We are at the dawn of Season Five, it is just peeking over the horizon, a collection of conversations with contemplatives breaking through the noise of the day, to hallow the fields, seas, and trees of life with presence. This infilling of presence reaches out like the chirpings from the old Psalm book, “Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it. Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord.” 13th Century Dominican, Meister Eckhart preached, …
Author: Swanson
Turn the Morning into Forever
5th century Chinese poet T’ao Ch’ien said, “a thousand years may be beyond me / but I can turn this morning into forever.” I find that to be really lovely. And true. Yesterday my daughter turned 9, and It has me musing on time. The swiftness and dawdling of time. When a year is marked or a height is measured and dated on a doorway, I fall prey to predatory thief of time. I look around saying – now, where did it go? As if time were a misplaced set of keys. Time, of course, is socially constructed to make …
Reduced to the Scale of Our Competence
I am going to begin with a definition. Imposter Syndrome: the persistent inability to believe that one’s success is deserved or has been legitimately achieved as a result of one’s own efforts or skills. How many of you have experienced “imposter syndrome” in some area of life? show of hands. Good. There are multiple takes on imposter syndrome. Today I want to lean on its value for spiritual practice. Imposter syndrome is when you don’t believe your success is deserved, achieved, or the result of your effort. Good. Its not. Our effort is showing up and having it be done …