I’ve started a Substack! If you’re not familiar with Substack, it’s like a blog that you read through email. My Substack is called “Mystical Journey” and will include a variety…
Category: Contemplation
Themes that Inspired “Eternal Heart”
I’m writing this blog post the morning after returning home from a lovely weekend where I was the guest presenter at Minnesota Contemplative Outreach’s fall retreat. We spent our time…
Who’s Giving Up On (the Institutional) Church? It’s No Longer Just the “Casual Christians” who are Disappearing
Here’s a fascinating quotation from Laura Anderson’s important and insightful book, When Religion Hurts You: Healing from Religious Trauma and the Impact of High-Control Religion: Anecdotal evidence suggests that the largest…
Deconstructing Mysticism
In recent years, I’ve talked to a number of people who describe their spiritual journey as going through a period of “deconstruction.” These “deconstructors” are usually younger folks, in their…
Four Dimensions of Mindfulness, Brainwaves and Centering Prayer
In chapter five of his book Buddha Is as Buddha Does, dharma teacher Lama Surya Das offers this fascinating insight into the nature of mindfulness: According to Tibetan Buddhist tradition,…
I Believe Prayer Changes Things. Here’s a Few Thoughts Why.
I posted this on Facebook not long ago… A couple of people posted comments to the effect of “Please say more about how prayer changes things.” That’s a great question…
You don’t have to become a monk to be a mystic
A reader wrote to me recently: Hello, I am interested in becoming a Christian Mystic. However I am not sure if I can join a monastery due to being a…
Two Books that Shaped My Spiritual Path
Two of the most meaningful books I’ve ever read are Evelyn Underhill’s Mysticism: A Study in the Nature and Development of Spiritual Consciousness and Thich Nhat Hanh’s Living Buddha Living Christ. I…
Contemplating How the Sausage is Made
Twice in recent days I’ve had conversations with people in ministry about their spiritual life, and the idiomatic phrase “seeing how the sausage is made” got used. Here’s a (paraphrased)…
From “Orthodox” to “Open” — Some Personal Thoughts on How Faith Can Evolve Over Time
A reader of this blog sent me the following question: Hi Carl, I’ve been reading quite a bit of your blog. It seems like back around 2016-2017, you were making…
Spiritual Practices, Traumatic Shame, and Holy Freedom
Recently I read Laura E. Anderson’s When Religion Hurts You: Healing from Religious Trauma and the Impact of High-Control Religion. Anderson, a psychotherapist specializing in trauma and herself a survivor of…
The God who is Love and the Death of Christ: A Contemplative Reflection
Allen, who is a reader of this blog, recently sent me a thoughtful email; here are some excerpts from what he wrote: I have a profound connection with the teachings…