Encountering Silence

Parker J. Palmer is a world-renowned writer, speaker, educator, and activist whose work explores issues and concerns related to spirituality, education, community, leadership, and social change. He is the author of many books, including Let Your Life Speak,A Hidden Wholeness,The Promise of Paradox, and The Active Life. He is a member of the Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as the Quakers. "The impact of silence is not only solace, but disturbance. Silence forces you to look at your life in some very challenging ways. I think in our culture that's once of the reasons silence is not popular. It's one of the reasons we fill the air with noise, and we fill our minds with noise, because we avoid having to take that deep dive into ourselves." — Parker J. Palmer Parker joined us in July for a splendid conversation including insight into his latest book,On the Brink of Everything: Grace, Gravity and Getting Old — and so much more. He proved to be so generous with his time that our conversation extended well over an hour — and so we are pleased to present our first "two-part" Encountering Silence interview! Episode 33 begins the conversation, and the conclusion of the interview is found in Episode 34. "First the silence broke me down, and then it gave me a context, once I understood what was happening, a context in which to rebuild a faith that was rooted in experience. That's an incredible gift." — Parker J. Palmer He shares early memories of silence — from solitary hours in childhood spent reading and building model airplanes — and then muses on how silence accompanied his adult life as a social activist, community organizer, and Quaker educator. After a serendipitous encounter with the writings of Thomas Merton, Palmer discovered that silence was essential not only to his spiritual practice, but to discovering both the riches — and to the shadow — of his own soul. "I began to recognize that the burnout that I was beginning to feel was about six months away as a terminal burnout, if I didn't start practicing some things that would help me avoid it, and silence was one of those things." — Parker J. Palmer Some of the resources and authors mentioned in this episode: Parker J. Palmer, On the Brink of Everything Parker J. Palmer, The Courage to Teach Parker J. Palmer, Healing the Heart of Democracy Parker J. Palmer, Let Your Life Speak Parker J. Palmer, A Hidden Wholeness Parker J. Palmer, The Promise of Paradox Parker J. Palmer, The Active Life Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island Thomas Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain Martin Luther, The Ninety-Five Theses and Other Writings Sydney Carter, The Present Tense: Songs of Sydney Carter John of the Cross, The Dark Night of the Soul Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together Thomas Merton, The Sign of Jonas Barbara Holmes, Joy Unspeakable Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet "Truth isn't in the conclusions, because the conclusions keep changing — in every field I know anything about. It's in the conversation. If you want to live in the truth, you have to know how to live in the conversation." — Parker J. Palmer Episode 33: On the Brink of Silence: A Conversation with Parker J. Palmer (Part One) Hosted by: Cassidy Hall With: Kevin Johnson, Carl McColman Guest: Parker J. Palmer Date Recorded: July 13, 2018

Poet, photographer, and memoirist Br. Paul Quenon, OCSO sat down to chat with Cassidy Hall this past July when she was visiting Gethsemani Abbey. Author of several volumes of poetry including Unquiet Vigil: New and Selected Poems, Br. Paul is also the author of a newly published autobiography, In Praise of the Useless Life: A Monk's Memoir. His memoir is a delightful and charming story of monastic life not only as a forum for deep spiritual exploration, but also as the foundation for a life devoted to music, art, and especially poetry. Brother Paul entered monastic life in 1958, when he was only 17 years old — back before the reforms of the Second Vatical Council, when the life of a Trappist was even more austere than it is today. His novice master turned out to be Thomas Merton, who eventually became an inspiration to Brother Paul not only as a monk, but as a writer. In their conversation, Cassidy and Brother Paul discuss his life story, his experience as a monk, as a writer, and as a lover of nature. He enthuses on his special love for the poet Emily Dickinson, and shares the poem of hers which convinced him that she was a mystic (#315). He also offers a 'sneak peek' of his current writing, sharing some poems he is currently writing. Through it all, in the heart of his rich and cultured life, silence has been his constant companion. There is a kind of silence which comes from stilling the mind, and you can develop that capacity, how to not fight thoughts so much as set them aside... if you want to be free, free your mind... instead of fighting the thoughts you just stand above them like on a bridge and watch the water flow by... but then there is a kind of silence that descends upon you, and it's like the presence... it happens on its own, and that's really special. You may get that, or you may not get it... it's not a matter of looking for it, because if you're looking for it, than you're thinking of something, you have an expectation and you're dealing with your expectation. — Brother Paul Quenon, OCSO Some of the resources and authors mentioned in this episode: Paul Quenon, In Praise of the Useless Life: A Monk's Memoir Paul Quenon, Unquiet Vigil: New and Selected Poems Paul Quenon, Bells of the Hours Paul Quenon, Afternoons with Emily Paul Quenon, Monkswear Paul Quenon, Laughter: My Purgatory Paul Quenon, Terrors of Paradise Paul Quenon with Judith Valente and Michael Bever, The Art of Pausing Kathleen Norris, The Cloister Walk Thomas Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ Pico Iyer, The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere Dianne Aprile, The Abbey of Gethsemani: Place of Peace and Paradox John Eudes Bamberger, Thomas Merton: Prophet of Renewal Kathleen Norris, Acedia and Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life Emily Dickinson, The Complete Poems Robert Morneau, A New Heart: Eleven Qualities of Holiness Jessica Powers, The Selected Poetry Rainer Maria Rilke, Selected Poetry Guerric of Igny, Liturgical Sermons Volume One Gregory of Naziansus, Festal Orations Gregory of Nyssa, From Glory to Glory Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire Gary Snyder, The Gary Snyder Reader Fenton Johnson, Everywhere Home The Grail Psalms: A Liturgical Psalter The opposite of faith is indifference. — Br. Paul Quenon, OCSO Episode 32: Silence and Poetry at Gethsemani Abbey: A Conversation with Paul Quenon, OCSO Hosted by: Cassidy Hall Introduced by: Kevin Johnson Guest: Paul Quenon, OCSO Date Recorded: July 4, 2018

