Riding the See-Saw
The truth of a situation always requires us to embrace complexity.
Riding the See-Saw Read More »
What Others Think–What I Think–No Thought
Even an audience of one may be one too many. The self that is vigilant in me is also my monkey mind, and my spiritual practice involves releasing this self again and again. What if the self of my most intimate writing isn’t my real self?
What Others Think–What I Think–No Thought Read More »
Merton’s Adam
While I utterly reject the notion that I was born a sinner, I struggle daily with the falseness that masks what I’m sure is my real essence.
Intercourse with the World
The main drama of memoir is not what happened in the past but what happens when we consider the past and allow ourselves to be changed by the consideration.
Intercourse with the World Read More »
Loving Through Creation
Love felt is beautiful, but love expressed, love enacted, love made into something, is divine. This is how God is, and how God becomes.
Loving Through Creation Read More »
Beyond Hope
Immediately inside me an old battle revved up: Keep hope! screamed one voice; Be realistic! screamed the other. Hope buoys the spirits, motivates, and reminds us to stay open to possibility—all of which I wanted, for me and my mom. Reality, however, is real.
Writing as Deep Listening
Every story has a hidden life—a soul, if you will. How writers tend this soul significantly affects our work and our well-being. This tending is really active listening. It’s both willful, sprung from the self, and responsive, heeding that life-force beyond the story and its readership.
Writing as Deep Listening Read More »
Original Immaturity
I began to see the human journey as simply growing up. We’re born with original immaturity. Kids throw toys in the toilet. Our task is to develop into our fullest, flourishing, interconnected Self, which is the opposite of the small, grasping, individualistic self.
Original Immaturity Read More »
Walking On Air
But this is our progression when learning an art, and (I suspect) when living life: First we’re unconscious, then we’re self-conscious, and then we’re aware of being self-conscious, which is truly agonizing. Only then can we come into consciousness and make conscious choices that shape our lives.
How To Retreat (with advice from a 7-year-old)
Once again I saw divinity in this humble, stumbling way—not by escaping my life but diving deeper into it.
How To Retreat (with advice from a 7-year-old) Read More »