Category: Spiritual Exercises
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This Morning’s Meditation
Notes with the help of Augustin Poulain Top o' the Stack
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Why a Philosopher Should Meditate . . .
. . . and why it is difficult for a philosopher to meditate. I trust that you are alive to the semantic polyvalence of 'meditate' and appreciate the sense in which I am using the term. Substack latest.
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Two Worries about Meditation
Substack latest
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Prayer: A Fall-Back Position
Suppose there is no God. That might be so even if I am a believer. (And it seems that I must be a believer, actually or potentially, if I am to pray sincerely.) Whether or not God exists, when I sincerely pray for someone I produce benevolent thoughts that benefit me even if they do…
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Taming the Wild Horse of the Mind on the Road to Benares
This morning's meditation session ran from 3:10 ante meridiem to 4:00. Before that I was sketching six blog posts in my journal. My mind was on fire with ideas fueled in part by some entries from Volume Five of Tom Merton's journal. As flabby a liberal as he is, both politically and theologically, he is…
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If you need an app to pray . . .
. . . I will say a prayer for you. You don't even need the 'closet' referred to at Matt 6:6: But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee…
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Alain on Keeping to the Present
Substack invited me to re-post this from a year ago. For an old man, a year is nothing; for you young whippersnappers, an ice age. So that's my excuse.
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Is Neuroscience Relevant to Understanding Prayer and Meditation?
Substack latest. If you can poke a hole in anything I say, I'll buy you lunch when next our paths cross.
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Unusual Experiences and the Problems of Overbelief and Underbelief
Substack latest. One day, well over 40 years ago, I was deeply tormented by a swarm of negative thoughts and feelings that had arisen because of a dispute with a certain person. Pacing around my apartment, I suddenly, without any forethought, raised my hands toward the ceiling and said, "Release me!" It was a wholly spontaneous cri de…
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Detachment and Renunciation
The Notebooks of Paul Brunton, Volume Two, The Quest, p. 130, #242: Detachment from the world is an absolute necessity for the man who seeks authentic inner peace, and not its imagined counterfeit. But renouncement of the world is not necessary to any except those who have an inborn natural vocation for the monkish life.…
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At the Entrance to the Monastery
The sign reads, 'Peace.' It neglects to say that the desert is a place of unseen warfare. The desert fathers of old believed in demons because of their experiences in quest of the "narrow gate" that only few find. They sought to perfect themselves and so became involved as combatants in what Lorenzo Scupoli called…
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A Contemplative Nun on Thomas Merton
This just over the transom from Karl White: Hope you're well. May be of interest. ‘I have never met a real contemplative who found Merton useful’: Letters reveal Sister Wendy’s ambivalence about Gethsemani’s famous monk | America Magazine July 30, 2018 Dearest Robert, I feel about [Henri Nouwen] as I do about Thomas Merton. There…
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What Did He Expect?
He prayed for the ability to see himself objectively, but then complained that he did not like what he saw.
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Downplay Both
If you downplay your wins, downplay your losses. The pain of defeat is worse than the pleasure of victory is good. But you have the power to regard them as equal. In some measure the pain of loss can be lessened. The Stoic therapy is no cure, but it is a palliative. If our predicament…
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“Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread”
Material bread or spiritual bread? Substack latest.