Hi everyone! I’m so excited about an upcoming online “Centering Prayer Summit” that I’ll be participating with — I want to make sure all my online friends know about it.
Hosted by my friends Keith Kristich and Jana Rentzel, this program features speakers like Cynthia Bourgeault, Adam Bucko, Mary Dwyer, Phileena Nikole and others (including yours truly). Eight speakers over a two day period, and if you can’t attend all of it as it is live-streamed, you can access the recordings at a later date.
You get all eight talks for only $99 — and if you register by December 10, you get a free guest registration to share with a loved one! What a bargain… but only available for a limited time! The price goes up on January 1, so register now!
I feel really honored to be the last speaker before Cynthia, who is going to be speaking on the interspiritual legacy of Thomas Keating — you can rest assured I’ll be sticking around to hear what she has to say!
My topic is going to be “The Mystical Roots of Centering Prayer” — others will be speaking on topics including the Enneagram, Divine Therapy, Body/Mind/Heart Awareness, and more!
I’ll be speaking at 1:30 PM Eastern USA time on Sunday, January 22, 2023. But remember, if you can’t make it, register anyway and you can watch the recording at your convenience. See you there!
On June 16, 2022 my friend and colleague Carmen Acevedo Butcher PhD is offering a free online program to explore the wisdom of Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, author of The Practice of the Presence of God. Click here to register for this free event.
You probably know Carmen Butcher from her luminous translation of The Cloud of Unknowing. Later this year she is releasing her latest book, in which she is bringing her wisdom and translation skills to Brother Lawrence, in a vital and fresh new translation of his book called Practice of the Presence: A Revolutionary Translation. Here’s an opportunity to dive into Brother Lawrence’s mystical spirituality with Carmen Acevedo Butcher as your guide!
The webinar will take place on Thursday, June 16 at 8:30 PM Eastern Time. It will be recorded, so register even if you cannot attend on the 16th. Click here to register for this free event.
More information about this event
Each day, we’re bombarded with stressful news and other distractions — on our televisions and phones, in the conversations around us, and within our own quiet moments of reflection.
The wisdom our world needs right now, affirms Carmen Acevedo Butcher, PhD, an award-winning translator of spiritual texts, can be found in the teachings of Brother Lawrence, the Friar d’Amour.
Brother Lawrence was a down-to-earth mystic, monastery cook, sandal repairer, and disabled veteran who limped painfully all his adult life.
He lived through a time that was strikingly similar to our own — marked by authoritarianism, political division, social and economic disparities, climate crises, hunger, plague, global death, and war.
As a result, his writings, found after his death in 1691, are filled with profound yet practical tools and wisdom that apply to our moment in history — equipping us to live more calmly and deeply as we connect with ourselves, others, and God.
On Thursday, June 16, join us for a powerful event with Carmen to discover more about Brother Lawrence’s gentle, simple practices for returning to love — and feeling more grounded in the midst of life’s biggest distractions and greatest challenges.
Register for Practicing Unshakable Joy With Brother Lawrence, the Friar d’Amourby clicking here.
Carmen Acevedo Butcher, PhD
In this free online event, you’ll discover:
A guided imagery exercise to befriend your feelings and welcome them into your life — so you can experience healing, let go of any desire for power and control, and create a space for what Brother Lawrence called “unspeakable joy”
How the teachings of 17th-century friar Brother Lawrence — including the practice of the presence of God — are a beacon of hope that can help you navigate today’s challenges and crises
How to uncover the often repressed and overlooked feminine energy in Brother Lawrence’s teachings that can help you embody greater “mother compassion” — accepting the holy in yourself while listening to the holy in others
Brother Lawrence’s gentle, simple practices for returning to love and our inherent groundedness in the midst of everyday distractions and life’s greatest challenges
The newest translations of Brother Lawrence’s teachings that unveil his path to self-compassion – and the importance of cultivating this quality to bring loving kindness into every encounter
As you’ll discover, Brother Lawrence’s wisdom and practices can bring you home again — into yourself and back to love — as you cultivate an inner sense of calm and the ability to act lovingly.
