313: A Journey from Head Knowledge to Heart Connection (Alan on Thomas Merton)
Thirty years ago, I was visiting one of my very favorite sorts of places—a bookstore. It was a Barnes & Noble in Pasadena, California, and I was browsing through the Faith section of books. There I saw a book by an author I’d heard of but never read. The author was Thomas Merton, and the title was New Seeds of Contemplation.
It was Fall 1994 when I picked up a copy of Thomas Merton’s book New Seeds of Contemplation. I was a college pastor in the San Gabriel Valley in Southern California, and I’d been on a spiritual formation journey for a few years by then.
Today, I’m sharing from my journal entries in that season as I read the book. The first chapter posed a question I was asking at the time: “What is contemplation?” There weren’t many of my colleagues who were using that sort of language about their spiritual lives, but I was finding it increasingly inviting in my own life with God.
One of Merton’s insights that spoke me then was that, “In contemplation...we know by `unknowing."
__________________________________________________________________
Connect with Alan on LinkedIn or learn more about Unhurried Living programs on their website.
Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.
Alan consults and coaches leaders and their organizations in the U.S. and around the world, helping them work towards long-term productivity that lasts rather than settling for quick fixes that don’t. He is the award-winning author of five books, including An Unhurried Life, An Unhurried Leader, and A Non-Anxious Life.
Gem is the co-host of the Unhurried Living Podcast as well as the author of Hold That Thought and co-author of What Does Your Soul Love? Her work has appeared in Propel Women and Our Daily Bread.
