Carl McColman's Blog, page 39

Biased Against Creative Work? It’s Easy to Do

Recently I went for a walk with a good friend of mine. We were chatting as we walked, and one topic that came up was the forthcoming movie adaptation of Little Women starring Emily Watson, Saoirse Ronan, and Florence Pugh. Which led to a conversation about Little Women in general, as we both tried to remember each character and what they represented.

Meg was the ideal 19th century woman, whereas the other three sisters each devoted their lives to a form of creativity. The ill-fated Beth was t...

Contemplating Dragon Con: Pop Culture, Creativity, and the Masks We Wear

Each year on Labor Day weekend downtown Atlanta hosts Dragon Con, one of the larger conventions for fans of science fiction, fantasy, comics, horror, gaming, and various other forms of pop culture. It’s been going on for 30 years now, and I have friends who attend faithfully every year, but this year marks only the second time I’ve attended.

It’s huge — 85,000 people swarming around in seven downtown Atlanta hotels — so if you don’t like crowds, it might not be your cuppa. But many of the att...

A Luminous Autobiography from America’s Most Unsung Mystic

Not all spiritual books are created equal.

Of course, there are the theological differences: many books present an image of God that is limited, narrow, and sometimes even abusive. And even the books that are theologically well-grounded are not always particularly contemplative. It is a rare treat to find a book that is both contemplative and shaped by a truly loving image of God.

But then there is a problem of literary merit. Frankly, some spiritual books are not particularly well-written. T...

Remembering the Monk Who Wrote About Grace

Last week Father James Behrens, OCSO died suddenly. He was 71 years old.

Father James had been a Catholic priest for 45 years and a Trappist monk for 25 years. He was a talented man — a gifted photographer, a thoughtful preacher and an insightful writer. He had a beautiful singing and speaking voice, and even though he was a smoker, whatever effect the tobacco had on his voice only seemed to deepen it.

I met Fr. James in November 2005 — on the first day I worked at the Abbey Store of the Mona...

Advance Praise for “Unteachable Lessons”

One of the scariest moments for me, as an author, is when my editor and I have finished working on a book, and we then send the manuscript out to a number of people for reviews and/or endorsements. It’s always a bit nerve-wracking. What if no one likes it? Eek!

Unteachable Lessons

Fortunately, my forthcoming book Unteachable Lessons: Why Wisdom Can’t Be Taught (and Why That’s Okay) has received some very warm words of praise from a number of early readers. Forgive me for being a marketer (it’...

The Paradox of Radical Trust

On his live album Precious Friend, Arlo Guthrie cracked a joke: “You can’t have a light without a dark to stick it in.” Seekers of holy nonduality recognize this: in the economy of grace, the words of the author of Ecclesiastes ring true as ever: “There is a season for everything, a time for every occupation under heaven: … a time for loving, a time for hating; a time for war, a time for peace.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 8)

When I read this list, I’m tempted to fall back into the human desire to con...

What Inspired Me to Write About Christian Mysticism

This month marks nine years since The Big Book of Christian Mysticism was published. Hard to believe it’s been that long! To mark this anniversary, I’m reposting here an “author’s statement” about the book that I originally wrote for Amazon. Hope you enjoy it (and if you haven’t read The Big Book of Christian Mysticism… well, what are you waiting for?!?!)

Mysticism by Evelyn Underhill (Cover design courtesy Dover Publications)

When I was eighteen years old, a friend of mine loaned me a copy o...

Celebrating Evelyn Underhill

It was forty years ago this summer — the summer of 1979 — that I first discovered Evelyn Underhill, the British spiritual author whose writings introduced me to the beauty and splendor of Christian mysticism. To celebrate this personal anniversary, I’m reprinting here a blog post I wrote back in 2007 about her and her writing. I hope you enjoy it.

Evelyn Underhill, Ordinary Mystic

It might be a bit controversial for me to include Evelyn Underhill in my list of western mystics. To the best of...

Appreciating the Rosary as a Method for Contemplative Prayer

Nothing says “Catholic” quite as much as a rosary. But anyone — Catholic or Orthodox, Protestant or Pentecostal, Anglican or Evangelical — can find a way to incorporate the simple beauty of the rosary into the life of prayer. Think of a rosary as a tool, which can be used to foster contemplative silence or to train the subconscious into a life of habitual prayer and recollection (gathering the mind into a state of restful focus on God).

Mention the rosary, and I suspect most people think of a...

Love, Miracles, and the Fullness of Joy

The following message was shared with the congregation of Unity Atlanta on Sunday, June 30, 2019. I was the guest preacher for a “multi-faith Sunday” and so I geared my message toward celebrating the commonalities between Christian mysticism and Unity.

Julian of Norwich and her cat. Stained glass window in St. Hilary’s Episcopal Church, Prospect Heights, IL.

I would like to begin by sharing with you a quote I found online from an Episcopal Bishop, who has written many books; his name is John...