Is Lent a Contemplative Practice? I am a member of a church where one liturgical season ends and another begins next week. Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, the first day of the liturgical season we call Lent. Lent is not about giving things up. It is not a liturgical second chance for people who do not follow through on their New Year’s resolutions. Lent is not primarily about chocolate, caffeine, alcohol, or social media. We are beginning a season about being... Read more
Watching Movies With Monks I live in a place where movies are big business, where people pay attention to which movies win awards. People I know in everyday life work in “the industry” engineering visual and sound effects. It is hard, challenging work to tell stories well, and profitably. I enjoy how movies shape our lives by telling stories which appeal to all of our senses. The movies I have seen throughout my life show me what it is to love,... Read more
Not Only Just a Place to Rest Some of us have a hard time seeing how our contemplative practice of listening could be a place to rest. We struggle to maintain a regular practice. Our time is always in short supply. The idea of scheduling a break to listen to stillness never seems convenient. We have so many other things to do and listening to sacred stillness feels like an interruption. It is a challenge for us to begin and... Read more
How We Know What We Think We Know Most of us are convinced we know what we think we know. Some of us believe our senses have shown us what we think we know. We trust our own eyewitness testimony. There are experiences we remember so strongly they shape how we see the rest of our lives. We might have learned what we think we know from other people. What we think we know may come from years of education... Read more
Walking Around in Stillness I like to spend some time each day walking around in stillness. Many of us think we need to practice stillness sitting down. We may believe it is best for our bodies to be as quiet as possible when we listen to sacred stillness. It is important for us to close our eyes and pay attention to our breathing, letting go of distractions. Most of us practice listening to sacred stillness by being as still as... Read more
What Makes Spiritual Life So Spiritual? Many of us have serious questions about spiritual life. They vary from person to person, but most of them are really questions about why spiritual life is so special. A lot of us what to know what makes spiritual life so spiritual. All the rules and expectations might intimidate us. Sometimes we confuse spiritual life with religion. We get lost in the ways people talk to us about spiritual life. It can feel like... Read more
The Burning Fire of Love Love means different things to different people. Some of us see hearts and flowers while others taste very dark chocolate, sweet as well as bitter. Many of us see another person’s face, or the light in a child’s eyes. We may find love in our dog or our cat. Some of us think of bodies coming together and making love. For some love is romantic, a grand passion. There is loving another person, loving our... Read more
Stillness Beyond Measure Many of us take great comfort from knowing what we have. We like to be able to measure our resources, our skills and abilities. Some of us take surveys, both online and in books, to measure our strengths and our personalities. We want to know as much about ourselves as we can. It is important, we have been taught, to have measurable goals and to keep track our progress. We put our trust in what we can... Read more
Will Spiritual Practices Make Us Perfect? Some of us have heard it so many times we do not question whether practices make us perfect. Anyone who has ever tried to learn to play a musical instrument or speak a language knows practice is important. We believe we learn by practicing, and practicing helps us improve our performance. Do we truly believe spiritual practices make us perfect? Is being perfect even possible? Would we enjoy perfection? We like to believe, if... Read more
When We Feel Like Turning Back There are times when it seems like we have run into a brick wall and we feel like turning back. All of us have felt this way at one time or another. We may be trying to work with someone who makes our life miserable. It may be a project or a job which refuses to work the way we want it to work. There may be unreasonable expectations of other people, or of... Read more
Strategic Monk
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In