the sensation of life
We were talking about Negative Capability: capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries and doubts without any irritable reaching after fact or reason. (Keats) We were talking about it in relation to creativity and being an artist. It is the ability to wait. One might be very active but within this activity, there is an openness … Continue reading Negative Capability
TIME AFTER TIME I came to your gate with raised hands, asking for more and yet more. You gave and gave, now in slow measure, now in sudden excess. I took some, and some things I let drop; some lay heavy on my hands; some I made into playthings and broke them when tired; till … Continue reading The gifts and the giver
Brahms: A German Requiem I am sitting on a chair. I am not comfortable. My bottom is sore. I am unsure of this selection of music. It is one person’s choice of their favourite pieces and performances, much of it firmly within the core canon of the Western classical tradition: Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, and … Continue reading Disclosure II
[This is a first attempt to articulate experiences in Ceremony and how they have opened me to more of God.] Thursday 17 March 2022 Gorecki: Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, I Qobuz | Spotify | YouTube I am sitting cross-legged on a meditation cushion. My eyes are closed as I listen to the music. I am … Continue reading Disclosure I
It all started with an email. Of course, it had been going on before that. Annette and I had been reading Gabor Maté, particularly When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress. On 29th October 2021, an email dropped into my inbox: Psychedelics and Compassionate Inquiry with Dr Gabor Maté. [The original details … Continue reading Coming Out
I have been pondering how authority and tradition work together. I have thought for many years that spiritual direction offers an opportunity to relocate the locus of authority from without to within. I mean by this that, rather than constantly looking to scripture, church tradition, books on theology and spirituality, or teachers, preachers, and leaders … Continue reading Authority and Tradition
Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. John 3.5 I have understood something new about Lent this year. It starts with a question: Why did Jesus go into the wilderness immediately after his baptism? I’ve always imagined Jesus discerning who and what … Continue reading One needful Lenten discipline
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A light has gone out. When I heard the news, my first thought was, “Who is going to proclaim truth now?” Annie Dillard’s unsettling retort to Psalm 24:3-6 came immediately to mind: Who shall ascend to the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? There is no one but us. … Continue reading There is no one but us
Thursday 2nd or Saturday 4th December 2021 If you want, the Virgin will come walking down the road pregnant with the holy, and say, “I need shelter for the night, please take me inside your heart, my time is so close.” St John of the Cross Advent is a time of waiting. A birth is due … Continue reading Retreat days for Advent