Profound Living with Michael Kroth

I'd love to hear your thoughts, experiences, and ideas about this essay or messy elegance.

Notes

An earlier version of this essay was published October 5, 2018 on my Profound Living blog.

God Without A Face, Finding A Way. Peter Bolland

What Is Elegance In Science? The New Yorker, Patrick House, August 17, 2015

Sandburg, C. (1960). Harvest poems, 1910-1960. Harcourt.

Click this link to watch a video about Biomimicry .

Despite muffing conclusions from time to time, science continues as a process of testing, failing, revising, and trying again.

Elegance

Sat, 04 Apr 2026 17:23:18 GMT

Moving toward a more profound, rich-in-all-the-ways-that-are-important, life.

OK, this video tees up this essay, Elegance. This was fun to put together.*

Photo by H&CO on Unsplash

I have been thinking about elegance, which has evolved into this messy elegance project. This essay, updated just a bit, was first posted on my Profound Living blog here on September 21, 2018.

el·e·gance

1. the quality of being graceful and stylish in appearance or manner; style.

synonyms: style, stylishness, grace, gracefulness, taste, tastefulness, sophistication.

2.the quality of being pleasingly ingenious and simple; neatness.

The first known use of the term “elegance” was in 1510 according to Merriam-Webster, but in 1504 according to the Oxford English Dictionary, though it was spelled “elygance”. It was borrowed from the French, “elegance”, which in general meant, “desirable or agreeable refinement”.

I like the term “simplicity” better than the term “minimalism” and the term “elegance” has some qualities of simplicity that I want to explore. All three of these ideas – at their essence, involve removing all that gets in the way of living life fully and deeply, and instead keeping and acquiring just what will facilitate what is meaningful – move us toward a more profound, rich-in-all-the-ways-that-are-important, life. St. Teresa of Avila, said, “The closer one approaches to God, the simpler one becomes”. Occam’s Razor , also called the “law of parsimony” says that if there are two competing theories, the simpler explanation is the one to be preferred. Audrey Hepburn’s iconic “LBD” worn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, has been a prototype for elegance ever since.

Seeking the simple and elevating the elegant are ways to get to the core, to the center, of what really matters.

Simplicity and elegance have much in common. They are, perhaps, the same, but with different emphases. They both suggest a lack of embellishment. They both use just what is needed, and nothing more. Both remove that which is not needed. Both the simple and the elegant can be costly or inexpensive, of high quality or utilitarian quality. An elegant shirt is a simple one. Elegance has more of a sense of “grace” and “sophistication” and simple may or may not be graceful or sophisticated or stylish. An elegant solution is, perhaps, a simple explanation after fully considering a complex issue. A simple solution may be that too, but may also be a simple explanation, simply considered.

Thoreau wished for simple life, to live life most fully. As he famously said:

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms...”

Photo by Yilei (Jerry) Bao on Unsplash

Though most people will not choose to live a “Spartan-like” life, as Thoreau explored, perhaps some may think about a more “elegant life”. Such a life would be built not on the idea that “the one with the most toys wins”, but on the idea, perhaps, that the one with the most elegant life, lives most richly.

We will continue to explore these powerful and beautiful ideas of minimalism, simplicity, and elegance.

I would love to hear your thoughts about this essay, elegance, and messy elegance.

Here are some prompts.

Where have you felt elegant?

Where have you observed it?

What qualities of elegance did you notice?

The best way to leave a comment and to become part of the conversation is to hop over to my Substack, Profound Living with Michael Kroth , where it will be easy to add to and comment on this and future essays.

Here's the link:

I'd love to hear your thoughts, experiences, and ideas about this essay or messy elegance.

Notes

*The video will refer to my words of the year in 2004 and 2005, but they were actually in 2024 and 2025.

This essay was originally posted on my blog, Profound Living with Michael Kroth, on September 21, 2018.

More about the LBD here .

Here is a link to Judith Valente’s Substack newsletter and to her essays on Medium. She’s a gem.

Dictionary, O. E. “elegance, n.” , Oxford University Press.

Elegance. (n.d.). Retrieved September 21, 2018, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/elegance

Seeking the simple and elevating the elegant are ways to get to the core, to the center, of what really matters.

A Cry for Restoration

Sat, 28 Mar 2026 18:27:51 GMT

It takes just a second to break something.

Restoring what was broken takes time.

From Lamentations—words spoken by a people in exile:

“Restore us to yourself, O Lord,

that we may be restored.”

Last year we had a problem in our house.

Our water heater began to leak—not all at once, but slowly, quietly, inside the wall behind it. It was the kind of leak you don’t notice right away.

Until you do.

And what struck me most in the days that followed was not the damage itself—but how long restoration takes.

It’s not immediate.
It’s not clean.
It’s MESSY and EXPENSIVE!
It’s not simple.

Even for this relatively small project.

This wasn’t something I could do myself, so I watched the experts open the wall, remove the damage, then set up the drying out (and drying, drying, drying while I twiddled my fingers), until they could finally begin to rebuild.

We’ve seen how easy it is to break things.

We’ve seen wars of choice and wars we didn’t choose. Fate, accident, intention.

We’ve seen systems and norms and ways of doing things tossed aside without a second thought, and we’ve seen them broken after considerable thought, because they were already broken. We’ve seen long term relationships with trusted allies or supporters intentionally degraded. Fate, accident, intention.

It’s easy to cut, it’s much harder to heal.

To me, that is a lesson that we should always take care, think of all the consequences - good or bad, and break the status quo only after deep deliberation.

And these days, unlike the days when my grandmother would darn and redarn our socks until there just wasn’t any sock left, these are days where people are more likely to just patch things over, to simply put a coat of paint on top of the rust, and then to move on. Instant results, no worrying about the long term deficit or the pay me now or pay me later kicking the ball down the field costs to our environment of climate change. But there will be a payment later. For sure.

Things break.

And sometimes we feel it closer to home—in our personal relationships,

in our health, in our work, in our families and friends.

It only takes a moment for something to break. It doesn’t take much—sometimes just a word spoken too quickly, a silence held too long, or a fracture that forms between people.

And rebuilding trust and health and all those matters that are important to us takes a long time, sometimes forever.

I remember many years ago when my grandmother passed.

She lived in the little town of Winfield, Kansas where my parents met and fell in love. We had gathered to help my mom clean out her home. Some of you may know that Kansas is well known for tornados and, sure enough, one evening around dusk we were in the motel where we were staying and, you guessed it, heard a crazy wind outside.

I can’t remember now if we’d been warned it was coming (this was in the days before cell phones and AccuWeather), but this wind lasted just a short time—minutes—and then it was gone.

We didn’t think much of it until we walked outside.

There, the streets were strewn with broken trees and branches.

I don’t know the extent of the damage, but it was at that point, through no fault of their own , that the good citizens of Winfield had to begin restoring their town. And in a place like that, I’m sure they’d been through it before.

Sometimes, though, we have to restore what we have caused to break.

Sometimes, like the sign in a store packed with fragile goods says, “If you break it, you own it.” And it really doesn’t matter if it was an accident or not.

And sometimes we have to restore what we have intentionally broken —things we chose to break, for whatever reason.

Regardless of fate, accident, or intention, something has come apart.

We can try to fix it or decide to let it go.

But if we choose restoration—whether it’s a relationship, an organization, a system, or something within ourselves—we can bet on one thing:

It will never be exactly what it was.

It will be different.

And this is where the season of Lent meets us.

Lent is not about quick fixes. It is a slow uncovering—being aware of what is messy-ing our lives, and letting some of that mess go so we are ready for what’s coming and our purpose moving forward.. It is a drying-out time. It’s the lacuna between what is and what will be.

Resurrection is not a return to what was.

It is something transformed.

Kintsugi

In Japanese aesthetics, there is an art form called kintsugi.

When a ceramic bowl breaks, it is repaired with lacquer mixed with gold.

The cracks are not hidden.
They are featured.
And in many cases, the piece is considered more beautiful—not despite the break, but because of it.

Underlying this practice is a broader philosophy known a s wabi-sabi —the acceptance that life is incomplete, imperfect, and always in process.

Healing, too, is not instant. It requires time. It requires the right conditions—honesty, humility, sometimes silence. It unfolds in layers. And when it is real, it does not erase the past. It integrates it.

The cracks we can try to hide away, but often remain visible.

But they are no longer simply signs of damage. They become part of the story.

Photo by Matt Perkins on Unsplash

Restoration, then, is not about returning to what was. Nor is it about becoming something entirely new.

The pot, the vase, the person retains its character—the blemishes it has earned, the scratches that come from being used. But it is now bound together differently, and often more strongly.

But sometimes putting something back together just seems like too much.

You’ve been there.

We’ve seen the damage. We’ve felt the loss. The distance between broken and healed seems too great.

Insurmountable.

And in those moments, something Albert Camus wrote gives me hope:

“In the middle of winter, I at last discovered that there was in me an invincible summer.”

We carry our own weather with us.

Not just around us—but within us.

To restore or not to restore—that is the question.

Either way, life will be different.

But if we choose restoration—slowly, imperfectly, through trial and error—we will always discover that something has changed.

It may be deeper. Stronger. More whole. It might be weaker, though, than it was before. Or it may simply be different.

But it will not be the same.

Some things, like our water heater damage, we simply cannot restore on our own.

I finish with these words written to early Christians—from 1 Peter 5:10:

“After you have suffered for a little while,

he will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you.”

Like anything of lasting value, restoration may take time, perseverance, and faith.

Things will never be the same—

but a life of abundance doesn’t depend on them being the same.

Does it?

Photo by Mick Haupt on Unsplash

I have a question for you to ponder. If you have thoughts you’d like to share I’d love to read about them

Where in your life are you being called
to move more carefully—
not to break what doesn’t need breaking…
and to trust the slow work of restoring what does?

Here's the link:

I'd love to hear your thoughts, experiences, and ideas about this essay or messy elegance.

Restoration, then, is not about returning to what was. Nor is it about becoming something entirely new.

The pot, the vase, the person retains its character—the blemishes it has earned, the scratches that come from being used. But it is now bound together differently, and often more strongly.

Twenty Steps of Silence

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 16:27:20 GMT

A Messy Elegance Reflection

Whether or not we believe in the divine, we may find ourselves immersed in it .

Have you ever tried this silence experiment?

It’s really an inner one.

The goal is simple: to walk a short distance without thinking—without any words in your head—and just experience.

When I say short, I mean just a block. Or even a few steps.

The idea is to practice what I’ve learned is called kenosis —emptying.

Often, probably usually, we have a ton of thoughts rolling through our minds. We ruminate—what worries us, what we plan, what we regret.

You know how it goes.

With all this chatter in our heads, it becomes difficult to sense, hear, or be ready for what the world is trying to tell us.

Now, clearly there is a time and place for thinking. It’s just that too often we miss this emptying way of putting words aside in order to just be.

So typically, I don’t get twenty steps before some words intrude into my mind. If I’m not careful, those words will just keep rolling and rolling. If I’m aware of that, I can resume walking without thinking again.

For about twenty more steps.

But I relish those twenty steps of peace—being attentive to the world: flowers, birds, mountains, streams, the light wind all around me. This is much, much better for me than having my Airpods in and listening to words: podcasts, music, even phone calls, unless they just can’t wait.

So what is this silence that seems so important, yet underappreciated and underpracticed?

I have run three marathons in my life. The first when I was thirty-nine, the last a couple of years later. I began running half marathons instead, but these days I generally walk the Race to Robie, a half marathon, every year. My knees and body thank me for that.

Training for a half is much more civilized than for a full, but it still involves running or walking for hours on end, often by yourself.

I remember when I first started getting ready for these, people would ask me:

“Don’t you get bored just talking to yourself going all those miles for hours and hours?”

And it’s a good question. But I remember answering—cleverly, I thought:

“Why should I be bored? I find myself a very interesting person!”

Over the years, however, I’ve realized that I’m not all that interesting.

What’s really going on is that I’m interest ed .

I pay more attention these days to all around me that is fascinating. When we are quiet enough, we begin to experience something deeper. And whether or not we believe in the divine, we may find ourselves immersed in it . Beneath the busy lives we lead, there is a peaceful calm—a slowing, a depth-that-calls-to-depth (Psalm 42:7).

I’ve come to think of silence as what remains when noise falls away—especially the noise we create through words, activity, and the steady hum of our lives. Divine silence, on the other hand, is not simply the absence of sound. It is the experience of being immersed in something larger than ourselves—when, in the quiet of our minds, we sense not only our own presence, but the presence of something more.

We can find this divine silence on the meditation cushion, walking on the trail, snuggling with our puppy, watching the clouds on a summer day. A person who has developed inner peace might be surrounded by cacophony and yet carry inner silence at the same time.

I like the way Br. David Steindl-Rast talks about God singing:

“In everything we experience we can hear God singing, if we listen attentively.”

He also writes:

“Silence too, in this sense, is not the absence of word or sound. It is not characterized by absence but by presence—a presence too great for words.”

Perhaps that is why music—so full of sound, of joy and tragedy and majesty, discord and harmony—can call out this presence, drench us in it, lead us into this divine silence. Martin Laird writes in Into the Silent Land :

“ We are built for contemplation ,” and . . .
“ This joy that is silent is already within us. Its discovery is precious beyond compare .”

We are built to experience divine silence.

And it doesn’t have to occur in a church or religious setting—or even within religion itself. We don’t even have to call it “divine” silence, just that silence that makes us feel we are connected beyond ourselves.

Edward Abbey describes his first morning at Arches National Park:

“The sun is not yet in sight, but signs of the advent are plain to see. Lavender clouds sail like a fleet of ships across the pale green dawn; each cloud, planed flat on the wind, has a base of fiery gold. Southeast, twenty miles by line of sight, stand the peaks of the Sierra La Sal, twelve to thirteen thousand feet above sea level, all covered with snow and rosy in the morning sunlight. The air is dry and clear as well as cold; the last fogbanks left over from last night’s storm are scudding away like ghosts, fading into nothing before the wind and the sunrise.”

Call it presence, call it awe, call it flat-out amazing, or just brimming full of be-ing. Experiencing that which is infinity bigger than anything we could drum up in our imagination fits what I’ve been calling divine silence. Call it what you will, wouldn’t you have liked to be sitting there with Edward that morning?

So the truth is this: While we think and communicate in words, silence is the default.

As Max Picard said:

“Speech cannot exist without silence.”

The silence after the music stops.

The silence before the curtain goes up.

There is something almost visceral in this quiet.

This silence is available to everyone. Regardless of age, education, religious denomination, or belief system.

I’ll finish with one of my favorite quotations about silence.

It’s often attributed to Rumi, though it can’t be found directly in his writings:

“Silence is the language of God, all else is poor translation.”

So if silence is God’s language—and if, as David Steindl-Rast suggests, God is singing through all of nature—

then we have a lot to listen for.

Silence doesn’t have to be something we understand .

Better, it can be something we do .

Maybe it’s time for you to conduct your own experiment.

Just walk ten steps.

Without words.

Then see if you can walk twenty.

Then more.

And see what happens.

A Question for You

What might you notice if you walked just ten steps today without words, either spoken or in your mind? Or try it, "What did you find?

Here's the link:

Cardinal Lawrence on Doubt and Certainty

I'd love to hear your thoughts, experiences, and ideas about this essay or messy elegance.

Notes

Abbey, E. (2011). Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness (Electronic ed.). RosettaBooks.

Sarton, M. (1977). The House by the Sea: A Journal (Kindle ed.). Open Road Media.

Steindl-Rast, D. (2016). The Way of Silence: Engaging the Sacred in Daily Life . Franciscan Media.

Laird, M. (2006). Into the Silent Land: A Guide to the Christian Practice of Contemplation. Oxford University Press.

Image created with AI assistance (ChatGPT / DALL·E), 2026.

I often think through these essays in conversation with ChatGPT. It helps me explore ideas, test structure, and refine language—much like writers have long done with editors, colleagues, and friends. The reflections and final words remain my own. If you respond, you become part of that ongoing conversation.

Over the years, however, I’ve realized that I’m not all that interesting.

What’s really going on is that I’m interest ed .

When Certainty Collapses

Sun, 15 Mar 2026 04:16:29 GMT

Outcomes are not certain, though some are much more highly predictable than others.

Photo by Blake Cheek on Unsplash

This essay was adapted from a reflection I shared at the Cathedral of the Rockies’ Candlelight Service on March 3, 2026. You can see that reflection here .

I've recorded a video to introduce this essay:

Most weeks at our Candlelight service I light a candle for people (sometimes animals) I want to keep in my heart. When I shared my original reflection on March 3rd about certainty collapsing, I lit my candle for those whose lives have been thrown into uncertainty by war. Not only in places we see in the news, but any places where lives that once felt stable suddenly do not.

During times of war there are so many totally innocent people who find themselves in unpredictable insecurity and loss due to nothing they have done.

Moments like these, these wartimes, bring us back to a deeper question:

What remains when certainty collapses?

When disaster strikes, we suddenly see what really matters and what doesn’t.

Sometimes what feels like the collapse of certainty is actually the beginning of deeper clarity. But we rarely recognize that in the moment. We might be too overwhelmed, maybe fearful of the unknown, and shocked about the unexpected.

