Tag Archives: awareness
Seeing the Divine Image Everywhere
Image and Likeness: Summary Seeing the Divine Image Everywhere Sunday, December 23, 2018 We cannot earn God. We cannot prove ourselves worthy of God. Knowing God’s presence is simply a matter of awareness, of enjoying the now, of deepening one’s own presence. There are moments when it happens. Then life makes sense. Once I can… Continue Reading Seeing the Divine Image Everywhere
Sustaining Awareness
Contemplation: Week 2 Sustaining Awareness Thursday, December 20, 2018 As we saw yesterday, there are many forms of contemplative practice. CAC faculty member James Finley describes how meditation—another name for contemplation—is simply any practice that opens us up to Presence: There is something about simply sitting still, quietly attentive to your breathing, that tends to… Continue Reading Sustaining Awareness
Knowing Our Source
Contemplation: Week 1 Knowing Our Source Monday, December 10, 2018 Thomas Merton Day Within Christianity, contemplation was not systematically taught for the last 400 or 500 years. Thankfully, Trappist monk Thomas Merton (1915–1968)—who died fifty years ago today—helped reintroduce contemplation to Western Christianity. Here’s just a taste of what Merton had to say about contemplation:… Continue Reading Knowing Our Source
Open Heart, Mind, and Body
Contemplation: Week 1 Open Heart, Mind, and Body Sunday, December 9, 2018 We may think of prayer as thoughts or feelings expressed in words. But this is only one expression. . . . Prayer is the opening of mind and heart—our whole being—to God, the Ultimate Mystery, beyond thoughts, words, and emotions. Through grace we… Continue Reading Open Heart, Mind, and Body
Mystical Hope
Joy and Hope Mystical Hope Friday, November 30, 2018 Cynthia Bourgeault, one of our core faculty members at the Center for Action and Contemplation, writes about the unshakable depths of hope: Must we be whiplashed incessantly between joy and sorrow, expectation and disappointment? Is it not possible to live from a place of greater equilibrium,… Continue Reading Mystical Hope
Nearing Death
Death and Resurrection: Week 1 Nearing Death Monday, November 12, 2018 Yesterday I introduced Kathleen Dowling Singh (1946–2017), a hospice worker and psychotherapist who accompanied many people at death’s threshold. She was a dear friend and someone whose wisdom I greatly respect. Last year Singh made her own journey passing from life through death and… Continue Reading Nearing Death
Love: Week 1 Summary
Love: Week 1 Summary: Sunday, October 28-Friday, November 2, 2018 My hope, whenever I speak or write, is to help clear away the impediments to receiving, allowing, trusting, and participating in a foundational Love. (Sunday) The contemplative is not just aware of God’s Loving Presence, but trusts, allows, and delights in it. (Monday) For Jesus,… Continue Reading Love: Week 1 Summary
Loving the Presence in the Present
Love: Week 1 Loving the Presence in the Present Monday, October 29, 2018 A human being is a part of the whole, called by us “Universe,” a part limited in time and space. [One] experiences [oneself] . . . as something separated from the rest—a kind of optical delusion of [one’s] consciousness. . . .… Continue Reading Loving the Presence in the Present
Action and Contemplation
Hinduism Action and Contemplation Friday, August 17, 2018 There are three major texts in Hinduism and Indian philosophy: The Vedas are the most ancient Sanskrit writings (as much as three to four thousand years old) containing hymns, philosophy, guidance, and rituals. The Upanishads—which means “what is learned sitting at the feet of”—are later (800-200 BCE), even… Continue Reading Action and Contemplation
Perennial Tradition: Weekly Summary
Perennial Tradition Summary: Sunday, July 29-Friday, August 3, 2018 The underlying messages that different religions and denominations use are often in strong agreement, but they use different metaphors to communicate their own experience of union with God. (Sunday) One way to summarize the substance of perennial wisdom (paraphrasing Aldous Huxley) is: There is a Divine… Continue Reading Perennial Tradition: Weekly Summary