It's summertime! How do you find silence amidst the droning of cicadas or locusts? What does it mean to be silent during the electric crackle of a late afternoon thunderstorm? How do we maintain our commitment to silence when we're juggling family vacations, back to school to-do lists, or even more lasting and significant life transitions? We have this myth that summer is a laid-back time, but often we find it carries its own intensity. Where do we find silence then? In the middle of this change... the silence really stirs up a lot. So it helps me to find a balance, a rhythm, but it also doesn't allow me to run away from the fear, or the joy, or anything else. It's right there in my face. — Kevin Johnson Cassidy shares a provocative quote from an essay by Mary Oliver in which she talks about how poetry needs to "rest in intensity," and uses this as her metaphor for navigating a very busy summer — a summer which she describes as being like a poem. Kevin finds his summer to be both joyful and yet poignant, as one of his daughters prepares to go away to college for the first time. And yet this has been a time for him to find a new connection to his own practice of silence, and how an embodied sense of silence has felt like a friend reassuring him that everything is okay. Carl, meanwhile explores how his relationship with silence this summer has been supported by two endeavors beyond his daily meditation practice: taking yoga classes with his wife, and writing poetry... just for joy. I'm trying to look at my summer as a poem... just keep moving forward, just keep plugging away, but finding those pauses that often become shorter in times like this, that often become just the gaze out the window, or just the long stare into the coffee cup. — Cassidy Hall We finish this episode with each member of the team briefly recounting the books we've been reading — and even share some insight into the t-shirts we were wearing the day we recorded this episode!     The silence is always there. And the question is, to what extent are we listening to it, or are we listening to whatever else is going on? — Carl McColman Some of the resources and authors mentioned in this episode: Mary Oliver, Winter Hours: Prose, Prose Poems, and Poetry Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace is Every Step Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace is Every Breath Simone Weil, Love in the Void: Where God Finds Us Parker Palmer, Let Your Life Speak: Listening to the Voice of Vocation Austin Channing Brown, I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience and Other Essays Anthony Storr, Solitude: A Return to the Self Lewis Hyde, The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World Owen Barfield, Saving the Appearances J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings C. S. Lewis, The Signature Classics Charles Williams, Outline of Romantic Theology Mary Oliver, Devotions: The Selected Poems Michael Pollan, How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence Michael Pollan, The Omnivore's Dilemma Carlos Castaneda, Alan Watts, Timothy Leary, Joel F. Harrington, Dangerous Mystic: Meister Eckhart's Path to the God Within Daniel Horan, The Franciscan Heart of Thomas Merton Cassidy talks about fundraising for research to help fight the degenerative disease Friedreich's Ataxia. To learn more about this disease and to contribute to the fight against it, visit the Friedreich's Ataxia Research Alliance website, www.curefa.org. And finally, here is a glimpse of some of the handpainted silk scarves crea...

Unless you work in a library or a monastery, you may not intuitively associate "silence" and "work." But it doesn't have to be that way. In fact, our working lives have everything to gain if the workplace could become more hospitable to silence — and related mindfulness practices. Leah Weiss, PhD integrates Buddhist wisdom, mindfulness practice, and holistic management principles to articulate a vision of how it is possible to cultivate a more "sane" workplace. Dr. Weiss is a professor at Stanford University Graduate School of Business and is the author of the New York Times bestelling book How We Work: Live Your Purpose, Reclaim Your Sanity, and Embrace the Daily Grind. I think of silence in two ways. I think of it as the literal having periods in the day, intermittently, and sometimes they're long, and sometimes they're not, of having literal quiet. But I also think of it as inner silence that we can access (or not), and the world around us can be noisy, but if we have this ability to touch in with our own clarity and mental spaciousness... that's another way to access silence, and you can do that no matter how loud it is on the city streets. — Leah Weiss, PhD Weiss talks about how Tibetan Buddhism provided the forum for her own journey with silence — and how the experience of having a family (three small children) has deepened and clarified her understanding of the power of silence in her life. Arising out of her work with persons who are trauma survivors, or who have experienced toxic forms of silence (such as their voice being silenced), she offers insights not only about the blessings of silence, but also the importance of addressing honestly problems related to how individuals and organizations use silence in unhealthy ways as well. She muses on how community and connection are important "adjuncts" to the exploration of silence: by being able to talk to others, we more efficiently facilitate healing in our lives. There's lots of people who are out there claiming all sorts of absurd stuff about how mindfulness is a silver bullet and if you teach people to meditate, all problems will be solved. I don't believe that. — Leah Weiss, PhD Leah Weiss's book: Leah Weiss, How We Work: Live Your Purpose, Reclaim Your Sanity, and Embrace the Daily Grind What does it mean to create an environment where we can skillfully build positive silence, along with connection, support and healing? Not all of us are survivors of intense trauma, but all of us have traumas in our lives, in places where there is pain that we don't' want to touch, that hurts, and we need to have ways to deal with it. — Leah Weiss, PhD Episode 30: Silence and Mindfulness at Work: A Conversation with Leah Weiss Hosted by: Kevin Johnson With: Cassidy Hall, Carl McColman Guest: Leah Weiss Date Recorded: July 12, 2018