Some of you may not remember the collapse of certainty when John F. Kennedy was killed.

I do.

I remember walking home from elementary school along the railroad tracks, crying. Bawling. When my mom opened the door her face was stricken. I’d never seen her in such shock before.

Something had shifted.

More of you will remember the day after September 10, 2001. On September 10 there was the unspoken but doubt-free assumption in this country that we were safe—that we could not be attacked. The next day that certainty vanished.

Airports changed.

Security changed.

Our assumptions about the world changed.

Certainty became uncertainty overnight.

Moments like these reveal something deeper: how fragile our certainties really are. And they raise a question that eventually touches all of us:

What remains when certainty collapses?

We see then that the rocks beneath our feet are not as stable as we thought.

Young people these days speak openly about collapse. Climate instability, political volatility, economic fragility, institutional distrust, structures that were once assumed stable now feel provisional. And so I wonder, and I actually think, that one of the main reasons people are turning to spirituality, young people in particular, is because of this deep uncertainty in what all the world trusted without much thought. Our institutions, our media, our role models, suddenly seem more like shifting sand than solid rock.

On what rocks can we stand? Are there any?

Collapse for example can test the certainty of religion. But is religion certain to start with?

Paul Tillich once wrote something striking about faith:

“Faith is certain in so far as it is an experience of the holy. But faith is uncertain in so far as the infinite to which it is related is received by a finite human being… To accept this is courage.”

In other words, uncertainty is not the opposite of faith. It is built into faith.

The scientist Carl Sagan made an observation which complements Tillich’s. He wrote,

“A general problem with much of Western theology… is that the God portrayed is too small.”

God, he was suggesting, if one believes in God (he didn’t), should be considered much more vastly than simply a God of our planet. If our vision of God doesn’t go beyond our own Earth-centric denominations or traditions to include all of infinity, how certain can it be?

Reality is larger than we can imagine. Over decades, centuries, millions of years - heck, even within a week - what we think is true, isn’t. Will my church still be standing a thousand years from now? A million years from now, will there even be people living on our planet? We can pretty much bet that countries, religions, cultures - just about everything that we count as certain these days, will be much different.

Outcomes are not certain, though some are much more highly predictable than othe rs.

If scientists accept the mystery of the universe, then religion, as this clip from the movie Conclave suggests, must be careful to make sure that certainty doesn’t take the mystery out of the church. In this video, Ralph Fiennes plays the dean of the College of Cardinals, responsible for guiding the election of a new pope. Here he speaks to the the cardinals assembled, about doubt, certainty, and mystery.

So is there room for mystery in religion? Scientists revel in exploring the mystery of the universe, and mystery, by definition, is uncertain.

Uncertainty, certainty, doubt, mystery, exploration, learning - they’re all part of the process of - if we will do it - going more deeply in thought, spirit, and action.

And uncertainty is a space where listening, humility, and discernment can occur.

This all goes well beyond the institution of religion, of course. There are many kinds of uncertainty in the world. For example, there is:

food insecurity

housing insecurity

medical insecurity

and the uncertainty created by war and conflict

That brings us back again to that deeper question:

What remains when certainty collapses?

Sometimes what looks like collapse is actually transition.

A job ends. New jobs open up.
A relationship changes. We meet new people.
A plan we counted on falls apart. A new plan emerges.

Only later do we realize that the very thing we thought was the end was really the beginning of the next chapter. The universe seems to move through cycles of release and renewal. Cycles of seasons and death and rebirth and restarting occur in our natural world. What looks messy on the surface may actually be part of a deeper elegance. Maybe there is some composting going on in our lives we didn't expect.

Hasidic Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson said that in times of upheaval, “,,,we need, more than ever, our absolute spiritual foundation…even in our most difficult moments,” he wrote, “our purpose never waivers, this helps us to find our way when all the familiar signposts have vanished.”

Of course, if our deepest selves have never been explored, then what do we have? Uncertainty opens the door for this inner work.

The Rabbi says that faith is the answer to all the difficult questions of uncertainty. Faith “ in a higher purpose, a more perfect form of justice than human institutions are capable of, ” he said. And he talks about what he thinks faith does. It “infuses us with the certainty, will, and resolve that good can overcome indifference and evil.”

“Life is a process,” he says, “that leads to redemption, a process in which loss leads to renewal, suffering to growth, and death to rebirth.”

That sounds a lot like the process of resurrection we see in Holy Week. And seems quite similar to the environmental and universal cycles of collapse, reformation, into new and - if it’s working well - deeper transformation.

What do we have when certainty collapses?

At the very least, we have us. We have access to the deep purposes of our life. Too, we have the natural cycles of formation, deformation, and reformation. We have agency - the ability to make decisions, even when the situation is constraining. And we have the present moment. We have right now. For everyone, spiritual or not, wealthy or not, in the middle of a war or lining up for lemonade at the country fair, we have this moment. This elegant, once-in-a-lifetime moment. And the opportunity to choose how we will use it. And how we can step through the mess, step into our purpose, and what we will do next.

That is the strange and beautiful pattern of Messy Elegance.

A question to start the conversation

Have there been times in your life or observations, when the loss of certainty led to something deeper, or more joyful, or more meaningful in your life? Can you share what made that possible?

Here's the link:

Let There Be Peace On Earth

I'd love to hear your thoughts, experiences, and ideas about this essay or messy elegance.

What do we have when certainty collapses?

Introducing Messy Elegance

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:26:26 GMT

Life is messy.
We know that.
But some people move through that mess with a surprising kind of grace.

This essay introduces a book I’m writing in public about living more deeply in a messy world.

Life is messy.
We know that.
But some people move through that mess with a surprising kind of grace.

Hi everyone.

This year I’m beginning work on a book, and I’d love your help along the way. Right now the working title is:

The Messy Elegance of Becoming Whole – Making Your Way Toward a Life of Depth.

The tag line is: A companion for people learning to live life more deeply.

I've recorded an introduction to introduce this short essay and the project.

I’ve also posted a possible book cover, below, so you can see what the finished product might eventually look like, and I’ll share another idea later as well. The title feels pretty dialed in at the moment, though I wouldn’t be surprised if it evolves as the project unfolds.

For the last couple of years I’ve been circling around a set of ideas about how people move toward depth in their lives in the middle of what seems like a world with fewer and fewer anchors to hold onto. For most of 2025 I stopped writing almost completely. My creative self, I suppose, was in a period of gestation.

During that time I spent a good deal of time thinking about what truly resonated with me. If I was going to devote the time, curiosity, and emotional energy required to write a book, I wanted to focus on something that genuinely mattered to me—something I wanted to understand more deeply myself.

At the center of it all is a simple observation: life is messy.

Sometimes we make the mess ourselves.
Sometimes the world does it for us.

Either way, things change. Certainties dissolve. The river we thought we could rely on dries up. Relationships that seemed rock solid sometimes turn out to be built on sand.

And yet something interesting happens.

Some people move through this mess much more gracefully than we seem able to manage. Their lives are far from perfect. They’ve faced the same disruptions and uncertainties the rest of us experience, and sometimes they’ve created their own difficulties along the way. But they seem to draw on something deeper that allows them to keep moving forward with curiosity, meaning, and even joy.

That’s what I mean by “messy elegance.”

It’s not perfection.
It doesn’t rely on wealth.
And it isn’t reserved for a lucky few.

Messy elegance recognizes that the messiness of life isn’t simply a problem to eliminate. Often it becomes the raw material for creativity, discovery, and growth. When we explore, experiment, and wander down unexpected paths, something interesting can emerge.

From that exploration elegant things appear: paint arrives on canvas; new organizations are formed; people discover what they love to do and what they are called to do.

It’s a lifelong skill—learning how to move again and again toward wholeness, toward deeper relationships, toward wisdom, spirituality, health, and meaning.

Both messy and elegant.

Not one or the other.
Both.

I suspect there are principles and practices that help us move in this direction. We can learn from the lives of others, from science, from the arts, from spirituality—from the entire messy world around us—how to “go deep.”

That’s why I’m writing this book.

Like many writers have said before me, I often discover what I think through the act of writing itself. Even more importantly, I learn through the process. And I learn from other people.

That’s where you come in.

For this project I’m trying something I’ve never done before. Instead of writing the entire book privately and only sharing it once it’s finished, I’m going to write in public.

Along the way I’ll share essays, reflections, and questions as the book develops. I’d love to hear what you think. What resonates? What feels incomplete? What perspectives might I be missing?

Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon sparked this approach for me. Writing in public feels like an experiment worth trying.

So I’m giving it a go.

A question to start the conversation

What do you think of the idea of messy elegance ?

Can you think of people or situations where messy elegance seemed to be at work?

The best way to leave a comment and to become part of the conversation is to hop over to my Substack, Profound Living with Michael Kroth, where it will be easy to add to and comment on this and future essays.

Here's the link: Profound Living with Michael Kroth

Over the coming months I’ll be sharing reflections, essays, and questions as this book develops. I'll also be posting other reflection, essays, and more here as well, not just copying essays from Substack.

Finally, this will very much be a work in progress. It won’t be perfect, and I’ll be learning along the way.

Which seems like an appropriate way to begin a book about messy elegance.

Note: In working on these essays I often think things through in conversation with ChatGPT. It helps me explore ideas, test structure, and tighten language, while the decisions, reflections, and final writing remain my own. Historically, authors have used editors, colleagues, relatives, and friends in much the same way—as thinking partners in the writing process. I think of ChatGPT as a kind of digital conversation partner. If you contribute to these discussions, you’ll be one of those conversation partners as well.

Source: Austin Kleon, Show Your Work! 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered. Workman Publishing, 2014.

Life is messy.

Sometimes we make the mess ourselves.
Sometimes the world does it for us.

Early concept cover for The Messy Elegance of Becoming Whole

Centering Down - The Adequacy of Thomas Kelly

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 18:06:55 GMT

Emerging from the depths, he taught us about depth

Note: This essay, with a few edits, was first delivered as a reflection at the Cathedral of the Rockies Candlelight Service on February 3, 2026 . You can watch a video of the reflection here .

In December of 1934 Thomas Kelly had a nervous breakdown. “During that winter,” one of his former students [1] wrote, “he had strength only to get out of bed and wobble unprepared to his classes.” Early the next year he finished his doctoral thesis for Harvard but was not allowed to defend it. He already had a Ph.D. from a theological seminary and was teaching in a prestigious school but, as Howard Macy commented, “He longed for the kind of recognition a Harvard Ph.D. would grant him.” [2) The folks at Harvard couldn’t understand why he would want another doctorate on top of the one he already had.

He tried again in 1937. He published the dissertation himself in 1937 but during his oral examination he had a memory lapse and failed. He went into, Jones writes, “…one of his ‘woozy spells’…and his mind blanked.” The Harvard committee testing him said he did so poorly that he would never be able to try for their doctorate again.

He was “totally crushed by this irreversible failure” and sank into a deep depression, which scared his wife, and he had to be assured by the President of the university where he was working and another colleague that his talents and accomplishments were plenty worthy, even without a Harvard degree, and that his job was secure.

He had counted on the Ph.D. to support his goals as a scholar, but that dream had just gone down the drain.

He was grieving. His life was a mess.

But soon after he had a spiritual awakening. “No one knows exactly what happened,” Douglas Steere wrote [3], but the dark days of his life were over. “A fissure in him seemed to close, cliffs caved in and filled up a chasm, and what was divided grew together in him.”

“Within months,” Howard Macy wrote [2] “…out of the ruins of this dream rose a new, capturing vision.” He had experienced suffering himself but also was formed by the suffering of others. He made his “breakthrough,” Macy says, at the age of 44.

When I first read Thomas Kelly’s book, A Testament of Devotion , I was stunned.

When I first read Thomas Kelly’s book, A Testament of Devotion , I was stunned. It was like his words pierced through a myriad of questions and thoughts I had about religion and spirituality and life and struck right to my core. I don’t remember how I found him. When I did, I knew almost nothing about his Quaker religion, and absolutely nothing about his story. But time and again I have come back to this book, referred to it – as I’m doing here – and thought seriously about what it would mean to me to “center down.”

He wrote,

Deep within us all there is an amazing inner sanctuary of the soul, a holy place, a Divine Center, a speaking Voice, to which we may continuously return…it is a Light Within which illumines the face of God and casts new shadows and new glories upon the face of men…It is the Shekinah of the soul, the Presence in the midst. Here is the Slumbering Christ, stirring to be awakened, to become the soul we clothe in earthly form and action. And He is within us all.

Kelly urged us to practice “the prayer of inward listening.” Canby Jones described it as:

“ Only in the deep, centered down, silences of the soul can we hear that still small voice, can we feel the gentle nudgings of the Lord, speaking, guiding, showing us the path… There is no experience of divine guidance apart from the practice of inward listening.”

I have thought long and hard about centering, centering down, moving away from the superficial and toward the deeply meaningful - and realized that for way too much of my life I was pursuing things that just didn’t matter. I do better now but it is, I’ve found, a lifelong journey. The world pushes the immediate, the loud, the glittering, the variable reinforcement schedule of slot-machine-living. But it’s the extraordinarily meaningful joy of ordinary day-to-day appreciation for things that have lasting value - like my marriage, my wife, my children, my friends, and trying to do something that makes a difference for others that is the real gold of a centered life. Fool’s gold just seems to vanish, doesn’t it?

Poof.

On January 17, 1941 Kelly learned that a publisher was willing to meet with him to discuss the publication of a book. He died of a heart attack later that same day. He was 47.

Three months later, Douglas Steere, the same colleague who had helped talk him out of despair after he failed his Harvard examination, submitted five of Kelly’s devotional essays to the publisher. The book was published under the title A Testament of Devotion . Some of his other essays were also collected in a book entitled The Eternal Promise. [5]

“An adequate life,” Douglas Steere wrote:

“…might be described as a life which has grasped intuitively the whole nature of things, and has seen and felt and refocused itself to this whole. An inadequate life is one that lacks this adjustment to the whole nature of things—hence its twisted perspective, its partiality, its confusion. The story of Thomas Kelly’s life is the story of a passionate and determined quest for adequacy.“

“Adequacy” seems like such a mundane aspiration in this world today, where we extol the latest fashion, the ultra wealthy, having the most followers, and celebrity of all types. But to aspire to adequacy as Steere describes it seems like something all of us mere mortals can shoot for.

Adequacy in this sense would be a perfect description of my grandfather’s life, perhaps the wisest, most virtuous, person I have ever known - who gave up a promising career in education to return to run the family farm when his father-in-law died. No glitter for him, just preparing, planting, and harvesting. And then doing it again.

I would like to become more adequate, more centered down as I travel forward into my later life.

From the messiness of punctured dreams, Thomas Kelly had moved toward wholeness. He became adequate.

Notes

[1] T. Canby Jones, one of Kelly’s students, wrote, Thomas R. Kelly: As I remember him (Kindle ed.). Pendlehill Publications.

[2] Macy, H. (2016). Foreword. In T. Kelly, The Eternal Promise (3 ed., pp. vii-xv). Friends United Press.

[3] Steere, D. V. (1996). A Biographical Memoir . In T. Kelly, A Testament of Devotion (pp. 101-127). HarperSanFrancisco.

[4] Kelly, T. R. (1996). A testament of devotion. HarperSanFrancisco.

[5] Kelly, T. (2016). The Eternal Promise (3rd ed.). Friends United Press.

From my old, used, tattered book, A Testament of Devotion. WOW was all I could write when I first read this, years ago.

“Life from the Center is a life of unhurried peace and power. It is simple. It is serene. It is amazing. It is triumphant. It is radiant. It takes no time, but occupies all our time. And it makes our life programs new and overcoming. We need not get frantic. He is at the helm. And when our little day is done we lie down quietly in peace, for all is well.”

The Beatitudes Are A Call To Arms

Sun, 01 Feb 2026 19:55:24 GMT

“The poor in spirit are by no means poor-spirited. They are persons who see so much to be, so much to do, such limitless reaches to life and goodness that they are profoundly conscious of their insufficiency and incompleteness.”

~Rufus Jones, The Inner Life , p. 19

Note: This essay, here with a few edits, was first delivered as a reflection for the Cathedral of the Rockies Candlelight Service on January 27, 2025. You can watch a video of the reflection here .

The Beatitudes are a call to arms. But this call to arms is not saber rattling, it isn’t uppercuts or clenched fists. It isn’t making a show of force with innocent people, with people who disagree with you or protest against you. It isn’t the arms of guns or pepper spray or bullets or masks.

No, this call to arms, these Beatitudes, these Christian dispositions and actions, are a call for arms that embrace. That support. That love. That sacrifice. That protect. That are warm and soft and strong.

I am making the case today that the contemplative life, contemplative practices, prepare us for open arms – for receiving them and for sharing them.

Embracing arms.

Let’s remember the Beatitudes, spoken by Jesus.

The Beatitudes ( Matthew 5:1–12, KJV )

1 And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:

2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,

3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

What are we called to embrace?