Note: I don’t often promote events like this and it’s my policy to do so only when I am convinced the event will be a true blessing and good value to those who participate. With that in mind, I am happy to endorse this event with Carmen Butcher. In fact, I’ve signed up for it! So I hope you will too.
December 3, 2019 is “Giving Tuesday.” It’s a day designed to highlight the many worthy non-profit and charitable organizations that deserve our support — not just in December, but throughout the year.
May I humbly suggest that, on this Giving Tuesday, you might also consider supporting a creative professional — a writer (like me), or some other artist whose work brings joy to many people?
You probably know that my work as a blogger is primarily funded through Patreon, a membership website for people who want to support creative professionals like me.
Patreon allows people like you and me to offer monthly support to not only writers, but podcasters, artists, musicians, filmmakers, and game designers, for as little as $1 a month.
I myself currently support five different creative professionals through Patreon. The beauty of crowdfunding is that you can make a small, manageable monthly pledge — which adds up with the pledges from other patrons — to make a real difference for the artists you support.
This Isn’t About “Charity”
But Patreon is not meant to be a charity scheme. Those of us who receive support through Patreon are encouraged to offer something in return to our patrons. Something like a members-only newsletter, a special gift (like an autographed book), early access to new work, or even the opportunity for interaction with the artist you support.
So, if you’ve read this far (thank you!), obviously I hope you will visit Patreon and become a patron of one or more creators whose work you love. And I hope that includes supporting my writing. So today I want to highlight my newly revised list of benefits that patrons receive. I hope you’ll find these perks to be a meaningful expression of gratitude for your support.
Click on this graphic to become a patron.
Patrons who pledge $1 (or more) per month receive a special thank-you acknowledgment on the “Circle of Gratitude” page of my website, and a monthly newsletter for patrons only. If you pledge $3 or more, once or twice a month you’ll receive contemplative poetry that I have written, designed to inspire and support your spiritual practice.
For $5 per month you get all of the above, plus once a month I send you a meditation I’ve written on an aspect of contemplative Christianity. These are designed to “reframe” traditional Christian teachings in the light of mystical and contemplative practice.
For $10 per month you get all of the above, plus my “Contemplative Compass” column, specifically designed to offer practical advice and inspiration for supporting your daily spiritual practice. With an emphasis on cultivating a sense of wonder, deepening our relationship with silence, drawing on the wisdom of the great mystics, and fostering the virtues and values of a contemplative life, each month will offer new insight specifically geared toward deepening your spiritual journey. To learn more about Contemplative Compass, click here.
For $20 per month you get all of the above, plus an autographed book whenever I have a new one coming out — usually every 12-18 months. During years when I don’t have a new book, patrons will have the option of getting an autographed copy of one of my older books (note: this reward requires you have a USA mailing address).
For $50 or more per month you get all of the above, plus the opportunity to participate in a quarterly live event on Skype or FaceTime with me and the other patrons at this level (this will be limited to no more than 15 participants). We’ll explore a topic related to mystical or contemplative spirituality; you’ll have a chance to interact directly with me and with others who share similar interests.
For $100 or more per month you get all of the above, plus the opportunity to engage directly with me on a monthly basis, via Skype or FaceTime. We can explore specific questions you might have about contemplative or mystical Christianity, or we can prayerfully focus on your spiritual journey, listening together for how the Spirit is leading your journey.
The Spirituality of Creativity: and the Gift Economy
In all candor, since my writing is spiritual in nature, I would love to just be able to give it all away.
But we all know that we live in a world where mortgage payments and other bills just keep on coming. Patreon gives me the ability to keep writing, and to make my work widely available on my blog, where anyone can read it for free. It is not my intention to give some of my writing only to “paying customers.” So the poetry, the monthly meditation and contemplative compass are all work that, eventually, I hope to make available to the public at large. But patrons get to see this work first — in most cases, probably years before it will ever be available publicly.
