Contemplify
The Contemplify podcast kindles the examined life for contemplatives in the world. Through artful musings & conversations with scholars, creatives, and master teachers each episode delivers a subtly intoxicating* exchange on the contemplative lifestyle with practical takeaways to emulate in daily life. Host, Paul Swanson, is a husband, father and contemplative educator at the Center for Action and Contemplation and co-host of Another Name for Every Thing with Richard Rohr**. *Contemplify is best served with a pint in hand. Please listen responsibly. ** All shenanigans, tom foolery and bally-hoo posted on Contemplify are my own. Contemplify is not representative of the Center for Action and Contemplation or Richard Rohr on any matter.
Episodes
This episode introduces the premise and possibilities of the Contemplify podcast. Contemplify kindles the examined life for contemplatives in the world through musings and interviews with scholars, creatives, and practitioners.
Visit us at Contemplify.com
Amy Frykholm (@AmyFrykholm) joins Contemplify in conversation on visionary 13th century contemplative and mystic Julian of Norwich. Bring some mead to the table because we cover a lot of ground here; the near death experience of Julian that catapulted her writing (by the by, Julian was the first woman to write a book in English), Amy's life-altering encounter with Julian, a Noble prize winning contemplative geneticist who listened ...
Donald Worster ( @TheWorster1979 ) connects with Contemplify to traverse the life and passion of John Muir. The American icon who combined intelligence and curiosity with a grounded love for the wilderness. Muir held a natural contemplative bent that married an abiding sense of purpose. The landscape of John Muir's life is pretty well documented, in my conversation with Donald we focus on the unique character of John Muir, the lif...
Eric O. Springsted spends some time with Contemplify to explore the life and attention of Simone Weil. The French philosopher, mystic and activist dared to imagine an authentic life based on the attention and practice of love for all of humanity. Weil came into her own through a contemplative stance hard-won through affliction and openness. Springsted has spent his entire career drawing from the deep well of wisdom that is Simone...
Morgan Atkinson has documented the life of Thomas Merton over two films. The poetic contemplative Thomas Merton lived an ever expanding and continual openness to God's love and Atkinson beautifully captures this on film. In this episode discover Thomas Merton as the rescuer of the contemplative tradition in Christianity, the middle-aged monk who fell ass over heels in love with a student nurse, and open dialogues with other religio...
"Each day is valuable...Do not compare it with a dragon's bright pearl. A dragon's pearl may be found. But this one day out of a hundred years cannot be retrieved once it is lost." - Zen Master Dogen
This quote easily tripped off the lips of author, editor, illustrator and brush painter Toinette Lippe. An artist of many pursuits, Lippe had a distinguished publishing career at Simon and Schuster (under Robert Gottlieb, who later bec...
Dar Williams (@DarWilliamsTour), "one of America's very best singer-songwriters." (The New Yorker), is thoughtful and charming as she tells stories about her local community, but don't let her laid back delivery fool you, she is passionate about community life and the revitalization of small towns everywhere. Known for her songwriting chops, Dar takes us down another avenue to talk about "positive proximity", the focus of her forth...
Andrew Gingerich embraces a prophetic, contemplative lifestyle. Of course he would object to this description, because his pursuit is internally driven and extrinsic validation does not go far with him. At times he speaks like a modern-day Desert Father (in our conversation he unknowingly paraphrases one of the most famous lines by Abba Moses
T.D. Mischke (@TommyMischke) is a radioman that has fled the studio for the open road and the stories waiting to be told via his latest project, The Mischke Roadshow. My conversational history with Mischke dates back to 1996 when I first rang his radio program as a 16-year old. Ever a beacon of creativity, Mischke is an art...
Lama Rod Owens (@lamarod1) holds the space for vulnerable conversation to unfold. I was going to write a spot-on bio, but the one posted on his website mirrors my experience and understanding of him:
“Considered one of the leaders of the next generation of Dharma teachers, Lama Rod Owens has a blend of formal Buddhist training and...
David Germano is a man who holds many posts at the University of Virginia. Germano's astute and focused work related to the integration of contemplation into all facets of life makes him an easy conversation partner on Contemplify. His deep attention to the contemplative sciences is astounding to witness and damn near impossible to keep pace with. Be sure to check out the U.Va.'s Contemplative Sciences Center to hear what he, his t...
"Munindra was one of the most important teachers for Westerners in the establishment of Vipassana and mindfulness meditation."
- Jack Kornfield
“Mirka Knaster is the author of Living This Life Fully: Stories and Teachings of Munindra, a book about the Bengali meditation master who was a grand...
“Jenny Phillips is a cultural anthropologist, filmmaker, writer and psychiatric nurse. She has a psychotherapy practice in Concord, MA, specializing in crisis intervention, family and marriage therapy, behavioral medicine, and mindfulness training. In 2002, working with the Alabama DOC, Jenny successfully brought a Vipassana meditation program inside a maximum-security prison in Alabama. In 2008, Phi...
“Marianne is one of the best teachers I’ve experienced and I’ve been a teacher for many years.” - Brene Brown
Marianne Elliot is a human rights advocate and a writer. She served in the United Nations mission in Afghanistan with a focus on human rights and gender issues, helped develop human rights strategies for the governments of New Zealand and Timor-Leste and...
Raghu Markus is currently the Executive Director of the Love Serve Remember Foundation and has been an associate producer for on-line and television events for Ram Dass and Oprah Winfrey as well as Eckhart Tolle. Raghu is the host of Mindrolling, a podcast “about coming unstuck and the recent history of awoken awareness. It’s about the intersection of culture, consciousness and realization.” (adapted...
Barbara Holmes served as president of United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities, as well as professor of ethics and African American religious studies. She was ordained in the Latter Rain Apostolic Holiness Church in Dallas, Texas, and has privilege of call in the United Church of Christ and recognition of ministerial standing in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). In addition to her wor...
Alison (Ali) Kirkpatrick is a writer, speaker and educator and you might say professional inspirer of goodness. You can find her blog #SignsOfLove at alisonkirkpatrick.com.
Mark Longhurst is a pastor and a curator of the collaborative contemplative website ordinarymystic.net. If you ever get the chance to dance in the same room as Mark...do it.
“We would rather be ruined than changed
We would rather die in our dread
Than climb the cross of the moment
And let our illusions die.” - W.H. Auden
Interview with James Hollis, Ph.D. on the key elements of a reflective life.
“I have a crazy, crazy love of things.” - Pablo Neruda
Brie Stoner is a student, musician, and writer at becomingultrahuman.com. Besides contributing to the Center for Spiritual Resources and Contemplative Wisdom blogs, she contributed to the book Personal Transformation and a New Creation: The Spiritual Revolution of Beatrice Bruteau Read more
Christy Wampole is an assistant professor in the department of French and Italian at Princeton, and the author of “Rootedness: The Ramifications of a Metaphor” and “The Other Serious: Essays for the New American Generation.” She has also written for the New York Times and the New Yorker.
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