Wide Spot: Women in Black
There were twenty-odd women and one man, dressed in black, standing by the side of the highway in silence. In our hands or around our necks were signs detailing the numbers dead in Gaza, in Israel, in the Ukraine, Syria, Sudan. Signs about starvation. Signs about war in general. Signs about what religions say about …
Contemplative in the Kootenays
Saturday, June 28, we will meet from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the little barn at 1305 Denver Siding Road. Our schedule for the day? Meditation, sacred reading and discussion, walking meditation, reflection, open communion. Please wear comfy clothes, bring a journal and your lunch, and if you need special sitting gear, bring that …
Writing as Three-Centred Practice: A Conversation with Author Therese DesCamp
The Contemplative Society presents “Writing as Three Centered Practice, with Therese DesCamp Saturday 31 May 2025 10am to 11:30am PACIFIC TIME. Join Therese DesCamp for a 90-minute conversation focused on the implications, obligations and revelations experienced by contemplatives who write. DesCamp, who’s been meditating and writing for 35 years, will speak about the role of …
Wide Spot: Witness
Every night at 8 p.m., after the war began, Pope Francis called Holy Family Church in Gaza. Every night until he drew his last breath, Francis faithfully picked up the phone and checked in. I haven’t been able to get this picture out of my head. Actually, what I haven’t been able to get out …
Hands Like Roots: Book Launch
On Wednesday, April 23, I’ll be launching (and selling!) Hands Like Roots: Notes on an Entangled Contemplative Life. Yahoo! Join me, with Tom Wayman as host, at 7 p.m. in New Denver at Knox Hall. Books are also available at Raven’s Nest in New Denver and Silverton General Store in Silverton. Within the week they …
Wide Spot: All Shall Be Well
Many of my friends put some pithy quotation across the bottom of their emails. The extracts vary from “I have a photographic memory; unfortunately it was never fully developed” to a definition of liminal space. But one quote occurs repeatedly. Originating with medieval mystic Julian of Norwich, it reads, “All shall be well, and all …
Wide Spot: Despair
For me, it starts in the gut: it registers that I’m feeling anxious or even nauseous since reading that news article. For someone else, it starts in the head: noticing there is an endless loop of some distressing event playing in their mind. For yet another, it is felt in the heart: a weight on …
Hands Like Roots: Nakusp Book Reading, April 30
Please join me in Nakusp for the launch of Hands Like Roots: Notes on an Entangled Contemplative Path. We will meet at the Nakusp Public Library on Wednesday, April 30, at 2 p.m. There will be readings from the book, a time of question and answer, and yes, there will be books for sale!
Hands Like Roots: Book Launch April 23
Join me at 7 pm on Wednesday, April 23, for the first official launch of Hands Like Roots: Notes on an Entangled Contemplative Life. The launch will be at Knox Hall in New Denver, and I will read from the book, talk about the process of writing the essays, and answer questions. And yes, there will be …