What are we to make of this sermon, this call? The profound Quaker author, Rufus Jones, writing about the “blessed-ness” described in the Beatitudes, said

“It is not a prize held out or promised as a final reward for a certain kind of conduct; it attaches by the inherent nature of things to a type of life, as light attaches to a luminous body, as motion attaches to a spinning top, as gravitation attaches to every particle of matter. To be this kind of person is to be living the happy, blessed life, whatever the outward conditions may be.”

“The beatitude attaches…to hunger and thirst for goodness.’

"The beatitude attaches…to hunger and thirst for goodness."

These are words of humility and sacrifice, not of domination or control.

The beatitudes are not just telling us what kind of people we should be, but also who we need to lift up, to cherish, and what we need to do . The Beatitudes give us the road map.

Jesus says those who are poor in spirit, who mourn, who are meek, who are peacemakers, who are pure in heart, who thirst for righteousness, who are merciful, and who are persecuted and insulted and lied about because they follow Him – will be comforted, inherit the Earth, will be shown mercy, be satisfied, called the Sons of God – theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

Those qualities are the arms of embrace. They are the acts of loving God with all one’s heart, mind, soul, and body and one’s neighbor as oneself.

Contemplation and the Beatitudes

And let’s not forget that contemplation and the Beatitudes complement each other. What we do in contemplation – through intentional practices of silence, stillness, prayer, singing, and worship – to is experience the presence of the divine. To hear the divine call. To experience the mystery. If we practice, and we listen, then we are formed, often so slowly, into people following the ways of mercy, humility, peacemaking, courage, and sacrifice.

Foundational to this formation is experiencing the “sacrament of the present moment,” as de Caussade wrote, or as T.S. Eliot expressed in Burnt Norton:

At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor

fleshless;

Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance

What is the still point, what is the dance?

Moving Stillness

I think of contemplation, engaged in opening the arms of the world, as Moving Stillness. Moving with peace and courage and resilience and hope through a troubled world. Stepping into the chaos of politics, warring parties, inequity, and a myriad of other troubles with a profound depth of spirit. That’s the dance of contemplative stillness.

“A talent forms itself in solitude,” Goethe wrote, “A character amid the stream of life.”

This contemplative work begs the question, “How might I intentionally become closer to God; how might I become a more humble, merciful, peacemaker? How can I practice the disciplines in order to embody moving stillness?

Contemplation opens our arms to others, to embrace a world that needs to be surrounded in love.

Sources

Caussade, J. P. d. (1982). The sacrament of the present moment. Harper & Row.

Eliot, T. S. (1963). Burnt Norton, in Collected poems, 1909-1962 (1st American ed.). Harcourt. p. 177.

Goethe, J. W. von. (1993). Torquato Tasso (C. E. Passage, Trans.). In F. G. Ryder (Ed.), Plays (p. 155). The Continuum Publishing Company. (Original work published 1790).

Jones, R. M. (1917). The inner life. The Macmillan company. From pages 16, 17, 18.

The Beatitudes give us the road map.

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael - January, 2026

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 21:49:01 GMT

January, 2026 Haiku Narratives

Curator's Note

We started over six years ago, and since then Davin Carr-Chellman, Amy Hoppock, and I have been writing and sharing haiku's monthly with each other. It has been an enriching and enjoyable way to develop our individual haiku writing practices.

It goes like this

Each person shares a haiku they have written with each other. Usually, as you'll see below, we put them on cards or bookmarks which we can keep ourselves, and often make more to share with others. We either mail these to each other (how nice to get a haiku, hand-addressed, in the mail!) or send them electronically. We each then write a narrative response to each other's haiku, including our own, and then we get together to share our responses. The poet reads their own haiku, the others read their responses to it, and then the author reads their own narrative about it. In that way, we independently think about each haiku and then learn from each other.

Over Six Years and Counting

Our first meeting to share haikus in this way was in September, 2019 .

How about that!

It is a lot of fun!

We enjoy doing this so much we thought you might enjoy being a part of the conversation as well, so we started recording them in May, 2020, and had been exchanging and discussing our haikus almost every month for nearly a year before that. If you watch the clip here, you will see our discussions are very informal and that we laugh a lot.

This is our Forty-SIXth recording (You can watch them all here . I'll stop counting once we hit 50 or something like that) , and we hope to continue. Please let us know what you think, and share this with anyone you think might benefit.

This Month's Haiku Narrative Video Recording

Check It Out:

This is a recording (our forty-sixth) of our monthly haiku reading and narratives.

You can see them all here:

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael

January, 2026 Haikus

Davin's Haiku

Amy's Haiku

Michael's Haiku

Check These Opportunities Out Too!

Our Book!

We are very excited about our book, Framing the Moment: Haiku Conversations . Here is a short description and video describing how and why we created the book, and how to order one or more.

About Us

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael - August 2025

Thu, 14 Aug 2025 18:56:15 GMT

August, 2025 Haiku Narratives

Curator's Note

We started nearly six years ago, and since then Davin Carr-Chellman, Amy Hoppock, and I have been writing and sharing haiku's monthly with each other. It has been an enriching and enjoyable way to develop our individual haiku writing practices.

It goes like this

Nearly Six Years and Counting

Our first meeting to share haikus in this way was in September, 2019 .

How about that!

It is a lot of fun!

This is our Forty-Fifth recording (You can watch them all here . I'll stop counting once we hit 50 or something like that) , and we hope to continue. Please let us know what you think, and share this with anyone you think might benefit.

This Month's Haiku Narrative Video Recording

Check It Out:

This is a recording (our forty-fifth) of our monthly haiku reading and narratives.

You can see them all here:

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael

August, 2025 Haikus

Davin's Haiku

Amy's Haiku

Michael's Haiku

Check These Opportunities Out Too!

Our Book!

About Us

Mom Extraordinaire

Sun, 11 May 2025 13:22:10 GMT

Most of all, she is crazy about her brood. She smiles more when she’s with them. Laughs more. Enjoys more. Relaxes more. Has more fun. She just loves her family.

Lana and our grandson, Grayson

I take this moment to tell you about the best mom (and grammy) I know. This woman has a heart of gold, a love for her family beyond…well just beyond. She has sacrificed for her family in ways too numerous to list, in significant matters of the weightiest sort - the kind of dedication that would draw tears from even a James Bond villain.

Her love for her children (as a mom) and grandchildren (as a grand-mom) is an elemental part of who she is. She will defend them and take up for them against the highest odds. Beware those who would harm her progeny – beware! She will lay down her own life dreams for her family - can you imagine anything less getting in her way?

Most of all, she is crazy about her brood, her progeny, her fam. She smiles more when she’s with them. Laughs more. Enjoys more. Relaxes more. Has more fun. She loves her family more...than...anything.

I’m not talking about my own mom ,who was a saint, or my grandmother or even my daughter Piper, each of whom I put on the highest of motherly pedestals and with whom I share DNA. OK, they are the best moms I know too.

I am talking about my wife Lana.

Yes, she's not my mom, and yes it is Mother's Day, but bear with me.

I’ve seen for over 40 years of marriage what kind of a mother she is. I know more about her, have lived with her, watched her, more than any other mom in my life, and let me tell you just a little bit about about her.

First, she'll do anything for our kids. I mean it. She’ll give up anything she needs so her children can have what they need. She’ll drop anything she’s doing to help her daughter or son with their own children, or with their own challenges or opportunities. She’ll burst with pride - burst, I say - just to hear their smallest of accomplishments. And she'll scour up every resource she can manage, drum up every bit of her imagination, and charge up every bit of her energy to support their dreams and hopes. She is selfless in that way. Selfless, I say. Selfless.

Selfless.

Mothers have relationships with each other that the rest of us don’t share. My mom gave my sister Amy a book called Moments of Awareness, by Helen Lowrie Marshall, way back in 1976. I don’t know why I have this book now instead of my sis, but I have a poem in it marked, called Keep A Dream In The Making. Here it is:

Keep some little dream in the making
If youth you would like to hold.
Old Father Time is defeated by dreams—
A dreamer never grows old.

For dreams have a way of quickening
The heart, and the years pass you by.
You can always tell the man with a dream
By the ageless gleam in his eye.

So keep a small dream in the making.
It needn’t be big or bold—
Just some little dream to beckon you on
And you’ll never, no never, grow old.

Lana has an “ageless gleam” in her eye for the "dreams in the making" within her pups, those foals, her young’uns. That gleam does not flicker my friends. It shines as steady as she goes.

When Lana and I married, our preacher and his wife, the wonderful Leonard and Martha Gillingham, gave us a book by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman, titled streams in the desert . We’ve kept this book for over 40 years now, and as I was thinking about Lana I picked it up and happened to turn to something I had highlighted years ago:

“Because there are millions of roses we do not thank God for them, and yet the glory of creation is but as one rose flung down from the summer affluence of God”.

There are millions of moms and it is easy to forget that each has given life, each has loved a child, and each is a unique yet timeless “rose flung down” into the lives of her babes and all her heirs. This Lana-red-rose has been our gift of the spirit, and has passed down her elegant splendor to the flowers which follow her.

Lana has literally taught thousands to dance, and shown each of us how to sing our song. If our children, and then our children’s children, and yet their children yet again had but one spirit to catch hold of, one teacher to learn from, and yes one model to aspire to, they could no better than the one who gave our children birth. Lana is the best mom I know.

All children should have the best mom they could ever know. I am quite sure my son and my daughter did, do, and will.

Moms.

Lana.

Best-In-Show.

She's also very, very humble. I had a hard time finding pictures of just her (unlike all those pictures I could find of myself...sigh...). Others always come first with Lana Kroth.

Earlier version posted on Mother's Day, 2019.

Anecdotage

Sat, 10 May 2025 14:34:13 GMT

“…there must be millions of aging males, now slipping into their anecdotage…”

~E.B. White ¹

This is a picture of my dad riding around in his old pickup truck and a Kroth and Assoc. magnetic sign attached. This was the early days of car phones, and he would carry a classic handset ( see here if you are too young too remember these ) with a cord hanging down that wasn’t connected to anything. That was vintage humor from Dad.

“…there must be millions of aging males, now slipping into their anecdotage…”

~E.B. White ¹

There are a number of reasons I am fortunate to have a brother. Here are just two: 1) He remembers things that I have forgotten or never knew about our family, friends, growing up, and growing older; 2) He has an extremely creative, I’d say unique and generative, perspective that my own worldview doesn’t naturally explore. So my conversations with David range from sports to religion to the arts to western paperback novels to divas to movie dance routines to curious questions about how we were raised to…well, you get the idea. And that was just our last conversation.

I laugh out loud a lot when we talk, which is too-rare – both our talks and just laughing out loud - and I find myself considering provocative ideas I hadn’t even thought about before.

Just the other day we started talking about our dad. The conversation turned to a term I’d just read in an E.B. White essay, “Anecdotage.” Words can enthrall me, and this was one of them. White wrote, “…there must be millions of aging males, now slipping into their anecdotage…” ¹

E.B. White, author of both the no-nonsense The Elements of Style and the beloved Charlotte’s Web ² , was also one of our most renowned essayists. To be such requires the skills of both a wise observer of the human condition and a writer with the ability to express those observations deeply, succinctly, and often cleverly. There is nothing I enjoy reading more than an essay about a pig ³ , say, in the hands of a master essayist.

My dad was a genial fellow. He would corner just about anyone and have a long conversation. Likewise, he was easily sidetracked by others. I can’t count how many times my mom or any of us would find ourselves waiting in the car while he was waylaid, or more likely self-marooned, talking with someone. He might have known the person for a while. He was a long-time professor, so many, many students had spent time in his classes, or it could be the elementary school janitor or secretary. He always said that school janitors and secretaries were the most important people to know in any school, because they could open any door (real or metaphorically) in the place and always knew everything that was going on.

Or the person he buttonholed might be a bank teller or the owner of his favorite Mexican restaurant or a crossing guard or a bookstore employee or…well, you get the idea. And the only way that really worked was not because my dad was such a marvelous storyteller, but because he was such an excellent listener. I think he was beloved by so many because he did both – tell meaningful, funny, memorable stories AND listen to others deeply. Many people can do one or the other, but seldom can do both.

His chats with others were often long-winded while we, waiting in the car, were resignedly and knowingly long-suffering.

But I can’t claim that Dad settled into anecdotage as he aged. Storytelling – often humorous examples of points he was making – was an essential part of the presentations he made all around the country throughout his career. Anecdotage, for him, was more like a later-life continuation of what I am guessing – I don’t have irrefutable evidence of it –was anecdolescence, anecdomidlifecrisiscence, anecdomesticence, anecdoyarnspinnerscence (see Navy and Merchant Marine tales from sailing around the world), and anecdospousecence. Many of the stories he shared in speeches were about his family – that was us – and were always told to emphasize a point he was making.

My brother and I haven’t fallen too far from that tree, we opined.

My old man could spin a story and weave it into a speech from the whole cloth of experience.

And that’s not anecdotal, my friends, that’s the truth.

Sources/Resources

¹ White, E. B. (1954). Afternoon of an American Boy. In The second tree from the corner (1st ed., pp. 17-23). Harper. p. 23

² White, E. B. (1952). Charlotte's Web (G. Williams, Illus.). Harper & Brothers. Strunk, W., Jr., & White, E. B. (1999). The elements of style (4th ed.). Longman.

³ White, E. B. (1948, January). Death of a pig. The Atlantic Monthly, 181(1), 28–33. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1948/01/death-pig/309203/ or White, E. B. (1954). Death of a pig. In The second tree from the corner. Harper & Brothers. pp. 243-253.

Circling and Centering

Tue, 06 May 2025 12:58:48 GMT

Author's Note: I originally posted this in the Profound Bartender on April 8, 2018, and then reposted it here at Profound Living on April 25, 2018. I thought it might be a good time to repost it again.

I live my life in widening circles

That reach out across the world

I may not complete this last one

But I give myself to it.

~Rainer Maria Rilke, Rilke’s Book of Hours , p. 45

Life from the Center is a life of unhurried peace and power.

It is simple. It is serene. It is amazing. It is triumphant. It is radiant.

It takes no time, but it occupies all our time.

~Thomas R. Kelly, A Testament of Devotion , p. 100

“If someone asks me, ‘Are you a conservative or a liberal?’, my answer is ‘Yes!’.”

I have heard this sentiment more than once. In a sermon at my church. In a book I read somewhere, probably something by Fr. Richard Rohr. We are more than a stereotypical label that boxes us in while boxing others out.

But I stray from my main point, which is to advocate for going deeper. While circling wider.

We are complex people, even the simplest of us. We are simple people, even the most complex of us. We all want the same, simple things – love, pleasure, family, friendship, security, growth, to make a positive difference, health. Yet we all are different. Each has a unique story and experiences, personal longings and dreams and fears, a unique way of looking at the world.

My answer to the question about whether I am a conservative or a liberal is that I am neither one nor the other. I am both, and I am much, much more than either of those. I have a touch or two of libertarian in me, sometimes a scootch of socialist might pop up. The skeptic in me wags its finger now and again, the romantic points that finger at the moon, the scientist in me interlocks all my fingers, and the spiritual in me puts ten fingers together and bows.

I am both liberal and conservative, and much, much more.

And so are you.

“Neither one nor the other” does not mean nothing, it may mean everything. It may mean the most important things. It may mean going both deeper and wider than liberal or conservative, beyond political or ideological label.

We need labels. They are short-hand which can represent something much richer. Truth-in-labeling helps us make good choices. Labels are convenient, are useful.

Until they are not.

We all live in perceptual boxes. Some of those boxes are more porous, more transparent, more open than others. Some are more easily repackaged and recycled and re-purposed. Some we just keep in the garage or the attic of our minds, cumbersome cubes weighing us down, the contents worth nothing to us now, or out of date or just empty.

No matter where we have been, no matter what boxes we’ve needed to move us to where we are today, we can always “center down” as Kelly says, going deeper and deeper, delving into the mystery that sits beyond us. We can always circle wider, as Rilke says, to places of wonder and awe and inspiration. Those are choices we make, everyday.

References

Kelly, T. R. (1996). A testament of devotion. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco.

Rilke, R. M. (2005). Rilke’s book of hours: love poems to God (A. Barrows & J. Macy, Trans. 1st Riverhead rev. trade pbk. ed.). New York: Riverhead Books.

Mt. Angel Abbey, Oregon – A Place for Centering

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Also, please share this essay with others who might find it beneficial.

Changing the Questions, Changing the Answers - What's the BEST way to approach the Federal Government?

Sat, 03 May 2025 13:38:18 GMT

Question: How Does A Country Create Sustainable Competitive Advantage Through Its Government?

Author's Note: This is a repost of an essay I published in 2018. I thought it was a timely topic to revisit.

“When you think about it, a national government competes with every other national government on earth to be the most cost effective, the most talented, the best equipped to act, the quickest to respond to external threats, and the most strategic thinking about future opportunities.”

Clemons and Kroth, Managing the Mobile Workforce , p. 98

Being a profound learner means constantly looking deeper, deeper than political positions, partisanship, ideology, tradition, religion, what would benefit us personally the most and, really, any current belief system. As I've written before , we are much more than the labels we give ourselves, like liberal or conservative or nationalist or globalist or socialist, which reduce us to less than we are or can be. And our beliefs about such matters, which can be helpful until they’re not, are just resting places for thoughtful people who want to understand more and to deal more wisely with the challenges and opportunities of their lives and the world.

