Fr. Isaac Slater: Freedom, Love, Contemplative Prayer, and the Spirituality of Dying

Monastic wisdom on embracing limitations, discerning ourpath in life, letting go of judgments to grow in love, and healing the worldthrough silence.Fr. Isaac Slater has chosen a life of radical constraint,and within it, discovered radical freedom. Our truest desires, he says, may actually guide us Home, but only if we learn to discern true desire from its impostors. For Fr. Slater, contemplation is steeping in the Divine Presenceuntil we know in our bones that the essence of our being is love. Tending to his ill and dying brothers, he learns from them how to live. As a poet, he works with language until words become transparent letting something largershine through. His life and practice weave together what many keep separate: he sits zazen while living as a Catholic monk; in solitude, he feels united with all; and he experiences God’s will not as a thundering decree but as a yielding Way--open, fluid, and free, like the Dao.Fr. Isaac Slater is a Cistercian monk at the Abbey of the Genesee in upstate New York, where he serves as novice master and infirmarian. He is the author of “Do Not Judge Anyone”: Desert Wisdom for a Polarized World (2025) and Beyond Measure: The Poetics of the Image in Bernard ofClairvaux. Under his secular name, John Slater, he has published the poetry collections Surpassing Pleasure (2011) and Lean (2016), co-translated The Tangled Braid: Ninety-Nine Poems by Hafiz of Shiraz (2010), and his upcoming book This and That: Selected Short Poems of Ryokan (March 2026).Abbey of the Genesse: https://geneseeabbey.org/"Do Not Judge Anyone": Desert Wisdom for a Polarized World:  https://share.google/6MBl75IyeFt75cLYTTimestamps:00:00 What is a monk?01:28 From Sheer Desperation to the Spaciousness of Monastic Life03:43 "You know you have found your vocation when you found the way of life in which it's easiest for you to love."06:28 "God puts a spiritual desire in our heart in the measure in which he plans to fulfill it."07:14 Discerning Spiritual Desire from Mere Impulse or Temptation 10:29 Monastic Life: Life of Prayer and Silence13:59 Freedom in Embracing Limitations18:50 Leaving the World to Become One with the World21:13 The Closer We Are to the Center of Our Being, The Closer We Are to Everyone23:55 Doing only the good one cannot not do26:58 God in the world is Love expressed as willingness to suffer28:45 Seeing how one is love even in one's shortcomings31:49 God's Will and Your Heart's Deepest Desire are Fundamentally One36:27 God's Will is like the Dao39:24 God's Judgment is the Non-Judgment of Love40:38 Truth is Love41:11 The Scandal of Particularity45:14 Let go of attachments, not Love48:04 Points of Commonality between Christianity and Eastern Religions50:26 Marriage Vows and Monastic Vows52:29 My faithfulness is an overflowing of God's faithfulness to me56:52 Starting with God's Love01:01:32 Contemplative Prayer: Steeping Oneself in Divine Love01:03:02 Possible Difficulties in the Contemplative Life01:05:35 "Let Through, Let Be, Let Go" & "Inhabit the Pain Fully to Be Free From It"01:09:08 Judgment, Discernment, and Unconditional Love01:15:20 When God's Presence Feels Unavailable01:17:00 "If you are paying attention, it's impossible to be bored."01:17:31 Poetry: When Language Becomes Transparent to Another Dimension01:21:00" I sit zazen and live as a Catholic monk"01:23:04 The Spirituality of Dying01:28:03 "Often challenges ina relationship make you aware of your limits and your sore spots."01:29:38 Surrender and acceptance rather than trying to feel better01:30:36 An Autobiography of My Non-Existent SelfTranscript Edit Assistance: Brodie MartinMusic: Ben Bigelow (https://www.youtube.com/@BenBigelow3)