Author, retreat leader, and psychologist James Finley brings his experience as a student and spiritual directee of Thomas Merton to his work guiding others into the mysteries of Christ and of silence. He is the author of Merton's Palace of Nowhere, Christian Meditation: Experiencing the Presence of God, and The Contemplative Heart. He has also created audio learning series, including Thomas Merton's Path to the Palace of Nowhere and Meister Eckhart's Living Wisdom. "When we get involved in spirituality, we're drawn to it, we tend to have a lot of questions, and that's why we tend to read spiritual books or watch podcasts and well we should, and we should get spiritual guidance and so on. But then... we get a little deeper, here we realize that it's not so much that we're the ones asking the questions, but God's asking the questions, God's asking me a question... and I start to discover that not only do I not know the answer to God's question, I don't understand the question." — James Finley Cassidy met Jim through the International Thomas Merton Society, and discovering that they are neighbors in California, they made arrangements last month to get together to record this conversation. As they explore silence together, Jim tells Cassidy stories from his six years living as a Trappist novice (don't miss the story of talking to Thomas Merton about the pigs!), and how his entry into the world of radical solitude and silence — under the guidance of one of the great spiritual writers of the past century — Finley learned to find his voice as a seeker of God, and eventually discovered his vocation even though it took him away from the cloister. "We can't with integrity claim to be on a spiritual path and turn our back on the suffering of this world." — James Finley He and Cassidy talk about the tragedy of how contemporary Christianity has abandoned its own mystical heritage, learning to discover the mystery of God beyond all "boxes" and definitions, the "infinity of the unexplainable," learning to love the world as part of the contemplative project, the importance of paradox and perplexity, how language ought to be "in the service of the unsayable," how the experience of trauma can impact our spiritual lives, and other topics along these lines. “I have only one desire, and that is the desire for solitude-to disappear into God, to be submerged in His peace, to be lost in the secret of His Face.” — Thomas Merton Some of the resources and authors mentioned in this episode: James Finley, Merton's Palace of Nowhere James Finley, The Contemplative Heart James Finley, Christian Meditation James Finley, Thomas Merton's Path to the Palace of Nowhere James Finley, Meister Eckhart's Living Wisdom Thomas Merton, The Sign of Jonas Jim Forest, The Root of War is Fear John of the Cross, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander Martin Heidegger, Being and Time Richard Rohr, The Naked Now Cynthia Bourgeault, The Heart of Centering Prayer Carolyn Myss and James Finley, Transforming Trauma: Uncovering the Spiritual Dimension of Healing Rollo May, Freedom and Destiny Meister Eckhart, The Complete Mystical Works (Sermons) Richard Rohr and James Finley, Intimacy: the Divine Ambush Richard Rohr, James Finley, and Cynthia Bourgeault, Following the Mystics through the Narrow Gate Teresa of Ávila, The Interior Castle Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude Thomas Merton, The Intimate Merton Visit Jim Finley's website at www.contemplativeway.org. His newsletter which includes his recommended reading list can be accessed here: "Reading List for Beginners" “Lovers cannot force the oceanic oneness,

