I often get asked to recommend “the best” contemplative books. I’m happy to do so (see this post for a recent attempt to list some of the better books), but…
Tag: Writing
Does Talking About a Mystical Experience Make it Stronger?
If you share with others a moment of profound mystical insight that you have does it, in fact, make it stronger and real for the person with the epiphany? In other words, in the retelling does it gain strength?
Writing, Quoting, Creating: On the Use of Other People’s Words in the Midst of Your Own
Speaking to the Shalem Institute a few years back, Richard Rohr told an amusing story about a retreat he gave to the monks of Gethsemani Abbey (where Thomas Merton lived)…
The Communion of Saints Who Watch Over Me As I Write
Today’s post is just for fun! This morning on Facebook my cousin Danny, up in Manhattan, made a comment about the beautiful icon of the Holy Cross, written by iconographer…
A Lesson on Creativity and Risk-Taking from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Publisher
Today I had a conversation with a friend who is working on a manuscript for a book to be published in the next year or so. We were chatting about…
Silence and Words are Like Yin and Yang: a Contemplative Spirituality Needs Both
How does language help us — or hinder us — as we try to express our understanding of God — probably the most inexpressible subject imaginable? We adults can really get lost in our God-talk (the word “theology”? All it means is “God-talk”). I love to talk to children about…… Read more at Patheos
What’s in a (Sacred) Story? Meditating on the Mysteries of Our Faith
To be a mystic is to be the explorer of both Divine and human mysteries (which corresponds to Jesus’s two essential teachings, “Love God” and “Love your neighbors”). We often…
Support Anamchara through Patreon
Readers like you make this website possible. Anamchara — an online resource for the exploration of Christian and interfaith mysticism, contemplative living, and silent prayer — includes a blog, a…
Why I Wrote a Book About Christian Mystics
When Peter Gabriel came to Atlanta in 2003, my wife Fran and I were able to get tickets to the concert through a friend who works in the music business….
An Accident and its Aftermath
In the summer of 1992, I was in a rather nasty car accident. It left me with a jaw broken in several places, a few missing teeth, lacerations along one…
Everything you always wanted to know about Christian mysticism (but were afraid to ask)
Hey you! Yes, that’s right… you, the person reading these words right now. I need your help. Don’t go away — please read this post and take a moment to…