Chapter 5: Monastic obedience (paragraphs 4-5)

We should remember, however, that such obedience will be acceptable to God and rewarding to us, if we carry out the orders given us in a way that is not fearful, nor slow, nor half-hearted, nor marred by murmuring or the sort of compliance that betrays resentment. (From para. 4 of Ch. 5 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)

In the translation of the Rule that I'm reading, Abbot Barry notes that murmuring is not a legitimate means for dealing with complaints that may arise in community, because it can destroy confidence in community life. He goes on to say that, for individuals who murmur, "[murmuring] becomes increasingly addictive and [murmurers] develop a corresponding blindness to the harm they are doing to themselves and to others." This sounds like a good description of passive aggression to me. Meditation makes me increasingly alert to habits of my mind that are even subtly aggressive, so that I may choose the direction of peace.