Blue Ocean World

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 World, by Desmond Tutu and Mpho Tutu

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. You can get more information and register interest here.The Experience of No-Self, by Bernadette RobertsSpiritual Enlightenment: The Damnedest Thing, by Jed McKennaAn episode of the Ringer podcast Plain English with Derek Thompson called “Why the Voice Inside Your Head Can Sound Like a Jerk” (Sept. 20, 2022)

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 most popular recent translation and discussion of Julian, from a more interreligious perspective.)

 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

Howard Thurman was the great behind-the-scenes spiritual leader of America's civil rights movement. Martin Luther King was said to carry a copy of Thurman's Jesus and the Disinherited with him for inspiration on each march. But Thurman starts by being among the great nature mystics in the Christian tradition. Why do you (like everyone) love nature so much? For Thurman, that's part of how we create that strong inner self that so influenced King and others.Mentioned on this podcast:What Makes You Come Alive: A Spiritual Walk with Howard Thurman, by Lerita Coleman Brown

I want to be happy. You want to be happy. But maybe our best pathway there comes by focusing instead on "living well.". MIT philosopher Kieran Setiya's book Life Is Hard helps Dave Schmelzer navigate those choices, with a particular look at how it applies when we feel like a failure or when we're hunting for meaning.Mentioned on this podcast:Kieran Setiya's book Life is Hard: How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way (which, at the moment, is a mere $4.99 on Kindle)

Here at The Pocket Contemplative, we do deep dives into some of the richest Christian wisdom one can find about getting close to God. But one revolutionary thinker suggested that, while that's all wonderful and we should learn all we can from such people, these great saints did live in a very different world with very different spiritual dynamics than we live in. Many were cloistered. The average person was born into the trade of their family, married someone from their village, and went to the local church like all their neighbors did. But by the 1850s that Soren Kierkegaard lived in, everyone was flooded with unprecedented choices about what to do for a living, who to marry and even what to believe--a flood that has only accelerated in our time. He argued that human psyches weren't set up to handle that kind of flood, which makes us all anxious. His road out strikes Dave Schmelzer as a drink of fresh water for a thirsty (modern) soul. Mentioned on this podcast:Existentialism and the Authentic Life, a Great Courses course by Skye C. Cleary

Christian Contemplative Spirituality--alternately called Christian Mysticism--has gone in and out of favor over the millennia, but has rich roots from the Hebrew Bible forward. With help from the work of Carl McColman, Dave Schmelzer will help orient you as you look to navigate this vital, essential stream.Mentioned on this podcast: Carl McColman's The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism: An Essential Guide to Contemplative Spirituality

Is there a secret of life? Contemplatives of many stripes suggest it surround cultivating a kind of trust and openness that endures through the hardest of times. Dave Schmelzer dives into wisdom on this from the most optimistic of contemplatives, Julian of Norwich (C.S. Lewis and Thomas Merton both said she was their go-to contemplative teacher). Julian lived through the bubonic plague and yet came out of it with a remarkable trust that others around her didn't have.Mentioned on this podcast:Julian of Norwich: Wisdom in a Time of Pandemic and Beyond, by Matthew FoxZen and the Art of Happiness, by Chris Prentiss 

Christianity's most potent and lasting advice on aging well comes from one of its most remarkable contemplatives: Hildegard of Bingen from the 12th century. She was an explosion of creativity: she wrote the first known opera (by hundreds of years). She was an architect, a physician, a poet, a painter, a composer, a theologian and a leader of women. This podcast will look at her pitch that "greening" is the road to joy, fruitfulness and vitality as we age.Mentioned on this podcast:Hildegard of Bingen: A Saint for Our Times, by Matthew Fox

Maybe the most-influential Christian mystic, Meister Eckhart, had profound thoughts about how our spiritual practice is meant to--even must!--empower our creativity. Dave Schmelzer dives into Eckhart's deep, generative waters here.Mentioned on this podcast: Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior for Our Times, by Matthew Fox

