," The American Benedictine Review, Vol. 39, No. 3, September, 1988, pp. 277-86.

In the following essay, Hammett demonstrates "how a genuine care for the subjective dimensions of the monk's personality" is reflected in the Rule of Benedict.

We live in a world which places a great deal of emphasis on the subject and on the psychological aspects of the person. Since the Enlightenment, philosophy's turn to the subject and a deepening understanding of the psychological dimensions of the human person have become characteristic of our contemporary Western world-view. The basic thesis of this paper is that this turn to the subject is not incompatible with the emphasis which the Rule of Benedict (RB) places on living the ideal of monastic life within community. Nor does a psychological emphasis detract from the monk's vow of conversatio morum. The following reflections seek to...