Note: While this is a copyrighted talk, I welcome you sharing it with anyone, as long as you give me credit for it. Opening Blessing: From the American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: “Every man is a doorway through which the Infinite passes into the finite…through which the Universal becomes individual…There is something within […]
Wise Words
My book review of the LSB as published on Amazon BACKGROUND ~ LSB, British authors & WWII: The letters in the anthology “Letters of the Scattered Brotherhood” were originally written by Anglican priests and other religious leaders of the Anglican Church in the UK during the 6-year buildup to the WWII, and the 7 years of […]
Link to 4-min excerpt of Robin Williams’ 1978 performance Post from “Upworthiness” August 2014 There’s been a quote going around attributed to Robin Williams that goes as follows: “You’re only given a little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it.” Here’s where it came from. He was performing at the Roxy in 1978 for […]
Excerpts from Trappist monk Thomas Merton’s ~ A Book of Hours Beginning on pages 176 and paraphrased ever so slightly Accompanied by photos from “The Best Street Art of 2012″ — i.e ordinary cracks in the sidewalk as never seen before! Street artists humanize a crack growing out of a manhole cover into an inspiriting work […]
reposted from: http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/69505/the-afternoon-before-the-day-of-atonement/ First Edition: Poetry ~ The Afternoon Before the Day of Atonement by meryl natchez I thought I would see seals asleep on the rocks, but the cormorant was the real show, wrestling a twisted length of eel, persistently untwisting with its beak to swallow it whole. Then, as I watched, uncertain whether I’d […]
I awoke in the middle-of-the-night…and decided to meditate upon “my sweet-spot” …that place-inside where I exist comfortably as AWARENESS ….without a steady stream of thought. Whenever I do this, my body experiences a deep, relaxing sigh. I recognize this as being the “pure, positive awareness” that Source IS…and how this is the WellBeing that is always present…available to us for downloading. […]
My Amazon Review by FAITHGIBSON on JUNE 19, 2013 “Letters of the Scattered Brotherhood” is collection of 104 letters about the spiritually-uplifting experience of everyday life that can, with the gentlest of instruction and encouragement, become a dependable part of religion. The instructional letters in the LSB were written by many different authors and originally published in The […]
I aspire to be a Class A, sure-enough ‘contemplative’ — i.e. play with the big boys. But the more accurate description of my zig-zag spiritual life put me in the category the “Occasional Contemplative”. Like an occasional tourist, I briefly visit that exotic distant land within my own soul, then I fall off the wagon […]
Grant us prudence in proportion to our power, Wisdom in proportion to our science, Humaneness in proportion to our wealth and might. Book of Hours, Thomas Merton; page 156, Kindle position 1504
“We need a Steve Jobs of religion. Someone (or ones) who can invent not a new religion but rather a new way of being religious … the new way would be straightforward and unencumbered and absolutely intuitive.” By Eric Weiner — NYTimes December 10, 2011 “American:Undecided about God?”