Advent is the season of liminal space where we're called into the in-between, into that sacred space of change and transformation. The Liminal Space of Thresholds Advent is a pilgrimage of the heart where we kiss the earth so that we might see into the greatest of mysteries, to gaze into the Eternal in the eyes of a child. "In the universe, there are things that are known, and there are things that are unknown, and in between them there are doors." ~ William Blake Of Giving & Holding Space We all need to consciously spend time at the thresholds of our lives, and we need wise elders to cre ..read more

A quick update. Kelly has pulled together this stellar gathering of Contemplatives for Advent. The hard part is that it starts Dec. 7 - 10. The incredible part it is FREE. So if this interests you at all, Please Jump On This Immediately! Don't put it off for later. Here's the Register Link: https://school.spiritualwanderlust.org/a/2147716290/3weofswp This could be a bridge for you to shorten your spiritual growth by years into a couple of days. Not to mention the time and resources you could save. Again, Don't Hesitate! Don't regret this later. Click and you're in. https://school.spiritualwand ..read more

Why I Started Writing At Substack It was a year ago today Contemplative Monk, the page I started in 2013 on Facebook was hacked. Bam, from an outreach of 46 million to zero. It’s still there with this Christmas banner but it’s become clickbait heaven. Working with Facebook is like working with the algorithms of profit. As long as they’re making money, they’re good to go. Two years before this, I was in Hospice with my wife Elizabeth, on the last day of her life. I’m sitting there getting notified that my website: ContemplativeMonk.com is being dismantled by Russian Hackers. I was getting 5 to ..read more

Advent O Come into the quiet and enter into rest. A table is prepared for you A full and wholeness blessed. O Taste the joy of being Come let the rivers flow Delighting in the glory of heaven in your soul. Shifting & Opening Our Energy There's something about sacred space as we set it apart for contemplation and worship. Space breathes of mystery and timelessness. Do you have a sacred space in your home you've set aside to meditate and seek God's presence every morning? It can be nothing but an old chair, but in that place, the atmosphere becomes very thin, a threshold into the eternal ..read more

Come Into The Quiet Advent Is a Season of Light and of Mystery. Come out into the wonder... I encourage you to create for yourself a little sacred space for this Advent Season. Set aside a time and place for meditation and contemplation…A sacred space for daily quickening and restoration. A place that draws your heart like a little child into the stillness and into the wonder. Sweep the Threshold Clear and Enter In. Enter into that liminal space between the past and the future in the vast and eternal now. Our spiritual practice is a setup for the transcendent. Our inner atmosphere sets the to ..read more

She stands tall Like a mother over the earth With the last of her leaves Waving like prayer flags in the wind She has learned, once again The art of letting go Of each little leaf, each identity Each little death, She has set them free To dance in the wind In a glorious display Of light and shadows, Of colors and hues Now she stands tall Bare before the world With her exquisite beauty of grace and character Edged into every crevice, every limb Written in the core of her heart In Wonder Her Grace of transmuting sunlight Into life-giving nourishment Feeding throughout the forest floor So she no ..read more

We are all created spirit, soul, and body in the image and likeness of God. We fell into dualism, yet now, by the life-giving Spirit of Christ, we are born from above, being revived, renewed, and restored by God from glory to glory. "Only God can restore God within us and bring our 'likeness' of God's original intent, to life." The Trinity & The Perichoresis The Trinity and the Perichoresis are terms of encountering God that arose out of the wilderness communities who left the institutional empire church seeking to live Jesus. Monasticism came out of their successes and failures in trying ..read more

"The Fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy, and Peace, Patience, Kindness, and Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control." ~Gal. 5:22-23 Our spirituality is lived inside out, beginning with abiding in Christ. In abiding, we cultivate the spiritual life that arises from within. Developing this hidden life is like having a secret garden growing in our hearts. And it is the taproot and the source of a healthy spiritual life. Abiding in Christ is not going to Church, doing good works, praying, or reading Scripture. They may arise as manifestations. but they are not the source. Abiding is no ..read more

Hello Friends, It's been a while. Since the hacking of Contemplative Monk on Wordpress, and Facebook in December, I've set up shop on Substack to write a possible book as Kelly and I continue our journey together here. I love what she's done to the site, but it needs some work. With the loss of my wife Elizabeth, my youngest son, Michael, and my daughter and children moving in, along with my battle with lung cancer, and a host of other things, I've had to set Contemplative Monk aside for a while. Everything has changed since the Pandemic, but it's pushed us forward in a multitude of ways we n ..read more

The mystic sits inside the burning. ~ Rumi Painting by Aja Trier "The Christian of the future will be a mystic or he will not exist at all." ~ Karl Rahner The Christian of The Eternal Present When we say we are a mystic in Christ, it can sound esoteric, gnostic, or even delusional to the analytical western mind, but as I face my mortality, it's what not only 'reaches through' but bridges me through the veil into the very presence of Christ, within and without me. It expresses what it means to walk with God in the cool of the day, even in heavenly places in Christ. It makes these shadowlands l ..read more