I was made for Afternoons

Perth has had funny temperatures this year.  Day after day of temperatures in the mid 30c's ( thats between 86f and 100f for my friends in other locals).  Not super hot (as in low 40c's) but at night we only dip to around 18c.  The constancy of the heat is wearing.  Taxing.  You function. You perform.  But you don't really rest well.  Air conditioning is helpful, but drying too. In these times I think of the north.  The heat leaves me feeling like a stranger in my own land. I long for something I can't quite put my finger on. It is the shadow in the corner, the shudder if the curtains, the train just missed, it is the north. Canada, Scandinavia,  Not only for a blessed relief from the heat,  but from all it entails in its history, its poetry, its art, its spaciousness, its mystery, its solitude. Like many, C.S. Lewis' words echo deep within me: “ Pure “Northernness” engulfed me: a vision of huge, clear spaces hanging above the Atlantic in the endless twilight of Nor...

1. Listening to: Last Fm . Type in "Funk" and you'll hear what I am cooking to . . .  2. Reading: As its the weekend I'm into "The Weekend Australian's" political, culinary, artistic and travel pages. On the book front, I just finished "A generous orthodoxy" by Brian McLaren. On the one hand I want to jump up and down and rejoice that someone wrote this book, on the other I sort of yawn and think "most of my friends think this way already" - but maybe that's just us . . . .  3. Clothes: Loving my retro Adidas trainers and dark blue knit polo shirt. Off to Buy some Doc Martens yet again tomorrow .  Loved the Ben Sherman shirts I got for Christmas. 4. Today: I went to Perth Zoo with the wife, the kids, the mates n the family. Good time. 5. Plan for this week: Monday is Australia day, a  National holiday so we'll watch the fireworks with the rest of Perth, then a quiet Tuesday before I go back to work on Wednesday. Tag...

Imagination does not breed insanity. Exactly what does breed insanity is reason. Poets do not go mad ; but chess players do . . .  Perhaps the strongest case of all is this: that only one great English poet went mad,  Cowper. And he was definitely driven mad by logic, by the ugly and alien logic of predestination. Poetry was not the disease, but the medicine . . .  He was damned by John Calvin . . .  Poetry is sane because it floats easily in an infinite sea; reason seeks to cross the infinite sea, and so make it finite. The result is mental exhaustion... The poet only asks to get his head into the heavens. It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens into his head. And it is his head that splits... The madman is not the man who has lost his reason. The madman is the man who has lost everything except his reason... Materialists and madmen never have doubts . . .  Mysticism keeps men sane. As long as you have the mystery you have health; when you destroy mystery you create morbidity....

Just picked up a copy of Brian McLaren's "A generous Orthodoxy" which I have heard loads about but never read.  Have you?  Any comments, advice or warnings?

overwhelmed n undernourished spaced out n cashed up moving on but hanging out living now n crying later all this techno phobe reinvention redesign rejig reface re re contemplative naval gazing leaves me cold cos its not me - whoever that is? its only little bits which i shine up  n make presentable for the general audience all these books n records n words might give ya a way in but no matter what freends I remain a mystery to me to you to the universe . . .  have ya noticed most of dem priests n dem musos would be love da mystic the da cosmic dimension finding the out there in here? looking for the big picture and finding it in  the blade of grass seeking silence n solitude  and then finding themselves in the centre of the world fasting praying loving renouncing then having it all given back to them learn to see learn to hear learn to love thats the journey thats the mystery

Whilst Nouwen, De Mello and Abhishiktananda are the three important spiritual writers and mentors in my life, without the support of my community, it is highly unlikely that my life would be so full and rich.  That my family would be surrounded by such love,  That I would have an opportunity to face the truths about myself, both good and bad.  That I would have so many opportunities to laugh, to cry and to celebrate. That I would get to know such a lot about various bottle of red wine . . .  Whilst the three gentleman I have written about  have informed and stimulated my search for God, it is these folks who have shown me Gods action through their love, their words, and their actions. Love you guys!

