The goal of Monastery Podcast is to seek out discussions around the intersections of mysticism and wild spaces. Season One, “Moshing Monk” asks where Merton is found in art, poetry, and the hardcore scene. The “hardcore scene” arguable was ten years past Merton’s untimely death in 1968. The seeds were already being sown. The hippies were printing “zines” and producing commentary that would both be carried on and was curiously impermanent. The “theater” of the Catonsville Nine burning draft records surely curated the opportunity for Black Flag to sing “Rise Above” and Bad Brains were charting new territories. As the 1960s produced a deeply religious and uncomfortable response to the war in the practice of self-immolation, for many Thich Quang Duc’s famous photograph was first introduced to us by Rage Against the Machine’s debut album in 1994. This and more will be discussed. It is my hope that we build a community in conversation about this and other themes.