As this series, Growing with Intention, wraps up, I thought it would be helpful to take a step back and look at the practices as a whole, from a specifically Christian theological lens. As someone who comes to these practices in a desire to be more faithful and to be a better disciple of Jesus, … Continue reading Integral Growth & Christian Spirituality
The tie that binds all of the practices in this series on Growing with Intention together is their shared presupposition that growing spiritually involves growing in awareness — being able to see, accept, and integrate more about ourselves and the world around us. While the first four practices we've looked at — transcendent spiritual experiences, … Continue reading Growing with Intention: Making the Unconscious Conscious
One theme that has recurred in my Sunday reflections over the past few months is the idea that we receive grace as a gift from God, but inasmuch as that grace is at work in us, we will also give grace to others. As I wrote in November: Grace is a gift but it isn't … Continue reading Growing with Intention: Value Metabolism
The great physicist Niels Bohr famously wrote: “The opposite of a trivial truth is plainly false. The opposite of a great truth is also true.” This is an idea that I have come to appreciate more and more over the years: The opposites of so many basic values are not falsehoods, but equally profound values. … Continue reading Growing with Intention: Positive-Positive Polarities, or, Dialectical Epistemology
Before I moved to Toronto, I used to live in Victoria, a beautiful city on the southeastern tip of Vancouver Island. I often found myself showing visitors around, and one of my favorite things to do with them was to take them to Beacon Hill Park, which offers a beautiful mix of carefully tended flower … Continue reading Growing with Intention: Transcendent Beauty
Matthew Root 