2024 Daily Meditations: Radical Resilience
Contemplation helps us engage with a world on fire — without burning up or out.
We live in a world on fire. As the flames of unjust societies, humanitarian disasters, and ecological crises flicker around us, it is easy to feel helpless and overwhelmed. How can we respond to this destructive era with wisdom, love, and peace?
The path ahead will be challenging, but we will walk it together. That is why this year the Daily Meditations will explore contemplation as a way to build Radical Resilience — tending our inner flame so we can stand in solidarity with the world without burning up or out.
What is Radical Resilience?
Radical Resilience is the ability to face hardship with greater love and deeper awareness. We believe that contemplation, the practice of being fully present, is one way to grow more resilient — teaching us how to sustain inner strength, purpose, and connectedness.
Contemplation shapes Radical Resilience as a way to choose love and peace over anger, denial, and despair. Imagining a better future begins by finding it within ourselves—only then can we help others tend to their own inner flame. Together we can live that better future out into the world.
CAC Dean of Faculty Brian McLaren introduces Radical Resilience as the 2024 Daily Meditations theme.
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Each quarter this year we will examine this theme through a different metaphor of fire:
- Engaging With a World on Fire (Jan–Mar)
- Tending the Fire Within (Apr–Jun)
- Embracing the Fire of Transformation (Jul–Sep)
- Dancing With the Divine Fire (Oct–Dec)
Though each week builds on the previous ones, you can jump into these meditations at any time.
“I believe resilience is the secular word for faith — the ability to trust and let go.”
—Richard Rohr
Tending the Fire Within
From April to June, our Daily Meditations invite you to tend your inner fire. Discover how honoring our inner flame can help create a contemplative culture in our heart and expand our capacity for Radical Resilience.
James Finley invites us to tend our spiritual flame by finding moments of openness and calm each day.
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Engaging With a World on Fire
From January through March, the Daily Meditations will focus on developing a contemplative consciousness amid the rising temperatures in the world, including facing the realities of humanitarian and climate crises.
CAC Dean of Faculty Brian McLaren talks about contemplation and Engaging With a World on Fire.
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Practice with Us
Thank you for being a part of the Center for Action and Contemplation’s community. We invite you to explore our library of practices to embrace a contemplative way of being in your daily life. Each month features new audio and video practices.