“Each day is valuable…Do not compare it with a dragon’s bright pearl. A dragon’s pearl may be found. But this one day out of a hundred years cannot be retrieved once it is lost.” – Zen Master Dogen* This quote easily tripped off the lips of author, editor, illustrator and brush painter Toinette Lippe. An artist of many pursuits, Lippe had a distinguished publishing career at Simon and Schuster (under Robert Gottlieb, who later became editor of The New Yorker), Knopf and then as the editorial director of Bell Tower. She edited 141 books from such luminaries as Ram Dass (How …
Author: Swanson
005: The Life and Art of Thomas Merton, Morgan Atkinson on Crafting the Contemplative Documentary
Morgan Atkinson has documented the life of Thomas Merton over two films. The poetic contemplative Thomas Merton lived an ever expanding and continual openness to God’s love and Atkinson beautifully captures this on film. In this episode discover Thomas Merton as the rescuer of the contemplative tradition in Christianity, the middle-aged monk who fell ass over heels in love with a student nurse, and opens dialogues with other religious traditions through the depth of each one’s contemplative stream. Atkinson has produced multiple documentaries on Thomas Merton, John Howard Griffin, Anna and Harlan Hubbard among many others. In our conversation we focus on …
004 Simone Weil: Attention, the Agent of Love with Eric O. Springsted
Eric O. Springsted spends some time with Contemplify to explore the life and attention of Simone Weil. The French philosopher, mystic and activist dared to imagine an authentic life based on the attention and practice of love for all of humanity. Weil came into her own through a contemplative stance hard-won through affliction and openness. Springsted has spent his entire career drawing from the deep well of wisdom that is Simone Weil. In our conversation we focus on what Simone Weil might say about the current education system, her freedom of thought, how poetry transformed Weil’s life and Springsted’s own story of connecting to Weil’s …
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