Contemplify NonRequired Reading List for January 31, 2022

Contemplify / NRR #62

“Unless the Christian religion is lived from the heart, from the experience of God in some way, it will be empty and will not be attractive. If it’s a purely institutional form of life, or even if it’s an interesting intellectual exercise, it doesn’t have the vitality that comes from the interior experience of the presence of God. And that, as I have been saying in all my work, is the mystical element in religion.” 

—Bernard McGinn (Commonweal interview)

January NonRequired Reading List

Dear Contemplative,

My friend Andrew dropped an idea on my toe that tilted the axis of my world. In the best of friendships it is the wisdom at the margins that prevails. Andrew is training for a half marathon, and as a leisure runner myself, I envy such a goal. In Andrew’s training, he picked up a note from Brad Stulberg on how to approach running. The gist is this; to not say, “I am a runner”, but rather say, “my physical practice is running”. This comment was a toothpick that propped open my eyelids¹. Andrew had my attention and went onto to share the full rationale. If you get injured and are unable to run, your identity as a runner is fractured. And then the toothpick fell from my eye. This is the angle of the slippery slope of a chosen identity² defining you regardless of what reality is presenting. A subtle lesson that can be applied to many facets of life. This got me thinking about my chosen identities. No need for militant linguistics for I am quietly standing at attention for how this redefines my relationships with my self-projected identities:

• I am not a runner, my physical practice is running. 

• I am not a program designer, my work practice is as a program designer.

• I am not a meditator, my contemplative practice is meditation. 

• I am not cookies and cream, my ice cream practice is eating cookies and cream.

This marks a shift in my relationships to the foundational practices of my life. The most significant being my work practice. The stress and anxiety of a day’s work can creep in and cover my ears for an entire evening. How many times have I been telling my kids a bedtime story on autopilot while the stressors of the workday hum like hazy fluorescent lights in the background of my mind? If we all got together we could tell endless variations of this story. 

Completing my work practice at 5pm, I tell my work stressors and pain points I shall pick them up again in the morning. We both need a good night's rest to tangle again tomorrow. As for me—right now—my kids are bellowing and we have a game of freeze tag to play in the Albuquerque setting sun.  

Ever so slooowwwly I am studying Meister Eckhart. I credit the Meister with being able to hear Andrew’s approach to running and embrace its genius to the layers of my life. Eckhart’s way is one of detachment. A detachment that transcends materiality, images, and even the negation of materiality and images. Yet is fully incarnational and receptive to what is (more on that another day). As Eckhartian scholar Reiner Schurmann writes, “Identity is gained only this way; identity with God is wandering. The deontology of risk and the way of detachment teach the wandering identity. Meister Eckhart remains “the old master to live and to read,” whose teaching is substantiated by the concreteness of a new way to exist.”³

So I ask you at this twilight hour here in New Mexico, what identities do you need to shift into a practice mentality? 

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January NonRequired Reading List

The Hermits of Big Sur by Paula Huston (Get it the Public Library or Bookshop)

Following a band all around California in the late summer of 2003 I camped in the wilds of Big Sur. Inspired by Kerouac’s Big Sur I set up tents without much notice and definitely without any payment. Had I known of the hard to reach hermits tucked up even further, I reckon I would have stopped in to poke around. Big Sur draws the curious seeker. The Hermits of Big Sur is a treasure of history and tales of the newly minted New Camaldoli Hermitage branched from the ancient Sacro Eremo of Camaldoli in Italy. Paula Huston is uniquely suited to the task of weaving the storylines of old and new with a passionate perspective of love and care for the hermit life. The pursuit of God runs central amidst the backdrop of new expressions of charisms, wars, building projects, and the crankshafts of community. I loved this picture of a budding order in Big Sur, the everydayness of communal foibles, discernments, and listening with the ear of the heart. 

The Hermits of Big Sur is for anyone excited by, repelled by, or has fantasized about fleeing the world to become a hermit. You will find much more life than you accounted for. Highly recommended.

Running with the Mind of Meditation: Lessons for Training Body and Mind by Sakyong Mipham (Get it the Public Library or Bookshop)

My leisure running continues and I am happy about that. I had circled about Running with the Mind of Meditation a couple times in the past, but was wary about the fusing of running and meditation. Sakyong Mipham put that hangup to bed immediately. Mipham enticed me early with a discerning blade; running is not meditating. They can be bedfellows, but not confused. This book flourishes in holding up these two practices of running and meditation. They are easy partners for encouraging and understanding the other through the zeroed-in focus on disciplined cultivation. This book made me think differently about my running. I now run with more intention (the why) and attention (body presence). No longer do I simply try to get through my run.