One way to provoke deeper discussion – internal or amongst others – is to rethink the questions we have been asking. Trying out new questions or iterations of questions can provoke different ways of thinking about issues which have devolved into “positions” or “talking points” or “litmus tests” or any purity evaluation. “Are you with us or against us” can easily become a false dichotomy, with folks finding themselves defending limited “yes or no” options instead of exploring alternatives or looking for something new or creative.

So, occasionally I or others will pose a question here designed to change how a particular challenge is discussed. Hopefully these queries will be provocative – and I believe provoking, evoking, invoking….stoking good discussion is a worthy objective - with something to be learned, even if no conclusion is, well, concluded.

So, to get us started….

“How does [our country] create sustainable competitive advantage through the development and maintenance of the best government on earth?”

When I watch the political and ideological battles between parties and personalities over the size of government and the role of government, both legitimate areas of discussion, I wonder if they are really addressing what might be a more useful, more important question , “How does our country create sustainable competitive advantage through the development and maintenance of the best government on earth?” That question would force people to ask what the most competitive government might look like. Let me try a few ideas to get us started.

The most competitive government in the world would attract, develop, support, and motivate people who are the best government workers, perhaps the best workers, in the world.
The most competitive government in the world would be best at getting the most bang-for-the-invested-buck, would have rock solid credit, a balanced budget, and long term fiscal viability.
The most competitive government in the world would be the best at protecting its citizens now but also being prepared for future threats – militarily, environmentally, scientifically, economically.
The most competitive government in the world would be the best at assuring its citizens had the best educational system, best defense system, best support for its citizens, and so on. The best.
The most competitive government in the world would be interested in “sustainable” competitive advantage” which means it would have to think and to prepare for the long term – long term health, environment, resources, quality of life, protection – of its citizens.
And there would doubtless be many other ideas....

That question might induce people to ask about the importance of investing in scientific advancement, research, and education, and how sustainability can only occur over the long run when long-term collaborative efforts across nations are strengthened by building mutual trust and cooperation.

If the question were changed from “How large or small?” to “How competitive or how excellent?” what different approaches might arise?

Now, to wrap this up, let’s remember that this is just one question and it’s related to competition. There are of course other questions we could ask, that would produce different discussions and likely different answers. What if the next question was not about being the “best and most competitive government on earth”, but about “what’s the best system of government to produce long term health, quality of life, and survivability on our planet”? (Think biggggg......)

Changing the question can change the dynamics of the discussion, the way the players position themselves, the creativity of the potential solutions.

We will ask questions here from time to time. It would be grand to hear your answers. And other questions that provoke thought.

References:

Clemons, D., & Kroth, M. S. (2011). Managing the mobile workforce: leading, building, and sustaining virtual teams . New York: McGraw-Hill. https://amzn.to/2LtHE7F

To receive all our Profound Living posts, please subscribe (it won’t cost you anything but time to read): https://www.profoundliving.live/

Also, please share this essay with others who might find it beneficial.

Selling Your Soul, Or, Can One Just Take Out a Mortgage?

Sun, 30 Mar 2025 22:30:42 GMT

“In Celtic wisdom we remember that our soul, the very heart of our being, is sacred. What is deepest in us is of God. ”

~John Philip Newell ¹

What is Soul?

Short answer, I don’t know.

I don’t have any religious schooling or certificates in spiritual formation or any of that. I’m just reflecting here because I need to develop a deeper understanding of and relationship to my own soul. That’s all to say, take what you read here with a grain of your own salt. It’s just one person’s perspective as of today.

Saying “I don’t know,” therefore, isn’t all that surprising, but isn’t this something we all ought to be thinking about? Shouldn’t we all be doing our best to be true to the depths of who we are, to what is most meaningful to us, especially in the midst of the shallows and the shadows all around us?

Is one’s soul enough of an entity, do you suppose, that one might “sell it” in exchange for something perceived as worthwhile like, say, eternal life or great power, wealth, or pleasure? Or, closer to home, to receive by hook or crook the promotion someone else deserved? Or to win the game nefariously? Or to deviously win a bet on the game? Or to browbeat someone into saying they agree with you when you know they don’t?

¿Quién sabe?

Je ne sais pas.

I dinna ken.

I don’t know.

And nobody else does either. Not even the saints, not even the mystics, and not even your minister or favorite doctrine can express it accurately and completely. Not for sure. Not for good. Folks can try to explain the territory, and they can track down the horse, and they can name that horse, but can they even capture the magnificence of that horse? Can they tame that horse? Can they break that horse? Some have tried mightily and even poetically and dutifully and helpfully to encapsulate what that horse represents. Some have even tried to hobble it, but…

….it’s a bit of a mystery, you see.

Long answer, a lot of very wise people have tried to lasso a definition for soul and to pull it in. But it’s like roping a pooka. The rope of reason can never pull it in. One can think and think and think and, more importantly and usefully, to experience and experience and experience, and still not be able to say exactly what it is. One can’t corral it, to continue the metaphor, or herd it. One can only hop on as best one can, if we can, and take a ride wherever it takes you. One can “become one with the horse of our soul.”

Enough horsing around. Let’s get down to it.

The word ‘soul’ has always been an ambiguous word for me, and it’s no surprise given all the ways people have tried to explain it. Emily Dickinson wrote, “I cannot see my soul but know “tis there.” ² Phil Cousineau, who wrote my go-to book about pilgrimage, ³ also edited a book dedicated to exploring soul. ⁴ The readings in this book are written by a wide range of thought leaders ranging “from Socrates to Ray Charles.” No surprise, the spiritual, unexplainable yet universally experienced “soul” has also been addressed by the great religious traditions as well as deep ponderers over the centuries. Cousineau includes essays, poetry, and lyrics from Plato, Rumi, Black Elk, May Sarton, Jack Kerouac, Alice Walker, and many more. So many of these differing approaches, the many ways of explaining soul, are playing similar chords. Cousineau’s Prologue, I think, is a worthy read for anyone wanting to move toward a deeper understanding of soul.

In the Prologue, Cousineau says, “To fathom the unfathomable soul we immediately plunge into mystery. To probe the images of the soul as the vital force, the source of consciousness, the persistence of things, the core of individuality, the depth dimension, the raw, blue rhythm of life, is to suddenly, with Lear, ‘take upon us the mystery of things, as if we were God’s spies.” ⁵ He continues,

If we’re not bewildered by the mysteries of the soul, we’re not thinking clearly, to paraphrase the scrawling on subway walls. For the soul’s mysteries compress the most profound mythic questions that have always intrigued human beings. Where do we come from? Why are we here? Where do we go when we die? ⁶

“Every known culture,” he says, “has taken upon itself the naming of this force, usually after words for wind, shadow, movement, smoke, strength.” ⁷ The meaning and experience of soul defies a taut, concrete, complete interpretation. Words – which are reductionist symbols to start with - attempt to define soul, but the soul cannot be fully expressed using them. Yet we sense soul, we count on it to be the essence of who we are. “For many,” Cousineau says, “soul is the constellating image for the paradox of unchanging depths in an ever-changing universe.” ⁸

To summarize, soul can never be completely defined. It represents the deepest essence of who we are, each of us, though we be in the midst of doom scrolling, trolling, extolling, logrolling, button-holing, or universal attention-spoiling. Though we be the least soulful-seeming people one might find watching a reality show or checking out celebrity “how to stay young” tips. Even when we be surface-skimmers, each of us has the capacity to resonate with who we are underneath all that makeup, barroom bluster, or manly Big Truck-covered-with-tough-sounding-stickers-and-big-flags. Even when we be whiners about how our fancy dinner or “Best Burger in the World” wasn’t quite as tasty as usual. Even when we be starry-eyed woke, or we’re not and just don’t get it, sitting asleep at the wheel. The soul, for any of us and all of us, resides.

The beatitude, one might say, abides.

Even at our most superficial, each of us is endowed with something much deeper than we often experience. Cousineau provides the rejoinder to the superficiality which can engulf us:

Down deep in your soul where infinity is echoing. Deep down where the backbeat of eternity resounds, the deep bass line underneath the melody of all things. Soul, nothing but infinity closing in, constantly.

I am haunted by soul. ⁹

Haunted. Deep. Infinity. Eternity resounds. “The deep bass line underneath the melody of all things.” Whoosh. He pretty much proves me wrong, doesn’t he, in being able to describe qualities of soul. What soul is. Unhobble that magnificent horse. Take a ride on that deep bass line that reverberates deeper than woke, deeper than populism, deeper than any “isms” or national borders. It’s an existential beat.

Best answer, we sense what soul is when we experience connection – perhaps sense some kind of resonance - with our deepest self. We can sense it in others who live their lives in generative, purposeful, wise, joyful ways. We sense it when our deepest deep is aligned, harmonizes, with the divine. With God.

Importantly, we can intentionally become more aware of, develop, and act in ways that are congruent with our deepest sense of soul. Never completely integrated – we are human and fallible after all, but increasingly. It’s a lifetime journey.

We tap into our souls through music – some music is even called soul music, but we can experience soul through opera, folk music, lullabies, hymns, chants, and the other musical genres. Just as the experience of mountain top awe or turbulent ocean waves can crack our social facades wide open, reaching inside us to pull forth the most authenticness of us – exposing the hidden soul, and blooming it to ourselves and maybe even the world – so can music. As can wrenching loss. As can astonishing art. As can a sprouting flower. As can tragic loss or a miraculous cure. As can barely moving a toe just as the gurney pulls up after being thrown to the ground by a 350-pound defensive tackle. As can seeing your daughter being born or your son marching into the hall to Anchors Aweigh at the end of bootcamp. It’s more than pride, more than happiness, more than sadness, it’s all that but at their most essential. It’s the absolute core of who we are. It’s the most profoundly meaningful to us and of us.

Our soul is with us always, though we gloss over it, though we know it not.

Though we seem to abandon it.

The Soul Can Become Lost but Never Sold (Well…perhaps…)

I thought and spoke much of the soul. I knew many learned words for her. I had judged her and turned her into a scientific object. I did not consider that my soul cannot be the subject of my judgment and knowledge; much more are my judgment and knowledge the objects of my soul. Therefore the spirit of the depths forced me to speak to my soul, to call upon her as living and self-existing being. I had to become aware that I had lost my soul.

~Carl Jung, The Red Book ¹⁰

One of my favorite movies, based on the play, is A Man for All Seasons, ¹¹ Here we find Sir Thomas More, who gave up the power and the prestige and the safety bestowed by King Henry XIII because he would not sign the Oath of Supremacy, which would acknowledge the King as the Supreme Head of the Church of England. More, deeply Catholic, refused to sign the document and thus was accused of treason, resigned his position as the Lord Chancellor of England, was sent to the Tower of London, was eventually convicted, and then beheaded.

This is a story about how one man plumbed the depths of his soul and found it too precious, too fundamental to the pith of who he was, and lost his life for it; and of another man, who betrayed him for a bauble.

The play contrasted More with Richard Rich, a man More once mentored. More’s strategy to avoid being found guilty of treason was to remain silent about the Oath, to not take a position on it. This meant that, according to law, he could not be convicted. The strategy seemed like it might work until Rich falsely testified that More had confided in him that the King was not the rightful head of the church. Thus, More’s fate was sealed.

In the play, More notices that Rich has been rewarded with the title of Attorney General for Wales, presumably for his false testimony. And then gives one of the most withering remonstrations in all of literature.

'Why, Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world... but for Wales?' ¹²

This indictment, spoken softly and directly, follows the words of Jesus, in Mark 8:36:

For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? (KJV).

The next line in the Bible is verse 37:

Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul

What, indeed, shall a person give his or her soul for? For selling your influence and power as a Senator in exchange for bribes and gold? For the huge wealth and recognition that comes from being a top TV show opinion star? For not being primaried in your otherwise safe district?

For becoming the Attorney General of Wales?

There are, of course, mistakes made by us all, some of which are just poor decisions, others are family or loved ones preservation decisions, some are just downright mistakes so wrong that they couldn’t be considered mistakes as much as intentional acts of malice or greed.

But even if Jesus used the terms, “losing one’s soul” and “exchange one’s soul,” can one actually give up their soul, and if they were able to, what would remain? Does forfeiting one’s principles and values, whether in exchange for something directly given or through inaction when virtuous action is called for – sins of commission or omission - constitutes the absence of soul?

Losing and exchanging – not selling

From Johann Wolfgang von Goethe – Faust (1808) ¹³

“That I to the moment might say: ‘Stay, thou art so fair!’ Then bind me in thy bonds, O time and fate, and let my soul be sold.”

This in Faust, his soul in exchange for knowledge and pleasure.

From Howard Roark, speaking in Ayn Rand’s, The Fountainhead ¹⁴ ,

"To sell your soul is the easiest thing in the world. That's what everybody does every hour of his life. If I asked you to keep your soul—would you understand why that's much harder?"

These two very different, deep thinkers from different eras, Goethe and Rand, are talking about the trade offs – between easy and hard, and present happiness in exchange for – one can assume – eternal hell. And once one’s soul has been “sold” that that’s it. Game over. Very, very hard to keep it in the first place.

With due respect, my view is that we might lose our soul – as in “lose sight of,” “can’t find,” “abandon,” “trade it off for baseball cards,” but that it can almost always be found again, a year from now or on our deathbeds. We might mortgage our soul – take out a loan on our soul which we’ll be paying for until we pay it back through, say, good deeds. Which we might never do, but which we can do. But to sell it? Nah. We (N.B. the possible exceptions in the next paragraph) will always have our soul.

Are some people irredeemable? So evil that they can never retrieve their souls from the Lost and Found? Those are God’s Grace questions. I’m idealistic enough to think that everyone can be ultimately loved and forgiven. I’m realistic enough to think that some people really have sold, not just mortgaged, their souls. And that some people are “born” to be ‘soul less”? No matter their environment.

I’m not smart enough to know the answer to those big questions. But I’m convinced that most of us have the opportunity become more soulful. That is, full of soul.

I have thought a lot about what it takes to sell our souls – please see below a poem I wrote in 2019 – or even if a person can do that. Isn’t the soul always a part of us, even if we ignore it, even lose sight of it in the midst of everything else that is bludgeoning our sense right and wrong? I think the portal to the soul is opened through our practices which strength virtue in our lives, our sense of humanity, our love for nature, and all the gifts we have been given, unearned.

The most complete answer might be, “How can I be, and continue to become, a better person?”

We know what a better person would be, instinctively, because we do have soul as a deep reservoir inside us, just waiting for us to jump in and drink.

“How can I be, and continue to become, a better person?” It’s a question I ask myself often, and I think it’s the never-ending quest for all of our lives.

Notes

¹ Newell, J. P. (2021). Sacred Earth, sacred soul: Celtic wisdom for reawakening to what our souls know and healing the world (First edition. ed.). Harper One. p. 23

² Dickinson, Emily. The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Edited by Thomas H. Johnson, Little, Brown and Company, 1960. Poem 1101.

³ Cousineau, P. (2021). The art of pilgrimage: the seeker's guide to making travel sacred. Conari Press. (2012)

⁴ Cousineau, P. (1994). Soul: An Archeology. Harper.

⁵ Cousineau, P. (1994). Prologue. Harper, p. xix

⁶ Cousineau, P. (1994). Prologue. Harper, p. xix

⁷ Cousineau, P. (1994). Prologue . Harper, p. xix

⁸ Cousineau, P. (1994). Prologue . Harper, p. xxi

⁹ Cousineau, P. (1994). Prologue . Harper, p. xxxiii

¹⁰ Jung, C. G. (2009). The red book: Liber novus (S. Shamdasani, Ed. 1st ed.). W.W. Norton & Co, pp. 128-129

¹¹ Bolt, Robert. A Man for All Seasons: A Play in Two Acts . London: Heinemann, 1960. Also adapted by Bolt for the screen in A Man for All Seasons, directed by Fred Zinnemann, Columbia Pictures, 1966, starring Paul Scofield, Wendy Hiller, and Robert Shaw.

¹² Bolt, R. (1960). A man for all seasons: A play in two acts (p. 91). Heinemann. Also adapted by Bolt for the screen in Zinnemann, F. (Director). (1966). A man for all seasons [Film]. Columbia Pictures.

¹³ Goethe, J. W. von. (2000). Faust: Part I (P. Wayne, Trans., p. 59). Oxford University Press. (Original work published 1808)

¹⁴ Rand, A. (1943). The Fountainhead (p. 577). Bobbs-Merrill.

“My friends, it is wise to nourish the soul, otherwise you will breed dragons and devils in your heart”

~C. Jung, The Red Book , p. 130)

Let the Lights Shine

Sun, 02 Mar 2025 17:48:03 GMT

Lights In The Darkness

The slow swing of arms and body

Pushing the air, welcoming the wind

Now lifting one leg, then another

Nestling with our sleeping puppy

Breathing in and out together

One of us sighs, then the other

A step, then another, then another

The path, covered with snow and ice

Continuing at the pace I can

A cerulean sky and

Forest boughs laden white

Surround us

Turning the page, the last pages

Racing to the end, how will it end

Wishing it would never end

Chanting, then silence, candlelight

Praying for ourselves and each other

For peace on Earth, goodwill for everyone

A small, peaceful chapel resonating

With divine peace, surrounding a candle-lit Cross

The unpretentious, the virtuous, the authentic

The spiritual

Lights in the darkness

Of the menace

The reckless capriciousness

The destructive-ness

The heartless-ness

The power (by any means) hungry-ness

The self-aggrandizing-ness

The mean-spirited-ness

of those who lead this dark era we have just entered.

