After a few weeks of practices involving the shifting seas of my thoughts and thoughts-about-thoughts, I returned this week to the firm and fertile ground of ancient Christian spirituality. Specifically, I turned to the quintessential prayer of the Christian East, known as the Jesus Prayer, which combines elements we associate with prayer (petition and language) … Continue reading The Jesus Prayer
This week, I decided to tie a bow of sorts on the narrative theme of the past couple practices. Whereas the goal the other week was to identify the story going around in my head at any given moment, this week the practice was to, in the words of Pema Chödrön, a Buddhist nun and … Continue reading Feel the Feeling and Drop the Story
After twenty-six weeks of this intentional exploration of sacred practices, I decided to do something a bit different this week and take a bird’s eye view of my experiences this half-year. Background The idea for this project came to me quite unexpectedly one Sunday morning while I was lying in bed. A book I was … Continue reading Half Year in Review
Continuing on the narrative kick I’ve been on lately, this week’s practice turns from looking at the wisdom we can find in literature to the potential and pitfalls of the stories we tell ourselves from moment to moment. BackgroundPaying attention to the narratives in our heads is nothing new. It is for example the basis … Continue reading The story I’m telling myself is …
I’m a great lover of books, and especially fiction. I’ve been in a particularly good run of interesting and thoughtful books lately, so, I was excited to see this week’s sacred practice come up on the schedule: to treat a piece of fiction as a sacred text. Background Like most people, I was first exposed … Continue reading Fiction as a Sacred Text
Matthew Root 