Hi friends, just wanted to make sure that if you haven’t had a chance to sign up for the Modern Mystics School sponsored by Spiritual Wanderlust, it’s not too late to do so! The program began March 2, but it runs all year long (until next February), so you’ll have plenty of time to watch the recording(s) of the class(es) that have already happened and you’ll still get to enjoy the once-a-month programs that are still to come! Click here to learn... Read more
Join me on Tuesday, January 23 for a free guided meditation on Aspiration and Intentionality — a great way to start the new year! This will take place on Zoom, and is free but pre-registration is required — Click here to register. Friends, I’m happy to announce that for 2024, I’m creating a series of 24 guided meditations that I will be sharing with everyone who supports this blog with a Patreon Membership. Over the course of the year 2024,... Read more
Things are all in colours And the size of others shall send you forward Arranged to sail you toward A peace of mind — “The Remembering (High the Memory)” (second movement of Tales from Topographic Oceans) December 7 is, of course, Pearl Harbor Day. It is my brother’s birthday. And on this day in 1973, the ultimate prog band, Yes, released their controversial magnum opus, Tales from Topographic Oceans. It has widely been panned not only as Yes’s worst album, but... Read more
Today (November 16, 2023) is the 85th anniversary of the discovery of LSD, by the Swiss chemist Albert Hoffmann. So happy birthday, LSD! Hoffmann first synthesized lysergic acid diethylamide on this day in 1938, although it would be another four and a half years before he accidentally ingested some of the chemical — and discovered its psychedelic and entheogenic properties (those words, both of which are younger than LSD itself, mean “mind-manifesting” and “becoming divine within” — words that attempt to capture... Read more
I’m happy to invite you to register for an online offering Contemplative Prayer Summit that is taking place on September 23 and 24, 2023. Click here to register. Just for the sake of transparency, I am not speaking at this event (I’m leading a retreat that week) — but plenty of wonderful people are, like Kaira Jewel Lingo, Ruben Habito, Cassidy Hall, Matthew Wright, and Margaret Benefiel! Any one of these people would be worth the cost of this event... Read more
Recently I spoke about Christian mysticism and interspirituality for the Closer than Breath Christian Mystic Summit. One attendee, a person named Kurt, wrote a follow-up email to me and asked this question: Does the experience of interspirituality open one up to charges of some sort of ‘cultural misappropriation’ because I might adopt some practices or texts or whatever from a spiritual/religious tradition that was not my own? Is it only a hardened fundamentalist who would level that charge if I’m... Read more
My first interview talking about The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism has been released. It’s embedded above, or you can check it out on Youtube by clicking here. Kate Rademacher of Writing for Your Life and Compassionate Christianity sat down with me the other day for a Zoom chat about mysticism, theology, spirituality, writing, publishing, and other fun topics. We talked about the proper way to pronounce my last name and what I think is really going on with... Read more
A reader of this blog, named Peter, asked me a couple of questions recently. He had been at church where he heard a priest speak about a controversial issue with a kind of rhetoric that implied “this is what God wants for the church.” So Peter writes: So I put 2 questions to him. 1. Does he know there is a God and 2. Does he also know God’s plans. If yes, then I requested his explanation of how he... Read more
One of the patrons of this blog wrote to me recently: My question is, how do I meet other Christian mystics? Thanks for asking. It’s a question many of us ponder. Even though there is a long tradition of regarding mysticism as “the flight of the alone to the Alone” (in the words of Plotinus), it’s been my experience that many of us “aloners” nevertheless seek out the company and fellowship of others who are undertaking similar spiritual journeys. Indeed, this... Read more
So I got invited to be a beta-tester for Google’s new AI assistant called Bard. Yesterday I received an email from Google that said, in part: Meet Bard, an early experiment by Google Because you’re a Google One member, we’d like to offer you the opportunity to be among the first to sign up for the new Bard experience and provide feedback. Think of Bard as your creative and helpful collaborator, here to bring your ideas to life using generative... Read more
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