Let the lights shine

---------------------------------------------------

Let the lights shine

Today, we seem a long ways from and in a much darker time than the “…shining city on a hill” that Ronald Reagan spoke about in his Farewell Address to the Nation . Where he said,

The past few days when I've been at that window upstairs, I've thought a bit of the ``shining city upon a hill.'' The phrase comes from John Winthrop, who wrote it to describe the America he imagined. What he imagined was important because he was an early Pilgrim, an early freedom man. He journeyed here on what today we'd call a little wooden boat; and like the other Pilgrims, he was looking for a home that would be free.

I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That's how I saw it, and see it still.

One may not agree with everything or even much that Reagan did, or condone mistakes he made (as all Presidents do), but he was a person who believed in our democracy and our country. He had, I believe, Presidential character and integrity. He was a leader defending our country from tyrants.

Today, we seem a long ways from the "torch", John F. Kennedy spoke of in his Inaugural Address in 1961. When he said,

Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans--born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage--and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

One may not agree with everything or even much that Kennedy did, or condone mistakes he made (as all Presidents do), but he was a person who believed in our democracy and our country. He had, I believe, Presidential character and integrity. He was a leader defending our country from tyrants.

Both these addresses are worth watching and reading again.

Today, things seem very different, don't they?

---------------------------------------------------

We can be the light in dark times

We may be lights under bushels, but we can shine brightly against the dark even if we are mere candles. Together, the light may shine bright.

Sometimes, when I am blue just reading the latest headlines (watching or reading the news is often simply too much to bear, is too heartbreaking), I retreat to what brings me joy, peace, hope, and love. Poetry is one source. Daily contemplative work is my inner light, my own rock especially when the world seems crumbling. Music is another. Friendship and family top my list. Our Tuesday Candlelight service. Taking walks with our dog. Those kinds of things. You have your own deep sources to pull from.

Here are two songs that I love to sing in church.

Both songs call us to be means of a better world. There are many versions of these songs, here are two. Click to watch and listen.

Here I Am, Lord

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael - February 2025

Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:09:29 GMT

February, 2025 Haiku Narratives

Curator's Note

We started over five years ago, and since then Davin Carr-Chellman, Amy Hoppock, and I have been writing and sharing haiku's monthly with each other. It has been an enriching and enjoyable way to develop our individual haiku writing practices.

It goes like this

Five Years and Counting

Our first meeting to share haikus in this way was in September, 2019 .

How about that!

It is a lot of fun!

This is our Forty-Fourth recording (You can watch them all here . I'll stop counting once we hit 50 or something like that) , and we hope to continue. Please let us know what you think, and share this with anyone you think might benefit.

This Month's Haiku Narrative Video Recording

Check It Out:

This is a recording (our forty-fourth) of our monthly haiku reading and narratives.

You can see them all here:

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael

February, 2025 Haikus

Davin's Haiku

Amy's Haiku

Michael's Haiku

Check These Opportunities Out Too!

Our Book!

About Us

The Elegant Haiku

Sun, 09 Feb 2025 20:01:14 GMT

Silence speaks to us

Listening in deep quiet…

Hear what you long for!

~Patricia Leyko Connelly ¹

Haikus are elegant, as reading Patricia Leyko Connelly’s poem demonstrates. Just a few words in length, a haiku carries rich meaning. Each word must carry its own weight and contribute to the larger, but still slender, verse. Together, the few syllables comprising haikus ² represent the Big Bang of the written word. A tiny haiku explodes with timeless, deep, and vast import. Some are humorous, some deadly serious, all are robust. Using another naturally occurring metaphor, each haiku is pregnant with meaning both for the one who conceived it and for the ones to whom it is delivered. The creation process for these evocative morsels continues as people read, reread, ponder, and consider them. Such is the generative destiny of all forms of art.

Haikus are an elegant form, perhaps the most elegant form, of poetry. Poetry as a genre lends itself to elegant expression through the written word. Haikus check all the boxes for the characteristics of elegance , and the practice of writing and reading haikus regularly elegancifies (see this for a definition) how we experience life and who we become as a person. Well-conceived and expressed haikus: 1) are timeless, 2) embody “simplicity plus capaciousness” ³ ; and 3) are built on detailed description of observed phenomena wrapped subtly into a package of just a few, well-designed words which encapsulate underlying, generative, and profound questions and ideas. As in all practices, while anyone can write a haiku, mastering the craft requires consistent practice and growth over considerable time.

Judith Valente, along with Br. Paul Quenon and Michael Bever, wrote a book titled, The Art Of Pausing: Meditations For The Overworked And Overwhelmed. ⁴ In it, the authors wrote haikus which speak to “one of the 99 names of God referred to in sacred texts.” ⁴ Here are two which Judith wrote for the book:

God, the Friend

Day of solitude

Six wild turkeys come to stay

No one is alone

~Judith Valente

God, The Eternal

Pre-dawn silence

Earth murmurs ancient secrets

We listen, or not

~Judith Valente

In both poems, aspects of nature are included. Deeply felt words and expressions – solitude, Earth murmuring ancient secrets, listening, aloneness – are included. A turn of phrase – “no one is alone,” “we listen, or not” quickly brings a different perspective or an insight which gives the occasion a different interpretation.

This is what a timeless, subtle, well-and-parsimoniously-crafted, personally-interpreted-but-universally-relatable - yes elegant - haiku looks like.

As with all practices, we “become” what we do. One becomes a marathoner by running marathons. “I have run a marathon” means one has completed a marathon, but there is something closely related to one’s identity after making marathon-running a part of life rather than a one-off experience, impressive as it is. I have completed three marathons, years ago now, and I can accurately say I have run marathons, but it is the person who trains for and completes marathons as an ongoing part of life who has become a marathoner. Marathoner is who they are.

One can dash off a haiku a day, as I do too often, or one can make haiku writing a part of daily experience. One can approach life with, as Patricia Donegan calls it, a “haiku mind.” ⁵ She said,

“ A fine haiku presents a crystalline moment of heightened awareness in simple imagery, traditionally using a kigo or season word from nature. It is this crystalline moment that is most appealing. However, this moment is more than a reflection of our day-to-day life—it is a deep reminder for us to pause and to be present to the details of the everyday. It is this way of being in the world with awakened open-hearted awareness—of being mindful of the ordinary moments of our lives—that I’ve come to call ‘haiku mind.”

The haiku mind, as she described, is “the awareness to tune in to the vastness of the moment…when we can pause and relax in the moment, that is our haiku mind: the awakened, openhearted awareness that we can tap into. Every good haiku,” she wrote, “captures such a moment and is a reflection of our haiku mind.” She uses haiku, “not just as a literary form, but also as an awareness practice”.

In this sense, writing haikus can become a path for contemplative work and the present moment experience of simply emptying of minds so we can richly notice the world right in front of us. This too is elegant, and the process of creating the haiku from quieting, becoming aware, interpreting that awareness of direct experience through the spare form of a haiku, elegancifies our own being and becoming as well.

Haiku’s, with their minimalist structure, intimate revelation, and detailed-while-nuanced expression are parsimoniously sublime.

Haikus – reading or writing them – and other manifestations of elegance are available for everyone

As I previously reported , I asked Google alerts to send me links whenever a story about elegance popped up in the news. By far, the stories which come to me are about items or experiences that I couldn’t afford, nor could most folks I know afford, in a million years. High class fashion, expensive cars, celebrity celebrations – you get the idea – are what get reported and are what many of us think about when we think about the word elegance. If “expensive” were one of the principal attributes of what it means to be elegant then most of the world could never experience elegance.

But anyone can, it turns out. Writing or reading haikus can cost almost nothing. Think of the attributes of elegance and see if you can name some other ways that people of any income level can experience it. For me, Tai chi comes to mind. Tai chi originated in ancient China and is a practice involving slow, meditative, specific movements. As one becomes more proficient, more movements, known as ‘forms’, can be added to the routine. I have completed many times a wobbly version of the 24-movement routine from memory, which is a standard for beginners. My tai chi practice has waxed and waned over the last few years, but I count it as one of my anchors for a lengthy health span. Tai chi ties so much together – it’s meditative, simple-but-challenging, spiritual, something which can be practiced and improved over a lifetime. It is elegant and it is the opposite of the elite materialism of expensive consumption.

Inexpensive elegance is found in arts, crafts, and other physical items and I bet you could find some at an art fair or other places.

What are some examples of elegance that you could incorporate into your life?

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Afterword

I wrote my first haiku on January 21, 2019 when I began reading The Art of Pausing: Meditations for the Overworked and Overwhelmed , by Judith Valente, Brother Paul Quenon, and Michael Bever. Judith Valente, writing in the introduction, Pauses Written On Our Days , recommended writing a haiku poem every day. I immediately began writing a haiku every day. She recommended finding one or more people to share haikus amongst each other. “The haiku exchange,” she wrote, “is a way of building community and recognizing that none of us is alone, has a lock on truth or insight. After reading that, I very quickly reached out to Kelly Anderson and we began exchanging haikus, and soon added Davin Carr-Chellman. Kelly moved on to another art form, painting, and now makes beautiful, whimsical works of art. Amy Hoppock joined Davin and me and we have continued exchanging haikus monthly since September, 2019. We have made, as of this writing, 44 monthly recordings we call Haiku Narratives , where we share our reflections of each other’s poem. We even wrote a haiku book together, Framing the Moment: Haiku Conversations . ⁶ The foreword to the book was beautifully written by . . . .

Wait for it . . . .

Judith Valente.

Since January 21, 2019, I have written a haiku most days. From the start, I made a pledge to myself that I would not worry about quality or how I might be judged by others or by myself. As a beginning haiku-ist I nearly always write using the traditional 5-7-5 syllable structure or a close iteration of it. I find the structure is freeing and the constraint forces me to be both creative and disciplined at once. Perhaps I will write haikus, as many do, in a less pre-set format as I continue to grow. To develop into deeper haiku writing I will need to, more and more, do as the master haiku writer Basho said, “To learn about the pine tree you must become one with the pine and drop your self-centered view” ⁷ I stay close to nature in most of my haikus, but not always. I am not well versed in the history or the style of of haiku writing. I am clearly a journeyman here and slowly learning the craft, but I have become a haiku writer and it is part of who I am.

References

¹ Connelly, P. L. (2023). Sacredness Surrounds Us in Every Season: Contemplative Reflections in Haiku Prayers, Photos and Long Poems, p. 59.

² For a discussion about the number of English syllables or Japanese onji , sound symbols, found in haikus, see Chapter 8, The Form of Haiku , in Higginson, W. J., & Harter, P. (2013). The haiku handbook: how to write, teach, and appreciate haiku (25th anniversary ed.). Kodansha USA.

³ House, P. (2015). What is elegance in science? The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/what-is-elegance-in-science.

⁴ Valente, J., Quenon, P., & Bever, M. (2013). The art of pausing: meditations for the overworked and overwhelmed. ACTA Publications, pp. 11, 74, 158.

⁵ Donegan, P. (2008). Haiku mind: 108 poems to cultivate awareness and open your heart (1st ed.). Shambala, pp. xi, xiii, xv.

⁶ Hoppock, A. V., Kroth, M., & Carr-Chellman, D. (2021). Framing the Moment: Haiku Conversations.

⁷ As quoted in Donegan, P. (2008). Haiku mind: 108 poems to cultivate awareness and open your heart (1st ed.). Shambala, p. xii.

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2019 Haiku Published in Profound Living

I was so taken with writing haiku, one-a-day, that I shared some of them in Profound Living . Looking back, I published a LOT of them. Here are some from 2019. Remember – I’m just a wet-behind-the-ears-eager-beginner here.

Three Haiku, https://www.profoundliving.live/three-haiku

Imperfect Am I https://www.profoundliving.live/imperfect-am-i

I Have A Floppy-Eared Dog https://www.profoundliving.live/i-have-a-floppy-eared-dog

Cracked Windows https://www.profoundliving.live/early-morning-prayer

Branches Break Fog-Day https://www.profoundliving.live/branches-break-fog-day

Black Pavement Ahead https://www.profoundliving.live/black-pavement-ahead

The Art of Pausing – My Experience https://www.profoundliving.live/the-art-of-pausing-my-experience

Heveled https://www.profoundliving.live/heveled

Neighborly Fence-Talk https://www.profoundliving.live/fivehaiku

Haiku Hodge Podge https://www.profoundliving.live/haiku-et-al

Fun with Haiku https://www.profoundliving.live/i-ll-take-a-cloud-float

I Wore My Raincoat https://www.profoundliving.live/i-wore-my-raincoat

So I feel alive https://www.profoundliving.live/so-i-feel-alive

Poetry from the Profound Bartender https://www.profoundliving.live/post-title68cf131c

Profound Silence https://www.profoundliving.live/profound-silence

Painted Blue’n Gray https://www.profoundliving.live/painted-blue-n-gray

A Lake of Diamonds https://www.profoundliving.live/a-lake-of-diamonds

Soon the whole field flows https://www.profoundliving.live/soon-the-whole-field-flows

Fall Haiku https://www.profoundliving.live/a-comforter-of-leaves

Moon Smiling https://www.profoundliving.live/moon-smiling

At 5:00 a.m. Books are Written https://www.profoundliving.live/at-5-00-a-m-books-are-written

What a re some examples of elegance that you could incorporate into your life?

Defining Elegance (with the help of AI and Flipboard)

Wed, 22 Jan 2025 17:37:19 GMT

"Elegance is the harmonious integration of simplicity, refinement, and intentionality across diverse contexts, combining timeless beauty with functional sophistication."

~ChatGPT Synthesized Definition

This image created with the help of ChaptGPT.

My 2024 word was “Elegancing”, my motto and song were both “Take More Time, Cover Less Ground” (h/t Carrie Newcomer). My haiku was:

Camino backpack

Walking. Elegancing. One.

Taking what matters

~Michael Kroth

To tee that up, I wrote an essay about these declarations , ¹ and in particular spent some time there looking at what elegance means. I’d written about elegance twice in 2018 ² and had always planned to revisit this theme but it wasn’t until last year that the stars aligned, and I began to think about elegance more seriously. In my essay, I laid out some similarities and differences between minimalism, simplicity, and elegance; discussed what the qualities of elegance meant to me at that time; and proposed some areas for further research.

A definition that resonated with me at the time, and still, is Patrick House’s definition of elegance as, ““simplicity plus capaciousness.” ³

Google Alerts and Flipboard

What follows is a description and the results of a very unscientific (non) “study” of elegance. I decided that I had a very limited idea of what the word and concept of elegance meant and was used for, so last January, 2024, I created a daily Google Alert for the word, “elegance.” For these alerts, if you’ve never tried one, Google does its magic and looks for – actually monitors the web to find – when a word or phrase is used and then sends you a link to that source. I follow several alert items, which now include my 2025 word, which is elegancifying, and motto, which is Colendo Curam Personalis .*

When I received alerts concerning elegance last year I sent some of them, the ones I thought added to my understanding of elegance, to a Flipboard magazine I called - wait for it - Elegance. Flipboard is an app that lets you store items from the internet that interest you or that you want to share with others. You create categories of items, which are called magazines, which you can make private (only you are able to see them) or public (so others can see them). So it’s a social app. I use it mainly as a holding pond for articles I find on the net that I want to keep for future reading or sharing, and I keep my magazines private.

I went back this month to see how many articles I’d collected about elegance in 2024, and there were over 40. I opened each one and copied its link. Then I eliminated, for this little analysis, videos and places I would have to sign up for. That left me 41 articles. So, as you can see, this was all a pretty subjective bit of data gathering.

Nonetheless, I thought there might be something to learn from all this so I brought in my (sometimes) trusty research partner, ChatGPT . I asked this AI program, using the 41 links to the articles as described above, to summarize the qualities of elegance, the places where elegance is used to describe something, and to synthesize all of that into a simple definition. Following is exactly what ChatGPT gave me. We’ll have a little discussion time after you’ve had a chance to review this.

........................................................................

A Summary of ChatGPT Analysis of Flipboard Elegance Links for 2024

Definition of Elegance

Elegance is the harmonious integration of simplicity, refinement, and intentionality across diverse contexts, combining timeless beauty with functional sophistication. It is characterized by a balance of form and purpose, exuding a sense of effortlessness, sophistication, and enduring appeal. Found in fashion, design, art, technology, architecture, and daily living, elegance transcends mere aesthetics to embody values of innovation, sustainability, and cultural resonance.

Qualities of Elegance Summary

Elegance is a multifaceted concept that transcends various domains, including interior design, fashion, technology, and lifestyle. A synthesis of the provided sources reveals several recurring qualities that define elegance:

1. Simplicity and Minimalism

Elegance often manifests through simplicity, where minimalistic designs and uncluttered spaces create a sense of sophistication. This approach emphasizes essential elements, avoiding unnecessary ornamentation.