What happens when a friendly anthropologist conducts an ethnographic study of contemporary contemplative Christianity in America, looking at subjects both in monasteries and in secular life? Paula Pryce does just this kind of work in her insightful book The Monk's Cell: Ritual and Knowledge in American Contemplative Christianity. Spending several years of research with teachers like Cynthia Bourgeault and Thomas Keating, along with monasteries like the Society of St. John the Evangelist in Massachusetts, Pryce offers a detailed exploration of how contemplative spirituality is making a profound transformation in our time. From previous days when such practice was almost exclusively found within cloistered walls, to the increasing (if still marginal) presence of contemplation  in churches, centering prayer groups, online forums, and educational offerings such as the Center for Action & Contemplation's Living School or Bourgeault's own Wisdom School, contemplative practice is a vibrant subculture within Christianity — and Pryce, to our knowledge, is the first ethnographer to write about contemplative Christianity in a scholarly, yet accessible, fashion. I always meditated before I wrote... I go back in my mind, meditate, and then enter in through memory to those places where I was doing research, and that allowed me to give language to these non-verbal situations. — Paula Pryce What emerges from her research is a recognition that contemplation (and, by implication, the practice of silence) invites the practitioner into a new way of knowing, that is marked by qualities such as embodiment, community, humility, and ritual. I'm always after trying to understand the beauty of humankind. We have lots of messages about how awful we are! And we can't ignore that and I wouldn't want to. But I honestly think we need to embrace how wonderful humans are. — Paula Pryce In this conversation, Paula joins the Encountering Silence team to explore not only her own relationship with silence, but also how her research deepened her knowledge of contemplation as a transformational practice. She movingly speaks of her Anglo-Indian father as her silence hero, and draw connections between his lifelong meditation practice and his commitment to social action. She reflects on the paradox of writing about silence (expressing a non-verbal phenomena through the verbal medium of language), and on how ethnography, as a discipline, can help us to understand silence better. One can use anything as a contemplative practice. That's the main point of this book: people are trying to train themselves in everyday life as contemplatives, in every action and every way of being. — Paula Pryce Some of the resources and authors we mention in this episode: Paula S. Pryce, The Monk's Cell: Ritual and Knowledge in American Contemplative Christianity Eleanor H. Porter, Pollyanna Mahatma Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments With Truth Leo Tolstoy, A Confession and Other Religious Writings The Beatles, Abbey Road Victor Turner, From Ritual to Theatre: The Human Seriousness of Play Arnold van Gennep, The Rites of Passage Cynthia Bourgeault, The Heart of Centering Prayer: Nondual Christianity in Theory and Practice David Abram, The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World Seneca, The Stoic Philosophy Joseph Cassant, L'Attente Dans Le Silence Robert Alter, The Book of Psalms: Translation with Commentary Thomas Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain Hadewijch, The Complete Works Mary Oliver, Devotions: The Selected Poems Episode 27: Silence, Bodily Knowing, and Ritual: A Conversation with Paula Pryce Hosted by: Kevin Johnson With: Cassidy Hall, Carl McColman Guest: Paula Pryce Date Recorded: May 29,

How does silence impact spirituality at the level of interfaith or interreligious engagement? Our guest today, Kenneth Leong, wrote a seminal book on Christian-Buddhist interspirituality, and so we were eager to have him join the Encountering Silence conversation to reflect on how silence takes us to a place beyond the limitations or separations of doctrine, dogma, or religious culture. Kenneth S. Leong is the author of The Zen Teachings of Jesus and a German-language book of Zen Stories, 100 Zen-Geschichten für das neue Jahrtausend: Anleitung zum Glücklichsein. After working over twenty years in finance, he pursued a Master's Degree in Teaching and devoted twelve years to teaching in a variety of education settings, primarily teaching mathematics but also finance, philosophy, and Zen. Mr. Leong has been a speaker and lecturer on Buddhism and spirituality since the mid-1990s, having taught in Manhattan's Chinatown, the New York Open Center, and other continuing education and adult learning venues. He is active on social media, moderating or contributing to groups devoted to topics such as Buddhism, Alan Watts, and Zen Christians. Silence, to me, means right concentration. — Kenneth S. Leong Some of the resources and authors we mention in this episode: Kenneth S. Leong, The Zen Teachings of Jesus Alan Watts, The Way of Zen Richard Rohr, Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer Red Pine (tr.), The Heart Sutra Red Pine (tr.), The Diamond Sutra Red Pine (tr.), The Platform Sutra: The Zen Teaching of Hui-neng Barbara A. Holmes, Joy Unspeakable: Contemplative Practices of the Black Church Thomas Merton, The Asian Journal of Thomas Merton The Desert Mothers and Fathers, Early Christian Wisdom Sayings Evagrius Ponticus, The Praktikos & Chapters on Prayer The Dalai Lama, The Art of Happiness Carl Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections Thich Nhat Hanh, You Are Here Walpola Rahula, What the Buddha Taught William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell J. Krishnamurti, Think on These Things Henri Nouwen, Peacework: Prayer, Resistance, Community Bhikkhu Bodhi (ed.), In the Buddha's Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon Alan Watts, Tao: The Watercourse Way Josef Pieper, Leisure: The Basis of Culture St. Francis of Assisi, In His Own Words: The Essential Writings Episode 27: Encountering Silence in Christianity and Zen: A Conversation with Kenneth S. Leong Hosted by: Carl McColman With: Kevin Johnson, Cassidy Hall Guest: Kenneth S. Leong Date Recorded: May 25, 2018

