Contemplify NonRequired Reading List Email for November 30, 2018
The November NonRequired Reading List
Contemplative Friends,
At 11:59 pm a thought crashed into my interior night watchman, grabbed him by the shoulders and shouted - what shall I do with the last minute of this day? It will not be coming round again! This rambunctious thought caught me off guard and a grin spread over my face. Admittedly, I am still punch-drunk from the birth of my new son, but nonetheless I’d like to offer a word of thanks to that ambitious little thought. What a tender invitation. It served as reminder that the universal dance is ever present and my non-impressive white man dance moves are requested immediately on the floor. The easy route is to put on my blinders, follow the rutted path of complacency and just get through another day. I choose that too often. What my little thought friend did here was remind me of my agency in the world. A prompt to renew my membership to the Small Acts Done with Big Love Club (no fees or meetings required!). The fullness of Life is accessible anytime I am able to show up with my beating heart.
So as odd as it may sound, I bow to this punchy thought for infusing me with a zest for more Life in the last moment of my day.
Here is this month’s NonRequired Reading List...
Mindful Silence: The Heart of Christian Contemplation by Phileena Heuertz (Get it at the Public Library or Indiebound)
Eleven years ago I was a work intern at the Center for Action and Contemplation. A season of life that would unknowingly tether me to the contemplative journey. As an intern, I lived in community with 6 other interns. If that wasn't enough, we were also the guest house for retreatants. One evening as we were settling into our dinner, there was a knock on our door. I hustled over to welcome our unknown guest, who happened to be Phileena Heuertz. Over the course of the meal we would come to learn about Phileena’s work with folks living in poverty and on the margins. In the storytelling around the shared table that evening, I recognized a depth to Phileena’s being and presence. That depth soaks the pages of Mindful Silence: The Heart of Christian Contemplation.
There is a particular section of Mindful Silence that won’t leave me alone. Phileena shares her story of pilgrimage to Assisi and unexpected discovery of Clare of Assisi. ‘Unexpected discovery’ is a tame understatement...let me try that again. Phileena’s embodied response to her experience of Clare of Assisi is mysterious, illuminative and a remember that the incarnation is indeed good. Upon reflection of her experience, Phileena writes,
‘Contemplative spirituality assumes depth. It rises from the deep well of presence, perception, and personhood. When nurtured, it overflows into streams of living water for others...It is from these depths of presence, perception and personhood that I and countless others have been able to encounter her [Clare of Assisi] living presence today. Her bodily form has passed away, but her essence is still very palpable--so tangible that she is still healing and freeing the hearts and minds of people all these centuries later.’ (p 113 - 114).
Phileena has written a book that will surely find its place in the new contemplative canon. In Mindful Silence Phileena weaves her story, contemplative themes and teachers alongside practices, with the invitation always at hand to take another step into greater healing and wholeness by embodying the contemplative way. If that descriptions speaks to you, check out mindfulsilence.org.
On the Brink of Everything: Grace, Gravity, and Getting Old by Parker Palmer (Get it at the Public Library or Indiebound)
Parker Palmer knows a contemplative thing or two. And he has marked down those things in plain language in books and articles over the years. On the Brink is a collection of essays, speeches and poems written by Palmer that hold the line on mortality and all of its cousins. As a reader who finds pondering my own eventual demise a useful practice, this book was a breeze to engage. But when I looked back over the book once I had completed it, I found some essays underlined, highlighted, commented on and others completely free of even the mark from a dropped pen. At first I found this odd. Then a moment of gratitude washed over me. I am not experientially ready for every essay in this book, I don’t need them all right now. But I will one day. Ten years from now, I’ll leaf through On the Brink and read only the unmarked chapters and I bet I’ll locate my growing edges for that season.
There is something for every contemplative in this book and I implore you to read it as a ‘choose your own adventure’. Read what calls you to, skip around, underline generously and save the rest for the next decade
You can find early drafts of the essays from On the Brink via Palmer’s blog posts, I particularly like this one, ‘Contemplative by Catastrophe’.
Arts and Articles
Growing Older (Video) by The Atlantic: This is a sparse, lovely and contemplative snapshot of a man, the poet Donald Hall, reflecting on aging and loss. The most poignant reflection for me is when Hall articulates the tipping over moment, from the felt sweetness of solitude in the daylight hours that transitions into loneliness as the night covers the day.
Rev. Thomas Keating, Pioneer in Contemplative Movement, Dies at 95 (NYT): One of the contemplative giants (literally and figuratively) of our times has died. I only met him once, but that twinkle in his eye and rapier wit warmed me to him immediately. I’ve spent more time with him through his books and his influence on many of my own contemplative teachers. Go here to read some of his books.
‘A Brief for the Defense’ by Jack Gilbert (The Sun): I don’t know about you, but I’ve been brought to tears watching the suffering of the world lately; the massive forest fires, gun violence, and the migrant children being tear gassed. The poem, ‘A Brief for the Defense’ toes the paradox of experiencing that suffering, seeking justice and the sheer delight of being alive, here is a peek into that poem (but read the whole thing if you can - hat tip to Cliff for passing my way):
We can do without pleasure,
but not delight. Not enjoyment. We must have
the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless
furnace of this world. To make injustice the only
measure of our attention is to praise the Devil.
Contemplify Update
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On this day when you grow a touch older, misplace your keys, or wake in the night with a sliver of fear in your big toe--may you welcome a mindful silence. A silence that relaxes a zig-zagging attention. To admit that all is given in Mystery. A silence that ends with a sigh rather than bell.
Listen Well & Read Often,
Paul
P.S. A contemplative rap from Homeboy Sandman