Contemplify

Latest Episodes:

Answering the Monk Within with Beverly Lanzetta Jan 03, 2021

Show notes

Beverly Lanzetta is a profound teacher who invites her readers and students to engage in the fullness of Mystery each day through the cultivation of practice and rhythm. I was elated to get my mitts on her latest book A New Silence: Spiritual Practices and Formation for the Monk Within. Our conversation flows out of this work, we talk about contemplation rhythms, parenting, the archetype of the monk, the via feminia and so much more. Reflecting on A New Silence makes up the bulk of our conversation today, but I want to really emphasize how A New Silence provides many exercises and practical ways of moving into a monastic way of life. A New Silence is for any seeker who hears the call to a contemplative path in their own context.

Advent Outpost from the Backporch (#3) Dec 21, 2020

Show notes

I'm closing this Advent Series out with some poetic gifts. A few friends are stopping by to raise a glass and offer a poem or prayer, though I am unsure of the difference anymore. In this final Advent outpost, the Mystery is stirred by a couple of my favorite poets, Teddy Macker and then Todd Davis, before contemplative teacher Beverly Lanzetta brings us home with a prayer. Like I said, prayers and poems dip from the same well. Join us as we take our fill.

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Advent Outpost from the Backporch (#2) Dec 07, 2020

Show notes

I've asked some friends to swing by and offer a few words. In this second Advent outpost, we move throuogh the course of a day, from dawn to dusk. one of my favorite poets, Chris Dombrowski, kicks us off with a dawn poem from his book Ragged Anthem. I have some words on attention for the life of a day. And artist Jonathon Stalls leads us on a sunset walking meditation to round us out. So lace up and stretch those limbs or roll those wheels to this second Advent outpost.

Check out Chris Dombrowski's work at cdombrowski.com Check out Jonathon Stalls' work at intrinsicpaths.com Visit Contemplify.com

Advent Outpost from the Backporch (#1) Nov 29, 2020

Show notes

My wife and I started an Advent neighborhood get together last year; soup, wine, bread, cheese, poetry, stories, hymns, and children bellowing. A eucharist of sorts, but more with an ancient turn to honoring both the light in the darkness, and the darkness itself. Due to Covid this will not be happening this year.

So I am attempting to put the spirit of what I experienced in that neighborhood Advent get together into a Contemplify Advent series. Something not churchy, but more in line with the wonder of seeing a coyote's hideout in my neighborhood park or the clang of Mystery's one hand clapping while the other hand tries not to spill the wine.

I've asked a few friends to stop by and offer a few words. In this first Advent outpost, I begin with a story and reflection, then I pass the mic to the poet Todd Davis who shares a poem from his book In the Kingdom of the Ditch. And contemplative teacher Beverly Lanzetta closes us out with a prayer titled "Canticle of Silence" from her forthcoming book A Feast of Prayers.

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Apprentice to the Slow Immediacy of Daily Life with Douglas E. Christie Nov 18, 2020

Show notes

It took me months to read Douglas E. Christie's book Blue Sapphire of the Mind: Notes for a Contemplative Ecology. I found it a joy to read slowly, soaking in the poetics married with scholarship on the Christian contemplative tradition which I so dearly love. It felt like a love letter, albeit in academic one, to a tradition that is still bursting with so much fruit waiting to be tasted by the many. I think it will wet your contemplative whistle, disarm any judgements, and welcome you to be a part of the great contemplative conversation. Our conversation highlights a few arrows of Blue Sapphire of the Mind that struck my heart. We talk about contemplation and parenting, memento mori (remebering deatth), a painting by George Inness, apprenticeships, contemplative practices and so much more.

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Everybody Now: Climate Emergency and Sacred Duty Oct 19, 2020

Show notes

Today's episode is first. It is one voice among many podcasters from around the globe releasing the same episode, a collective call for awareness, grief, and loving action in our climate emergency and our sacred duty to participate whole-heartedly-bodily-mindfully in the healing of our home in the cosmos. This episode includes Scientists, activists, farmers, poets, and theologians who talk bravely and frankly about how our biosphere is changing, about grief and hope in an age of social collapse and mass extinction, and about taking action against all the odds.

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Moth & Mother / New Foundations Sep 26, 2020

Show notes

Ruminations on divine union and the contemplative uprisings available in each moment.

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Subtle Sacraments & The Quiet Mind Aug 05, 2020

Show notes

Exploring the subtle sacraments that animate our lives and the process of quieting the mind in words and silence.

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Poetic Nature of Walking with Jonathon Stalls Jul 11, 2020

Show notes

"The walking of which I speak has nothing in it akin to taking exercise, as it is called, as the sick take medicine at stated hours …but it is itself the enterprise and adventure of the day." - Henry David Thoreau

Kitchen Music Society of Sorrow and Delight Apr 15, 2020

Show notes

A plucked musical movement, hairpin poetic turns, mythical stories in rough harmonics. Baptize me into this Kitchen Music Society of Delights and Sorrows. No time like a pandemic to establish a new society. Perhaps by the end of this, you'll join the membership.

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