Kieran Setiya--a philosopher at MIT who wrote the terrific book Midlife: A Philosophical Guide that Dave Schmelzer talked about on the last episode--joins Dave for a lively conversation about how philosophy can help with our deepest questions and about how it interacts with the spirituality we talk about here. Mentioned on this podcast:Midlife: A Philosophical Guide, by Kieran SetiyaLIfe is Hard: How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way, by Kieran Setiya

Philosophers and theologians offer different answers to how we should feel about the losses we confront in midlife. Kieran Setiya, a philosopher teaching at MIT, wrote a terrific recent book on midlife crisis. Dave Schmelzer highlights some of Setiya's best stuff, including Setiya's takes on missed opportunities, why we can simultaneously regret and not regret where our lives have taken us, and whether there is help for those moments when we realize we're not as far from dying as we once were.Mentioned on this podcast: Kieran Setiya's book, Midlife: A Philosophical Guide

When Dave Schmelzer first started exploring contemplative spirituality, he had a hard time finding teachers who would get pragmatic in the "just do this, and then do this, and then do this, and here's what you should discover" sense. Mo Gawdat has written a bestselling guide along those lines called Solve for Happy. Dave walks us through Gawdat's pathway to get moving. Mentioned on this podcast:Mo Gawdat's book Solve for Happy: Engineer Your Path to JoyTo register your interest in a contemplative starter group: email connect@journey-on.net 

As Dave Schmelzer and Vince Brackett talked about in a recent episode, faith looks very different than it did a few hundred years back--and even than it did sixty years back. Professor Andrew Root--who was Vince's enthusiastic teacher on the subject--walks us into some of the ins and outs of what this looks and feels like.Faith Formation in a Secular Age: Responding to the Church's Obsession with Youthfulness, by Andrew Root, the first in a series of books about living in a secular age as seen through the eyes of Charles Taylor and Hartmut Rosa.A Secular Age, by Charles TaylorResonance: A Sociology of our Relationship to the World, by Hartmut Rosa

Dave Schmelzer's new favorite book on forgiveness (and maybe one of his favorite books period) is by Desmond Tutu and his daughter Mpho Tutu van Furth. Mpho joins Dave from Amsterdam to talk about what she's taken from the book in years since, her reflections on it being forged out of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission and much more.Mentioned on this podcast:The Book of Forgiving: The Fourfold Path for Healing Ourselves and Our World, by Desmond and Mpho Tutu.

You'd think that apart from affirming that, of course, forgiving people who've hurt us is crucial to our happiness, there wouldn't be much more to say. But Desmond and Mpho Tutu wrote what seems like the final word on the subject in their wonderful The Book of Forgiving, which includes many stories from Desmond's leading of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission which was central to preventing bloody civil war after apartheid fell. Dave Schmelzer talks with Grace Schmelzer about how the Tutus's insights have impacted their experience of forgiving.Mentioned on this podcast:The Book of Forgiving: The Fourfold Path for Healing Ourselves and Our World, by Desmond and Mpho Tutu.

In Part 1, we looked at how churches seem to be in the midst of a transition to something new. Here, Vince Brackett and Dave Schmelzer will take a deep dive into the thoughts of the big kahuna on this subject, Charles Taylor, and of his brilliant student, Hartmut Rosa. What if our world is set up to tell us that if we only had more resources we could have the life we want? And that our lack of resources is our fault--leading us to push and push and burn out. Taylor and Rosa think that's massively relevant to each of our lives and that churches fall under the same pressures, which, if unaddressed, will push them away from relevance. Dave and Vince discuss the profound hope that's at the heart of this.Mentioned on this podcast:Charles Taylor and his book A Secular AgeHartmut Rosa, of whom a relevant book would be Resonance: A Sociology of Our Relationship to the World

While churches are rapidly declining in numbers, new things are popping up. Dave Schmelzer will explore what's happening and the hope for what might be next with rich perspectives from thinkers like Phyllis Tickle, Charles Taylor, Hartmut Rosa and others... alongside some anecdotes from his friends that might ring a bell for you.Mentioned on this podcast:Charles Taylor's A Secular AgeHartmut Rosa's Resonance: A Sociology of Our Relationship to the WorldPhyllis Tickle's The Great Emergence: How Christianity is Changing and Why