Runners, and those whose practice is running, pick up a copy of Running with the Mind of Meditation and let me know if it doesn’t change your practice.

Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain directed by Morgan Neville (Check it out at Focus Features)

I have not seen the last 10 minutes of Roadrunner. I was on a plane and one of my kneescratchers (beloved daughter) needed my attention and before I knew it, it was time to deplane. Roadrunner is about the celebrity/anti-celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain. Bourdain first grabbed my attention when I read about his live tweeting during the 2012 James Beard Awards. I respected his bold candor. Roadrunner charts the brilliance of Bourdain’s beginning with his first book until his tragic death. Bourdain’s lapping appetite for newness, vulnerability, and authenticity are the costars to his charming swagger. Why recommend a punk rock chef to a bunch of contemplatives (especially when the ending has gone unwatched)? His spirit exemplifies the risk of truthfully living a well examined life within the complexities of his history, public work, and personality. As Bourdain’s closest friends spoke about him, I was reminded of the line in the novella A River Runs Through It, “At sunrise everything is luminous but not clear. It is those we live with and love and should know who elude us. You can love completely without complete understanding.” (p.118)

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Contemplify Update

Season Two of Contemplify is winding down, the final episode launches on Friday. Here is the full list of Season Two:

• The Harmonic Resonance Found in Unknowing with Brie Stoner (Season 2, Episode 6)

• A Wild Mystical Woman of the Desert with Amy Frykholm (Season 2, Episode 5)

• Enlivening the First Christmas with Stephen Mitchell (Season 2, Episode 4)

• Backporch Advent Outpost with Chris Dombrowski (Advent Bonus #2)

• Backporch Advent Outpost with Todd Davis (Advent Bonus #1)

• The Monastic Heart & Prophetic Imagination with Sr. Joan Chittister (Season 2, Episode 3)

• Slow Yourself to be Awed with J. Drew Lanham (Season 2, Episode 2)

• Gary Nabhan (aka Brother Coyote) on Wisdom Gleaned from Fishers & Farmers (Season 2, Episode 1)

These episodes are available from Contemplify through these fine outlets: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Podbean, or Overcast 

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Arts & Articles

“Rekindling connections in the small flame of a qulliq” by Laureli Ivanoff (High Country News): Poetic, powerful writing on the “goodness that comes from reclamation.”

Thich Nhat Hahn & Jim Forest (plumvillage.org): I learned recently that Jim Forest passed away. Here is what Plum Village shared about Jim’s life, legacy, and friendship with Thich Nhat Hahn. As you likely already know Thich Nhat Hahn also passed away, read what Plum Village offers as way of memorial to his remarkable life, practice, and outpouring engagement with the world. The departure of our teachers reminds us that they gave us the oars to row our own boats now. You can hear my conversation with Jim Forest here (the audio is not pristine sadly).

“‘Lived from the Heart’ / An interview with Bernard McGinn” by Kenneth L. Woodward (Commonweal Magazine): Bernard McGinn is the greatest living scholar on mystical Christianity. This interview is a primer for the curious on mysticism within Christianity; its roots, battles, ecstasies, purpose, and application. (h/t to Lee)

“The Desert Within: Douglas Christie On The Power Of Silence And Contemplation” by Leath Tonino (The Sun): There are some folks who sip from the contemplative traditions, others gulp, and still others who swim freely. Douglas Christie dives in and retrieves the gems he discovers with his fellow swimmers. (h/t to Gary) Also check out my conversation with Douglas here about his top shelf book, The Blue Sapphire of the Mind: Notes for a Contemplative Ecology.

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May the practices
of the day
flex purpose
without overuse.
May the solitude of
a hermit enfold
the hustle in your heart.
The twilight hours are
calling
for release
from all the matters
for all that matters.

Practicing my emails,
Paul

P.S. As you may have noticed, I have switched the platform of delivery for this monthly missive. Contemplify is a mission of the heart and the previous platform was out to break my bank. I will always keep the work of Contemplify free. And in the future there may be the option for those so inclined in the Contemplify community to support it.

P.P.S. Cheers to you contemplative reader. If a kindred spirit forwarded you this email and you'd like to get the next one sent directly to your inbox without any fanfare sign up below.

1. I also understand if this semantical hopscotch makes you roll your eyes.

2. Good people, this is not a blast into the conversational fray on identity that has real impact. I am not qualified for that. I am speaking of starter point identities that we don like costumes (runner, Neal Diamond fan, fashionista, etc.) for our own easy self-projection.

3. Meister Eckhart, Wandering Joy, translations and commentary by Reiner Schürmann (Great Barrington, MA: Lindisfarne, 2001), 46.