So often, it seems to me, that people who are drawn to the Christian tradition of mysticism and contemplation are eager to learn practices like Centering Prayer or the Jesus…
Contemplating Dragon Con: Pop Culture, Creativity, and the Masks We Wear
Each year on Labor Day weekend downtown Atlanta hosts Dragon Con, one of the larger conventions for fans of science fiction, fantasy, comics, horror, gaming, and various other forms of…
Howard Thurman: With Head and Heart
So in reading Howard Thurman’s autobiography, I expected to bask in his deeply authentic humility, his compassionate heart, and his keen sense of God’s presence, justice and mercy. But what truly blew me away about the autobiography was the evidence of just how deep a mystic he was — and the continual delight of enjoying his rhetorical skill as a writer.
Remembering the Monk Who Wrote About Grace
Last week Father James Behrens, OCSO died suddenly. He was 71 years old. Father James had been a Catholic priest for 45 years and a Trappist monk for 25 years….
Advance Praise for “Unteachable Lessons”
One of the scariest moments for me, as an author, is when my editor and I have finished working on a book, and we then send the manuscript out to…
Is Mystical Spirituality an Appropriate Response to the Social and Political Crises of Our Time? Absolutely.
I am writing these words on a Monday morning following two mass shootings that occurred on the previous weekend — one in El Paso, TX, and the other in Dayton,…
The Paradox of Radical Trust
On his live album Precious Friend, Arlo Guthrie cracked a joke: “You can’t have a light without a dark to stick it in.” Seekers of holy nonduality recognize this: in…
Centering Prayer: Embracing Every Moment of Silence and the Presence
Like many people who are blessed with material abundance, I have more books than I have time to read them. I was so gratified when I recently learned of the Japanese…
What Inspired Me to Write About Christian Mysticism
This month marks nine years since The Big Book of Christian Mysticism was published. Hard to believe it’s been that long! To mark this anniversary, I’m reposting here an “author’s statement” about the book that…
Celebrating Evelyn Underhill
It was forty years ago this summer — the summer of 1979 — that I first discovered Evelyn Underhill, the British spiritual author whose writings introduced me to the beauty…
Finding a Mystical or Contemplative-Friendly Neighborhood Church
A reader named Connie wrote to me and asked the following question: Is there a mystic/al church? What would it look like? Does such a thing exist in your experience?…
Appreciating the Rosary as a Method for Contemplative Prayer
Nothing says “Catholic” quite as much as a rosary. But anyone — Catholic or Orthodox, Protestant or Pentecostal, Anglican or Evangelical — can find a way to incorporate the simple…