Christian contemplative spirituality got forgotten for about three hundred years, after Brother Lawrence's famous teachings in the 1600s. The person who brought it back and set the stage for a whole new era of Christian spirituality--and people like Richard Rohr and Thomas Merton--was an unlikely candidate, an upper-middle-class British woman named Evelyn Underhill. Dave Schmelzer starts with a brief overview of this remarkable woman and then interviews Underhill's most accomplished biographer, Dana Greene.Mentioned on this podcast:Evelyn Underhill: Artist of the Infinite Life, by Dana GreeneThe Spiritual Life, by Evelyn UnderhillDana Greene's website: danagreene.orgTo receive the Evelyn Underhill newsletter, go to evelynunderhill.org 

Last episode had Gary Neal Hansen telling Dave that among the ten ancient Christian prayer practices he teaches and write about, the two that have most popped for people are the Jesus Prayer (the subject of a recent podcast) and what's called Praying the Office (first popularized by St. Benedict), which is how a large swath of Christians have prayed for centuries. Dave hasn't been drawn to Praying the Office, but his wife Grace absolutely has. Dave gives an overview of Hansen's remarks about Praying the Office and then turns things over to Grace to hear more and to walk us through what exactly happens as we give it a try. Mentioned on this podcast:Kneeling with Giants: Learning to Pray with History's Best Teachers, by Gary Neal HansenPrayers for Summertime: A Manual for Prayer (The Divine Hours), by Phyllis TickleThe Divine Hours (Volume Two): Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime: A Manual for Prayer, by Phyllis Tickle The Divine Hours (Volume Three): Prayers for Springtime: A Manual for Prayer, by Phyllis TickleThe Divine Hours, Pocket Edition, by Phyllis TickleIf you or someone you know is interested in exploring spiritual direction with Grace Schmelzer, please email her at graceschmelzer1@gmail.com

Gary Neal Hansen has taught ten ways to pray from very different Christians traditions to lots of people. Gary (who wrote Kneeling with Giants: Learning to Pray with History's Best Teachers) talks with Dave Schmelzer about what he's learned both from the practices themselves and from how people have found them helpful or not. He and Dave also spend some time on what prayer itself is actually supposed to do for us. Mentioned on this podcast:Kneeling with Giants: Learning to Pray with History's Best Teachers, by Gary Neal HansenGary's website: garynealhansen.com A free, downloadable book from Gary: Love Your Bible: Finding Your Way to the Presence of God with a 12th Century Monk

Medieval monks and modern business school profs agree that our bone-deep addition to distracting ourselves is keeping us from happiness, meaning and productivity. Which perhaps will be no surprise to people listening to a podcast called The Pocket Contemplative! That said, Dave Schmelzer dives into the wisdom from those monks and professors and how it might both cheer you up and empower a fresh way forward.Mentioned on this podcast:The Wandering Mind: What Medieval Monks Tell Us About Distraction by Jamie KreinerHappier Hour: How to Beat Distraction, Expand Your Time, and Focus on What Matters Most, by Cassie Holmes"The Time Jar" YouTube Video by Meir KayCharlie Kaufman on distraction, from Adaptation

A good chunk of any modern teaching on contemplation for Christians goes back to one mega-influential book called The Cloud of Unknowing from the dusty past of the 14th century. And yet generations of would-be contemplatives have found it is a fountain that doesn't run dry very quickly at least. Dave Schmelzer will give you a quick overview of why this book has been such a biggie, why--like many old books--it might initially feel off-putting in some ways, and why what it teaches has at the very least changed his life.Mentioned on this podcast:The Cloud of UnknowingKneeling with Giants: Learning to Pray with History's Best Teachers by Gary Neal Hansen

