The Rule of the (Cistercian) Rule. from the Rule By (a religious) Law to the Rule of Law in Line with Sustainability Requirements

Cistercian monasteries are an archetypal example of an intentional community governed by a rule. The “Cistercian Rule” is a religious set of rules based on the Rule of Saint Benedict and supplemented by other texts. On the face of it, the Cistercian rule governs the lives of monks and monasteries throughout the day and throughout their lives, in a fussy and extensive manner. The rule seems to govern every aspect of life (food, sleep, clothing, prayer, work, governance of monasteries and the Cistercian Order, exploitation of resources, exchange of goods, hospitality...) and provides for a system of penalties. In reality, the Cistercian model is not strictly “normocratic”. Monastery life is also based on decisions (decisions versus norms) through the powers exercised by the abbots and the chapters (including the general chapter), but decisions must be taken within the framework and limits defined by the rule. In addition, the rule leaves a certain amount of personal freedom to the monks. In this way, the Cistercian rule prefigures both a sort of Rule of Law and a pre-totalitarian experiment in radical (micro) social engineering.

Interestingly, the primacy of the Rule is explicitly justified by a development objective in the Cistercian tradition. Submission to the rule is originally conceived as a condition for spiritual progress. In retrospect and in contemporary times, the Rule is also seen as a means of preventing and containing world disorders (including climate change) and so as a key to sustainability.

Insofar as monasteries have inspired experiments of ideal communities (phalansteres, intentional communities inspired by ecologist ideals...), studying the relationship between the Cistercian model and the rule of law / rule by law is rich in lessons for imagining new utopias in today's age of anthropocene awareness.