Faith & Life Inspirational Message

If you have some acquaintance with Thomas Merton, famous 20 th century monk, and his writings, you might recognize the title of this inspirational piece to be a play on a title of one of his most famous books, New Seeds of Contemplation .   That book might be my favorite from Merton’s extensive writings.   It was originally published in 1961, some seven years before Merton tragically died in his mid-50s.   What many people---even those who might know some things about Merton---do not know is this book actually was a reworking of a previous book.   Merton’s first book was simple called, Seeds of Contemplation.             I come back to this book by an interesting happenstance.   A friend asked me if I had a copy of Merton’s book.   Apparently she is in a book club or some group that has chosen to use it.   Since she knows I like Merton, she figured I would have it.   Indeed, I do have it; ...

The title for this inspirational piece came with some words in a sentence I was reading somewhere.   They were not part of a quotation and I know for certain I am taking these words in a direction that was not intended by the author, whom I cannot remember.   All I can recall is the piece I was reading was not even about the spiritual life.   So I can be certain the author would be very surprised if he or she could see what I am about to do with this phrase: the value of the interior life.             I like this phrase because I believe it is true.   In fact, I think it is so true that I would claim no one can be happy or satisfied long-term without having some kind of interior life.   That would be its value.   Behind this claim lurks the initial question: just what is the interior life?             Doubtlessly, there are multiple answers to...

I like learning about various saints.   Most of the ones I come to know are saints within the Roman Catholic tradition.   Since Quakers don’t really honor saints, I did not grow up learning about saints nor even thinking about them.   Of course, there were a few legendary historical Quakers about whom all young Quakers learned.   For example, I learned about people like John Woolman, the seventeenth century Quaker who was far ahead of his time in working to free slaves.   But no one thought about him as a saint.   And I know all the religious denominations and traditions have similar saintly people, but few of them are called saints. In the Catholic lectionary I use, I noticed yesterday was the special day honoring St. Romuald.   I like him.   I learned about him a few years ago.   I suspect even in Catholic circles, he is a pretty obscure saint.   Romuald lived into the eleventh century in Italy in the Tuscany area just north of R...

Long-time readers of this inspirational reflection could have rightly concluded that music is not a big deal with me.   Traditionally music was not important to Quakers.   In fact, the first two centuries or more of our history, music was not used at all.   And when I was growing up, music was not very present in my family.   So I have not had much in my context that supports and values music.   I am certainly not against it.      Being a product of the 1960s means I was very aware of the rock n’ roll music that blared from the radios.   I recall how aghast the parental generation was when Elvis hit the scene.   I liked the Beach Boys and would agree that overall the lyrics of the music in the ‘60s left something to be desired!   By the time I was growing up, many Quakers were using music in their worship services, but it often was pretty mediocre.   One of the things that I most liked when I began visiting monasteries wa...

I simply went to Chapel to nurture my own soul.   One of the things I learned a long time ago was that I need to take care of myself spiritually.   In my own case it is easy to fall into the illusion that I do this all day long.   The illusion is grounded in the fact that I teach spirituality.   Most days I am reading and talking about spirituality.   Most days I actually try to write a little bit about spirituality.   In that sense I am immersed in spirituality.             Because of this fact, it would be easy to assume that I live in spiritual luxury.   It would be analogous to being a spiritual millionaire!   If it is all around me, why not assume that daily I am being fed soulfully?   At one level, I am fed daily.   Doing what I do is certainly better than having a job I hate and which drains my soul.   I am very lucky.   Again, it is like I am rich.   ...

Often I am inspired to write one of these reflections by an experience I would never guess could become spiritual.   This happened recently when I was in a large east coast city.   Since I grew up on an Indiana farm, visiting a city continues to be an eye-opening experience.   As a kid, I had cornfields, not skyscrapers!   I appreciate nature, to be sure, but I also appreciate the marvel of human engineering and building that the large cities represent.               It was during a rather leisurely walk in the middle of this large city that I began to take note of something pretty mundane.   A couple times, I turned off a big, multi-lane street on which I was walking and headed down a much more narrow side street.   There is nothing remarkable about that, until I began to notice the stark contrast between the huge throughway that the big street represented and the tinier walkway that linked som...