The biggies in Christian history tell us a story of faith that's surprising to many of us, but which turns out to be exactly what we need to find ongoing joy. Dave Schmelzer chats about this with Jason M. Baxter, a scholar who wrote An Introduction to Christian Mysticism: Recovering the Wildness of Spiritual Life, which Dave podcasted about recently. Jason walks us into how this look at the "wild" teachings of people like Augustine and Hildegard of Bingen and Meister Eckhart and many more can open our worlds like nothing else can.Mentioned on this podcastAn Introduction to Christian Mysticism: Recovering the Wildness of Spiritual Life, by Jason M. Baxter

Russian Orthodox friends suggest that a fast track to spiritual progress might come through a ten-word prayer that gets repeated. Ten words! Is it too good to be true? Dave Schmelzer, with help from Gary Neal Hansen's book Kneeling with Giants, does a deep dive into this pathway to God and reports on how it's been going for him.Mentioned in this podcastKneeling with Giants: Learning to Pray with History's Best Teachers, by Gary Neal HansenJourney to the Heart: Christian Contemplation through the Centuries, edited by Kim NatarajaThe Way of a Pilgrim (The Pilgrim's Tale)

Have the great Christian saints, over millennia, been in agreement about some central points and practices if we hope to continue our growth? One scholar says they have been indeed. Dave Schmelzer runs down some key points of interest, not least the happy surprise that, if we keep at this, our reward will be an overflowing playfulness in our lives. Mentioned on this podcast:Jason M. Baxter's book An Introduction to Christian Mysticism; Recovering the Wildness of Spiritual LifePete Holmes on not knowingSome mystics who come up: Hildegard of Bingen, Gregory of Nyssa, Meister Eckhart, Thomas Merton, Evagrius, Nicholas of Cusa, Pseudo-Dionysius, Augustine, Francis of Assisi, John Ruusbroec, Evelyn Underhill, C.S. Lewis

As we age, we face more and more life circumstances that can seem lose/lose. Take care of our aging parent and lose any margin in our lives. Start a needed side hustle that has a substantial chance of failing. The Bible encourages us to trust God enough to ask for all the things we want, but it then pivots to a different, contemplative approach that might grow our faith through these tough challenges. Dave Schmelzer looks at the ins and outs of that important flexibility while bringing in a vivid picture of what that might look like from another great world tradition.Mentioned on this podcast:Proverbs 16:9; Isaiah 26:3; Psalm 46:10 The MahabharataStephen Cope's The Great Work of Your LifeA quote from Thomas Merton to a young activist: “Do not depend on the hope of results. You may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless and even achieve no result at all, if not perhaps results opposite to what you expect. As you get used to this idea, you start more and more to concentrate not on the results, but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself.”

Thoughtful happiness tips can be opportunities for mindfulness, for noticing ways to live that we'd previously been blind to or reactive against. Dave Schmelzer talks a bit about that and then details two dozen such tips from the mega-popular book The Happiness Experiment.Mentioned on this podcast:Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun

Anything we want to do that's important to us will face (sometimes severe) resistance. One Bible perspective calls resistance its own "god of this world"--and St. Paul himself makes the point profoundly: "The thing I most want to do I don't do." Dave Schmelzer does a dive into the insights of the most-read recent thinker on the subject, Steven Pressfiled in his seminal The War of Art. Learn from contemplatives and life coaches as well as Pressfield and see if you find help with your own resistance.Mentioned on this podcast:Steven Pressfield's The War of ArtBlog help by way of:Bodhipaksa at wildmind.orgLeo Babauta at zenhabits.netMichelle Rees at wholelifechallenge.com

Dave Schmelzer loves life hacks, but has found that they often have a shorter shelf life than he'd hoped. Contemplatives have a surprising answer for why that might be. Life hacks, they tell us, come from a world view saturated in original sin: your problems come from your fundamental laziness that has to be overcome. But maybe we don't need to overcome anything. Maybe we already have a deep happiness that we can access as we quiet down a bit. Rami Shapiro and Anthony DeMello and Tara Brach help us here.Mentioned on this podcast:Rami Shapiro's book Perennial Wisdom for the Spiritually IndependentAnthony DeMello's book Stop Fixing Yourself: Wake Up, All is WellTara Brach's book Radical Acceptance

