The Language of Stillness Some of us are particularly perplexed about the idea of listening to sacred stillness. Is it possible to distinguish the language of stillness from all the other languages we hear each day? Does all stillness use the same language? It is a challenge for many of us to sort out sacred stillness from the cacophony of distractions. What does stillness sound like? How can we become familiar with the language of stillness? We may feel it... Read more
Finite Ways to Practice Infinity Contemplative practices make some of us uncomfortable. We find them intimidating or overwhelming. Some of us experience contemplation like being in an ocean. It seems to be vast and powerful. We are afraid it will pull us in and drown us. The fact is spiritual life is vast, far larger than our everyday lives seem to be. It is beyond our understanding and, by definition, outside our control. We sometimes feel we can handle everyday... Read more
Recognizing Gifts of Hospitality Chapter 53 of Benedict’s Rule sets a challenging standard for monastic hospitality. Monks are to receive and welcome their guests as Christ, recognizing the spiritual life within them. We seem to assume hospitality is about making ourselves look good. When we invite people to stay with us we hope they feel impressively welcomed. We often hope our homes will seem even more well organized than they usually are. Most of us try to give our visitors nice, relaxing stays by anticipating and... Read more
When We Wait in Stillness It is often a challenge for me to wait, and an even greater challenge for me to wait in stillness. We generally do not enjoy waiting. Some of us can hardly wait for a certain time of day or a specific event. I know people who are struggling to wait until they finish school or until they find another job. Some of us are impatiently waiting to find the person we want to marry. We may... Read more
Waking Up to Spiritual Life I know people who think talking about spiritual life is a great way to put people to sleep. Some of us experience spiritual life as overwhelmingly complicated and hard to understand. We might believe spiritual life is theoretical, conceptual, and makes no difference in our everyday lives. Others of us get lost in the history and political infighting of religious institutions. Our eyes begin to glaze over and we lose interest, if not losing consciousness.... Read more
Expressing Our Lives in Words Many of us have two distinct images of monks and monastic life. When we think of or spend time with monks it is often in periods of time without words. Some of us take silent retreats at monasteries when we might not talk to anyone for days at a time. The experiences we have of monastic life are full of quiet, calm people with whom we do not share small talk. Our second image of... Read more
Why Are We Listening? Some of us listen to sacred stillness, but why are we listening? What are the reasons we try to develop this contemplative practice? What are we listening for? Why do we commit some of our valuable time to listening to sacred stillness? Is stillness really so important? What exactly are we hoping to hear? Where do we expect our listening to take us? We may listen to spend time communing with the world around us, or... Read more
Is Having Fun a Spiritual Practice? Many of us are convinced spiritual life is extremely serious. We push ourselves to work hard on spiritual life and we believe we are doing serious work. Some of us describe what we do with words which sound serious, like theology or hermeneutics. Our understanding of spiritual life involves challenging thought about complicated ideas and concepts. We give ourselves headaches trying to analyze and understand deep spiritual truths. Some of us are not as... Read more
What Are Our Vocational Challenges? Many of us struggle with vocational challenges. We live in a world where it is challenging to grasp what vocation even means. Some of us grew up choosing between vocational classes and academic classes in school. We may have needed to decide whether to attend a vocational school or a professional school. Most of us have a vague sense of our vocation. In everyday life our vocation is synonymous with our profession, our career, our... Read more
Sitting in Stillness Together I enjoy listening to sacred stillness together with other people. Sometimes it seems a little ironic to listen to stillness together with other people. Anyone who sees us might find it a little strange to observe a group of people sitting in stillness together. Does it really make a difference whether we are still by ourselves or with people? If we close our eyes and practice being open, what does it matter whether anyone else is... Read more
Strategic Monk
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