During this time of social distancing and sheltering at home, it’s a perfect opportunity to learn — or refresh your knowledge of — one of the simplest and yet most…
Author: Carl McColman
Soul Friend and Storyteller. Lay Cistercian, Centering Prayer Presenter, Author, Blogger, Podcaster, Speaker, Teacher, Retreat Leader.
How Does Contemplative Practice Benefit Us — And the Communities We Are Part Of?
In response to an old blog post of mine, Between Shambhala and the Catholic Church, one reader tweeted the following: https://twitter.com/met_annoy_a/status/1254242028965289987?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Maybe those questions were big for Twitter, but I…
Contemplating Calm Awareness
The contemplative psychiatrist, spiritual director, and author Gerald May wrote in his book Will and Spirit: A Contemplative Psychology: Water is a commonly used metaphor for consciousness and awareness in…
Some Thoughts On the Dolphins That Are (Not) in Venice
Shortly after the shelter-in-place orders started to show up at local and state governments across the land, I read somewhere — I don’t remember where — that dolphins had been…
Every Mystery is a Story
I have a guilty pleasure that I don’t think I’ve ever written about, here on my blog. Well, here goes: I’m a fan of Neil Gaiman. Years ago somebody told…
Twelve Mystics Who Lived Through Epidemics and Pandemics
It’s been over a month now since the World Health Organization has acknowledged that COVID-19 is a pandemic. As of today (4/13/20), over 22000 Americans and 116,000 people worldwide have…
The Break-Up of the Beatles — and the Fragmented Spirituality of Our Age
Fifty years ago today — on April 10, 1970 — the Beatles announced that they were breaking up. We now know that this had been brewing for at least two…
“Don’t Call Yourself a Mystic” — How Kenneth Leech’s Challenge Helped Me To Embrace Contemplative Practice
In my book Unteachable Lessons I talk about Kenneth Leech, the Anglican priest who wrote a variety of books on topics related to both contemplative spirituality and the struggle for social…
Spiritual Lessons from a Pilgrimage to Ireland
I wrote the following article in 2002, when I was exploring Celtic paganism. I found it recently while looking for something in my archives and I thought it was worth…
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…
The Sheer Sound of a Still Small Voice
“God speaks to us in a whisper,” or so said an Episcopal priest I once knew. It was one of his trademark sayings, and the idea was obvious enough: if…
Your Home is Your Abbey; Your Heart is Your Cloister
I met a woman once, many years ago, who taught writing in a prison. She had the inmates read The Rule of Saint Benedict. She encouraged them to use the spirituality…