Day by day, Dear Lord, of thee three things I pray: To see thee more clearly, Love thee more dearly, Follow thee more nearly, Day by day. – Day by Day, from Godspell Where do you find your spiritual life? Are you seeking understanding and knowledge? Are you more into loving Spirit in all its manifestations? […]
“I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am!” – Paul in Romans 7: 22-24 “Although [one] has awakened […]
“When we were one or two years old we had what we might visualize as a 360-degree personality. Energy radiated out from all parts of our body and all parts of our psyche. A child running is a living globe of energy. We had a ball of energy, all right: but one day we noticed […]
I spend a lot of time in silent meditation during my sessions with people. Many sessions begin with a few minutes of shared silence. Other times, we might spend up to half the session in meditation. Sharing silence in this way creates a beautiful intimacy in the session, but as I am writing this morning […]
A tree gives glory to God first of all by being a tree. For in being what God means it to be, it is imitating an idea which is in God and which is not distinct from the essence of God, and therefore a tree imitates God by being a tree. The more it is […]
“The smallest sprout shows there is really no death, And if ever there was it led forward life, and does not wait at the end to arrest it, And ceas’d the moment life appear’d. All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses, And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier.” – Walt […]
Clearing Do not try to save the whole world or do anything grandiose. Instead, create a clearing in the dense forest of your life and wait there patiently, until the song that is your life falls into your own cupped hands and you recognize and greet it. Only then will you know how […]
I’ve noticed myself looking out the window this last month with a particular quality of attention. I will walk to the sunroom window, stand next to the banana tree, and just look out at the outside world. I’m just taking it all in, looking wistfully at the parked cars, the blooming daffodils, the greening grass […]
The end of Christmas as I knew it started with a family meeting, 30-something years ago. Let’s say in 1986. My Mom called a meeting to discuss Christmas. That was all I knew. This was odd. A family meeting? I was on edge. At a family meeting many years before, my folks had announced that […]
(I am a long-time member of Contemplative Outreach and a former member of the Chicago chapter’s volunteer “circle of service.” Here, I discuss the origins of a new form of meditation I’m calling “Mindful Centering.” If you’re interested, I will be teaching Mindful Centering for the first time, starting this Tuesday, January 16. For more […]