contemplative living
« Previous EntriesThe God Mind
Friday, March 14th, 2008 As fog darkens the sky and obscures the sun,
or as a dirty mirror distorts an image,
so the unbridled ego blocks light.
-John of the Cross, in Ascent to Love
I was pondering how I’ve lived over-much in my head rather than in my body and heart, how I’ve been such a thinking person. Then I […]
Polishing The Stone
Wednesday, March 12th, 2008Ruth Burrows writes:
We find it hard to give up the idea that there is a magic answer somewhere, that it must be possible to get this burden off our backs. We have a deep conviction that we are being wronged: our environment is wrong, our companions are responsible; if we had a different job, if […]
A Truth
Tuesday, March 4th, 2008Alan Jones, Dean of Grace Cathedral, writes:
One of the best-known sayings of the desert fathers is this: “In Scetis, a brother went to see Abba Moses and begged him for a word. And the old man said: ‘Go and sit in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything.’”
Sitting in one’s cell is like resting in one’s grave. It […]
Subtracting
Friday, February 29th, 2008God is not found in the soul by adding anything but by subtracting.
-Meister Eckhart
Chogyam Trungpa, Buddhist meditation master:
“When we begin to practice and to learn more, we may think we should be adding tricks or embellishments of all kinds to our practice. This is the approach of spiritual materialism.”
And:
“Spiritual discipline is not about advancement, but it […]
Two Small Gems
Tuesday, February 26th, 2008African prayer:
O Father God, I cannot fight this darkness by beating it with my hands.
Help me to take the light of Christ into it. Amen.
And Meister Eckhart:
If people find themselves in this way in pure nothingness, is it not better for them to do something to drive away the darkness and the abandonment? Should such […]
A Right And A Good And A Joyful Thing
Thursday, February 21st, 2008Fear not to walk upon unbeaten tracks,
if such tracks bring you near to Him who is the truth.
-The Teaching of Kabir
While meditating this morning, a well-worn idea popped into my head about rules and following rules, as opposed to surrendering to God. Unfortunately, I didn’t simply watch the thought and let it go (I didn’t […]
Beginning
Wednesday, February 20th, 2008It may be when we no longer know what to do,
we have come to our real work,
and that when we no longer know which way to go,
we have begun our real journey.
-Wendell Berry
Where Breathing Is Prayer
Tuesday, February 19th, 2008Three quotes on breath and breathing.
Kabir says: Student, tell me, what is God?
He is the breath inside the breath.
Sit and be still
until in the time
of no rain you hear
beneath the dry wind’s
commotion in the trees
the sound of flowing
water among the rocks,
a stream unheard before,
and you are where
breathing is prayer.
-from Sabbaths 2001, Wendell Berry
In solitude, at […]
The Desert And Blooming And Stuff
Friday, February 1st, 2008Annie Dillard: No one escapes the wilderness on the way to the promised land.
The climate in which monastic prayer flowers is that of the desert, where the comfort of man is absent, where the secure routines of man’s city offer no support, and where prayer must be sustained by God in the purity of faith. […]
Purpose
Thursday, January 24th, 2008We must make the choices that enable us to fulfill the deepest capacities of our real selves.
-Thomas Merton
In the years since my daughter left home, I found myself caught up in the question of What is my purpose? I guess because I suddenly felt like I didn’t have one. Recently, it came bubbling to the […]
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