The Stillness of a Full Moon Once each month, a full moon hangs in the night sky. This month the Hunter’s Moon is often brighter and more orange than usual. Last month was the Harvest Moon, the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox. It can be easy for us to forget our idea of a “month” comes to us from the moon. Not all months have the same number of days because the path of the moon is not... Read more
What Does a Spiritual Director Do? It is not unusual, when anyone asks me about what I do, for their next question to be What is spiritual direction? or What does a spiritual director do? Not many kids say they want to be a spiritual director when they grow up. Most of us have never heard of someone being a spiritual director and we do not understand what it means. When I explain spiritual direction to people it tends to... Read more
Celebrating Harvest I grew up celebrating harvest, but I did not grow up where I live now. Where I live now is different from where I was born and raised in many ways. There is more traffic here on more freeways. Where I grew up you were more likely to drive behind a vehicle moving slowly on a two-lane road. We have earthquakes, droughts, and brushfires here, but tornadoes and blizzards there. There are more people, from more different parts... Read more
Practicing Urban Contemplation Some of us apparently believe it is impossible to practice urban contemplation. We assume we need to head out of town and away from other people to really practice contemplation. Do we need to travel into the country, to the mountains or the desert, into the woods or to the beach to be contemplative? Many of us are convinced we need to get as far as possible from other people to practice contemplation. Sometimes getting away from... Read more
Is Anyone Listening? There are times when I wonder whether anyone is listening, even me. Some people spend time each day in a contemplative practice of listening to sacred stillness. There are people who have been practicing every day for years. We believe in the power of listening and the sacredness of stillness. Even those of us who believe ask, at times, whether anyone is listening. We practice listening to stillness. Sacred stillness offers to give us rest and refresh... Read more
Welcoming Autumn In my memories welcoming autumn is filled with sacred significance. Now I live in a place where autumn is more of a concept than an experience. The temperature does not drop, even though the hours of daylight grow shorter and the shadows grow longer. Most of the trees remain green. The seasonal transition from summer to autumn to winter happens in tiny increments. Our seasons have more to do with featured flavors than with changes in the weather.... Read more
Sacred Space and Sacred Places We hear people talk about sacred space. Actors and directors tell us the theatre becomes a sacred place for them. Some people describe places where boundaries between physical life and spiritual life become thin. Spiritual life helps us recognize and appreciate sacred space and sacred places. Some of us have visited places with a reputation for sacredness. We arrive in a place where we sense the presence of spiritual life. It may be somewhere people... Read more
Our Questions Matter More Than Our Answers Many of us are interested in spiritual life because we are looking for answers to our questions. We live in a world where questions can be a challenge. It is easy for us to believe life is all about finding answers. Most of us do not really appreciate our questions. They might make us feel nervous and a little uncomfortable. We do not want to have them, what we want are the answers... Read more
Finding Stillness Online We do not expect to find stillness online. Some of us find it difficult to have a normal conversation online, and more challenging to pay attention to wisdom. It is unusual to meet someone who knows how to listen online. We have a hard time imagining how to find sacred stillness online. It is easy for us to become distracted in our everyday lives. We get even more caught up in chasing the shiny objects which cross... Read more
Practices Each Day, Week, Month & Year It is easy for us to fall into experiencing contemplative practice like practicing a sport or a musical instrument. We start to feel like we need to make sure we do not miss a practice. Some of us put together complex schedules of contemplative practices each day, week, month, and year. There are people who seem to believe we earn spiritual points by completing practice sessions. Our contemplative practices are not like spending... Read more
Strategic Monk
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