In a world where people have what they want, does having more even matter?
After touring the rural areas of Panga, Sibling Dex (a Tea Monk of some renown) and Mosscap (a robot sent on a quest to determine what humanity really needs) turn their attention to the villages and cities of the little moon they call home.
They hope to find the answers they seek, while making new friends, learning new concepts, and experiencing the entropic nature of the universe.
🤖 This is the second book in the two-part “Monk and Robot” series. We discussed the first (”A Psalm for the Wild-built”) last month.
📚 The first book provides some helpful context, but this one can also be read independently. We think you’ll enjoy both!
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We’ll vote on the next book together. Feel free to suggest additional titles!
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How can we connect our personal spiritual journeys with the larger course of our shared human experience? How do we compassionately and wisely navigate belonging and exclusion in our own hearts? And how can we embrace diverse identities and experiences within our spiritual communities, building sanghas that make good on the promise of liberation for everyone?
Although they never met, Socrates and the Buddha each addressed in a radically new and surprisingly similar way the core questions of how to lead a good, just, and dignified life amid turbulence and violence. Common to their teachings was an ethics of uncertainty: both refused to make truth claims about the ultimate nature of reality, insisting on the primacy of critical self-evaluation as the basis of an ethical life.
Viktor Frankl’s riveting account of his time in the Nazi concentration camps, and his insightful exploration of the human will to find meaning in spite of the worst adversity, has offered solace and guidance to generations of readers since it was first published in 1946.
Standing at the Edge is an evocative examination of how we can respond to suffering, live our fullest lives, and remain open to the full spectrum of our human experience.
To belong is to experience joy in any moment: to feel pleasure, dance in public, accept death, forgive what seems unforgivable, and extend kindness to yourself and others. To belong is also to acknowledge injustice, reckon with history, and face our own shadows. Full of practical advice and profound revelations, You Belong makes a winning case for resisting the forces that demand separation and reclaiming the connection—and belonging—that have been ours all along.
January 18, 2026
One day, the life of a tea monk is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of "what do people need?" is answered.