So while I hope patrons will enjoy these perks that I’m offering, I also hope you will recognize that your monthly pledge of support is not just for me, but for everyone who reads my blog, many of whom might not be able to afford to make a pledge or join a membership site. Together, you and I will be making a difference: making sure that new content on mysticism and contemplative spirituality will continue to be available online, for anyone who seeks to learn about this lovely and meaningful spiritual path.
What Your Support Could Make Possible in the Future
When I first learned about Patreon, for a while I resisted setting up a Patreon account for my work. I thought, “Who am I to ask my readers to support my blog?” But I changed my mind when I realized that the support Patreon provides allows me to devote more time to my writing — which is not only a joy for me, but hopefully will be a blessing to the many people who read my blog each year. The more I am able to write, the more people are likely to discover the spiritual blessings of the four topics I focus on: Christian mysticism, Contemplative practice, Celtic spirituality, and Interfaith exploration. No one has to pay to read my blog. This material is available free to the public, thanks to the generosity of those who freely choose to be patrons.
As my patron support grows, I have several ideas of how I can expand my work online. I hope to begin including videos on my blog. I’d like to develop contemplative commentary on the Bible — as well as on the writings of the great mystics. And of course, I want to continue to expand Via Mystica, which I envision as an online “knowledge base” for the practice of mystical spirituality.
These are ambitious goals. They will take many hours, over a span of years if not decades, to complete. Your patronage can help to make these goals a reality, thereby increasing the amount of contemplative spiritual writing available to the general public online.
I hope you can sense how this all is based on giving — giving away quality spiritual writing for free online, made possible by the giving support of generous patrons. Please join this circle of generosity, by becoming a patron today.
Friends, I’m really excited about a new writing project I am launching next month through Patreon. I hope you will prayerfully consider joining me on this adventure.
Patreon is the crowdfunding website where readers like you are invited to support this blog and my other writing projects. Patrons through Patreon get early access to my current and future writing projects, including this new initiative. To learn more and to become a patron, click here.
This new project is called Contemplative Compass. It will be a monthly newsletter with original content, not available anywhere else, designed to offer practical, day-to-day support for people who are embracing the mystical element of Christianity. It’s for anyone who wants to explore the mystical side of Christianity. That includes Christians as well as non-Christians or spiritually independent persons who recognize that the mystical dimension of Christianity speaks to everyone.
Karl Rahner famously said “the Christian of the future will be a mystic or will not exist.” I think we are already living in the future Rahner (who died in 1984) was talking about. Many churches are facing declining and aging membership, and some are even closing their doors. The institutional side of Christianity is in crisis.
More and more people — especially young people — don’t want to be part of a religious institution.
But Christianity is more than just an institution. It preserves, generation after generation, a beautiful, deeply transformational, but largely hidden lineage of mystical, contemplative wisdom. And it is that dimension of Christianity — often unknown to the institutional side of the religion — that inspires and excites me, and that I am dedicated to exploring with the patrons who sign up for Contemplative Compass.
I know that the last thing most people need are tons of emails showing up every day (I know, you’re already reading Richard Rohr!) — so for Patreon supporters who sign up for Contemplative Compass, I only will be sending an email once a week. Some of these emails will be devotional in nature: original poetry or meditations that are written to support your daily practice. Once a month I’ll send out an informal, “behind the scenes” newsletter. But the heart of the program will be the Contemplative Compass email, with all-new material each month written expressly to support your practice — your contemplative journey.
Following the “compass” metaphor, each month I’ll be exploring four “directions” for cultivating our contemplative practice:
Reflect on the Mysteries — Live the questions of the spiritual life. Each month we’ll explore a question designed to foster and cultivate our deepening sense of wonder and encounter with the mystery that lies at the heart of the contemplative search. God seeks you — and does so by instilling in your heart a place of infinite longing. We’ll explore the questions that open that longing up to embrace the infinite.
Remember the Great Mystics — Honor the exemplars, the saints, visionaries, sages and teachers, from centuries ago or alive today, who embodied the promise and possibility of mystical spirituality. Each month we’ll celebrate a wisdom keeper whose life and teachings truly show us how to move deeper on the path.