How does the encounter with silence usher us into mystery? And how is our relationship with silence shaped by, or challenged by, the challenges and dynamics of social difference and privilege? What is the relationship between contemplation and community, and how is community actually essential to authentic contemplation? How are tears, and moaning, and dancing, and lament, essential to contemplation — especially among those persons and communities who experience oppression? “Silence has power, positively, it’s life-giving... and it also can be a hiding place for people of the dominant culture.” — Dr. Barbara A. Holmes These are just a few of the questions we explore in today’s episode, a conversation with scholar and contemplative the Reverend Dr. Barbara A. Holmes. Dr. Holmes is the author of Joy Unspeakable: Contemplative Practices of the Black Church, and has emerged as a leading voice calling for affirming and celebrating contemplation as it emerges in the lives of all people, regardless of ethnicity, gender, or religious affiliation. “The women in my family were the ones who really seeded contemplation into my very being. I watched them — I saw that mysticism didn’t have to be weird. It was very weird, but you could still make biscuits! You didn’t have to go berserk; you could do your normal life, be loving,  kind, help others, and still host these magical moments, wondrous moments, awe-inducing moments, and still do ordinary things like meet your kids at the stop on the school bus.” — Dr. Barbara A. Holmes Her thoughtful and insightful reflection on silence and contemplation is grounded in her family of origin — coming from the Gullah people of the SC/GA low country — and her work which explores the intersection between spirituality, stillness, and social justice. “Silence isn’t the word that I often use. Just simply because of the problem for people of color, and women, who have been silenced... I tend to use the language of stillness, of centering, and of embodied ineffability.” — Dr. Barbara A. Holmes Some of the resources and authors we mention in this episode: Barbara A. Holmes, Joy Unspeakable Barbara A. Holmes, Race and the Cosmos Barbara A. Holmes, Dreaming Audre Lorde, Your Silence Will Not Protect You Jane Elliott, A Collar in My Pocket: The Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes Exercise Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander Thomas Merton, Echoing Silence Margaret Barker, Temple Mysticism The Desert Mothers and Fathers, Early Christian Wisdom Sayings Janet McKenzie, Holiness and the Feminine Spirit: The Art of Janet McKenzie Matthew Fox, Creativity Beyoncé, Dangerously in Love Kendrick Lamar, Revolution Music John Coltrane, A Love Supreme Jimi Hendrix, The Best of Jimi Hendrix: Experience Hendrix Taizé, Chants for Peace and Serenity June Jordan, Directed by Desire: The Collected Poems of June Jordan John Stewart Bell, Speakable and Unspeakable in Quantum Mechanics James A. Noel, “Being, Nothingness and the Signification of Silence in African-American Religious Consciousness” in Black Religion and the Imagination of Matter in the Atlantic World Stacy M. Floyd-Thomas, Deeper Shades of Purple: Womanism in Religion and Society Kelly Brown Douglas, Sexuality and the Black Church: A Womanist Perspective Katie Cannon, Black Womanist Ethics Howard Thurman, Essential Writings Barbara Ransby, Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement  “The willingness to listen, on both sides, is the beginning of reconciliation.” — Dr. Barbara A. Holmes Episode 26: Silence as Unspeakable Joy: A Conversation with Dr. Barbara A. Holmes Hosted by: Cassidy Hall With: Kevin Johnson,

Hello friends! Can you believe that the Encountering Silence Podcast released its first episode six months ago?!? Yes — our "pilot episode" was released on December 6, 2017. This week we're celebrating our six-month-anniversary with a brief conversation in which we reflect on some of the insights and surprises that the last six months have yielded for us. Silence includes everyone, silence levels the ground and flattens our egos, to recall that we're all human and we all belong to one another. — Cassidy Hall In the interest of full disclosure, let's say it right up front: this is our "pledge drive" episode. One of the things we've learned over the last few months is that we had seriously under-estimated how much time it takes to plan, record, edit, release, and promote a podcast. We love doing this, and so we're not begrudging one second of our time. But since we are all self-employed, we also have to balance the joy we find in the podcast with the reality that we need to be earning a living. Over a dozen listeners have made the commitment to support the podcast with a monthly pledge through Patreon. If you are one of those, please know how much we appreciate your support. Thank you! If you haven't made a pledge, then we humbly but sincerely ask you to consider doing so now.  Even $1 a month makes a difference. Frankly, we would be more excited to have one hundred people pledge a dollar a month than to have one person pledge $100. Why? Because it shows us that people want to be part of the Encountering Silence Circle. Please visit our Patreon page at patreon.com/encounteringsilence In this episode, we mention a wonderful book by Henri Nouwen called A Spirituality of Fundraising. We recommend it to anyone who is a fundraiser (or a donor!) as it beautifully expresses how giving money (and asking for support from current and future donors) can be an expression of community, of caring, and indeed of spirituality. Episode 25: Six Months of Encountering Silence Hosted by: Carl McColman With: Cassidy Hall, Kevin Johnson Date Recorded: May 21, 2018  

