Abstract
This article addresses the time of creative practice, the transformations brought about by the ritualization of activity. We argue that the discipline of ascetic practice allows the emergence of gift, that is, that it allows things to happen through rituals rather than the will of participants. This is a giving-and-receiving that occurs in open states that suspend the boundaries of the subject, of inside and outside, of giver or receiver. The various inflections of the word grace, a term cognate to gift, allow us to draw out the implications of the gift of practice. We consider grace in the senses of: gratitude; effort less good timing; gratuity; and a creative source that is other than human subjectivity. While our main focus will be on monastic and musical practice, the argument applies to practice in all domains of life.
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