Tag Archives: Detachment
Standing Still, Moving the World
Contemplation and Action Summary Standing Still, Moving the World Tuesday, December 29, 2020 Give me a place to stand, and I will move the whole earth with a lever. —Archimedes Archimedes (c. 287–c. 212 BCE), a Greek philosopher and mathematician, noticed that if a lever was balanced in the correct place, on the correct fulcrum,… Continue Reading Standing Still, Moving the World
Spiritual Development
Thomas Keating: The Secret Embrace, Part Two Spiritual Development Sunday, October 25, 2020 Before we continue exploring Thomas Keating’s poems from The Secret Embrace under the helpful guidance of Cynthia Bourgeault, I want to offer a basic overview of the stages of spiritual development that I have used for years with spiritual directees and in… Continue Reading Spiritual Development
Freedom in the Desert
Mystics and the Margins Freedom in the Desert Tuesday, September 29, 2020 When Christianity became the established religion of the Roman Empire, something remarkable and strange took place. A whole set of people began to flock to the margins of the Empire to pursue God. They went to the deserts of Palestine, Cappadocia, Syria, and… Continue Reading Freedom in the Desert
Great Love
Mary Magdalene Great Love Thursday, July 23, 2020 One of the lessons we might learn from the Gospel stories of Mary Magdalene is that, in the great economy of grace, all is used and transformed. Nothing is wasted. God uses our egoic desires and identities and leads us beyond them. Jesus’ clear message to his… Continue Reading Great Love
Contemplation: A Life’s Journey
Contemplative Activists Contemplation: A Life’s Journey Sunday, July 12, 2020 I believe that the combination of human action from a contemplative center is the greatest art form, one that takes our whole lives to master. When action and contemplation are united, we have beauty, symmetry, and transformation—lives and actions that heal the world by their… Continue Reading Contemplation: A Life’s Journey
Type Five: The Need to Perceive
Enneagram Part Three: Head Center Type Five: The Need to Perceive Wednesday, March 11, 2020 Holy Idea: Holy Omniscience, Holy Transparency Virtue: Detachment Passion: Avarice [1] Fives are discoverers of new ideas, researchers and inventors; they are objective, questioning, and interested in exploring things in detail. They can be provocative, surprising, unorthodox, and profound. Fives… Continue Reading Type Five: The Need to Perceive
A Fair Witness
Enneagram Part Two: Heart Center A Fair Witness Sunday, March 1, 2020 In traditional Christian teaching, Thomas Aquinas and other scholastic philosophers said that people normally do not consciously choose evil, but they choose something that appears good inside of their framework. We have to expose our frame of reference early on if our spiritual journey is… Continue Reading A Fair Witness
Love at the Center
Action and Contemplation: Part Two Love at the Center Friday, January 17, 2020 When we named the Center for Action and Contemplation, I hoped our rather long name would itself keep us honest and force us toward balance and ongoing integration beyond the first generation. However, over the last thirty-five years, I have witnessed how… Continue Reading Love at the Center