This article was written for The Contemplative Society June 2026 Newsletter Western medicine has recently “discovered” the interstitium, the interconnected connective tissue in human bodies; in fact, they now believe that our interstitial tissue actually acts as a third circulation system. “Discovered” is a joke: these tissues have always been there. But westerners considered them …
In her short and remarkable life, the musician Eva Cassidy recorded some rollicking versions of old standards. In my favorite, “How Can I Keep From Singing?,” she positively belts out the chorus: “No storm can shake my inmost calm while to this rock I’m clinging; if Love is Lord of heaven and earth, how can …
Contemplative in the Kootenays is a monthly in-person gathering for the purpose of meditation, study, and community. We meet monthly on a Saturday from 10 am to 3 pm. Our next gathering is Saturday April 25th, in New Denver. For information about how to get here, contact Therese descamp@widespot.ca. We start the day with meditation–if …
When I was a kid, we lived within blocks of two different libraries. The city library was an imposing edifice of stone and stained glass and silence; the county library a big, well-lit room in the redbrick county office building. While its architecture was uninspiring, that county library was a treasure trove, a warren of …
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 …
When I was younger, I hated going to parties. I never felt comfortable: I didn’t do small talk well, and I felt awkward just standing there. My most common feeling was that I didn’t belong. Ask any teenage girl if you want to know how painful it is not to belong. Book clubs, FB groups, …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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!
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Canadians can send an e-transfer to descamp@widespot.ca. Everyone else, I take cheques of all nationalities.
Box 452, New Denver, BC, V0G 1S0, Canada