2. Timelessness

An elegant design or style possesses a timeless quality, remaining relevant and appealing across different eras. This enduring nature is achieved by focusing on classic aesthetics rather than fleeting trends.

3. Attention to Detail

Meticulous attention to detail is a hallmark of elegance. Whether in fashion, interior design, or technology, refined details contribute to a cohesive and polished appearance.

4. Harmony and Balance

Elegance is characterized by a harmonious balance between various elements, ensuring that colors, shapes, and textures complement each other seamlessly. This equilibrium creates a pleasing and coherent visual experience.

5. Functionality and Practicality

Beyond aesthetics, elegance encompasses functionality. Incorporating practical features without compromising on style ensures that designs are both beautiful and useful.

6. Subtlety and Understatement

Elegant designs often employ subtlety, where understated elements convey sophistication without overt display. This restraint allows for a more profound appreciation of the design's nuances.

7. Quality and Craftsmanship

High-quality materials and exceptional craftsmanship are integral to elegance. The use of superior materials and skilled workmanship ensures longevity and a premium feel.

By integrating these qualities, elegance achieves a refined and sophisticated essence that resonates across various fields and applications.

Themes from the Articles

1. Timeless Elegance

The enduring nature of elegance, especially in fashion, design, and art. Timeless elegance is often tied to simplicity, classic forms, and the enduring appeal of certain styles.

2. Elegance in Modern Innovation

Integrating elegance with cutting-edge technology or sustainable practices.

3. Interior Design and Spatial Elegance

Elegance as expressed in living spaces and architecture, focusing on simplicity, harmony, and transformative power.

4. Cultural and Artistic Representations of Elegance

Elegance in cultural events, artistic traditions, and public showcases.

5. Everyday Elegance

Finding elegance in routine and minimalism.

This image created with the help of ChaptGPT.

Arenas Where Elegance is Found

1. Fashion and Couture

Highlighting timeless pieces, seasonal collections, and the evolution of couture in different cultures.

2. Architecture and Design

Interior design, sustainable building concepts, and architectural tributes.

3. Technology and Innovation

The seamless integration of aesthetics with advanced functionality.

4. Art and Exhibitions

Elegance in historical and contemporary art forms, such as exhibitions and cultural showcases.

5. Daily Life and Minimalism

Mindfulness, slow living, and a minimalist approach to life.

6. Events and Celebrations

Gala events, music performances, and public gatherings as stages for sophistication.

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Some Additional Thoughts

I’ve never used AI for this kind of summarizing before, but I was impressed. There is a lot to think about here. The caveats are, of course, that this is very limited information which was influenced by my subjective thinking each day. There are scholarly articles which use the idea of elegance which I haven’t tapped into yet. In the future, I’ll want to delve into those and other perspectives and examples of elegance to give a bigger, deeper, and more grounded look at elegance.

I do note that there is nothing in the categories or descriptions above that use the words “expensive.” As a person of modest means myself, and I believe I fall into the range of most people, I want to find out what “Regular People Elegance,” or “Relaxed Elegance” might look like and what it takes to achieve it. Elegance is thought of as “ Je ne sais quoi ” but I contend that with some thought and effort it’s more likely to be “ Je suis élégant .”

For this year, I’m particularly interested in the processes and practices that lead to elegance. Hence, at Judith Valente’s Prologue to 2025 workshop this year,* I adopted a more action-oriented word for 2025 – elegancifying. I don’t have a song yet for 2025, but my motto is “Colendo Curam Personalis ,” or “cultivating the whole person.” Exploring the links between these two ideas and some others (like, maybe, 4-H ) will be fun this year I think.

Sources and Resources

¹ My Word for 2024 – Elegancing: https://www.profoundliving.live/my-word-for-2024-elegancing

² My elegance essays written in 2018: Elegance, https://www.profoundliving.live/elegance , and Naturally Elegant, https://www.profoundliving.live/naturally-elegant

³ House, P. (2015). What is elegance in science?. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/what-is-elegance-in-science.

*For my essay about how this was developed, check out Colendo Curam Personalis , https://www.profoundliving.live/cura-personalis

This image created with the help of ChaptGPT.

Cura Personalis

Mon, 13 Jan 2025 17:22:32 GMT

My Motto for 2025: Colendo Curam Personalis

This image created with the help of the Dalle-E AI tool.

“One of the hallmarks of Jesuit education is cura personalis. Often translated as ‘care or education of the whole person…’”

~Catherine Peters ¹

I had never heard of the term Cura Personalis until one of our doctoral students spoke of it one day. She had worked at a Jesuit educational institution and c ura personalis was a stated value of the organization. The term and concept intrigued me, and I knew I would have to explore it in more depth one day.

I start today.

First, a disclaimer. I’m not a Jesuit or even a Roman Catholic. What I’m writing about today will be through the eyes of a lifelong Protestant; not as a person steeped in Catholicism, but as someone who has learned much from this tradition, especially from the great contemplatives. My purpose here is to start exploring how this approach can be applied. I’m interested in this both personally – how could attending to the care of the whole person help me to become a better person; and also professionally – how can cura personalis be applied to lifelong, profound learning and human flourishing theory and practice. I’ll only be able to outline some thoughts here.

Cura Personalis is considered one of the “hallmarks of Jesuit Education” ¹ , and the idea was first introduced to the Jesuits in the United States by their Superior General in 1934. The Jesuits, more formally known as the Society of Jesus (S.J.), are members of a Roman Catholic order of priests and brothers founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola, which was approved by the Pope in 1547. ²

Today, Cura Personalis is embedded into the values and practices of many Jesuit educational institutions and, in fact, “has enjoyed a meteoric rise in usage in the last few decades and is now considered emblematic of Jesuit philosophy of education.” ³ What cura personalis means is still not totally clear though, it seems, which is not a surprise given the recency of its introduction and development.

For educators, and I would say for all interactions with others, Dickinson says,

“The Jesuit ideal of striving to care for the whole person (cura persona/is) forms a principle that transcends any single social, political, religious or professional context, offering educators something of a measuring stick to carry with us for the many domains in which we operate. As a spiritual principle, it means we must be attentive to the complexity of ourselves as much as we are sensitive to the complexities of others. There is no one moment when we might simply relax this guiding concept so as to reduce the fullness of the person who stands before us. ⁴

Considering a student, or a teacher, or an administrator, leader, any other person from a holistic perspective, that is, taking their entire situation and personal attributes and history into account, is not a surprising or unique perspective. Geger ⁵ in fact specifically notes that “promoters of Jesuit education should beware of implying that ‘holistic education’ and ‘respect for the individual’ are values unique to Jesuit education’, and that since the time of Socrates and Cicero good teachers have taken the whole person into consideration. Then he shares Fr. Anthony McGinn’s view that, “claiming these things to be distinctively Jesuit is like trying to copyright the alphabet.” I love this quotation.

Claiming these things to be distinctively Jesuit is like trying to copyright the alphabet.

That said, I think the Jesuits have adopted a deeply important idea, approach, and practice for the field of education, which should be considered a case study for all educational institutions. More, by bringing cura personalis to their institution, the Jesuits are giving the rest of us an opportunity to see how it might be adopted by other learners, organizations, and institutions. At the very least it provides another way of looking at what lifelong learning for the purpose of human flourishing might look like.

Greger ⁶ says that there are three definitions of cura personalis commonly used by Jesuits. The first is “holistic education that attends to the spiritual and moral dimensions of a person in addition to his or her intellectual development.” The second emphasizes education that is, “respectful of the unique needs and identity of each student.” The third expands the people who should be considered. It is the “duty of administrators and Jesuit superiors to show solicitude for individuals working in their institutions…”. In other words, the care or education of teachers and staff and the administrators and Jesuit superiors themselves should be included as well.

I’ll end this discussion of cura personalis by quoting the 1986 International Commission on the Apostolate of Jesuit Education publication, “The Characteristics of Jesuit Education, ” ⁷

Teachers and administrators, both Jesuit and lay, are more than academic guides. They are involved in the lives of the students, taking a personal interest in the intellectual, affective, moral and spiritual development of every student…They are ready to listen to their cares and concerns about the meaning of life, to share their joys and sorrow, to help them with personal growth and interpersonal relationships…They try to live in a way that offers an example to the students, and they are willing to share their own life experiences. “Cura personalis (concern for the individual person} remains a basic characteristic of Jesuit education.

Most people are not professional teachers, but all people are teachers, mentors, guides, friends, and examples. Practicing Cura personalis for self and others, it seems to me, is one of those skills and practices and dispositions that takes a lifetime to learn. Though some people are born to it, all of us can become more so.

My Word, Motto, and Haiku for 2025

How does one do this? I’ll be exploring this a bit more as the motto I adopted for 2025 in Judith Valente’s “Prologue” workshop yesterday, is “ Colendo Curam Personalis ” (Latin)/” Cultivando la Persona Integra” (Spanish), which in English means cultivating or nurturing care for the whole person. My word for 2025 will be “Elegancifying” ( last year’s word was “elegancing” ) which means the act or process of transforming something or adding or enhancing elegance in an object, environment, or action. I just didn’t get far enough with elegancing in 2024, hence this more active word.

More on Judith’s workshop – another wonderful experience – in a later essay.

This image created with the help of the Dalle-E AI tool.

Notes

¹ Peters, C. (2022). Cura Personalis : The Incarnational Heart of Jesuit Education. Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal, 11(1), p. 26.

² For more about the Jesuits, see https://www.jesuits.org/.

³ Casalini, C. (2021). Cura personalis : The Care of the Person and the Roots of Jesuit Pedagogy. In J. B. a. M. S. d. Carvalho (Ed.), Philosophy of Care: New Approaches to Vulnerability, Otherness and Therapy (pp. 243–258). Cham: Springer, p. 243.

⁴ Dickinson, C. (2024). Jesuit Spirituality for the Contemporary Pluralistic Classroom. Teaching Theology & Religion, p. 4

⁵ Geger, B. T. (2014). Cura personalis : Some Ignatian inspirations. Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal, 7(2), p. 20

⁶ Geger, B. T. (2014), p. 6

⁷ Geger, B. T. (2014), p. 8

Participate the Present

Thu, 02 Jan 2025 15:25:23 GMT

Unmade bed, and mind

Unmade mind, unready day

Night turns into dawn

~Michael Kroth

The “new” year is nothing more than another day. We, humanity that is, make it more than that when we give significance to it. The annual accumulation of days becomes meaningful as a counting device.

How many?

How much?

As a planning device.

When will?

How might?

As a remembering tool.

When did?

What happened?

It’s a time, January 1 ^st , the “new” year, to take stock and to make plans.

But then we can take stock and make plans on any of the 365 or so days during that time period.

Who loved?

Who lost?

Why care?

Why not?

August 10th has just as much importance as December 31 ^st or January 1 ^st . August 10 ^th at 9:00 a.m. or at 1:37 p.m. No more or less significance than any other time.

A pilgrimage generally has a start and a finish. But that shove off can be any day, usually a day you select; that completion any time you choose.

The sine qua non of time is now. Right now. This moment both portentous and puckish. Reverent and irreverent. Solemn and insouciant.

All wrapped into one, astonishingly ordinary, singular, bit of experience. The extraordinary in the ordinary. The ordinary of the extraordinary.

How did it/is it/will it go/going/go?

If it all sounds like a bunch of gobbledygook to you, it does to me as well.

Most simply, this all reminds us to revel in this moment. This sublime, glorious, sumptuous moment. Ponder the past; prepare the future. Revel is one word for it, but it just means to profoundly participate the present.

It’s January 2 ^nd . The most important day of our lives.

January 3 ^rd will also be the most important day.

And January 4 ^th .

And June 23 ^rd .

(Last March 23, 1998, was also the most important day, as it turns out. And you might not even have been born yet, eh? Go figure. )

You get the idea.

Elegancing 2024 - The Epilogue

Mon, 30 Dec 2024 18:01:20 GMT

When I first discovered Stephen Covey’s book, The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People ¹ , I thought the habits he proposed were so simple. They were so self-evident. When I read them, they were so life changing. I remember reading the book and it was one of the biggest “aha” experiences of my life.

As I’ve discovered, they are also so, so hard.

I became a facilitator for several of Covey’s courses, and I remember him saying that what he was proposing was both simple and hard.

What he meant by that was that the concept of the habit (putting First Things First, for example) was simple, and he offered uncomplicated but effective ways to work on them, but integrating that habit into one’s life, into one’s being, was hard. It would take time and perseverance. And, of course, that’s true. I know it’s true because I still have a long way to go on just these seven habits and that’s decades from when I started, and that’s only seven out of abuncha other practices I’d like to adopt, maintain, or improve on.

Changing habits or routines is not impossible by any means, but that doesn’t make it easy no matter how much of an expert one might be. We know that smoking is bad for us, and yet quitting smoking can seem impossibly hard. I used to smoke three packs of cigarettes a day and tried every which way in the world I could to quit, including self-hypnosis, but it took my wife to buy me a smoking cessation program based on aversion therapy (I got a little shock every time I took a puff of smoke) to actually quit.

It’s been 45 years since I stopped smoking.

But I've known for a long time that eating too much sugar is bad for me, and still I do it. And the scale reminds me of that every day.

And still I do it.

But I'm working on it.

We know that exercise and good nutrition and developing relationships is good for our health over the lifespan, but it takes time and effort to develop them. (For some other thoughts about this, see Whack-A-Mole , Sloughing , The Practice of Practices: The Meta-Practice of Practices ). The good news is that the benefits of working on these practices start accruing from day one, even though getting better at it is a lifetime process.

Just because a person knows a good deal about something doesn’t mean that they are skillful at it. Someone who studies generosity isn’t necessarily generous. The worldwide expert in humility isn’t necessarily humble. The medical doctor who rhapsodizes the virtues of exercise isn’t always in the best shape. The theologian who knows more than anyone about some aspect of Christianity or Hinduism or Islam or any religion doesn’t necessarily practice the religious virtues she or he has written about in papers and books. A generous person may know nothing – in fact, probably doesn’t know much – about the latest generosity studies. And the person conducting those studies may be a descendant of Scrooge.

Which brings me to the word I came up with for 2024 - elegancing. It’s only fair to ask myself, almost-post-2024, if elegancing has become more of who I am and how I operate in the world. How well, self-reflection should reveal, have I actually practiced it? How deeply have I become an elegant person?

Writing a “Prologue” to 2024

Judith Valente asked those of us who took part in her workshop last January, “Prologue to 2024” (see My Word for 2024 – Elegancing ) to write a letter to ourselves about the coming year. I opened that letter on December 21st, and I don’t mind sharing excerpts of what I wrote.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

1-15-2024

Prologue to 2024

Michael Kroth

To the Divine Ground, to the Great Vastness, and to the Inner LastingNess,

May this be a year of Elegancing, of winnowing out the chaff, and keeping – reverencing – the grain. The elegant solution is the simplest, nothing extra, nothing missing.

“Take More Time, Cover Less Ground,” a song by Carrie Newcomer, is my theme song. It reminds me of Evelyn Underhill. She would pick one retreat for a year, and give that retreat several times. Rather than giving many retreats.

Cultivating Spirituality in Later Life is my topic. This means knowing about gerontology, spirituality, and lifelong learning

Healthwise is my approach – not worrying about length of life as much as quality of life for as long as I live. To that end, five areas of continual improvement: exercise, nutrition, sleep, emotional/social health, spiritual growth, financial/material health. To consider myself a learner/practitioner in each of these areas.

Designing my environment to move toward elegance with a twist (a bit of irreverence tossed in…).

Exercising daily, eat healthily, sleep well, become a better (husband, father, friend, and neighbor) person, deepen my spiritual growth, and healthy personal financial management. All these by exercising and strengthening values and virtues and behavior that carry out the Great Commandments (love God and Neighbor).

To find and practice the unifying themes between all of these areas of life, (Occam’s Razor, the elegant solutions) such that life becomes increasing and simultaneously simpler and more profound.

All this to continually immerse myself in an environment and life of flourishing.

Michael Kroth, Student of Life

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That’s what I wrote, and as I sit here on December 30 ^th 2024 these still are values and approaches that I want to continue to build into myself and my life through 2025 and beyond. I like what I wrote then – it fits where I am and where I want to go.

But, have I made much progress?

But, have I made much progress?

What have I learned about elegancing and myself this past year?

Looking back over the year I’ve done pretty well on some of these and on some have I have not.

One area in which I have not made much progress is in personal financial management. I've made little steps, but it does not come naturally for me. I just don't think about money much, and not nearly so much as I ought to. I'll have to do better in 2025 as retirement hurdles forward me.

Regarding the big four metapractices ² – spiritual learning, embodied learning, cognitive learning, and socio-emotional learning – elegancing underlies them all. That is, I’m working to go more deeply, more synergistically, and in a less scattered way with each of them, and all of them interacting with each other. Carrie Newcomer’s words, Take More Time, Cover Less Ground ³ , is what Duhigg calls a “keystone habit,” and applies to all of these. “Some habits,” Duhigg says, “matter more than others in remaking businesses and lives.” ⁴ Focusing more, and what is likely to make the most difference, seems like a good strategy.

