Stranded on the Mainland: Inner Pilgrimage and Living Alone as a Spiritual Path:

With Advent on the doorstep I want to share a short poem I wrote in our Falling Upward course with Fr. Richard Rohr (CAC Fall-Winter 2024). Today I put the star at the bottom of the Christmas tree. Is this hope-- Falling upward? For me, "trusting what is needed right now" is having the star at the bottom of my Christmas tree-- It's like hope has fallen this month with the result of the U.S. election but it's closer too. In feeling powerless to change anything happening in politics, family, and the whole wide world right now-- I feel a S ecret Garden kind of " agency, surrender, and embracing of life's unfolding journey " by moving my Christmas tree star to the bottom of the tree.  Amen! Someone observed this is "mystical hope." ... "Of course there must be lots of magic (and mystical hope!) in the world... but people don't know what it is like or how to make it.  Perhaps the beginning is to say nice things are going to happen until y...

Freedom has cut me loose in a way I did not expect.  The U.S. presidential election literally and instantly cured me of my cable news addiction, opening up more time and space for contemplation.   This makes me think of something Merton says about TV: "It could become an unnatural surrogate for contemplation and should be used with extreme care and discrimination by anyone who might hope to take interior life seriously." With that said, if Kamala Harris had won the presidential election, I would be glued to CNN (right now) watching every political moment play out... for potentially years to come.  But now that a result I absolutely do not want has been thrust on me, I wonder if it could be an invitation to let myself be led consciously into the second half of life?  (Falling Upward 2024). Next. A current guide writes something startling to me that I want to pass on.  I've edited the guide's reply so it speaks to the U.S. election result and not to a past pe...

For a week now I have tried to write something about the results of the 2024 U.S. presidential election.  I've posted twice, deleted twice.  I can feel no peace or joy in anything I've written.  I only feel frustration, sadness, and disgust. I dig out my "go to" Merton book to look for a quote I'm thinking of: "If you write only for yourself you can read what you yourself have written and after ten minutes you will be so disgusted you will wish that you were dead"   (New Seeds of Contemplation, Merton, 111). Appreciating some monastic drama and perspective:) Cb Amen