Christians spiritually address anxiety in two ways: spiritual warfare and contemplation. Dave Schmelzer looks at some of the pros and cons of each of these approaches and then takes an extended look at perhaps the most famous warfare prayer in the last two thousand years, The Breastplate of St. Patrick, a prayer Dave loves and often prays. Mentioned on this podcast:The Breastplate of St. PatrickI bind to myself today/ The fullness of the Trinity: I believe the Father, Son and Spirit/ The Creator of the Universe. I bind to myself today/ Christ coming to earth:His baptism, crucifixion and burial,/ His resurrection and ascension, His coming on the Judgment Day. I bind to myself today/ The love of archangelsThe obedience of angels/ The prayers of Patriarchs, The vision of Prophets,/ The speech of Apostles, The faith of martyrs,/ The purity of Mary, The boldness of saints. I bind to myself today/ Heaven's power-- Light like the sun,/ Brightness like the moon, Splendor like fire,/ Flashing like lightning, Speed like wind,/ Depth like sea, Stability like earth,/ Solidity like rocks. I bind to myself today/ God's Power to guide me, God's Might to strengthen me,/ God's Wisdom to teach me, God's Eye to watch over me,/ God's Ear to hear me, God's Word to speak through me,/ God's Hand to guide me, God's Way to lie before me,/ God's Shield to protect me, God's Army to empower me,/ Against the snares of demons, Against the seductions of vices,/ Against anyone who considers injuring me, Whether they're far or near,/ Few or many. I invoke today all these virtues/ Against every hostile, merciless power Which may assail my body and soul--/ Against the lies of false prophets, Against the darkness of unbelief,/ Against the distractions of heresy, Against the temptations of idolatry,/ Against the spells of sorcerers-- Against everything that would bind my soul. Christ, protect me and mine today/ Against poison and burning, Against drowning and injury and death,/ That we might live full lives for you.Christ with me, Christ before me,/ Christ behind me, Christ within me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,/ Christ at my right, Christ at my left, Christ in the home,/ Christ in the street, Christ in the store,/ Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me, Christ in every eye that sees me,/ Christ in every ear that hears me. I bind to myself today/ The fullness of the Trinity: I believe the Father, Son and Spirit/ The Creator of the Universe. 

Lots of people--from popular bloggers to academics to contemplatives--are pitching that our drive for greatness might not be giving us what it promises. Might "good-enough" living offer us a kind of joy along with giving us a place in a whole world that's happier? Dave Schmelzer mentions four recent discussion of this before focusing on two, including the mega-popular self-help book The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck.Mentioned on this podcast:The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, by Mark MansonThe Good-Enough Life, by Avram AlpertMentioned in passing:The Extraordinary Gift of Being Ordinary, by Ronald SiegelDonald Winnicott's thinking about "The Good-Enough Mother"

Feeling overwhelmed is basic to being human. Few great teachers have had more helpful things to say about this than Julian of Norwich, the contemplative who wrote during the bubonic plague years. Despite her own suffering, her legacy is of being colossally encouraging to the point that CS Lewis and Richard Rohr say she's their favorite mystic. Dave Schmelzer offers some introductory thoughts on how you can tap into her encouragement the next time you're overwhelmed.Mentioned on this podcast:All Shall Be Well: A Modern-Language Version of the Revelation of Julian Norwich, by Ellyn Sanna "A Pastor Ripped Apart by Our Divided Country," a "First Person" New York Times podcast from July 21, 2022

Even in good times, life can feel burdensome. We do our tasks, wind down over TV (maybe with a glass of wine), and then do it all again tomorrow. We feel judged and, let's face it, we judge others. A self-help bestseller, The Four Agreements, tries to offer a way into enjoying life that has parallels to the New Testament book of James and the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes. Dave Schmelzer walks you through its encouragement to, right now, start enjoying your life.Mentioned on this podcastThe Four Agreements, by Don Miguel RuizJames 3:5-9; Ecclesiastes 2:24

Research tells us that rejection and judgment will always batter our self-esteem. But classic mindfulness--along with Jesuit practices like the Examen and persistent advice from the Bible itself--offers a powerful antidote.Mentioned on this podcast:A Great Courses course called "Understanding the Mysteries of Human Behavior" by Duke psychology professor Mark Leary. (A price hack for The Great Courses. Many of their courses are pricey.  Dave's work-around? He buys them as audiobooks on Audible for the price of one credit, about $15 with a subscription, a bit more without one.)

