Underneath

Beneath the feet of the monks, that which holds them and their houses of prayer, is this land. Mepkin Abbey, a Trappist monastery on the coast of South Carolina, is where we’re on retreat. The land of my childhood. Beneath the years of their prayerful songs, as old as my dad, there is that which will outlast […]

The Guest House – Nov. 2, 2022

This being human is a guest house.Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness,some momentary awareness comesas an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all!Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,who violently sweep your houseempty of its furniture,still, treat each guest honorably.He may be clearing you outfor some new delight. The […]

Oppositions – May 18, 2022

“An authentic life is a life that is aware of and willing to engage its own oppositions, and honorably inhabits that threshold where the light and darkness, the masculine and feminine and all the beginnings and endings of one’s life engage. Sometimes, people who are very vociferous and moralistic are people who have erased the […]

Honor God

Why don’t you follow the usual rituals?* Rituals and traditions are passed along to us, not always with clear understanding of their meanings and purposes, their place in our lives. Mindlessly we keep old ways alive because we feel to do otherwise would not honor tradition. What was good in the past surely is still […]