The U.S. government shutdown has ended ­— for the time being. It’s probably only a matter of time before the next political standoff. It might be hard-wired into our American psyche to want to prevail at any cost. But is there a better way? Monasteries might seem like an odd model for government, but the way monastic communities reach decisions offers important lessons. Monasteries still practice the disappearing art of consensus.

Monastic decision making is a slow, deliberate process of discernment. It rests on people operating from a set of agreed-upon facts (not exaggerations or outright falsehoods, as we have seen in current political debates). Everyone receives the same amount of information and data. The books are opened, so to speak.

Each member of the monastic community gets a chance to weigh in, regardless of age, seniority, or stature. St. Benedict insisted on this practice in his Rule for monastic life. In doing so, he upended the customs of the 6th century in which only men of certain means received a place at the table. Benedict believed fresh ideas often emanate from the young. “All should be called to counsel,” he wrote, because it is often the young who see more clearly “what is better.”
Rule of St. Benedict

We’re subjected regularly to people talking over one another, arguing, and insulting each other on cable news shows. Benedict wants none of that. “Community members, for their part, are to express their opinions with all humility, and not to presume to defend their own views obstinately,” he wrote.
Nor is it a case of majority rules. Community members have to pay attention to where the will of the majority is trending. But those in the majority, Benedict said, need to heed the concerns of the minority as well. They are to insure those concerns are addressed to the extent possible in any final decision.

And here is possibly the most important part: once a course of action is decided, the entire community agrees to pull in the same direction. Even those who initially opposed a course of action agree to try to make it work. No throwing stones from the outside in.

I often think of how much time and energy some in the U.S. Congress have expended over the past 10 years trying to repeal the Obama administration’s Affordable Care Act. What if that same amount of energy had gone into trying to improve it?

The time — and prayer — that goes into arriving at consensus in a monastic setting is likely far more than we can hope for in the business or public sector. But the transparency and mutual respect with which decisions are made — as well as the willingness to listen to all points of view — can serve as a model.

Consensus is a process. It reminds us that no one person possesses all of the truth all of the time. No one is right a hundred percent of the time. Each of us holds a piece of the wisdom we need to move forward. Often, the best path to progress is by the winding way of consensus.