Receive the Wisdom of Silence — Embrace the heart of the mystical life, by opening your heart and mind each day to the guidance that can only come directly from the Spirit, at a level deeper than words. Each month we’ll explore another facet of silent prayer and practice, always with an eye toward resting in the gift that is given: an invitation to go deeper to that place where we can be still and know.
Respond to your Unique Call — It has been said that the mystic is not a special kind of person, but each person is a special kind of mystic. There is no one-size-fits-all path into the mystical heart of Christianity. This is why Christianity has no “gurus” — only spiritual companions (like you and me) who accompany one another as we each seek to respond more fully to the guidance of the Spirit. Each month we’ll consider a virtue, a prayer practice, a Biblical story, or some other aspect of contemplation that can help us to more fully live the joyful, transformational, contemplative life we are called to live.
My hope for Contemplative Compass is that it will be a blessing for people of all walks of life and all stages on their spiritual journey: beginners as well as seasoned practitioners, devout churchgoing Christians as well as the spiritually independent. It’s meant to be an inclusive guide to what unites us, what calls us deeper, and what offers us transformation and possibility. In other words, it is meant to celebrate the spirituality of mystical love.
Contemplative Compass will not replace my blog, which I will continue to update as frequently as my schedule permits (most weeks I publish 2 – 3 new posts between my three blogs). The blog remains free for all readers — it is a ministry that I remain committed to doing as long as I can (and as long as people express an interest in it). But like the other content that is available exclusively on Patreon, Contemplative Compass is offered as a special thank-you gift for those who are able and willing to support my work through Patreon.
The Christian of the future will be a mystic, or will not exist. — Karl Rahner, SJ
Patrons will also have the ability to interact directly with me and the other subscribers of Contemplative Compass through the “Community” page on my Patreon site, where we can share with one another our experiences with the material we explore each month.
You can support this blog and my other writing projects for as little as $1 a month. There are six levels of support — each one offers specific rewards for those who sign up. The subscription to Contemplative Compass (which includes new poetry and meditations each month as well) is $10 per month. But there are others levels if you need to make a smaller pledge, or would like to make a larger one.
Remember, your financial support is not only a way of helping me (which I appreciate!), but also helps to keep new content posting to all of my blogs, which in turn helps more and more people each month discover the splendor and spiritual wisdom of contemplative Christianity. Thank you for doing your part to support this ministry!
If you aren’t familiar with Patreon — it’s a crowdfunding platform for creative professionals. It’s basically the means by which I am able to publish new content on my blogs (here, and Via Mystica, and my blog at Patheos). The support I receive through Patreon makes it possible not only for me to write every day, but also to continue doing the research that allows me to keep growing as a writer and a student of the mystical path. My blogs will always be 100% free (and the ones that I manage, I intend to keep ad-free), thanks to Patreon. So if you find my writing helpful, and would like to help make sure new content keeps coming, I hope you will prayerfully consider joining the circle of patrons. To do so, click here: www.patreon.com/carlmccolman.
Friends, I’m pleased to announce that I have launched a new section on this website called Via Mystica. To visit it, click here: www.viamystica.com.
Via Mystica is a website devoted entirely to the study and practice of Christian mystical spirituality. It’s still in its beginning stages, but let me share with you my vision for what it can be.
My intention is for this to be an online knowledge base for people who want to learn more about Christian mysticism. Thus, it will be a compendium for information on the most important mystical and contemplative writers and teachers, and their teachings — both from history and living today. It can also be a resource for those who want to begin to integrate contemplative and mystical practices into their daily lives — which involves not only learning the core practices, but also helping you to connect with others on the same path, from soul friends and spiritual directors to community resources such as prayer groups or contemplative ministries.