"I'm rather obsessed with the mystics of all traditions," enthuses Mirabai Starr, as she muses on the profound relationship between silence and stillness and passionate/ecstatic mystical love. In a rich conversation that touches on the beauty of the high desert of the American Southwest, the earthy/embodied passion of the spirituality of wilderness, and the uniquely subversive wisdom of the feminine mystics, Mirabai deepens and expands our ongoing conversation on silence by inviting us into a place where the spirituality of stillness meets, and embraces, the erotic spirituality of ecstasy, joy, and love. Most of the mystics, even though they're these extravagant love poets, who are overflowing with passion, they all also are grounded in this sense of stillness. And they cultivate that stillness. — Mirabai Starr Mirabai Starr is an author, translator, retreat leader, and leader in the contemplative interspiritual community. Born into a secular Jewish family, Mirabai describes herself as a "daughter of the counter-culture," having spent part of her childhood at the Lama Foundation (an intentional spiritual community, famous as the home of Ram Dass). As an adult, she translated several of the Christian mystics, including John of the Cross, Teresa of Ávila, and Julian of Norwich, into accessible and acclaimed contemporary English. So all the mystics of all traditions, that I know and love anyway, speak to the transformational power of not knowing. I think that's intimately connected with silence. There's a higher truth that is only present, it seems, when we let all of the concepts go, and allow ourselves to know nothing. It's a vulnerable state, it's a state of spiritual nakedness, it's not for the faint of heart. — Mirabai Starr More recently she has written books that celebrate her spirituality (God of Love) and that recount her own challenging and at times heartbreaking life story (Caravan of No Despair).  A popular teacher both in person and online, Mirabai's wisdom is anchored in her own deeply embodied spirituality, drawing on the insight of all the great spiritual traditions and particular on her intuitive celebration of the Divine Feminine. The devotional impulse leads me into the presence of the Sacred, and then I am left with this kind of hush, that I drop into, and then that feeds back in again to that devotional impulse, because following those periods of deep stillness that just wash over my soul, I have that joyous urge to praise. So it's this ever-flowing dance between devotion and nonduality, or between celebration and stillness. — Mirabai Starr Some of the resources and authors we mention in this episode: Mirabai Starr, Caravan of No Despair: A Memoir of Loss and Transformation Mirabai Starr, God of Love: A Guide to the Heart of Christianity, Judaism and Islam Mirabai Starr, Saint Teresa of Ávila: Passionate Mystic John of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul, translated by Mirabai Starr Teresa of Ávila, Interior Castle, translated by Mirabai Starr Teresa of Ávila, The Book of My Life, translated by Mirabai Starr Julian of Norwich, The Showings, translated by Mirabai Starr John of the Cross, The Poems of St. John of the Cross, translated by Willis Barnstone Mirabai, Ecstatic Poems, translated by Robert Bly and Jane Hirshfield Ram Dass, Be Here Now John of the Cross, Living Flame of Love Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales Daniel Ladinsky, The Gift: Poems by Hafiz Daniel Ladinsky, The Purity of Desire: 100 Poems of Rumi Thomas Keating, Invitation to Love Pablo Neruda, Extravagaria, translated by Alistair Reed Marie Howe, The Kingdom of Ordinary Time Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander Plotinus, The Enneads Denise Levertov,

What is the relationship between silence, creativity, fear, doubt, death, and missing voices — especially in terms of art and literature? To explore this provocative question, we turned to our mutual friend — and one of the most gifted and articulate writers of our time — Jessica Mesman Griffith. It’s very difficult for me to be in any kind of silence.. I love being out in nature and not having the iPod. When I take my long walks every day, I don’t take my iPod, I don’t listen to music, I don’t have earbuds, but the sounds of nature are not the sounds of my own body. It’s the sounds of my own body I think that terrify me. — Jessica Mesman Griffith Jessica Mesman Griffith is an award-winning essayist and memoirist who honestly and fearlessly explores the intersections between religion (especially Catholicism), art and creativity, mental health, and social justice.  She is the founder of the Sick Pilgrim blog (www.patheos.com/blogs/sickpilgrim), described as "a space for the spiritually sick, and their fellow travelers, to rest a while." Her books include Love and Salt: A Spiritual Friendship Shared in Letters (co-authored with Amy Andrews), A Book of Grace Filled Days: 2016, and Daily Inspiration for Women (co-authored with Ginny Kubitz Moyer, Vinita Hampton Wright, and Margaret Silf). Jessica's authenticity is revealed from the first minutes of our conversation, when she discusses how silence seemed unsettling to her as a child. Musing on the relationship between silence and the fear of death, or the link between happiness and conviviality, and even the anxiety that comes from the noises of her own body, she muses on how she has discovered different "types" of silence (the silence of nature seems different from the silence in a suburban home). Good writing is having an ear… Having an ear for how something sounds on the page, for the rhythm of language… The best writers have an ear for where something falls flat or doesn’t sound true. — Jessica Mesman Griffith The conversation goes on to explore the questions of the relationship between silence and creativity, privilege, and the body. Invoking poetry, horror movies, music, narrative nonfiction, we look at silence from many angles, acknowledging that the human experience of silence is messy and multivalent — pretty much like the human experience in general. Some of the resources and authors we mention in this episode: Jessica Mesman Griffith & Amy Andrews, Love and Salt: A Spiritual Friendship Shared in Letters Jessica Mesman Griffith, A Book of Grace Filled Days: 2016 Jessica Mesman Griffith et al., Daily Inspiration for Women Thomas Merton, Love and Living William Friedkin (dir.), The Exorcist Wes Craven (dir.), The Serpent and the  Rainbow Tobe Hooper (dir.), Poltergeist Tillie Olsen, Silences Barbara Holmes, Joy Unspeakable Natalie Diaz, When My Brother Was an Aztec Tyehimba Jess, Olio Rosalie Morales Kearns, Kingdom of Women Rosalie Morales Kearns, Virgins & Tricksters George Saunders, Lincoln in the Bardo Flannery O'Connor, Spiritual Writings Walker Percy, Signposts in a Strange Land Thomas Merton, Essential Writings Vinny Flynn, Seven Secrets of the Eucharist John Cage, Silence: Lectures and Writings Vincent Katz (ed.), Black Mountain College: Experiment in Art John Krasinski (dir.), A Quiet Place Neil Young, Harvest Moon Andy Warhol, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol Yoko Ono, Grapefruit Carlo Rovelli, Seven Brief Lessons on Physics Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time I think we’re certain that it [silence] means death and then we’re terrified that that’s what de...

