Blue Ocean World

The connection between contemplative practice and psychotherapy is often noted, but how that came to be is a fascinating story. Dave Schmelzer offers a look at fourth century monk Evagrius of Pontus as a key example of what came out of desert spirituality and, in particular, as the (possible) originator of things you might know and love like the Enneagram, the seven deadly sins and, yes, what Freud and Jung spun into modern psychiatry. Dave closes with a brief look at Evagrius's student and champion and a major player in his own right, John Cassian.Mentioned on this podcast:Kim Nataraja's lecture on Evagrius of Pontus (and another on John Cassian) from Journey to the HeartYou can learn more about the Faith Part 2 course or register interest for it here.You can sign up for Dave's "Thursday notes" essays here. 

Cutting to the chase, getting what we want won't make us happy because of what the researchers call "hedonic adaptation." The good news is that these same researchers tell us these desires for our lives absolutely can be central in helping us create a happy life. So what gives? How can our dreams for our lives work for us and not against us? Dave Schmelzer will explore this key question by way of famed happiness researcher Sonja Lyubomirsky's research and insights. But before getting there, he'll look at this question a bit more broadly by considering Carl Jung's "Five Pillars of a Happy Life" along with some commentary by Arthur C. Brooks.Mentioned on this podcastYou can sign up to receive Dave's weekly "Thursday notes" here. Sonja Lyubomirsky's book The Myths of Happiness: What Should Make You Happy, but Doesn't, What Shouldn't Make You Happy, but DoesArthur C. Brooks's book The Happiness Files: Insights on Work and Life

In another episode of Dave's "history corner," he looks at the cataclysm that happened when the emperor made Christianity the state's religion in 325. Where Christians had been poor, persecuted and few in number, it now messed with the heads of the old guard to suddenly be favored and joined by millions of far less devout "fellow Christians" who loved the perks of their connection to power. The response of a few bold people to head to the wilderness changed what Christian faith--and its contemplative variant--was to become. It's quite a story. Mentioned on this podcast:Journey to the Heart: Christian Contemplation Through the Centuries, edited by Kim NatarajaYou can sign up for Dave's "Thursday Notes" hereYou can learn more about the free, online Faith Part 2 course here. You can register your interest here. 

Contemplative practice has a remarkable connection to our physical health, among its many benefits. Dave Schmelzer will review how it connects with lengthening our telomeres, the caps on our chromosomes which determine whether we age with vigor or disease. He'll touch on advice for stress management and exercise and diet and sleep, all in a context of a mindful world. Mentioned on this podcastThe Telomere Effect: A Revolutionary Approach to Living Younger, Healthier, Longer, by Elizabeth Blackburn and Elissa EpelYou can sign up to receive Dave's "Thursday notes" hereYou can learn more about the free, online Faith Part 2 course here. You can register your interest here. 

"I dunno, that seems kind of out there to me" is a sentiment that has shadowed Christian conversations from the start. Dave Schmelzer takes us on a journey to the second century when early attempts to define orthodoxy made consequential choices about how much our experience might inform our understanding of who God is. He introduces us to key figures like Irenaeus and to a consequential debate that perhaps we haven't heard about: whether the fourth gospel would be John's or Thomas's.Mentioned on this episode:Journey to the Heart: Christian Contemplation Through the Centuries, edited by Kim NatarajaYou can sign up for Dave's "Thursday Notes" hereSome resources about The Gospel of Thomas you might enjoy:The Gospel of Thomas: Annotated & Explained, by Stevan DaviesBeyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas, by Elaine Pagels

After relaying some brief advice from Dick Van Dyke about turning 100, Dave Schmelzer chats about some wisdom from the Buddhist therapist Lewis Richmond about what he's learned by working with aging clients. Dave touches on fascinating ideas from Richmond about horizontal versus vertical time and the isolation of a sudden setback and experiencing aging as a fresh start along with much more.Mentioned on this podcast:Lewis Richmond's book Aging as a Spiritual Practice: A Contemplative Guide to Growing Older and WiserHere's how to learn more about and register interest in the Faith Part 2 courseIf you are not receiving Dave's emailed "Thursday Notes" and would like to (or if you have friends who would like to receive them), you can sign up for them here. 