I cannot recall the first time I heard the term, double-belongers.   I probably did not even know what it meant.   It is not a term I see very much; I think it is still fairly rare, at least in the circles I spend time.   I have no idea whether it is a technical term in the theological world, but it does not matter.   It makes some sense to me, even though I am not sure that I am a double-belonger.             Fortunately I learned some time ago that I could learn a great deal from people who are not like me and from traditions that are not my own.   The person who introduced this term to me, Paul Knitter, was until recently a professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York City.   I know Union.   In fact, when I was heading off to seminary, Union was one of the places I gave very serious consideration.   It was globally famous even in those days.   Before Union, Knitter taught for...

This silly little trio of words came to me in a class I was teaching about meditation.   But sometimes these little teaching tools come in handy when trying to explain things and help people move from ideas to action.   Let’s look at the function of each of these three ideas.             Meditation certainly gets much more attention than it did when I was a kid.   Maybe I was out of it when I was younger, but I don’t recall anyone in my church tradition talking about meditation.   Granted I did not grow up Catholic, but I am not sure young Catholic kids heard much about meditation either.   Perhaps meditation is only a grown-up thing.             I know there is a long and storied history of meditation in Christianity.   After studying Christian history and spirituality, I know Christians have always practiced some form of meditation.   I...

I am convinced when you work on a college campus, everyone is busy.   Talk to faculty and they are very busy, as they will be quick to tell you or complain.   Talk to students and one hears the same lament.   “I’m so busy,” they profess.   We can even ask the staff and they, too, are busy beyond belief.   And certainly, I have those periods where I also whine about being too busy.             I know it is not simply an issue in the academy.   I know some folks in business who are quick to tell you how incredibly busy they are.   I suspect if we were to step into a hospital, the nurses, aides, doctors and others would echo the busy refrain.   Perhaps the patients are not busy, but everyone else is.   I even have to laugh.   So many monks I know would sigh about how busy the monastery has become.   Even though monastic traditions, like the contemplatives, have often incorporate...

One of the documents of western Christian history that has had a significant role is the early medieval monastic Rule from St. Benedict.   This Rule was written in the early third of the 6 th century.   It was the cornerstone of the most important and populous monastic group, the Benedictine monks.   This monastic group has endured more than sixteen centuries!   One can still find and visit Benedictine monasteries across this country and abroad.             But Benedict’s Rule never had the narrow role of guiding the life of a group of monks.   The Rule played a larger role in the life of the Church and, in some ways, the life of various universities through the ages.   The Benedictines always have played a central educational role.   Hence countless students---religious and non-religious alike---have been exposed to the spirit of Benedict’s Rule.   Indeed much of the Rule is a simple guid...

This title is not exactly the title in the opinion section of the New York Times I read, but it is close.  I was pulled to read the entire article.  Clearly there have been times when I have felt anxious.  I am sure that is perfectly normal.  If someone told me that he or she has never been anxious, I would not believe it.  Even after years of public speaking, I still get a little anxious when I step to a microphone or to the lectern to begin a speech.  Even if I am pretty confident, there is always a tinge of anxiety. But that’s not the kind of anxiety the article is describing.  The kind of anxiety the author of the article, Daniel Smith, is describing is a more chronic, more debilitating kind of anxiety.  The tinge of anxiety I feel when I begin to speak wanes very quickly.  Soon I am into it and all the anxiety has vanished.  That kind of anxiety is not chronic and it is not debilitating. The issue the author is engaging is wheth...

When I was younger, these two words confused me.   Sometimes, I misspelled them.   And I see this same confusion among students today.   I know that many faculty claim students are not what they used to be.   My guess is the same thing was being said of my generation.   Spelling may be one of those things we all are sure current students don’t do as well as the older ones remember they once did!            What I do remember is not being clear, which was to spell the arid land devoid of water and the food served at the end of a meal.   Do I use one “s” or two?   And why does English have to be so confusing was the question?   I can only imagine what learning English as a second language might mean.              I thought it would be fun to explore both words---desert and dessert---as words that can have a spiritual meaning.   In...