The Monastery of Circuits: An Additional Place for the Contemplative Life

The Monastery of Circuits is written for general readers who sense both wonder and unease about artificial intelligence. The opening chapter immediately draws them in with its reflective, human voice—an invitation to see technology not as threat but as companion in contemplation. Blending spirituality and forward-looking realism, William Van Ornum speaks to those seeking meaning amid modern circuitry. His central message is hopefulness—the conviction that AI need not diminish humanity but can deepen human awareness, reverence, and union with the sacred.

William Van Ornum is professor of psychology at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York. He has written A Thousand Frightening Fantasies: Understanding and Treating Scrupulosity and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (1997), which includes an introduction by John Cardinal O'Connor of New York. He is the author, coauthor, or general editor for over thirty books, many of them on the relationship between psychology and spirituality