On Becoming a Truly Contemplative Spiritual Director
A reader wrote to me: Hi Carl, how does one study to be a ‘contemplative’ grounded Spiritual Director for spiritual seekers. Jim Finley mentioned this on a podcast. But, how?…
Encountering Silence: An Interview with Queer Contemplative/Activist Maki Ashe Van Steenwyk
The Encountering Silence team returns with an interview recorded last spring but unreleased until now! Cassidy, Kevin and I sat down for a contemplative conversation with Maki Ashe Van Steenwyk…
Download Your Free Study Guide for “Soul Food” (Anthology of New Contemplative Writing)
I’m so honored and grateful to have an essay included in the recently published book Soul Food: Nourishing Essays on Contemplative Living and Leadership. This book was published in September…
Of Love and Silence
This morning I wrote a little poem. I’m no Mary Oliver or John Keats, of course. But perhaps this is something worth saying. Our words and our myths can connect…
Another Conversation About Mysticism
Friends, I first published this video back in the summer, but I want to highlight it again today, in case you missed it back then. It was actually the first…
Mystics and Institutional Religion: A Word from Howard Thurman
Acts of worship must be tested by the degree to which they remain living channels for the direct release of God into the life of the worshipper. When they become…
Conversations about Mysticism: Podcasts and a Video Interview
With the publication of The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism, I’ve been making the rounds of doing interviews, for podcasts and for print. Here are a few of the recent…
“Breathe and Hope and Chase and Love…” Some Thoughts on the 50th Anniversary of “Tales from Topographic Oceans”
Things are all in colours And the size of others shall send you forward Arranged to sail you toward A peace of mind — “The Remembering (High the Memory)” (second…
LSD, Anxiety, and Contemplation: Can Psychedelic Therapy Support Spiritual Growth? (and Vice Versa)
Today (November 16, 2023) is the 85th anniversary of the discovery of LSD, by the Swiss chemist Albert Hoffmann. So happy birthday, LSD! Hoffmann first synthesized lysergic acid diethylamide on…
Twenty Years Ago, Rhiannon’s Wish Came True…
On November 10, 2003 — twenty years ago today — Fran, Rhiannon and I hopped on a plane to Orlando. We actually missed our flight that morning (!) but since…