I’ve been publishing blog posts and articles about various aspects of mystical and contemplative spirituality for about 15 years, so I have a lot of archival material, a fair amount of which is not currently online. For now, Via Mystica will function as an archive of my best “mystical” writing over the years, along with new essays/blog posts that I will write with its larger mission to mind: to introduce people online to Christian mysticism, to offer a curated forum for learning more about the history and teachings of the mystics, and to guide those who want to embrace the mystical life and begin or deepen their own contemplative practice.
Evelyn Underhill, on of the most important twentieth-century writers on Christian mysticism.
But my hope is that this site will be much more than simply a blog about mysticism.
I envision Via Mystica will also include audio and video content about mysticism. Future possibilities include offering webinars or online courses, so that anyone who desires interaction with teachers and other students of mysticism will find those opportunities here as well.
Other possibilities could include setting up a forum or even a membership site. I’m not sure if that’s the direction it’ll go or not — those things are beyond my current expertise — but depending on feedback I receive from readers and patrons, as well as the possibility of strategic partnership(s) with others who might be develop those features, they are certainly options for the future.
The sky is the limit. I’m starting small — for now, just a simple website that will include curated content from my archives on the subject of Christian mysticism. We can see how it goes from there. My hope is that anyone who visits Via Mystica will interact with me so that I can begin to get a feel for what people would like from a site like this. As I get a greater sense of what I can be doing to serve the online contemplative mystical community, my hope is that Via Mystica will be our meeting place — to connect, to learn, to practice, to pray, and to grow together.
Does this appeal to you? I hope so. Via Mystica is meant for anyone who wants to learn more about Christian mysticism and apply the wisdom of the mystics to their lives. I hope that includes you.
Julian of Norwich, one of the most poetic and optimistic of Christian mystics.
For now, this is very much a labor of love. I have no funding for this aside from the generous patrons who support me (and my work) through Patreon. It is possible that developing the vision for Via Mystica might involve raising money (crowdfunding, investors, and/or revenue from online courses) if there is interest in actually building something beyond a blog/archive. I’m open to let the Spirit lead; it will be an adventure to see where this goes.
How to Be Connected
Do you want to be part of the Via Mystica adventure? Joining the circle is easy — as simple as signing up for email notifications or making a small monthly pledge. Note: to make sure you get the Via Mystica updates, select “Christian Mysticism” when you sign up. Of course, please sign up for any of the other topics that appeal to you.
If you would like to receive email notifications for when Via Mystica is updated, then please sign up for my email list. You’ll get notified whenever there’s something new on the site (you’ll also get emails whenever there’s something new on my personal blog as well). My goal is to post one to two new (or archival) articles, essays or blog posts each week, so that by this time next year we should have well over fifty essays/posts collected together on the topic of mysticism. Hopefully it will continue to grow from there.
If you’d like to support this project, the easiest way is to become a Patreon patron of my work. Doing so involves a monthly pledge — which can be as small as $1. To learn more about supporting me (and other creative professionals) online, visit Patreon; here’s the link to my page: www.patreon.com/carlmccolman
Most important of all, please pray for me and for this new online project. Please join with me in seeking God’s guidance and leading for this initiative. The God of Christ is a God of love, so let’s pray that this site may be a way to celebrate and share Divine Love with each other and with the world.
Please let me know what you think — how an online resource/knowledge base about Christian mysticism can be most useful/helpful for you. Thanks for reading — I’ll see you over at Via Mystica!
A Retreat and Pilgrimage on the Isle of Mull (with visits to Iona and other sacred sites) — led by Carl and Fran McColman, Laura Imperial, and Phil Foster
This retreat is fully booked. Please contact us if you would like to be placed on a waiting list.
Iona Abbey
Explore the wisdom, the poetry, and the sacred stories of Celtic Scotland on this seven-day retreat in the windswept Hebridean Isle of Mull!
Join Carl McColman (author of Invitation to Celtic Wisdom), contemplative artist Fran McColman, poet/storyteller Phil Foster, and tourguide Laura Imperial as we celebrate the spirituality of the saints, the legends of ancient heroes, and the abiding mystery of the old Celtic lore.