It is probably self-evident, but my curiosity is a strength and a vulnerability. As one who is interested in learning about many things, it is easy to jump from one fascinating topic to another. To wit, over the last few weeks, I’ve started to learn how to use AI. And it is helping me to learn conversational Spanish. Those are two big topics themselves. Oh, and I’ve backslud a bit on practicing Tai Chi, but it remains on the top of my list.

And I want to know more about Spain.

Oh, and I’m going to sign up for the Osher Institute this next month.

Oh, and I can’t forget….

And yeah, I’m going to Judith’s 2025 retreat on January 11 ^th , Writing the Prologue to Your New Year . I haven’t come a long way, baby, but I’ve come a ways. And I’m thinking 2025 might be pretty wonderful, even with all its inevitable ups and downs. Focus on the present moment, MK, focus not just on be-coming, but at the same time be-ing. (And let's not forget do-ing...)

So, to answer my own question, I've made a little progress, enough to make me feel excited about continuing.

Even if my practice of elegance has a long way to go, I know a lot more about elegancing than I did a year ago. I’ve been keeping track of articles about elegance over the last year (I used a Google alert, and am beginning to go deeper with Google Scholar) to learn more about it. More than a fashion choice, elegance applies to advanced technology, design (of all sorts), sports, science, software, and beyond.

That’s knowledge, which is good. Practicing until one becomes, until one is be-ing elegant, that’s better.

These practices start with the smallest, often the most tenuous, of steps. I feel like 2024 has been a time of taking my first steps toward elegancifying the way I approach the world. Elegancifying . I like it. Maybe that will be my word for 2025.

How about you? What will your word be for 2025? Your song? Your desired experience?

This elegancing thing might take me a while. Like maybe the rest of my life.

Sources and Resources

¹ Covey, S. R. (1989). The seven habits of highly effective people: restoring the character ethic. Simon and Schuster.

² For a more in-depth look at the processes of lifelong formation, see Kroth, M., Carr‐Chellman, D. J., & Rogers‐Shaw, C. (2022). Formation as an organizing framework for the processes of lifelong learning. New Horizons in Adult Education and Human Resource Development , 34(1), 26-36.

³ Carrie Newcomer, Take More Time, Cover Less Ground. https://carrienewcomer.substack.com/p/take-more-time-cover-less-ground-10e

⁴ Duhigg, C. (2014). Power of habit: why we do what we do in life and business (Random House Trade Paperback Edition ed.), p. 100.

⁵ Carrie Newcomer, You Can Do this Hard Thing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRGnftH_g4I

Retreat Information

To sign up for Judith’s January 11 ^th retreat, check it out here: Writing the Prologue to Your New Year

"You Can Do This Hard Thing," is one of my favorite Carrie Newcomer tunes. ⁵

^{Maybe this will be my song and motto for 2025.}

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael - December 2024

Thu, 19 Dec 2024 22:15:27 GMT

December, 2024 Haiku Narratives

Curator's Note

It goes like this

Five Years and Counting

Our first meeting to share haikus in this way was in September, 2019 .

How about that!

It is a lot of fun!

This Month's Haiku Narrative Video Recording

Check It Out:

This is a recording (our forty-fourth) of our monthly haiku reading and narratives.

You can see them all here:

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael

December, 2024 Haikus

Davin's Haiku

Amy's Haiku

Michael's Haiku

Check These Opportunities Out Too!

Our Book!

About Us

On Gerald May and Being A Late Adopter

Wed, 04 Dec 2024 13:57:55 GMT

Illustration created by Michael Kroth, with the assistance of OpenAI's DALL-E Tool (my FIRST SECOND using AI!)

Reading A Book in the Midst of Electronic Devices

I admit it. I’m a late adopter. A Johnny-Come-Lately. I’m late to the party. Late should be my middle name. Michael “Always Late” Kroth. My friend Vinji, who I hike with once a week, knows that if I say I’ll pick him up at noon, it will inevitably be 12:06 or 12:09. He’s a patient fellow, thank goodness. I’m not usually late to meetings and I generally meet deadlines (I was a day late, once, in getting a book manuscript to a publisher), so that’s good, but I’ve thought all along that artificial intelligence would never be for me, that it would, like the internet (thank goodness someone finally decided that it didn’t need to be capitalized any more), erode the brain’s ability to think and concentrate. I’ve resisted reading anything by the author Gerald May, because (another) Gerald May was president of the University of New Mexico when I returned to school for my master’s degree. Deep reading and university president just didn’t compute at all I guess. Subconscious conflation, sadly. I waited for years to watch the TV series M.A.S.H. because it was so popular I knew it had to be chaff. I was one of the last to use waxing to remove unsightly chest hair (no, I’ve still never done that. Don’t plan to, either).

You get the idea.

The older I become, the less likely I am to adopt something, to watch something, to wear something, to read something, just because it’s popular. I’ve come to value substance over silly, and what deepens in value over time over the quick return on investment.

In short, I have become boring.

Or, more accurately, more boring. Boring-er.

And yes, I’m speaking in hyperbole here – I’m as superficial as the next person, it just takes me more time to jump into the shallow water than most, and I’m not above watching a wretchedly funny TV comedy. In fact, my little not-so-secret secret is that I enjoy those way too much and too often.

But I’m also too often late to the “this is important stuff” party. When I arrive at those partays, however, I can party pretty hard.

I eventually became an avid M.A.S.H. fan. I just became a subscriber to ChatGPT, and I’m determined to learn the ways AI can support various aspects of my life (this essay was not AI written or enhanced -except the illustration, which is my first AI created, publicly published image - but who knows, maybe one day they will). When I became interested at age 60 in profound learning and, eventually, spirituality the books on my bookshelves changed dramatically. I also finally started plucking my eyebrows (I didn’t), and I love to watch reality T.V. (never!!!).

I recently decided that it was time to delve into the author Gerald May. He wrote a number of books (and yes, they seem quite popular amongst a certain set of knowledge-seekers). Wikipedia (which many of us eschewed as unreliable and un-citable in its earlier years, but has now become so much a part of the ground of public knowledge-sourcing that it asks me for donations when I try to look something up there, suggesting that it’s not for sale – perhaps a subtle reference to the takeover of Twitter and other “news” sources?), tells us succinctly that May “… conducted workshops in contemplation and psychology, and wrote several books on how to combine spiritual direction with psychological treatment.” Dolores Lackey, in the National Catholic Reporter , wrote a personal note about May when he died, titled, A fellow pilgrim: Jerry May, 64 . There she recalled their work together at the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation saying, “A psychiatrist, he found the border of mind and soul fascinating country, and he never ceased to explore that terrain.”

But enough of that backstory. I’d seen Jerry (may I call you that, Gerald, in absentia) quoted time and again so I looked at his list of books and picked one I thought might resonate, The Awakened Heart: Opening yourself to the Love you need . I bought a used paperback and started reading.

“I cannot specifically,” he writes, “define love, but I am convinced it is the fundamental energy of the human spirit, the fuel on which we run, the wellspring of our vitality. And grace, which is the flowing, creative activity of love itself, is what makes all goodness possible” (pp. 3-4). Although he calls on numerous sources in his book, in the Preface he notes, “Three small, unpretentious works that have been especially helpful for me. The first is Brother Lawrence’s The Practice of the Presence of God …..The second is Thomas Kelly’s A Testament of Devotion …The third is Thich Nhat Hanh’s Present Moment Wonderful Moment ” (pp. ix-x).

It so happens that those three books were also essentially important influences on my own spiritual growth. I even tried at one point to memorize the 49 gathas in Present Moment Wonderful Moment . Didn't stick then, wouldn't even try now.

When I read, “If I could, I would take charge of my life and make it turn out just right. I can’t. I have tried and failed repeatedly,” I felt a kindred spirit speaking to me. I too have tried. I too have failed repeatedly. I wished I had started reading Dr. May the psychiatrist much earlier.

So…I am just in the first chapter of this book.. The point here is that being a latecomer is no excuse for being a no-comer. It’s true that we must curate what we give attention to, we can’t read or experience everything that might be useful or meaningful or joyful. We can’t follow every whim, even if we identify as whimsical. But it is foolish to reject something simply because it is fashionable or popular or trendy or easy. That’s a superficiality all its own and, like cliches, which often have become so overused because they represent deeper truths, trends are trends because they connect with something valuable to people.

So, in that spirit I’m now looking for streaming movies that feature talking teddy bears and magic microphones, and she/he/they/it-dumped-me-and-I-found-someone-better-no-wait-you-were-always-my-true-love-and-I’m-coming-back-to-you-and-dropping-this-shallow-fantasy flicks, and I'm certainly checking out those movies featuring beautiful people with superpowers who band together to save the world (for the nth time….) series - I must watch every...single...one...of...the...sequels in that spandex universe.

And, what is Tik Tok again?

What joy.

Sources and Resources

Hanh, T. N. (1990). Present Moment Wonderful Moment: Mindfulness Verses for Daily Living. Parallax Press.

Kelly, T. R. (1996). A testament of devotion . HarperSanFrancisco

Delores Lackey - https://natcath.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2005b/050605/050605s.php

Lawrence, B.(1974). The Practice of the Presence of God (D. Attwater, Trans.). Templegate. (Dorothy Day Introduction)

Gerald May - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_May

May, G. G. (1993). The awakened heart: opening yourself to the love you need (1st HarperCollins pbk. ed.). HarperSanFrancisco.

Giving Thanks on Thanksgiving Day

Thu, 28 Nov 2024 19:17:13 GMT

What I Wrote In My Gratitude Journal This Morning (and one thing I thought of later...)

"Image generated with the assistance of ChatGPT, an AI developed by OpenAI."

(Note:

I'm just learning how to use ChatGPT,

hence the misspellings and such.

Remember, I'm a digital immigrant!

Always tryin' new stuff!)

If I were to count my blessings it would take forever. For each moment is a blessing, each breath is a gift, each flower is an astonishment, each day a new adventure.

If I were to count my blessings, they would include my cherished family – my dear wife Lana, Shane, Piper, our grandkids, my siblings, and all their kids, and all our relatives – each one of them. Tinkerbell, and all our dogs through the years, would be on that list, beloved. And so would friends near and far and past and present.

If I were to count my blessings, they would include my senses – these I take for granted too often. The ability to smell, see, touch, hear, and to taste. My body, my heart, my mind, my soul. They are all aging, getting long in the tooth, but blessings still.

If I were to count my blessings, they would include mountains, and hiking trails, the smell of sage after a rainy day, the sunrise slowly lighting up the path extending before me. They would include rainy nights and cozy, snowy days.

These blessings would include countless experiences, from sharing a cup of coffee with a friend to eating paella with my son in a Spanish village along a pilgrim trail.

If I were to count my blessings, they would include the sense of transcendence found listening to beautiful music or singing in our contemplative service at church each Tuesday evening, and they would include the vast, deep, presence of the Divine, of oneness, of awe and wonder, and of losing myself in something bigger than myself which might come at any time.

It would include ever deepening spiritual learning, following the way of Jesus as best I can, trying to do it a little better each day, and experiencing the unearned gift of grace.

Counting my blessings would take forever, for blessings are all around me. Some I’ve contributed to, but many of the most important ones are unearned, like the wind that blows to cool me on a hot day or a gorgeous sunset that just amazes me with its beauty. Even difficulties and sorrow, though never requested and often testing, can add to my blessings if I will put them into the perspective of a grateful life. I wish I did that better, but...incrementally...

At the same time, counting my blessings could take no time at all, for my life is a blessing. Why not just say thanks for the whole kit and caboodle?

I am glad to be alive today, love having lived, and will be sad when it is time to go no matter how many days, months, or years from now that may be. I expect to be joyful and at peace for having been given this life for as long as it lasts.

And oh yes, the blessing of laughter. It makes life better in every way.

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael - September 2024

Fri, 27 Sep 2024 23:00:41 GMT

September, 2024 Haiku Narratives

Curator's Note

We started five years ago, and since then Davin Carr-Chellman, Amy Hoppock, and I have been writing and sharing haiku's monthly with each other. It has been an enriching and enjoyable way to develop our individual haiku writing practices.

It goes like this

Five Years and Counting

Our first meeting to share haikus in this way was in September, 2019 .

How about that!

It is a lot of fun!

We enjoy doing this so much we thought you might enjoy being a part of the conversation as well, so we started recording them in May, 2020, and had been exchanging and discussing our haikus each month for nearly a year before that. If you watch the clip here, you will see our discussions are very informal and that we laugh a lot.

This is our Forty-third recording (You can watch them all here . I'll stop counting once we hit 50 or something like that) , and we hope to continue. Please let us know what you think, and share this with anyone you think might benefit.

This Month's Haiku Narrative Video Recording

Check It Out:

This is a recording (our forty-third) of our monthly haiku reading and narratives.

You can see them all here:

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael

September, 2024 Haikus

Davin's Haiku

Amy's Haiku

Michael's Haiku

Check These Opportunities Out Too!

Our Book!

We are very excited about our book, Framing the Moment: Haiku Conversations . Here is a short description and video describing how and why we created the book, and how to order one or more.

About Us

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael - August 2024

Thu, 01 Aug 2024 20:09:42 GMT

August, 2024 Haiku Narratives

Curator's Note

We started around four five years ago, and since then Davin Carr-Chellman, Amy Hoppock, and I have been writing and sharing haiku's monthly with each other. It has been an enriching and enjoyable way to develop our individual haiku writing practices.

It goes like this

Our first meeting to share haikus in this way was in September, 2019.

How about that!

It is a lot of fun!

We enjoy doing this so much we thought you might enjoy being a part of the conversation as well, so we started recording them in May, 2020, and had been exchanging and discussing our haikus each month for nearly a year before that. If you watch the clip here, you will see our discussions are very informal and that we laugh a lot.

This is our Forty-Second recording (You can watch them all here . I'll stop counting once we hit 50 or something like that) , and we hope to continu e. Please let us know what you think, and share this with anyone you think might benefit.

This Month's Haiku Narrative Video Recording

Check It Out:

This is a recording (our forty-second) of our monthly haiku reading and narratives.

You can see them all here:

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael

August, 2024 Haikus

Amy's Haiku

Davin's Haiku

Michael's Haiku

Check These Opportunities Out Too!

Our Book!

We are very excited about our book, Framing the Moment: Haiku Conversations . Here is a short description and video describing how and why we created the book, and how to order one or more.

About Us

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael - May 2024

Thu, 23 May 2024 21:03:09 GMT

May, 2024 Haiku Narratives

Curator's Note

We started around four years ago, and since then Davin Carr-Chellman, Amy Hoppock, and I have been writing and sharing haiku's monthly with each other. It has been an enriching and enjoyable way to develop our individual haiku writing practices.

It goes like this

Our first meeting to share haikus in this way was in September, 2019.

How about that!

It is a lot of fun!

We enjoy doing this so much we thought you might enjoy being a part of the conversation as well, so we started recording them in May, 2020, and had been exchanging and discussing our haikus each month for nearly a year before that. If you watch the clip here, you will see our discussions are very informal and that we laugh a lot.

This is our Forty-first recording (You can watch them all here . I'll stop counting once we hit 50 or something like that) , and we hope to continu e. Please let us know what you think, and share this with anyone you think might benefit.

This Month's Haiku Narrative Video Recording

Check It Out:

This is a recording (our forty-first) of our monthly haiku reading and narratives.

You can see them all here:

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael

May, 2024 Haikus

Amy's Haiku

Davin's Haiku

Michael's Haiku

Check These Opportunities Out Too!

Our Book!

We are very excited about our book, Framing the Moment: Haiku Conversations . Here is a short description and video describing how and why we created the book, and how to order one or more.

About Us

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael - April 2024

Fri, 26 Apr 2024 20:45:51 GMT

April, 2024 Haiku Narratives

Curator's Note

It goes like this

Our first meeting to share haikus in this way was in September, 2019.

How about that!

It is a lot of fun!

We enjoy doing this so much we thought you might enjoy being a part of the conversation as well, so we started recording them in May, 2020, and had been exchanging and discussing our haikus each month for nearly a year before that. If you watch the clip here, you will see our discussions are very informal and that we laugh a lot.

This is our Fortieth (four-zero, 40) recording (You can watch them all here . I'll stop counting once we hit 50 or something like that) , and we hope to continu e. Please let us know what you think, and share this with anyone you think might benefit.

This Month's Haiku Narrative Video Recording

Check It Out:

This is a recording (our fortieth - four-zero - 40!) of our monthly haiku reading and narratives.

You can see them all here:

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael

April, 2024 Haikus

Amy's Haiku

Davin's Haiku

Michael's Haiku

Check These Opportunities Out Too!

Our Book!

We are very excited about our book, Framing the Moment: Haiku Conversations . Here is a short description and video describing how and why we created the book, and how to order one or more.

About Us

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael - February-March 2024

Fri, 08 Mar 2024 04:11:23 GMT

February/March, 2024 Haiku Narratives

Curator's Note

It goes like this

Our first meeting to share haikus in this way was in September, 2019.

How about that!

It is a lot of fun!