How is Silence related to the human body? To movement, exercise, and performance? To physical, as well as mental and spiritual, wellness? Today we begin what we hope will be an ongoing conversation in the Encountering Silence world, exploring these and similar questions. We open this exploration thanks to Kurt Johnson joining in the conversation today. Kurt Johnson is a personal trainer and massage therapist who works with individuals, small groups and corporations, to help  people manage pain, lose weight, improve fitness, and simply live better through movement, training, and exercise. He co-owns the Core Fitness training studio in North Haven, CT, and has over twenty years of experience studying and practicing the art and science of physical movement — and helping others to achieve their goals and beyond for bodily wellness. On top  of it all, Kurt is an avid runner and also engages in endurance competitions.  He has entered and completed half-Iron Man and full Iron Man races. What's going on is you're doing, doing, doing, doing, but we need to take a step back and "non-do," and focus more on the quietness of your body, paying attention to those little things that are going on in your body, and finding out why these things are happening. — Kurt Johnson If "personal trainer" evokes in your mind a young drill sergeant, fresh out of the Marines, who barks orders at his clients in a gym blaring with loud music and glaring neon lights — well, Kurt Johnson is not that person! Rather, his focus is on integrating physical wellness with mental and spiritual nurture — and so needless to say, he has some interesting things to say about the importance of silence in regard to physical health, fitness, and wellness. Kurt sees his ultimate mission to help people to find complete freedom in their movement of mind, body, and spirit, so they can become who they truly are. Oh, and by the way, Kurt is Kevin's brother. 

If you could take a snapshot of your relationship with silence today, what would it look like? Perhaps you will have just come back from visiting a city where tragedy has brought about a new quality of silence. Perhaps you are just clinging to a daily sitting practice in the midst of a very busy life. Or silence is your companion in a time of personal or professional transformation. In this episode, we muse on what our relationship with silence looks like nowadays. Reflecting on our busy lives and how we try to maintain an intentional relationship with silence in the midst of the busy-ness, we muse on the paradox of how silence calls us back from the "mindlessness" of a life that is dulled by too much time in front of a computer screen, or too much time sitting at a desk — but as we enter into silence, we are taken to a different kind of "mindlessness," a place of forgetting self-consciousness and letting go of ego-defined ways of thinking, seeing or being. "If you go for a hike, which I do often to reduce stress and to recuperate and to be quiet and to enjoy the beauty, if I do that I start to notice there's another level of consciousness that's available to me, and that level of consciousness is tapped in through silence. ... One of the things I've noticed is that silence is that shift in attention away from where it's self-consciousness and all about my ego and my needs, to opening up to the wide world in front of me, and saying 'I'm a player in this, I'm part of the trees, I'm part of the wind, I'm involved in this eco-system,' and that I need to reconnect, that I'm not separate from the flow." — Kevin Johnson We round out our conversation by reflecting on some of the books we are currently reading, including poetry and even a couple of "guilty pleasure" books. Cassidy finishes our conversation with a lovely poem from the great Spanish mystics St. John of the Cross. Some of the resources and authors mentioned in this episode: Richard Rohr, Everything Belongs St. Francis of Assisi, In His Own Words: The Essential Writings Mary Oliver, Devotions Leah Weiss, How We Work Kenneth Leong, The Zen Teachings of Jesus Amy-Jill Levine (ed.), The Jewish Annotated New Testament Evelyn Underhill, An Anthology of the Love of God George Monbiat, Feral: Rewilding the Land, the Sea, and Human Life Mary Oliver, Upstream: Selected Essays Cal Newport, Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World Amanda Lovelace, The Witch Doesn't Burn in This One Jim Forest, The Root of War is Fear: Thomas Merton’s Advice to Peacemakers Jim Forest, All is Grace:  A Biography of Dorothy Day Jim Forest, At Play in the Lion’s Den: A Biography and Memoir of Daniel Berrigan Neil Gaiman, Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders Rupi Kaur, Milk and Honey Willis Barnstone (tr.), The Poems of St. John of the Cross Cassidy referred to the book Carl is currently editing. It's called An Invitation to Celtic Wisdom which will be released in November. Episode 21: Encountering Silence in Our Busy Lives Hosted by: Cassidy Hall With: Carl McColman, Kevin Johnson Date Recorded: May 4, 2018  

