Carl McColman's Blog, page 71

John D McColman: Obituary and Reminiscence

First, the obituary…

Retired Major John D McColman, USAF, 89, passed from this life in High Shoals, Georgia, on January 15, 2013. A lifelong sportsman and devoted family man, John touched many lives through his quiet but warm personality, dry sense of humor, and compassionate character.

John D McColman (his birth certificate simply reads the initial “D” for his middle name, which was intended to be the name of his uncle, Dee) was born on June 15, 1923 in Avoca, Michigan. He entered pilot traini...

A Few Pictures of Dad: John McColman (1923-2013)

My father passed away yesterday. He was 89 years old.

This was the end of a long journey of illness which began with a diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease almost 20 years ago; congestive heart failure and finally dementia also took their toll. Of course, these are all diseases of attrition, so it truly was a long, slow goodbye. But he maintained a positive, optimistic spirit pretty much through it all, and was truly loved by the nurses and CNAs who cared for “Mr. John” at the nursing home where h...

Join Me for a “Winter Feast for the Soul”!

Dear ones, first of all, forgive me for being so silent on this blog. My household has been a war zone (fighting the flu) — first my wife was sick; then my daughter, which is always frightening because of her health issues, but by the grace of God she had a very mild case of it; and now, alas, me. So my apologies for the (relative) silence.

Despite battling the bug, there’s lots of excitement coming up. First of all, we’re less than a month to the publication date ofAnswering the Contemplative...

Returning to Reality

Returning to Reality

My latest blog entry for the Huffington Post has been published; it’s called Would Thomas Merton Use an iPad? Contemplation, Technology and Discernment.

Beneath the whimsical title, this post looks at a serious question: how the philosophy and spirituality of Thomas Merton might be used a compass point for considering ethical questions related to technology and society. The inspiration for this comes from a recently published book, Returning to Reality: Thomas Merton’s Wisd...

Seven Books on Christianity and Nondualism

John Ruusbroec, nondual Christian mystic

My friend Ellen recently asked me on Facebook to define nondualism for her. I referred her to a post I wrote on the subject last summer called Nonduality in the Bible… and Us. Not much to add to that post, but I though I’d offer a short list of books that explore nonduality within a Christian context. These books come from a variety of perspectives, so read with a thinking mind and a discerning heart.

Richard Rohr, The Naked Now: Learning to See as the M...

One Great Mystic Speaks of Another

Here is a video worth watching: an interview from 2007 in which Raimon Panikkar speaks about his knowledge of, and friendship with, the great Benedictine contemplative, Abhishiktananda. Panikkar was 88 years old when this video was filmed, and it’s a bit difficult to watch because his breathing was labored. But his mind was as sharp as a tack.

75 Books for Buddhist-Christian Dialogue

Thomas Merton and the Dalai Lama

Are you interested in exploring the richness of dialogue and interspiritual practice between Christianity and Buddhism? If so, then here’s enough literature to keep you going for a while. Each of the seventy-five books on the following list has some sort of connection with both Christianity and Buddhism.

Some of these titles are academic studies, some the writings of monastics, others geared toward the laity. Some are books by Christians about Buddhism, or by Bu...

Nine reasons why I enjoyed “The Hobbit”

Galadriel, Elrond and Gandalf

I took the day off today, and caught the morning showing of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journeyat my local theater (where you can get in for five bucks at shows before 11 AM). I’ve been nervous about this film, not sure it could possibly live up to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, even with Peter Jackson and his team in charge. The last Peter Jackson film I saw was King Kong, which was awful primarily because it was excessively overlong. So you can imagine my fear at...

A shout out to Evelyn Underhill and her wonderful book

Over the next few weeks or so I’ll be posting four new videos on Youtube.

One will be an “about me” video, one in which I talk about my three most recent books, one in which I talk about an idea I first presented at the Patheos website on “compass points for the spiritual life,” and finally, this short little segment on “the book that changed my life.” Here you go, it’s only a minute long:

About two years ago I gave a paper on Evelyn Underhill’s Mysticism at a conference on the book here in Atl...

The Ethics of Sharing Mystical Knowledge: Meister Eckhart and the Cloud Author

The Cloud of Unknowing

Pick up any edition of The Cloud of Unknowing, and you are likely to find the following language a bit intimidating:

Whoever you are possessing this book, know that I charge you with a serious responsibility, to which I attach the sternest sanctions that the bonds of love can bear. It does not matter whether this book belongs to you, whether you are keeping it for someone else, whether you are taking it to someone, or borrowing it; you are not to read it, write or speak o...