I was speaking recently with one of my Patreon supporters (Patreon is a crowdfunding program to support writers, bloggers, musicians, etc. This blog is made possible by the generous people…
Category: Contemplation
Online Event: Contemplative Day of Reflection: Kenneth Leech and Pauli Murray, Contemplative Activists for Our Time (June 25, 2022)
Join me (Carl McColman) for a special online quiet day of reflection on June 25, 2022. We’ll spend time together in silence, and I’ll share with you some of the…
Encountering Silence: A Conversation with Sister Joyce Rupp
The Encountering Silence co-hosts (Cassidy Hall, Kevin Johnson and Carl McColman) recently spoke with Servite Sister Joyce Rupp, on the occasion of the publication of her most recent book, Return…
The Wrath of God and Wishful Thinking (or, Julian of Norwich and Biblical Images of God)
Recently a reader of this blog wrote the following to me: I am just starting out on this journey and feel drawn to the mystical/contemplative side of Christianity. To this…
Divine Union is Embodied: Notes on the Incarnational Nature of Christian Mysticism
I’ve been working my way through Mystical Theology and Contemporary Spiritual Practice: Renewing the Contemplative Tradition, a book in Routledge’s “Contemporary Theological Explorations in Mysticism” series. There’s a delightful essay in it…
Le Point Vierge
Cynthia Bourgeault’s latest book, just published this year, is a brief statement of her faith; the book is called The Corner of Fourth and Nondual. If you have been exploring…
The Contemplative Life in Three Easy Steps
Origen of Alexandria came up with the idea first. Unless you’re a Christian history geek, chances are you’ve never heard of Origen. He lived in Egypt from about 185 to…
A New Thank You Gift for Patrons: “Contemplative” Prayer Cards!
Hello friends, here’s a little video for you to watch… I recently did some training with the folks who operate Patreon, the membership website that provides a way for individuals…
Two Essential Questions for the Mystical Journey
I was speaking with a few friends of mine who are spiritual directors recently, and we were talking about the work they do accompanying people who seek to draw closer…
Putting the “Christian” into “Christian Mysticism”
Mysticism crosses all religious and spiritual boundaries. In other words, mysticism — like prayer or meditation or worship or sacrifice — is a universal spiritual/religious concept, not something that is…
All the Episodes of Encountering Silence in One Audio Player
The Encountering Silence podcast, which I co-host, is available through all the normal podcast channels, from Apple (iTunes) to Google to Spotify to Amazon. So please listen to it using…
Between Thomas Keating and Teilhard de Chardin: On Finding Your Own Personal Spiritual Style
Have you ever heard of the Enneagram or the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator? These are psychological tools that we can use to discover the unique characteristics of our personalities. Are you…