Lochbuie Stone Circle
We will be based at the elegant Ardfenaig Lodge (previously the hunting lodge for the Duke of Argyll), with easy day trips to Duart Castle, Lochbuie Standing Stone Circle, Staffa Island (home of Fingal’s Cave, immortalized by poet James McPherson and composer Felix Mendelssohn), and Iona — legendary home of Saint Columba, burial place of Scottish kings, and the sacred destination of Celtic pilgrims from the world over.
Our time together will foster a meaningful and contemplative retreat experience. Each day Carl and/or Phil will guide us into the spirituality of the Celts through stories, poetry, legends, liturgy and lore.
Duarte Castle
Carl and Fran will offer guidance for contemplative creativity (journaling, photography, and art). Laura will help us to appreciate the history, geography and local lore of this sacred place.
Our schedule will balance our day-trips with time for reflection and the space to explore and enjoy the convivial culture of the Scottish Hebrides, including visits to pubs, churches, and cafés.
ArdFenaig Lodge
To maximize the contemplative nature of our week together, we are limiting this experience to 11 participants.
The cost for Elemental Scotland is $2200. This covers:
Lodging (double occupancy) for 7 nights (no single occupancy rooms available)
All breakfasts (including fresh eggs), 3 lunches, 3 dinners with wine
Transportation (including ferry to Iona) around the island after arriving at Ardfenaig
Duart Castle tour
Standing Stones
Trip to Staffa
Sunday service at Iona Abbey
Tour of Iona Abbey
Pilgrimage walk around Iona led by a member of the Iona Community
This price does not include air fare or transportation costs to and from Ardfenaig. We recommend you travel to Edinburgh or Glasgow, and we will provide detailed instructions for making your own pilgrimage from the city to the remote setting of our retreat.
Staffa
Space is limited for this Celtic retreat, so plan to register soon.
We expect this retreat to fill up quickly. A $300 deposit will hold your spot, with the balance due by June 1, 2019.
This retreat is fully booked. Please contact us if you would like to be placed on a waiting list.
Carl McColman is a contemplative author, teacher, and spiritual guide. He is the author of various books, including An Invitation to Celtic Wisdom, 366 Celt: A Year and a Day of Celtic Wisdom and Lore and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Celtic Wisdom. He blogs for the Contemplative Channel on Patheos and is the co-host of the Encountering Silence podcast. He is a life professed Lay Cistercian of the Trappist Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, GA.
Fran McColman creates beauty in a variety of media. She is a contemplative photographer, artist, and a certified Zentangle teacher. She loves working with watercolor, pen and ink, and dyes for silk. Her work celebrates the splendor of nature, the love of the Divine, and the yearning for compassion and connection in each of our hearts. She particularly enjoys helping others find their own artistic voice through a contemplative approach to creativity.
Laura Imperial, MS, LPC, LMFT has been going to the Isle of Mull annually for the past 20 years, and calls it her spiritual home and sanctuary. She is a psychotherapist and marriage and family therapist, and lives in New Orleans, LA, USA. Laura currently works as a consultant and volunteers with the Mental Health Crisis Unit of the New Orleans Police Department. She enjoys gardening, triathlons, and playing bass guitar.
Phil Foster, MDiv, LPC, LLC is a psychotherapist and consultant from Decatur, GA, USA. Phil has led dozens of workshops and retreats on spirituality, mythic-poetics, and archetypal/transpersonal psychotherapy. He is an ordained Disciples of Christ clergyperson, and a life professed Lay Cistercian of the Monastery of the Holy Spirit, in Conyers, GA. Phil enjoys poetry and is a life-long drummer.
This is part 3 of a 3-part reflection. Click here to read part one and part two.
Okay, I’m loving The Reed of God by Caryll Houselander so much that I have to give you one more quote for this Advent season.
