What the Dog Perhaps Hears

If an inaudible whistle
blown between our lips
can send him home to us,
then silence is perhaps
the sound of spiders breathing
and roots mining the earth;
it may be asparagus heaving,
headfirst, into the light
and the long brown sound
of cracked cups, when it happens.
We would like to ask the dog
if there is a continuous whir
because the […]

Posted in Contemplative Living | 12 Comments »

A great reflection by Robert Toth at the Merton Insitute: 
“Do you consider yourself a contemplative person? Would you say that you live contemplatively?”
Having asked these questions of hundreds of people, we find that most people do not see themselves as contemplative or feel they are living contemplatively. Most defined contemplative living as leading a less […]

Posted in Monastic Spirituality, Contemplative Living | 1 Comment »

If you head over to Listening Point today, you can see a photo I took in Ireland in a wonderful forest near the ruins of Cong Abbey accompanied by one of my all-time favorite poems (which I posted here about a year ago, but it seemed time to bring it out again).  And while you’re […]

Posted in Resources, Contemplative Living | 2 Comments »

“The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything is to succumb […]

Posted in Creativity, Monastic Spirituality, Contemplative Living | 4 Comments »