Love, Justice, and Mercy
Love, Justice, and Mercy — Rev Dr William Barber I don’t know a salvation apart from social justice. I don’t know how you encounter Jesus—when Jesus said in Matthew 23—for instance ...
Essential Nonviolence
The Sufis tell a story of the Holy One who said to his disciples, “What’s better, do you think? Is it contemplation, or is it action?” They said, “Why, Holy One, ...
Awe
As Rabbi Kushner points out, Abraham and others were asked to leave everything familiar to them behind and to go to a new land that God would show them (Genesis 12:1). ...
Is the World Real or Just an Illusion?
Many classic Advaita texts say that the world is an illusion, but does that mean that it is not real? The only reason we have problems with this is that in ...
Values – Truth, Goodness, Beauty
What are values? Are they just paint or wallpaper on the walls of our cell which we put there in order to brighten our prospects in this hermetically sealed box in ...
Attention
Let’s examine the all-important role of attention. Attention is not just another cognitive function. Attention is how our world comes into being for us. The altered nature of attention can appear ...
We Act Out a Story
We act out a story and we perceive the world through a story. Thus the question is, what story should you act out? Or what story should you emulate? Or what ...
A Message of Contemplatives to the World
To Dom Francis Decroix Dom Francis Decroix, abbot of the Cistercian monastery of Frattocchie near Rome, received in 1967 a request from Paul VI for a “message of contemplatives to the ...
Cultivating Creativity and Curiosity
Our creative abilities connect and contact many different aspects of our humanity. Take time to reflect on these two excerpts from Mirabai Starr’s book “Wild Mercy.” When speaking of art, we ...
Spiritual Intelligence (abridged)
Spiritual Intelligence (abridged) Spiritual Intelligence (abridged) is my attempt to write a book about Spiritual Intelligence. There are several books on the topic and many of them miss important points and ...
Creating a Rule of Life
Wisdom arises from the power of the monastic way of life. Few contemporary writers speak about modern monasticism with as much depth and clarity as spiritual teacher Beverly Lanzetta. She notes ...
I Belong
As we grow spiritually, we discover that we are not as separate as we thought we were. Separation from God, self, and others is a deep and tragic illusion. As we ...
Cynthia Bourgeault Exploring Jean Gebser
An Invitation to Begin the Healing Work: Exploring Jean Gebser, Introduction Stages Versus Structures: Exploring Jean Gebser, Lesson I Unperspectival, Perspectival, Aperspectival: Exploring Jean Gebser, Lesson II The View from the ...
Examen of Consciousness
Examen of Consciousness St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491–1556), founder of the Society of Jesus or Jesuits, proposed a daily exercise which he called the Examen of Consciousness or the Daily Examen—a ...
Love Upwelling
Love Upwelling Jesus said, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself” (Matthew 22:39), not “as much as you love yourself.” We are to love our neighbor in the same way we love ourselves. “We love because ...