Only Our Lady has ever lived all the aspects of phases and moments of Christ completely. In some He is newly born. In some He is a child. In some He is homeless. In some He is ignored, unrecognized, mocked, betrayed. In some He is hungry; in some He is naked; in some He is helpless… He remains, being tempted in all those who are tempted: in those who are in mortal sin, He is in the tomb. We should never come to a sinner without the reverence that we would take to the Holy Sepulchre. Pilgrims have travelled on foot for years to kiss the Holy Sepulchre, which is empty. In sinners we can kneel at the tomb in which the dead Christ lies. (pp. 114-116)
The Reed of God
Here, Houselander builds on the fundamental Christian teaching — so often ignored by Christians of the modern and postmodern eras — the Christ abides in us, each of us, all of us, and we abide in Christ. Out of her Catholic devotion to Mary, she asserts that only the Blessed Mother ever experienced the fullness of abiding in Christ. For the rest of us, our “inner encounter” with Christ will be partial, incomplete, and shaped by the unique circumstances of our individual lives.
Some of us relate to Christ with the spontanaiety of a child; others with the responsibility of a laborer.
Others may “crucify” Christ with our self-destructive or unloving behaviors; while for others Christ is “resurrecting” through a commitment to healing and newness of life.
Perhaps most radical of all: even those who are most utterly lost in addiction, sin, abuse, or hatred, still has Christ abiding in them. But in such cases, Christ lies in repose: “dead” because of how the person has chosen to be alienated from love.
It is a mistake to assume that God, that Christ, is absent from those who are sinners, whose lives are filled with hatred or willful violence. Christ is not absent from such persons; if he were, they would cease to exist. Rather, Christ lies in repose in such souls, “dead” because of their sin — but waiting, hopefully, for resurrection.
So when we encounter a person whose life is such a mess of hatred or active addiction or violence, we should not write them off as lost to God. Rather, as Houselander suggests, we should kneel before such a person, reverencing the dormant Christ that resides yet deep within them.
Wow.
If we all could take this perspective to heart, how would it revolutionize our world?
Something to think about, this Advent season — and beyond.
Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays to all who read this blog. Thank you for your support and your engagement with my words. I’ll be on vacation for the next week or so, so it may be January before I return to this blog (unless I get super-inspired in the meantime, which is always possible). Enjoy this Sacred season, and I look forward to connecting with you in the new year!
Disclosure: if you follow the link of the book mentioned in this post and purchase it or other products from Amazon.com, the author of this blog receives a small commission from Amazon. Thank you for doing so — your support keeps this blog going.
One of the great paradoxes of being a writer (and speaker) on contemplative spirituality is that I essentially use words to invite people into a wordless place. Ah, sweet irony.
And while that is usually a matter of writing, I love to speak about silence as well. Today (September 18, 2013) I am going to be on Rabbi Rami Shapiro‘s How to be a Holy Rascal internet radio show. Hope you can tune in. The show will be broadcast live at 11 AM Central time (Noon Eastern time, 10 AM Mountain time, 9 AM Pacific time), and to hear it, just visit this link: www.unityonlineradio.org/how-be-holy-rascal/carl-mccolman-author-and-christian-contemplative and click on the “Listen Now” button. I know we will be talking about contemplation and mysticism, but I suspect we will also explore interspirituality and the thorny question of the relationship between religion and spirituality.
Since it will be a live broadcast, you can also call in if you have a question for Rabbi Rami or me. Call 888.55.UNITY (888-558-6489) any time while the show is on (11 AM – Noon Central time).
If you miss the live broadcast, a link to a recording of the show will be posted probably by tomorrow. Once I have that link, I’ll post it to my Twitter feed. (Update: this is the link to the archived show: (“Carl McColman, Author and Christian Contemplative”)
And speaking of recorded interviews, I invite you to take some time to listen to my two-part interview on David Dault‘s Things Not Seen Radio. This pre-recorded interview looks at contemplative spirituality primarily from a Christian perspective although we do discuss my interfaith wanderings as well. Here are links to the two parts of the interview:
So happy listening (and call in today, if you can!)
Update: As of 2020, these archived interviews are still available. God bless the internet. This is why, as the old saying goes, you should never put anything on the internet that you don’t want your mother to see (or hear) — because once it’s there, it’s forever!