Dom Henri Le Saux, later to take the hindu name Abhishiktananda, is my next spiritual friend.  A little known hermit, his influence is felt through much of the work of Bede Griffiths and other teachers of contemplation. Abhishiktananda was a Benedictine monk from the A bbey of Sainte Anne de Kergonan  in Brittany, France.  In his late 30's he travelled to India to form a Benedictine community with J ules Monchanin . Their aim was to have a monastic community in the style of an Indian ashram. This would have been a progressive idea now ( Bede Griffiths did do it with some success) but in 1950 it was a miracle it was even thought of ! The idea failed somewhat (Until Bede took over the community) with Abhishiktanda spending much time traveling around India and immersing himself in Indian spirituality,  spending extended periods in silence and solitude. Abhishiktananda opened his heart to the world and spent time dialoguing with people (esp. Anglican missionary Murray Rogers ) of all ...

If Nouwen started the spiritual journey for me (and I repeated come back to his works more than any other writer) then Indian Jesuit Anthony De Mello took me deeper into myself. Initially his book Sadhana  ( a book of contemplative exercises) appealed to me and begun my journey into silence and the mystery more deeply, but it was a book written by one of his friends, Carlos Valles " Mastering Sadhana"   which led me deeper into what De Mello was teaching. My instinct is that in Jesus, De Mello saw a totally free human being, able to completely experience life without hanging on to hurt or relationships, and so therefore able to relate to others in completely honest, open, compassionate and often unexpected ways. Once he saw the divinity which was shown through Jesus' humanity, De Mello was open to insights about humanness from across the religious spectrum. It was experience of his own search for inner freedom which led him to be therapist, counsellor, spiritual director ...

I thought I might write a short series of posts about Spiritual Friends - those writers and people who have influenced my spiritual growth and contributed to my search for God. Henri Nouwen, the Dutch Catholic  priest,  was the first writer who really captured my imagination about what it meant to be a spiritual being and take the search for God seriously.  I can see my life in both before and after discovering Nouwen stages! My dad suggested I read "Genesee Diary: Report from a Trappist Monastery" with the words. "I think you'll like this. If you do you won't be able to put it down and then you'll want to read all his books!". He was right. I counsumed the book in about two days and then began buying/borrowing/scrounging for more! Loads has been written about Nouwen, and you can get lots of information from the society website. His personal influence in my life really falls into three  - disciplines, community, and freedom.  Disciplines : Henri was big...

Actually its a cab sav from Stonyfell wines. Nice little drop and nice to be able to have a drop of vino at lunch.... I have been reading about listening to Tom Merton this morning.  Lots has been said about him over the years of course, and by much brighter folk than me.  The attraction for me has always been a bit broader than just his monastic persona, wonderful and full of depth as it is.  I love the beat/poet/count-cultureness of Merton.  His dialogues with Joan Baez for instance.  Listening to Dylan and singing along. Coltrane too. Reading Lenny Bruce. Merton writing about the peace movement. Loved this Psalm by Merton. It encourages me to take both the contemplative and artistic paths seriously.   Night Psalm Be still Listen to the stones of the wall Be silent, they try To speak your Name. Listen To the living walls. Who are you? Who Are you? Whose Silence are you? Who (be quiet) Are you (as these stones Are quiet). Do not Think of what you are Still less of What you may one da...

You might have noticed that I put a few lifestyle and creativity sites on the columns to your right. I pursued these to try and help me formulate some ideas for what I would like to try and achieve this year. Last year I wrote about wanting to live more intentionally ( http://preview.tinyurl.com/855l63 ) but I feel like I only went a small way towards this goal of having my inside life and outside life have a sense of congruency.  I really liked the idea I found on Zen Habits  about how to stick with any New Years changes we try to make. Check it out! So for me the idea is to establish a morning routine which includes getting up by 6, spending some time in Lectio and Silence, and doing some exercise.  Stay with me and I will report back on how its going!

Added Flickr photo link Added Anglo Catholic Blog list Added Lifestyle and Creativity Links Redesigned blog into three columns Added new coffee cup image Added Search function Like it?

Made any resolutions?  Wanna make a change or two? Try out new ways of being? I have been mouching around looking at a few sites on lifestyle and creativity. I'll post a few things soon, but I think the key here is taking time to make my changes both workable and long lasting.

After spending the day wondering who I was going to add things to the two side columns I thought 'Just add something" and then - there they are! Spent ALOT of time fiddling around with html today, but happy I am getting somewhere What would you like to see here friends?

Having some trouble with the HTML code for this blog and trying to get the third column working. Any advice welcome!

I'll be fiddling with the blog layout over the next month so stay tuned!