Carl McColman's Blog, page 8
November 19, 2023
Two Online Events for Celebrating a Contemplative Advent!
Dear friends, just want to bring to your attention: I’m participating in two online events to help us embrace and observe a truly contemplative season of Advent! Hope to see you at one or both!
First on Saturday, December 2: Shalem Midwest is sponsoring an online Advent Quiet Day, “The Joy of Waiting” — for more information including how to register, click here for the Advent Quiet Day.
The following week, Spiritual Wanderlust is sponsoring an Advent Contemplative Summit featuring an array of wo...
November 16, 2023
LSD, Anxiety, and Contemplation: Can Psychedelic Therapy Support Spiritual Growth? (and Vice Versa)
Today (November 16, 2023) is the 85th anniversary of the discovery of LSD, by the Swiss chemist Albert Hoffmann. So happy birthday, LSD!
Hoffmann first synthesized lysergic acid diethylamide on this day in 1938, although it would be another four and a half years before he accidentally ingested some of the chemical — and discovered its psychedelic and entheogenic properties (those words, both of which are younger than LSD itself, mean “mind-manifesting” and “becoming divine within” — words that a...
November 10, 2023
Twenty Years Ago, Rhiannon’s Wish Came True…
On November 10, 2003 — twenty years ago today — Fran, Rhiannon and I hopped on a plane to Orlando. We actually missed our flight that morning (!) but since Atlanta is a Delta Hub, a plane leaves for the House of the Mouse every hour. So it wasn’t much worse than having to wait for the next train.
We got to Orlando and were greeted by representatives of the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Rhiannon, who lived her entire life with polycystic kidney disease, was a Wish Kid — and like so many such kids, her ...
November 6, 2023
Holiday Special Book Bundle (Limited Time!) — Save 40%!
For a limited time (and limited only to stock on hand, so this special could end at any time), get three of Carl McColman’s books — Eternal Heart, The Lion the Mouse and the Dawn Treader and his newest book, The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism for only $39.59 (plus shipping and tax where applicable). This is a savings of 40% over the books’ retail price, and is less than what it would cost to buy new copies of these books from Amazon! Each book is autographed by Carl McColman (you don’t get...
Wonderful News About the English Language Translation of the Philokalia
If you’ve read The Way of the Pilgrim, you know about The Philokalia — the legendary anthology of Eastern Orthodox mystical writings that was first compiled in the 18th century; it was translated into Russian a century later and that version featured prominently in The Way of the Pilgrim, a fictionalized account of a spiritual seeker whose spiritual director introduces him into the mysteries of the Jesus Prayer, the Prayer of the Heart. The Pilgrim comes to regard The Philokalia as second only t...
October 8, 2023
Does Merton Still Matter? Some Thoughts on the 75th Anniversary of “The Seven Storey Mountain”
On October 11, 1948, Harcourt Brace Publishers released a book called The Seven Storey Mountain. So this coming Wednesday marks that book’s seventy-fifth anniversary.
Chances are, most people who read this blog are quite familiar with Merton and probably with The Seven Storey Mountain as well. But in case you aren’t: this book is the memoir of a young man, the child of two artists who lived free-spirited lives traveling the world, although not without tragedy: both Merton’s parents died before h...
October 3, 2023
Living the Divine Heart: A Monthly Contemplative Gathering facilitated by Colette Lafia (starts tomorrow!)
My friend Colette Lafia’s new Divine Heart Monthly Gatherings starts tomorrow! This series of seven monthly online heart-centered gatherings will run from October 4, 2023 to April 3, 2024.
Here’s what Colette’s website has to say about this:
Is your heart yearning for a deeper experience of Divine Love, the true source of love in our hearts and in our lives? Would you like to live more fully in the Divine Heart? Would you like to grow in the practice of love?
During our monthly gatherings, we wi...
October 1, 2023
Online Course: Seeking God (January 8-February 4, 2024) — NOTE NEW DATES
Please note: I am co-teaching this course with members of the CTS Faculty. I lead one of five sessions.
Columbia Theological Seminary, based in Decatur GA and affiliated with the Presbyterian Church USA, has a wonderful Certificate Program in Spiritual Formation — and this course is the introductory course for that program, although it works great as...
September 6, 2023
A Couple of Podcasts for You
First of all — if you are reading this before September 23, 2023, I hope you will sign up to attend the Closer than Breath Centering Prayer Summit (note: I am not speaking at this event, but people I know and admire are, so it’s well worth your time to be there).
Now that The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism has been published, I’m making the rounds on some podcasts I know and love well — and also connecting with some new ones. Here are two recent podcast conversations that you might enjoy…
...August 31, 2023
Free Personal/Group Study Guide for the New Big Book of Christian Mysticism
Click here to download the New Big Book of Christian Mysticism Study Guide
Friends, here’s a resource for you to use when you read The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism — a downloadable PDF study guide for the book, designed for both personal and small group use. The study guide includes prompts for each chapter in the book — prompts that can serve as discussion starters or journaling ideas.
Whether you are reading The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism by yourself or with a circle of friends...
