Musings

APRIL NONREQUIRED READING LIST

Something has been off the last hundred days. The air is thick with it and easy enough for many of us to put a finger on. There seems to be an uptick in disheveled fatuity spewing from puerile voices in positions that are supposed to require honor. We have seen orders signed from the highest office that trot out demonstrable dangers to those already trying to survive on the margins. The survivable margins slims while trepidation expands like Ronald McDonald’s waistline. Courageous politicos on both sides of the visible aisle speak more eloquently on the tragedy this creates, much more than this ol contemplative shoveler. But I can say—this is no way to treat your neighbor. Or a stranger. Or a way to build flourishing communities. ……Read the rest here.

FAITH OR FASCISM: WHEN OUR SPIRITUALITY BETRAYS THE OPPRESSED

Fr. Adam Bucko is writing some of the most faith-filled and fervent perspectives on the pressing and calamitous times we are living in, calling us to stay awake, calling us to act. Check out his Substack, Contemplative Witness with Adam Bucko.
(updated 3/24/25)

A MASTER IN THE ART OF LIVING

“A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself, he always appears to be doing both.” 
– L.P. Jacks
(updated 3/22/25)

EYE OF THE HEART

For those in the Minneapolis area, a creative contemplative organization that just landed on my radar that I think is worth discovering. Calling all writers, dreamers, and creatives to check it out here.
(updated 1/22/25)

TWELVE STEPS FOR CONTEMPLATIVES

This comes from the Community of the Incarnation’s newsletter: “If there’s one part of our community’s Rule of Life that surprises people the most, it’s probably this one: Adopt the Twelve Steps as a method of conversion of life, specifically by working the steps in a small group. It doesn’t surprise people who have worked the steps, of course—they know the spiritual value of the practice. But most people assume the steps are only for people with serious addictions. What do the steps have to do with living a contemplative life? To answer this question, it may be helpful to begin with a little history.” check it out here. (updated 1/22/25)

WORK SONG

The most polarizing episode of Contemplify ever was Dan Reeder. I heard lots of complaints. The cussing. His perspective. I had a blast in conversation with him and think him a wildly inventive and bold artist. Here is but a taste of Dan’s music, not appropriate for the ears of kids (and some adults). He sings the tune with his daughter and a choir.

RESPONSIBILITY AS DESTINY

One of my favorite poets, the great Teddy Macker, is speaking in public on the dignified necessity of prioritizing health. Doing this in a polarizing political environment, with nuance, with an eye beyond the limited landscape is daring. Pay attention to those seeking to unify at great cost in a befuddling system that dropkicks anyone who appears to be on the ‘other side’ other than their own. Bravo, Teddy.

(updated 5/23/25)

HOW I PRAY

TIME TO TELL THE TRUTH

“It is no secret that teenagers throughout the developed world are in the throes of the worst mental health crisis ever documented. And it’s no secret that the proliferation of smartphones and social media has played a massive role in this crisis.” An important piece for parents related to how menacing smartphones and tablets can be for our kids. Read here. (updated 5/20/25)

HOW I PRAY

I love this brief one page article by Fr. Bede Griffiths, succinct with guidance on how to pray, here is a taste, “If anyone asks me how I pray, my simple answer is that I pray the Jesus prayer. Anyone familiar with the story of a Russian pilgrim will know what I mean. It consists simply in repeating the words: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.” I have used this prayer now for over 40 years and it has become so familiar that it simply repeats itself. Whenever I am not otherwise occupied or thinking of something else it is almost mechanical, just quietly repeating itself, and other times it gathers strength and can become extremely powerful.” Read the whole article here.
(updated 5/19/25)

URUGUAY’S JOSÉ MUJICA, WORLD’S ‘POOREST PRESIDENT’, DIES

Did you see that the world (and particularly Uruguay) lost Pepe today? A wild character and ‘poorest president in the world’ became a model of another way of leadership as he aged. Humble, grounded in flowers, honestly imperfect, with the poor at the center of his mind. Read his obituary here.
(updated 5/14/25)

CAN USING A DUMBER PHONE CURE ‘BRAIN ROT’?

I am swapping out my iPhone for a Lite Phone. It is intentionally inconvenient. The New York Times did a review of it and it was unintentionally hilarious. The reviewer wants the benefits of not having a smartphone while not giving up any of the convenience. Read the whole article here.
(updated 4/13/25)

IN JAPAN, AN ICELESS LAKE AND AN ABSENT GOD SOUND AN ANCIENT WARNING

“For at least six centuries, residents along a lake in the mountains of central Japan have marked the depth of winter by celebrating the return of a natural phenomenon once revered as the trail of a wandering god.” When attunement to nature and religion hold the same space, the challenge to change your way of life on a warming planet. Read the whole article here.
(updated 4/6/25)

BLACK SHEEP OF BROADCASTING IS BACK

I have listened to more hours of T.D. Mischke’s yakking than just about anyone. The radio renegade was my companion week nights when I was in high school on the AM dial and helped me fall in love the allure of sincerity, reflection, and joy of the mundane. Mischke has a new podcast that rallies the energies of his hold radio show and is simply called Mischke. I am so grateful to have him back in my ears. (Mischke was one of my early guests on Contemplify, you can hear that here.)
(updated 3/22/25)

BILL MURRAY SAYS HE’S NOT THE MAN HE USED TO BE

Bill Murray is one of the few celebrities to truly fascinate me. His deadpan humor, sweet sadness, and his preternatural ability to call himself and others to presence. Not a man to cast the first stone, but a seeker of meaning in each moment. Read the abbreviated interview here or listen to the whole conversation here.
(h/t to Dave / updated 4/7/25)

DEFYING DECLINE

Comment magazine has entered the boxing ring to plant a garden. Here are the questions Comment is raising and volunteering its services to: “Who is in touch with the shifting landscape of our place and time and coming up with creative ways to seed new forms of communion that will flourish in the ground of today, not yesteryear? Who is undertaking the slow, intricate work of regrowing roots, not roots that yield a false coherence or blurry tangle, but roots that interact with one another in soil capable of nourishing something beautiful, ordered, yet free?” Read the whole piece and their manifesto. I love a good manifesto.
(h/t to Matt / updated 2/27/25)

KENDRICK WINS THE SUPER BOWL THREE TIMES : HALFTIME ANALYSIS

If you did not understand why this year’s halftime show is being hailed as one of the best. Watch this. Kendrick Lamar is the artist our country needs right now.
(H/T Josue updated 2/23/25)

DON’T BELIEVE HIM

Ezra Klein offering some needed perspective in times such as this.
(updated 2/11/25)

TWENTY LESSONS ON TYRANNY

Timothy Snyder is a citizen and offers some considered lesson on tyranny. This list is a distillation of his book. Here is an example:

“Do not obey in advance. Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.”
“Be kind to our language. Avoid pronouncing the phrases everyone else does. Think up your own way of speaking, even if only to convey that thing you think everyone is saying. Make an effort to separate yourself from the internet. Read books.” Check out the whole list here.
(updated 1/22/25)