New Online Course: the Contemplative Wisdom of “Meditations on the Tarot”

January 18, 2022 By Carl McColman

Thomas Keating loved it. So did Basil Pennington and Bede Griffiths. In our time, Cynthia Bourgeault and Therese Schroeder-Sheker have praised it — enthusiastically. So why, pray tell, are these leaders of the contemplative community endorsing a book with a title like Meditations on the Tarot? Written in the 1960s and published only after the death of its author in 1973, Meditations on the Tarot is a unique book that explores the contemplative imagination — how our God-given powers of intelligence, intuition, insight... Read more

A Great Mystical Book — With a Surprising Title

December 28, 2021 By Carl McColman

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I’ve recently been re-reading one of the most fascinating and unusual books of mystical wisdom to have been written within the last 100 years. This is actually my third time through the book, and I know I will read it again, certainly more than once. It’s one of those rare books that rewards multiple readings, each new journey through it yielding new insights. I’m not the only one who feels this way about this 20th-century contemplative masterpiece. Look at some... Read more

The New “My Sweet Lord” Video is Lots of Fun, But Misses the Point of the Song

December 21, 2021 By Carl McColman

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Last week, the George Harrison estate released a new, “official” video for Harrison’s 1970 masterpiece, “My Sweet Lord” from his magnum opus All Things Must Pass. It’s a playful and fun video, with a kind of goofy X-Files plot, featuring a star-studded cast (Mark Hamill, Fred Armison, Vanessa Bayer, Weird Al Yankovic, Rosanna Arquette, Joe Walsh, Kate Micucci, Claudia O’Doherty, along with Harrison’s wife and son, Olivia and Dhani, and his former bandmates Jeff Lynne and Ringo Starr; conspicuous in their... Read more

Two Essential Questions for the Mystical Journey

December 14, 2021 By Carl McColman

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I was speaking with a few friends of mine who are spiritual directors recently, and we were talking about the work they do accompanying people who seek to draw closer to God. If you are not familiar with spiritual direction, it is a ministry of interactive care, in which a person supports another in the journey into deeper intimacy with God. A spiritual director does not “direct” in the sense of giving orders, but may provide a sense of orientation... Read more

New Editions of Some of My Older Books

November 28, 2021 By Carl McColman

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My latest book, Eternal Heart, was published this past summer by Broadleaf. Broadleaf Books is an imprint of 1517 Media, the publisher that may be more familiar to you under the imprints Fortress Press and Augsburg Books. Working with Broadleaf has been a wonderful experience, and my relationship with them has just gotten a bit more “serious.” Broadleaf recently acquired the rights to take over publication of five of my older books, including my bestseller, The Big Book of Christian... Read more

Critics Say “Centering Prayer Empties the Mind.” They are Wrong.

November 10, 2021 By Carl McColman

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Sigh. Last night I stumbled across yet another website from a well-meaning, but obviously misinformed, Catholic blogger who attacks Centering Prayer as “un-Catholic.” Not only has she spilled a lot of ink on her blog about this topic, but she has written an e-book filled with her denunciations of Centering Prayer that you can buy on Amazon for just a few books. Forgive me for not linking back to this person or her e-book, but frankly I can’t in good... Read more

Putting the “Christian” into “Christian Mysticism”

November 4, 2021 By Carl McColman

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Mysticism crosses all religious and spiritual boundaries. In other words, mysticism — like prayer or meditation or worship or sacrifice — is a universal spiritual/religious concept, not something that is limited to just one religious or wisdom tradition. What Baron Friedrich von Hugel called “the mystical element of religion” can be found in all the world’s great traditions, east and west, indigenous and cross-cultural. Granted, the word mysticism with its roots in Greek paganism and its rich contemplative tradition within... Read more

Do the Ten Commandments Still Matter?

October 11, 2021 By Carl McColman

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N.B. Today’s post is a meditation on the Ten Commandments that I wrote for the people who support this blog through Patreon. I’m sharing this particular post with the public because I hope it will spark reflection and dialogue. Eventually every post I share with patrons will eventually be published, but if you’d like to be the first to see much of my new writing, then I hope you’ll consider becoming a supporter today. Click here to visit Patreon. Meditations... Read more

October 2021: Two Online Contemplative Retreat Opportunities

October 8, 2021 By Carl McColman

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Hi friends, just want to make sure everyone is aware of two upcoming retreats I am doing online. If one or both of these topics appeal to you, I hope you’ll join me! On October 22 and 23, the Rock Hill Oratory is sponsoring a retreat called “The Wisdom of the Christian Imagination” featuring insights from the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. I know fantasy isn’t everyone’s cuppa joe, but if you are like me and love to... Read more

The Cathedral Beyond the Forest (A Dream)

September 20, 2021 By Carl McColman

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Last night I had this dream: Fran and I were visiting friends who had a beautiful house out in the woods. The house was covered with natural wood paneling that hadn’t been painted, maybe only varnished, so the beauty of the wood was apparent. The house was surrounded on all sides by woods, like my old house north of Monteagle where I lived from 1990 to 1993. I don’t know who lived there, but they were friends. Fran and I... Read more