“Both the monk and artist are edge dwellers, ones who commit to living in fertile border spaces and who call the wider community to alternative ways of being beyond the status quo. This can be a challenging and sometimes lonely place; it can also be exhilarating and exciting to step into the unknown.  Living on the edges means recognizing those places and experiences that do not offer easy answers, those fierce edges of life where things are not as clear as we hope them to be.  There is also beauty in the border spaces, those places of ambiguity and mystery.”

--- Christine Valters Paintner, PhD