Perhaps we're lucky enough to be initiated into life's mysteries by a wise person or by a community practice. Great myths have taught us that life itself can do this if we pay attention. This perspective--often called The Hero's Journey--provides interesting ways of thinking about descriptions of spiritual growth that we get from saints like Teresa of Avila. Using lots of stories and movie clips, Dave Schmelzer walks us into this opportunity to discover again who we actually are and what makes us come to life.Mentioned on this podcast: Some resources on the Hero's Journey:The book Dave first read, and still perhaps the easiest introduction, is a book that applies this to screenwriting called: The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers, by Christopher Vogler. The seminal book on the Heroine's Journey is Maureen Murdock's The Heroine's Journey: Woman's Quest for Wholeness.Kenny Loggins's memoir is called Still Alright. A terrific, gospel song of his that strikingly describes atonement coming from surviving the belly of the whale is "That's When I Find You" from his (regrettably) most-recent solo album, 2007's "How About Now."A book on the Examen is Sleeping with Bread: Holding what Gives You Life, by Dennis, Sheila and Matthew Linn.If you'd like to donate towards The Pocket Contemplative, you can do that at the "give" tab at journey-on.net. 

Great saints and modern psychologists agree that our lives work best when we pull off something that, technically, might be anti-human: hurting whenever we hurt, but not anticipating some future challenge or pain. As Jesus teaches, animals are good at that; people not so much. So how do we pull off this most-important thing? And what does it get us if we do? Mentioned on this podcast:Understanding the Mysteries of Human Behavior, a The Great Courses course by Mark Leary, of Duke UniversityThe Interior Castle, by Teresa of AvilaMatthew 6:25-26 and 10:16-20

The greatest spiritual teachers tell us that doing our best to improve however we can is crucial. But then they warn us that our quest for improvement will abruptly become less helpful--which is not a problem at all, but is an invitation to walk into the full life we've been wanting. This is the moment when transformation comes into play. Dave Schmelzer walks us into a deep dive into the great teacher of transformation, the sixteenth century biggie Teresa of Avila. Along with insights from the blockbuster movie Interstellar, he'll offer some concrete steps into Teresa's deep, powerful waters.Mentioned on this podcast:The Interior Castle, by Teresa of AvilaThe Christopher Nolan movie Interstellar

Alongside Jesus, the mystics tell us we have a superpower when we've been hurt or when the larger world seems scary or hostile: lovingkindness prayer or meditation. The Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela show us its power. The new movie Everything Everywhere All at Once takes it as one of its themes. Join Dave Schmelzer as he lets you in on a lovingkindness hack and as he introduces you to the thinking of the great modern teacher on the subject.Mentioned on this podcast:Everything Everywhere All at OnceLovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness, by Sharon Salzburg

Moving into all the possibilities of our lives requires a fearlessness that can seem out of reach. Dave Schmelzer takes a look both at helpful tools along these lines from modern teachers and also at how some New Testament writers teach us that overcoming our fear of being afraid unlocks the rich benefits of faith itself.Mentioned on this podcast:Hebrews 11:13-16The Way of Integrity: Finding the Path to Your True Self, by Martha Beck

The early stages of our life of faith often require us to keep quiet about anything that might rock the boat with others around us. But a surprise is that subsequent stages do the reverse. Now we need to continually relearn what's true for us and then be fully seen for those truths. The transition can be a painful one! But then we discover rich rewards. Dave Schmelzer explores how The Examen (discussed in the last episode) can help us with this while also taking a deep dive into advice from the mystics (and from St. Mark) about the power of knowing and speaking our truth. Mentioned on this podcast:The Critical Journey: Stages in the LIfe of Faith, by Janet O. Hagberg and Robert A. Guelich