Mark Charbonneau and his friends at The Vine church in Austin, Texas are charting a unique way forward in our cultural and religious divisions. Dave Schmelzer talks with him about what their “third way” looks like and how it might help all of us in the middle of such unprecedented divisions. Does it only apply to a small number of people of good will? Does it offer broader hope? They close with a few words about the life of a pastor at all, much less one in the middle of these sorts of cultural divides. Mentioned on this podcast:The Vine church in Austin, TexasJoin the list to receive weekly "Thursday notes" about how the themes we discuss on The Pocket Contemplative might apply to your larger world.

Some great thinkers like GK Chesterton and Meister Eckhart pitch that right at the heart of God's reality is play and that the more we can tap into this bone-deep playfulness, even in the middle of realities that look quite unpromising and overwhelming, the better we'll thrive.Mentioned on this podcastThe God Who Plays: A Playful Approach to Theology and Spirituality, by Brian Edgar Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul, by Stuart Brown M.D.Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior for Our Times, by Matthew FoxThe Artist's Way, by Julia Cameron

One of the charms of Christian faith is that so many scriptures encourage us to ask God for things we want. But as we age we realize it must be more complicated than that--and the great contemplatives add complexities as they focus on things like union with God as the main thing or with cautions about things like "disordered attachments". But we still do in fact want things! Dave Schmelzer offers us some things to ponder in these conundrums.

One unexpected outcome of the Christian contemplative life is that, per the Benedictines, we'll discover that the stuff we need to do everyday has the possibility of moving from "that stuff we have to get done" to "co-creating a better world with God." And not just that, but it also then might make our days feel rich and purposeful when they'd been feeling less than that. Christa Connelly helped facilitate a fascinating conversation on the ins and outs of this and she and Dave Schmelzer talk about what it's meant for her and might mean for you. Mentioned on this podcast:Joan Chittister's book The Monastic Heart: 50 Simple Practices for a Contemplative and Fulfilling Life

Dave Schmelzer used to lead a church in which looking to experience power that we're told comes from the Holy Spirit was a big deal. Does that view of the spiritual life translate to a contemplative world? It turns out the answer is not just "yes," but even "oh, you have no idea."Mentioned on this podcast:Check out the next session of Faith Part 2 in October. It's a free 8-week online look at some crucial but lesser-taught riches of Christian faith that might help us when our initial faith experience falters a bit. 

Dave Schmelzer and Curtis Gruenler (an English professor and medievalist) have been friends since college and they talk about the ins and outs of how friendships themselves can empower the kind of growth in God that we talk about on The Pocket Contemplative.Mentioned on this podcast:If you'd like to register interest in October's (free, eight-week) Faith Part 2 course, let us know here.Curtis is launching a Substack on friendship (from a medievalist's perspective)Curtis and Dave allude in passing to:Spiritual Friendship by the medieval monk Aelred of RievaulxRene Girard and his Shakespeare book Theater of Envy

In this continuation of a look (from Notre Dame sociologist Chrisitan Smith) at the religious world that Millennials in particular are living in, Dave Schmelzer will continue to look at some large, cultural forces at play before turning to some self-inflicted wounds from religion.  Mentioned on this podcastRegister your interest here for this fall's Faith Part 2 course, a free, online look at how the Christian tradition (sometimes partnering with other contemplative traditions and modern neuroscience) encourages us into an unexpected second chapter of faith after, perhaps, our initial experience of faith has faltered. Why Religion Went Obsolete: The Demise of Traditional Faith in America, by Christian Smith

Evangelical parents are taught that a key part of their parental responsibility is to raise their kids to be Christians. But that's becoming, in an understatement, far more challenging  says notable Notre Dame sociologist Christian Smith. In this revealing first of a two part podcast, Dave Schmelzer will walk you through some of the large-scale cultural forces that, Smith reports, are driving religion to a kind of cultural obsolescence. Mentioned on this podcastRegister your interest here for this fall's Faith Part 2 course, a free, online look at how the Christian tradition (sometimes partnering with other contemplative traditions and modern neuroscience) encourages us into an unexpected second chapter of faith after, perhaps, our initial experience of faith has faltered. Why Religion Went Obsolete: The Demise of Traditional Faith in America, by Christian Smith

