The Harried Mystic

The goal of these occasional reflections is to serve as one aspect of my own discipline. At the same time, I hope to learn though dialogue with like-minded seekers of spiritual meaning in these post-modern times when time to think seems itself to be the scarcest resource.

I am a happily married lover of ritual, symbol and spiritual disciplines from all of the World’s religious traditions. It is my deep conviction that each of them opens an exquisite window onto the landscape of ageless Truth.

As Camaldolese Benedictine, Br. Bede Griffith’s frames it, there is “One Light”. Each tradition acts, as does a prism, to factor the light into its constituent colors. With enthusiastic agreement, I see the world today through the world-embracing inclusive lens of Franciscan spirituality as a Professed tertiary and Camaldolese Oblate.

While the temples, churches, and ashrams afford the seeker inspiring environments of song, iconography, and beautiful shared communal practice, I never cease to be amazed at how many worshippers complain that the ritual has gone dry.

Besides the time invested meaningfully in positive social gathering, especially on days marked holy by both tradition and powerful, comforting memories that punctuate our childhood time-lines, so many seekers ask: Isn’t there more?

Surely there is – so much more!

The single biggest complaint I hear weekly from many professionals I meet is that there simply isn’t enough time: Time to think and time to really experience the sacred.

Drawn as I am to Franciscan mysticism, my intent is to explore the eternal flow of the river of deep meaning that runs through our daily practices and events inviting us to go well beyond dogma and mere belief.

We begin.