Carl McColman's Blog, page 12

Brother Elias Marechal, OCSO (1936-2023)

Friends, I am heartbroken to report that my dear friend and mentor, Trappist monk and author Elias (Paul) Marechal, passed away last night at the age of 86. He had been suffering from a variety of health conditions in recent years, and recently embraced hospice care in the infirmary of his monastery in Conyers, Georgia.

Elias was the author of two books: Dancing Madly Backwards published under his secular name of Paul Marechal in the 1980s and now out of print, and Tears of An Innocent God, publ...

Reconciling Mystical Teachings with Conventional Christianity

A reader named Allen wrote to me:

Dear Carl, I find myself struggling with a bit of a spiritual crisis. I feel torn between the teachings of more traditional Protestant thinkers like Dallas Willard and the mystical teachings of figures like Thomas Keating. While I’ve experienced spiritual growth through my meditation practice using the WCCM form, I’m also concerned that I’m straying from the more conventional forms of Christianity. I’m drawn to silence, peace, and contemplation, and the WCCM for...

The Politics of Emotions

This morning I came across this luminous insightful paragraph on page 132 of Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility:

Many of us see emotions as naturally occurring. But emotions are political in two key ways. First, our emotions are shaped by our biases and beliefs, our cultural frameworks. For example, if I believe—consciously or unconsciously—that it is normal and appropriate for men to express anger but not women, I will have very different emotional responses to men’s and women’s expressions of an...

Register Now for CELTIC SPIRITUALITY SCHOOL (Online Program Begins February 11!)

Friends, I hope you will join me — and eleven other amazing Celtic and contemplative teachers and speakers, including John Philip Newell, Esther de Waal, Sharon Blackie, Christine Valters Paintner, and more — for the first-ever online Celtic Spirituality School which begins on February 11, 2023 and runs for a full year!

Are you hungry for a more contemplative, earthy, embodied spirituality? If so, then Celtic spirituality may be just what you need. The Celts were masters at earthy spiritual...

Beyond the Seven Storey Mountain: Noteworthy Biographies & Autobiographies of Mystics

A regular reader of this blog wrote to me and asked if I could recommend a good biography on Hildegard of Bingen. As I thought about what book to recommend, several noteworthy biographies — and autobiographies — of the renowned Christian mystics came to mind. So I figured to write an entire blog post about it, and here we are.

Hildegard of Bingen

Since the reader asked about Hildegard of Bingen, we’ll start with her. Because of her music, Hildegard is enough of a medieval “celebrity” that a vari...

Coming in August 2023: the NEW Big Book of Christian Mysticism (Pre-Order Your Copy Today)

Friends, I am thrilled to announce that on August 29, 2023, the new edition of my book on Christian mysticism will be published!

The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism is a revised and expanded 2nd edition of the book first published in 2010. I know sometimes when publishers bring out “revised” editions of books, the changes are minimal. That’s not the case with this book — it is fully revised and significantly expanded!

The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism is over 40,000 words longer than ...

Companions of the Mystery (On-Going Study and Practice Circle)

Friend, you are invited to join with me (Carl McColman) in an on-going project of reading, studying, and praying with some of the great mystical writings in the Christian tradition.

Many great mystical writings are challenging and difficult to read—but these books are not meant to be “analyzed” or studied in a critical/scholarly sense so much as they are most beneficial when readers engage with these writings as a contemplative practice. In other words, to read them as invitations into prayer, m...

Contemplative Study of Mystical Writings (On-Going Study and Practice Circle)

Hi friend! You are invited to join with me (Carl McColman) in an on-going project of reading, studying, and praying with some of the great mystical writings in the Christian tradition!

I began the Contemplative Study of Mystical Writings program in 2022. The idea is simple: many great mystical writings are challenging and difficult to read. But these books are not meant to be “analyzed” or studied in a critical/scholarly sense so much as they are most beneficial when readers engage with these wr...

Support Anamchara.com — with Ko-Fi or Patreon

Hi friends, just a quick post to let you know that I’ve set up an account with Ko-Fi, which gives you another option (an alternative to Patreon) for supporting Anamchara.com and my writing ministry.

If you want to make a small “tip” or donation, either on a one-time or a monthly basis, you can use Ko-Fi — you can set the dollar amount, and can pay using your credit card or paypal. Best of all, Ko-Fi is a free service so all your money (less banking charges) goes directly to supporting my creati...

The Science of Meditation (and the Relationship between Meditation and Trauma)

A few years back the Buddhist magazine Lion’s Roar published an interesting article surveying what insights we can glean from the scientific study of meditation. These insights concern questions such as the health and psychological benefits of meditation, the relationship between meditation and compassion, and how meditation might impact our relationships and even our biases. It’s an interesting article and I encourage you to check it out (see the link at the end of this post).

The practice of m...