Many earnest evangelicals and charismatics, Dave Schmelzer among them, have found comfort and connection in learning to hear God's voice in the spirit taught by the great 17th-century contemplative Brother Lawrence. But an insurmountable problem usually comes up: as delightful as the conversation itself is, lots and lots of things that are important to us don't actually work out in ways we'd felt like God was telling us they would. And, eventually, we wise up and quit this dialogue. But that is not the advice of some great contemplatives, who tell us that we've been making one key mistake all along. If we just clear that up, we're told we'll get a sea of benefits that will give us "solid ground" to stand on in the chaos that is life on earth. Mentioned on this podcast:Register your interest here for the 8-week Faith Part 2 course coming this fall. The book touched on here: The Practice of the Presence of God, by Brother Lawrence

Many of the most prominent social activists in the last half century or so have also been contemplatives: Howard Thurman, the Dalai Lama, and Thomas Merton among others. Does the sort of spirituality we talk about here have things to offer in a world like ours where people feel daily outrages flowing through their media feeds? Might our practices actually be negative--in that moving past constant reactivity might make us too passive? But surely constant outrage mostly leads to hopelessness (and unpleasant days). Dave Schmelzer is joined by Grace Schmelzer and Steve Joh (a former pastor who currently leads a network of small, spacious, spiritual, Christian communities in the Bay Area) for a lively conversation about all of this, including a look at the most commonly discussed spiritual approach to addressing such times.Mentioned on this podcast:Register your interest in the next Faith Part 2 course here.Arbor communities in the Bay AreaThe Book of Forgiving: The Fourfold Path for Healing Ourselves and Our Worl

The end goal of spiritual development for most great Christian contemplatives is some sort of union with God. But many people find that to feel pretty distant--maybe it's something we can only hope for in heaven. But a recent, major Christian contemplative named Bernadette Roberts offers a more direct pathway not only to union with God (and maybe beyond), but also to direct lifestyle benefits along the lines of what psychologists call "flow." She talks about it using the Eastern terminology of no-self. Dave Schmelzer has found it to be the most helpful spiritual thing he's learned in some time. He'll give a brief introduction to it here and he'll also mention a new, free, 8-week online course about these things that will be starting in February called "Faith Part 2."Mentioned on this podcast:"Faith Part 2," an upcoming, free online course about what good things might come next for people who perhaps have experienced the limits of their early faith instruction.

Some people, feeling unsettled by the election, have wondered what the wisdom talked about on The Pocket Contemplative might offer us. Dave Schmelzer looks to Julian of Norwich, who lived during her own unsettling time (the Bubonic Plague), for some thoughts. In his introduction, he also talks about "Faith Part 2," a new 8-week online course about the how-to's of a faith that, learning from the greats, might help to move us past faith challenges into a richer life with God than perhaps we've yet been exposed to. Mentioned on this podcast:To register interest in the 8-week online Faith Part 2 course, go to: thepocketcontemplative.com/faithpart2Two popular translations of Julian of Norwich's Revelation of Divine Love:Ellyn Sanna's All Shall Be Well: A Modern-Language Version of the Revelation of Julian of Norwich (Very readable, very faith-filled.)Mirabai Starr's Julian of Norwich: The Showings: Uncovering the Face of the Feminine in Revelations of Divine Love (Probably the mo

 Hartmut Rosa is a German sociologist whom many Christians have been looking to as a guide to how our lives seem to be accelerating. Do we somehow need to opt out of this acceleration if we want a happy life, much less a life with God? Rosa says no, opting out isn’t possible. But he does have a contemplative answer: “resonance,” a kind of paying attention that can sit alongside much of what we talk about here. Vince Brackett, a Chicago pastor, and Rosa devotee, walks us through this fascinating view of a rich life in a busy world.Mentioned on this podcast:Hartmut Rosa’s book Resonance: A Sociology of Our Relationship to the WorldBrown Line Church in Chicago

Dave Schmelzer is in touch with many people who are, to a greater or lesser degree, deconstructing their earlier faith experience, a common process for midlife people of faith. HIstoric Christian spirituality tells us there's a unique second-half-of-life flowering of faith. Dave lets us in on a series of conversations he's been having about how we might explore that in our era. Mentioned on this podcast:Short videos about The Critical Journey's stages of faithIntriguing blog posts about "post-progressive" faith