As a peace activist, biographer, and lover of silence, author Jim Forest's deep humility and sincere way of being reveal to us much about listening, truly seeing, and deeply caring for our fellow human beings. "The day starts in silence... and silence normally — not always, but normally — opens the door to prayer, so prayer and silence are very connected; sometimes the prayer is silence." — Jim Forest Describing himself as "an undergraduate student at Dorothy Day university" — and noting that he doesn't think he will ever graduate! — Jim Forest tells the story of a truly remarkable life — the child of American communists growing up in the 1950s, he tried his hand in the U.S. Navy but soon dropped out from the service to immerse himself in the world of the Catholic Worker Movement and anti-war activism, that led him to (among other things) co-founding the Catholic Peace Fellowship after the "Spiritual Roots of Peacemaking" retreat convened by Thomas Merton in 1964. "Like arrows, words point, but they are not the target." — Jim Forest Cassidy Hall recorded this conversation while participating in the "Voices of Peace" conference in Toronto in April 2018. Their gentle and intimate conversation explores art, philosophy, politics, the Eucharist, and spirituality — and how silence dances through all these dimensions of life. With stories about legendary figures like peace activist A. J. Muste, Henri Nouwen, Thich Nhat Hanh, and (of course) Thomas Merton, this conversation provides deep and rich insight into a man who not only knew some of the great peace activists of the twentieth century, but who was indeed one of their number. "Without silence, we don't hear anything." — Jim Forest Some of the resources and authors mentioned in this episode: Jim Forest, The Ladder of the Beatitudes Jim Forest, Praying with Icons Jim Forest, Road to Emmaus Jim Forest, Living with Wisdom: A Life of Thomas Merton Jim Forest, All is Grace:  A Biography of Dorothy Day Jim Forest, At Play in the Lion's Den: A Biography and Memoir of Daniel Berrigan Thomas Merton, Essential Writings Dorothy Day, Loaves and Fishes Daniel Berrigan, Essential Writings Thich Nhat Hanh, Essential Writings Cassidy Hall and Patrick Shen, Notes on Silence Patrick Shen (dir.), In Pursuit of Silence Jim Forest, The Root of War is Fear: Thomas Merton's Advice to Peacemakers A. J. Muste, Nonviolence in an Aggressive World Thomas Merton, The Literary Essays (Includes "The Message to Poets") Dorothy Day, The Long Loneliness Henri Nouwen, Reaching Out Jim Forest, Saint George and the Dragon Jim Forest, Saint Nicholas and the Nine Gold Coins Jim Forest, Silent as a Stone: Mother Maria of Paris and the Trash Can Rescue Visit Jim and Nancy Forest's website www.jimandnancyforest.com. Episode 20: Silence and Peacemaking: A Conversation with Jim Forest Hosted by: Cassidy Hall Introduced by: Kevin Johnson Guest: Jim Forest Date Recorded: April 27, 2018

Richard Rohr talks with us in this episode about silence, spirituality, contemplation, action, and why discernment is essential for each of these areas of life. One of the most popular and beloved of living authors writing about contemplation , Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM is the founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque NM, and the dean of the online Living School. Through his popular books, audio recordings, conferences, and daily emails, this Franciscan priest has become a leading spokesperson for the recovery of contemplative spirituality in our time. "I believe the primary orthopraxy — praxis — is silence. Primary: it precedes all other spiritual practices, all other spiritual disciplines. And of course we're first of all talking — and I know you know what I'm going to say — about  interior silence. And that takes a while to achieve, because most of us, our mind fills up as soon as we open our eyes in the morning, with ideas, projects, agendas, arguments... and they're all of a verbal character." — Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM Rohr spoke with the Encountering Silence team from his hermitage in New Mexico, where he offered insight not only into his work as a writer and speaker, but also into the challenges we all face as we seek to integrate contemplation (including silence) into the demands of contemporary life. Indeed, as our conversation progressed it became clear that, as much as he values silence, Rohr felt strongly that silence should never be used as an escape from the demands of relationships, communities, or the struggle for justice — the "action" that must be partnered with "contemplation." Rohr has a keen understanding that silence is not something that not all people have easy access to — so, therefore, silence is a justice issue. He also points out that silence is not the same thing as contemplation (neither, for that matter, is being an introvert!) and that perhaps the most valuable gift that silence can give us is an invitation to move beyond the dualistic nature of language into a space that is restful, open, and simple — a space where, in the title of one of his most popular books, "Everything Belongs." "Silence is a way of knowing." — Kevin Johnson Richard Rohr is a warm and generous person and our conversation was quite intimate. He told us a remarkable story about encountering two of the most renowned Catholics of the twentieth century shortly after graduating from high school (spoiler alert: one of them was Thomas Merton!), and reflects in a truly beautiful and vulnerable about how it feels to be a man at 75 (we recorded just a few days after his birthday) where he finds grace in "having no agenda." "If people do get into contemplation or silence in the first half of life, it's almost always by some encounter with limits. Let me call it that instead of suffering, because we're so afraid of the word suffering. But without limits entering your life, you tend to define your religion in terms of spiritual ascending, rather than descending." — Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM Among the topics we touch on in our wide-ranging conversation is the distinction between true and false silence — as well as true and false dimensions of activism — the importance of being in the "second half" of life for embracing the contemplative life, the recognition that contemplation can take different forms in different cultures, and the hope that Rohr finds working with younger adults in the context of his ministry. Some of the resources and authors we mention in this episode: Richard Rohr, Essential Teachings on Love Thomas Merton, The Sign of Jonas Mother Teresa, Come Be My Light St. Francis of Assisi, In His Own Words: The Essential Writings Kenneth Leech, Prayer and Prophecy Richard Rohr, Falling Upward Richard Rohr,