The Mystic Cave Brian E Pearson

With this episode we launch a new season of The Mystic Cave, with a look at Thomas Moore's 2014 book, "A Religion of One's Own"--for seekers who don't want to give up religious practice just because they've given up religion! In fact, Moore would say, we cannot escape religion, even in the secular world, because our souls will always seek out the sacred. But we can make it our own.

Resources:
Thomas Moore, "A Religion of One's Own," published by Gotham Books, 2014

Photo Credit:
Photo by Jared Rice on Unsplash
Personal Links
My web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.ca
My email address: mysticcaveman53@gmail.com

Series Music Credit
"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2022

Out here, on the other side of church land, how do we give voice to the deepest longings of our hearts? Might poetry help us? Reading poems, might they become our sacred texts; writing them, our personal prayers? Poet Richard Osler believes that poetry delivers us to the deep and holy places of our own souls, places of healing, of inspiration, and of profound Mystery. In this conversation, Richard reintroduces us to the power of poetry ... which, he warns, is not for sissies.

Episode Links
Richard's web site & blog: http://www.recoveringwords.com/site/

Resources mentioned in this episode (and a few others):
Roger Housden, ed, Ten Poems to Last a Lifetime
_____________________, Ten Poems to Set You Free
Also, by the same editor:
Ten Poems to Open Your Heart
Ten poems to Change Your Life
Risking Everything: 110 Poems of Love and Revelation
Garrison Keillor, ed., Good Poems
______________________, Good Poems for Hard Times


Personal Links
My web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.ca
My email address: mysticcaveman53@gmail.com

Series Music Credit
"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2022

Don't we all want to belong? Don't we miss it, and yearn for it, when we don't? Out here, on the other side of church land, belonging to a community is what seekers miss most about their religious pasts. But not all community is good community, and not every community lasts. In this conversation with Janet Handy, we explore the range of possibilities for human belonging. In the end, we may be more a part of things than we realize.

Resources
Jan's book, The Secret Tribe, on Amazon: https://www.amazon.ca/Secret-Tribe-Memoir-Resilience-ebook/dp/B07DQ9TGVB/ref=sr_1_1?crid=VHN64HIKU2MO&keywords=The+Secret+Tribe&qid=1663371759&s=books&sprefix=the+secret+tribe%2Cstripbooks%2C182&sr=1-1
Personal Links
My web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.ca
My email address: mysticcaveman53@gmail.com

Series Music Credit
"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2022

When it comes to change in our lives, our rational minds can carry us only so far. Our bodies take us further. But rituals connect body and mind to Soul, creating transformative experiences that help us move through life's most significant passages.

Sarah Kerr, death doula and ritual healing practitioner, speaks to me about the power of rituals, their constituent parts, and what difference rituals make to how we live our lives. It could be that the cosmos is counting on us to become agents of transformative change, in other words, ritualists.

Episode Links
Sarah's Courses and Services: https://sacreddeathcare.com
Personal Links
My web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.ca
My email address: mysticcaveman53@gmail.com

Series Music Credit
"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2022

Some forms of prayer seem to assume that we must capture the attention of a far-off God, like lassoing a star. Contemplation assumes God's already here, deep within, and not just within us, but within all created beings. Liz Rees, a contemplative teacher and guide, talks to me about how contemplative practice connects us deeply to the natural world.

Resources:
Berry, Thomas. "Dream of the Earth"; Sierra Club, 1988
Keating, Thomas. "Open Mind, Open Heart"; Continuum International Publishing Group, 1994
Loorz, Victoria. "Church of the Wild"; Broadleaf Press, 2021
Merton, Thomas. Kathleen Deignan (ed). "When the Trees Say Nothing"; Sorin Books, 2015

Green Exodus: [currently offline]
Inner Sanctuary the Podcast: found on Apple Podcasts and elsewhere
Personal Links
My web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.ca
My email address: mysticcaveman53@gmail.com

Series Music Credit
"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2022

Morning coffee with one's spouse? Listening to other people's stories? Reading whatever you want? This is spiritual practice? If you've been on the spiritual path all your life, then, yes. Because in the end spiritual practice is whatever works, not whatever others have told you to do.

My conversation with retired minister and former spiritual director John Griffith is filled with wise insights into the spiritual journey. There's a reason we've been taught to listen to our elders.

Referenced in this episode
Hillhurst United Church: https://hillhurstunited.com
Personal Links
My web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.ca
My email address: mysticcaveman53@gmail.com

Series Music Credit
"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2022