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus encourages us towards a kind of perfection--what the contemplatives see as a kind of inner, structural integrity--that God has. Dave Schmelzer looks at two different takes on how to pull this off: one from pop culture, and the other from among the most ancient and enduring Christian spiritual practices, the Jesuit practice of the Examen.Mentioned on this podcast: Sleeping with Bread: Holding What Gives You Life, by Dennis, Matthew and Sheila LinnThe Way of Integrity: Finding the Path to Your True Self, by Martha Beck

We're told that a major benefit of deepening spiritual practice is discovering a profound kindness towards ourselves and others. Dave Schmelzer will fill you on insights from psychology and contemplative practice about finding this self-compassion and then Grace Schmelzer will tell an affecting story about how learning to hear God's voice powerfully broke through her own inner judgment. Mentioned on this podcast: Shauna Shapiro's book Good Morning, I Love You: Mindfulness and Self-Compassion Practices to Rewire Your Brain for Calm, Clarity, and Joy

Modern contemplatives often tie spiritual practice to wellness in general. Dave Schmelzer looks at some inspiring stories about healthy aging even as he discusses modern brain science around things like telomeres and emotion contagion and positive stress. He closes with a look at the nine common habits among the parts of the world that are home to the people who live the longest.Mentioned on this podcastA Los Angeles Times column by Steve Lopez called "The secret to a long life? Curiosity, says Morrie, who has now survived two pandemics"The Blue Zones: 9 Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest, by Dan Buettner

One of the great promises of contemplative practices is that maybe we won't have to suffer as much as we do. Today, learning from psychology professor Shauna Shapiro, Dave Schmelzer will review how exactly that happens, along with a look at some basics about things like getting sleepy or feeling pain or being frustrated as our mind wanders, along with other things along those lines. Mentioned on this episode:Shauna Shapiro's book Good Morning, I Love You: Mindfulness and Self-Compassion Practices to Rewire Your Brain for Calm, Clarity, and Joy

Eighteen hundred years of Christian teaching tells us we should be focusing on something that we likely have never even heard of--union with God. Join Dave Schmelzer as he takes a brief tour of some of these great teachers as he explores whether such a thing is possible for normal, modern people and how, if it is, the way to start will be by reengaging some fundamentals. Mentioned on this podcast:Christian Mystics: Their Lives and Legacies Throughout the Ages, by Ursula KingThe Critical Journey: Stages in the Life of Faith, by Janet Hagberg and Robert GuelichJohn Wooden on the Fundamentals: YouTube Video

It can feel threatening when our experience of faith changes--or when someone else's does. Dave Schmelzer looks at classic wisdom from spiritual direction about what different stages of faith look like and about how to figure out both where we are and what we might expect is to come. Mentioned on this podcast:The Critical Journey: Stages in the Life of Faith, by Janet O. Hagberg and Robert A. Guelich

Outrageous cultural happenings understandably provoke our outrage. On the downside, the recent FB whistleblower points out that FB's artificial intelligence relentlessly looks to inflame that righteous anger for its own nefarious purposes. A whole category of spiritual writings, called "apocalypses," helps us safely navigate this conundrum. Dave Schmelzer offers wisdom from a major scholar and from the great writer sometimes called "John the Revelator" to help us boldly stand up for important things while remaining happy and hope-filled. Mentioned on this podcastCraig R. Koester's magisterial Great Courses course: The Apocalypse: Controversies and Meaning in Western HistoryIf you'd enjoy giving to The Pocket Contemplative: journey-on.net/give

Irene Kraegel is a pioneer in exploring mindfulness from a Christian perspective. Dave Schmelzer explored some of her insights in the previous The Pocket Contemplative. She joins us in this episode to walk us through how she's arrived at her unique life mission and to offer wise counsel to those of us on a similar journey.Mentioned on this podcast:The Mindful Christian: Cultivating a Life of Intentionality, Openness, and Faith, by Irene Kraegel. Also, check out themindfulchristian.comTo learn more about or join in with an online group with Dave and others: journey-on.netTo join Dave's mailing list for a conversation about big topics about faith and culture: https://www.blueoceanfaith.org/connect/contact-us. Then click "Join the list."