Looking Sacred Stillness in the Face Some of us experience praying like reading a book. When we pray we read something written for us. We depend on other people to put our prayers into words so we know what to say. Many of us feel we do not know the appropriate words to use. We are nervous about praying the wrong way. For others of us praying feels more like watching a video or a movie. There is a narrative... Read more
Is There a Good Reason for Spiritual Life? Some of us seem to believe spiritual life does not need to have a good reason. We appear to think spiritual life simply exists and the best way for us to appreciate it is just get with the program. It is easy for some of us, who have grown up with certain expectations, to assume spiritual life exists. We probably do not understand all the aspects of spiritual life but accept it.... Read more
Knowing and Becoming Our True Selves How do we ever really know and become our true selves? Can we ever really appreciate our own deepest truths? Some of us seem to work hard at hiding ourselves from ourselves and from each other. We live in a world where the ways we can disguise ourselves seem to be endless. Many of us choose our own masks and costumes to avoid our own true selves. Others of us allow other people to... Read more
The Stillness of Falling Leaves There is something about the stillness of falling leaves which draws us to listen. I remember times when I was growing up exploring our neighbor’s woods. It was full of mature hickory and oak trees. I could play for hours with only my imagination and the trees all around me. The woods were a quiet place of stillness and solitude. In autumn the leaves on the trees changed from green into a spectrum of... Read more
Benedict’s Rule says, “Always, we begin again.” Each breath, we breathe in opportunities to begin again. We breathe out what we do not need. As long as we continue to breathe we can begin again. Read more
The Times They Are Changing I appreciate the time I spend on retreat at New Camaldoli Hermitage. It feels like time has a way of standing still there. It is not true, of course. Life is changing at the hermitage in the same ways it changes everywhere else. People grow old and die. New people arrive and continue their exploration of spiritual life. Many changes at the hermitage, though, are grounded in the history and traditions of Benedictine spirituality. Every... Read more
Hope and Despair in the Stillness Stillness is inextricably linked to hope and despair for me. Sometimes stillness takes me to the edge of despair. It is the stillness of me reaching the end of my rope, my last resort, my worst case scenario. My brain has been running as fast as it can when it arrives at the end of my ideas. Words seem to turn to ash in my mouth, in my mind, and there is nothing more... Read more
Are Our Eyes Open? We each open our eyes at least once each day. Sometimes it takes time, and things come into focus gradually. If we start moving before our eyes are really open we bump into things, which encourages us to pay closer attention. There are days when we open our eyes immediately. One moment we are asleep and the next we are wide awake. Even if we would like to, we are not going back to sleep. Our... Read more
Heading in a NonDirective Direction Some of us grow up believing in the importance of being directive. People tell us life is all about making progress in a particular direction. The sooner we know where we are going and how we plan to get there, the better. Finding our direction is a significant part of growing up, maturing, and getting on with life. It is almost like life is a race and we need to build up some speed in... Read more
Clinging to the Icy Edge of Stillness Some of us like to believe listening to sacred stillness should be warm and comforting. We like to think we settle into stillness for a nice, quiet rest. Sitting still we close our eyes, taker a deep breath, and spiritual life wraps us in its arms. There can be days like that. We find a rhythm in our contemplative practices and grow accustomed to how they feel. Spiritual life seems to welcome us... Read more
Strategic Monk
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