We enjoy doing this so much we thought you might enjoy being a part of the conversation as well, so we started recording them in May, 2020, and had been exchanging and discussing our haikus each month for nearly a year before that. If you watch the clip here, you will see our discussions are very informal and that we laugh a lot.

This is our thirty-ninth recording (You can watch them all here . I'll stop counting once we hit 50 or something like that) , and we hope to continu e. Please let us know what you think, and share this with anyone you think might benefit.

This Month's Haiku Narrative Video Recording

Check It Out:

This is a recording (our thirty-ninth) of our monthly haiku reading and narratives.

You can see them all here:

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, an d Michael

February-March, 2024 Haikus

Amy's Haiku

Davin's Haiku

Michael's Haiku

Check These Opportunities Out Too!

Our Book!

We are very excited about our book, Framing the Moment: Haiku Conversations . Here is a short description and video describing how and why we created the book, and how to order one or more.

About Us

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael - January 2024

Thu, 01 Feb 2024 15:45:08 GMT

January, 2024 Haiku Narratives

Curator's Note

It goes like this

Our first meeting to share haikus in this way was in September, 2019.

How about that!

It is a lot of fun!

We enjoy doing this so much we thought you might enjoy being a part of the conversation as well, so we started recording them in May, 2020, and had been exchanging and discussing our haikus each month for nearly a year before that. If you watch the clip here, you will see our discussions are very informal and that we laugh a lot.

This is our thirty-eighth recording (You can watch them all here . I'll stop counting once we hit 40 or something like that) , and we hope to continu e. Please let us know what you think, and share this with anyone you think might benefit.

This Month's Haiku Narrative Video Recording

Check It Out:

This is a recording (our thirty-eighth) of our monthly haiku reading and narratives.

You can see them all here:

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, an d Michael

January, 2024 Haikus

Amy's Haiku

Davin's Haiku

Michael's Haiku

Check These Opportunities Out Too!

Our Book!

We are very excited about our book, Framing the Moment: Haiku Conversations . Here is a short description and video describing how and why we created the book, and how to order one or more.

About Us

My Word for 2024 - Elegancing

Sun, 28 Jan 2024 17:12:14 GMT

My Word for 2024

Elegancing

My 2024 Motto and Song

“Take more time and cover less ground.”

~song by Carrie Newcomer

2024 Haiku

Camino backpack

Walking. Elegancing. One.

Taking what matters

~Michael Kroth

“Elegance.”

It just popped into my mind, like it had been fermenting, rolling around in the back of my mind.

I was at one of Judith Valente’s wonderful retreats, Writing The Prologue To Your New Year , ^{1 *} and she had asked us to review 2023, to identify events which had been significant for us, and to look for patterns or places where we felt God touching our lives. She let us know that on the day of the retreat we would share “share a word that we would like to keep close to our heart as a kind of guiding light for us in the coming year.” ²

See Judy’s essay about the retreat, Words to Live By in 2024 ³

And there it was for me. Elegance.

Since then, I’ve been playing with the word. Elegance. Elegant. Elegancer, Eleganting. To Elegant. Eleganted. Elegantly. One who elegances, making this or that eleganter. The elegant (as in, a type of person or group of people). To elegance. Elegancive.

Adjective. Adverb. Noun. Verb. var .

I imagine there will be more.

I had written a couple of essays about elegance in 2018, Elegance and Naturally Elegant ⁴ , and had always intended to come back to explore this idea but had never. Now, it seems, I must.

Here I will just tee up some thoughts about elegance which I plan to elaborate in later writing.

Minimalism, Simplicity, Elegance

What are the differences and similarities between the terms minimalism, simplicity, and elegance? They aren’t exactly the same, I don’t think, but they are related. We’ll start with Joshua Becker, who I have followed over the years and learned much from. He defines minimalism as “At its core, being a minimalist means intentionally promoting the things we most value and removing everything that distracts us from it.” He says simplicity is, “. . . about creating space in your life for what matters most. It’s about clearing the clutter from our homes and hearts so we can live with intention and purpose.” As a starting point for elegance, I like Patrick House’s definition, “simplicity plus capaciousness.” ⁵

It will be fun to play with these and related ideas.

The Qualities of Elegance

For now, I’ll just list some of the qualities of elegance (or perhaps these are just characteristics I aspire to…) I’m thinking about. They are ideas which resonate with me.

Elegance to me today means:

Simplicity Plus (the capaciousness part). Just the right amount, not too much and not too little – Goldilocks, lagom 6 , the Golden Mean (Aristotle)

Harmony out of messiness – everyone fits together, is aligned, unified, leverages the other parts, together they become something more than each element, hence there is synergy involved, appears effortless

Four “C’s”: Calling (as in what am I called to do or be?), Culling, Curating, Contributing

Style – has taste, has voice, embodies one’s identity

Adaptive – rests on principles of simplicity, adapts to change in self or situation

Paradox: Serious Fun, Dignity and irreverence, sophistication and “meat dresses” (well...I'm not absolutely sure about this one, but will leave it in for musing upon)

Intentionality. Purposeful action.

The Beauty of Depth, the Depth of Beauty

The manifestation of suffering and love

Some Arenas to Explore Elegance

Elegant Day-to-Day Living

Relational Elegance – Elegant Relationships

Design Elegance – elegant design for healthy, spiritual, loving, and wise living over the life course.

Elegant Theory, Thought, Theology

My Motto for 2024 – “Take More Time Cover Less Ground” by Carrie Newcomer ⁶

During the retreat, Judy played Carrie Newcomer’s song “Take More Time Cover Less Ground,” and immediately I knew it was what I needed to keep front and center for 2024. At the risk of being too autobiographical (heck, that’s never stopped me before), my whole life has been a struggle between being messy and organized, between having razor-like focus and undisciplined wandering, between scattered exploration and pulling disparate ideas and concepts and what I’ve learned together into an organized, more simple way. I am eager to learn and therefore am susceptible to the distraction of a new idea or article or author or this….or that…or...

That typically means I cover a lot of ground more superficially than I want, without doing the depth of work (see Cal Newport Deep Work ) I must try to take all that and create something that can make a positive difference.

I'm not sophisticated and I don't aspire to be in any fancy way, so that's a problem I'll have to think about. Simple, humble, elegance is what I'm interested in knowing more about and, through that, knowing more about myself.

You should listen to Carrie’s song ; I love the music and the lyrics.

We live in a world careening toward superficiality and momentous change with little collective pondering and considerable reaction to the headline of the moment. These are momentous moments and terrifying times. We have complex problems the solutions of which are too often highjacked by political expediency, powerful people, and a culture that more and more seems to value immediate gratification and to forget about long term value and viability.

We need elegant solutions to the challenges we face both personally and as a society, and we need the discipline to carry them out. That means taking the time it takes. Working toward developing an elegant mindset, values, and principles for living seems at least one possible approach.

* Judith Valente, https://www.profoundliving.live/contemplative-living , The Art of Pausing, https://www.profoundliving.live/the-art-of-pausing-my-experience I have been following Judy, read her books and essays, learned from her (she was instrumental in inspiring me to develop a daily haiku-writing practice), and attended a number of her retreats over the last years and knew it would be a deeply reflective, rich experience. 3 I knew there would be music, poetry, reflection, and discussion, all undergirded by what I think of as “the story of the retreat,” a beautiful presentation she’s puts together, written with care, personal examples, and imbued with the love she obviously has for her topic. Judy, a writer by profession, weaves the themes and history and stories together into something special. She is a gracious, generous, and wise person.

Footnotes

1 Writing the Prologue to Your New Year, https://www.cenaclesisters.org/event/new-revised-writing-the-prologue-to-your-new-year/

2 Communication to workshop participants prior to the retreat, 1-9-24

3 Valente, J (1-14-24), Words to Live By in 2024, https://judithvalente.medium.com/words-to-live-by-in-2024-b78ce2b88332

4 Kroth, M. (both of these were published in 2018). Elegance, https://www.profoundliving.live/elegance , and Naturally Elegant, https://www.profoundliving.live/naturally-elegant

5 Becker, J. (2019). What is minimalism? https://www.becomingminimalist.com/what-is-minimalism/ ; Becker, J. (n/d). Inspiring Simplicity. Weekend Reads.https://www.becomingminimalist.com/inspiring-simplicity-0124b/; House, P. (2015). What is elegance in science?. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/what-is-elegance-in-science.

6 Wikipedia, Lagom, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagom

7 Newcomer, C., Take More Time Cover Less Ground , https://carrienewcomer.substack.com/p/take-more-time-cover-less-ground New Paragraph

“Take More Time Cover Less Ground”

by Carrie Newcomer

Six Years of Profound Living Essays, Images, and Poetry

Fri, 29 Dec 2023 15:46:32 GMT

Just like my life and yours, Profound Living is a work-in-progress.

From the Back Cover of the Essays of E. B. White , by Guess Who?

My first essay, Welcome to Profound Living with Michael Kroth appeared on January 1, 2018. Since the n, Profound Living has published 430 posts, which include essays, images, and poetry. We have had delightful, moving, beautiful contributions from artists of the word, like Carol Rogers-Shaw; of the visual, like Marc Christensen, Vincent Fortunato, and Antonia “TJ” Cardella; and of both word and visual, like Kelly Anderson, as well as a number of other wonderful contributors.

In these last years, we have featured Haiku Narratives with Amy (Hoppock), Davin (Carr-Chellman), and Michael (me). These are monthly video discussions about haikus we have written and shared with each other, which involve poetry (the haiku), art (what is called a “haiga”, that is, the haiku presented within a visual image, such as a painting or photo), and narrative (a “haibun”, that is, a narrative description or reflection about or along side the haiku). We have been sharing these haikus, writing about them, recording our discussions, and posting them as a part of Profound Living since, May, 2020. That's 37 of them, I believe, You can catch them all, here .

Two books of essays and images from Profound Living and one book of our Haiku discussions have been published , and a third book of essays and images will be out in early January, 2024.

From the start, the main purpose of Profound Living has been to help each of us to go deeper in our lives, our work, our relationships, and spiritually, in ways that make our lives increasingly meaningful. We live in times which pull us toward the superficial, the quick fix, and the “top ten ways you can…do, well, anything.” I want to support all those individuals, writers, researchers, coaches, mentors, and leaders who are working toward depth in their own lives, the lives of others, and society.

From the start, the purpose of Profound Living was NOT marketing, NOT trying to monetize anything, NOT pandering to a particular audience or ideology. I’m not against having more readers, I’d like more. I just started posting Profound Living pieces on Medium , so more people can access this work and discuss it if they wish (my Medium account is here . ) . I’m not against making money, I just don’t write these in order to sell something, I’ll write to write what I want to write about. We'll publish pieces that delight, move, and engage people towards depth. Not in order to get clicks or "likes."

I’m not against taking a stance, far from it, and the position I take may not neatly fit into any ideology and it may not appeal to anybody. I hope to be more generative in my thinking and more principled. More conservative and more progressive. More individual and more global.

I'm not kidding myself. That's all aspirational. It's what I'm trying to do. Sometimes I do a good job, sometimes - probably more often - I err more on the side of bloviating. But I'm trying, and trying to do better, step by step.

Here's the other main purpose (can there be two main purposes?) of Profound Living: I write for myself. I write to learn about myself. I write to grapple with what I am thinking and what I am thinking I’m thinking, with what I think I know, with what I know….I think. Sometimes, I write to remember. Often, I remember when I write. I remember what I haven't thought about for years.

Once I plop my butt in the chair, I love to write. Love it. It's flow, baby. Flowin' down the rive-uh. Getting that butt to plop, or more accurately, thump, into that writing-chair is always the challenge.

“There are as many kinds of essays,” E.B. White, one of the great essayists, wrote, “as there are human attitudes or poses, as many essay flavors as there are Howard Johnson ice creams.” ¹ As pretty much a self-educated essayist, I take joy in experimenting with a variety of styles, some of which “work,” some which don’t, and some of which are simply flights of fancy, and fun to write. My topics - the topics of Profound Living - vary widely, depending on the contributor's interests. Going deeper, exploring depth is always the main criteria, and though some of the images posted here have been published in other places, all essays must be original work, first published here. I may repost something, like Judith Valente's very cool take on an earlier blog of mine , but otherwise, the work you'll read here will be original.

I’ll end here with Montaigne. This has been in our “About” section from the start and remains there today ² :

I prefer to call Profound Living pieces “essays” rather than blog posts - though it’s probably just an affectation. They are written in the spirit of essayists like E.B. White and, of course, the person responsible for the term “essay”, Michel de Montaigne.

Montaigne famously used the French term essai, which means “trial” to describe his writings. The term “essay” comes from this.

There is one other legacy that Montaigne left behind that resonates with me. In 1576, he had a medal made which said Que scais-je ?, which means, “What do I know?”. As translator J. D. Cohen writes in his introduction, “He had come to recognize by experience and reading that the intellect was powerless to discover those truths about which he was most curious…what passed as truth was often a matter of climate and upbringing, of passion and prejudice, depending entirely on the inquirer’s viewpoint” (p. 10).

Just like my life and yours, Profound Living is a work-in-progress. It has been a rewarding six years and we hope to be going strong over the next six, learning how to live and to write about life lived more deeply day-by-day.

Finally, I can never thank enough both David Clemons, who gave me the idea for Profound Living and whose company, Push 360 i s the platform for this beautiful site; and Heather Barrett, who has supported Profound Living artistically and technically through David's company, Push 360 , from the start. Heather also designed the covers of our two Profound Living books. Thank you David - "You da man!", and Heather, so very, very much.

Footnotes

¹ White, E. B. (1977). Essays of E.B. White (1st ed.). Harper & Row. New Paragraph.

² Cohen, J. M. (1959). Introduction. Montaigne Essays (pp. 9-21). Harmondsworth, Middlesex; Baltimore: Penguin Books.

"What Do I Know?"

Check out "On Removing Our ‘Stones of Madness,’" by Judith Valente

Fri, 22 Dec 2023 06:31:50 GMT

"How can we use this sacred season to identify and address the 'disorders' in our own soul?" ~Judith Valente

Judith Valente, one of my favorite writers and retreat leaders (I wrote about her wonderfulness in 2020 - you can see it here ), recently wrote a piece riffing on my earlier Extracting the Stones of Madness essay with her own, Removing The Stones of Madness . As always, Judith goes deeper than everyone, and relates this metaphor directly to our lives and to this season.

Once I read her essay, I knew I wanted to post it here. Please take a moment to read it.

Also, I HIGHLY recommend that you check out her essays on Medium , which are published every Sunday.

Check out Judith's Essay Here

Writing About Our Dog

Thu, 21 Dec 2023 16:11:35 GMT

“Advice to young writers who want to get ahead without any annoying delays: don’t write about Man, write about a man.”

~E.B. White

Tink: "Let's go!"

“Advice to young writers who want to get ahead without any annoying delays: don’t write about Man, write about a man.”

~E.B. White ¹

I spent a good hour this morning walking with our dog. (I won’t write ‘walking our dog’ here, because she is walking me as much as I, her. I feel fortunate just to chauffeur her to and from the park most days and to carry a supply of bags such that I might clean up after her along our path.) Most days we take a walk in the near-by, no-leash-required-during-certain-hours park.

Depending on the season and the weather, the time of day for our stroll might be morning before ten or late afternoon, or both. My wife, who knows these matters, declares this mid-sized mutt, our pup that is, is a Jack Russell/white-haired Terrier mix. Our late, beloved pup, Shelby, was a Schnauzer-Maltese, says she, that is, my esposa .

Were you to be at the park for the first time, it might surprise you to hear so many people asking about and offering to others the kind of dogs they have. It’s like I would imagine a United Nations daycare center might sound. (“Well, the parents said she was Greek, but we think she’s really a Tibetan-French mix….” “Oh, I know the feeling! They claimed this little one is pure Swiss, but I swear she has a bit of the Irish and maybe even some rural Kansan in her.”) Most people, it seems, know the kind of breed their dogs are down to their DNA.

I respect how others relate to their dogs - they are, after all important members of their families, but I personally don’t care much at all what breeds our dogs are. They could be Sheepherd-Yorkle-MultiModal-Datshun-Poodledoor-Kelpies; comprised of mystery contents, like a hot dog; be an I-know-your-lineage-further-back-than-any-Buddhist-sect, Ancestry-dog-DNA-tested and revealed pup; or a sweet puppy found walking along a street, like our beloved Shelby was, and I’m just fine.

I do not care from whence they came or what royal-or-vagabond genes they carry. I do not care about that unless there is some medical issue involved. We have had a fair number of dogs of various types and backstories over my lifetime and loved them all. Cried when they were hurt. Keened when they died. Cackled when they did something silly. Commiserated when they had to take a bath.

I just want to walk with our dog most days, sit together on the couch every day, nibble on a snack, share some treats, watch a little TV or read together, and scratch each other’s ears all the time.

I do care mightily about “dogs” in general, their treatment and prospects and so forth, and not just “a” dog, like our own pup, that is, “our” dog, who happens to be named Tinkerbell, Tink for short (just as I am Michael, Mike for short, and Mikey for just once if a person wants to talk to me again in this lifetime). Dogs, as John Reese-Smith-Witherspoon-Garner-Smith-Jones III used to say, and I quote . . .

. . .nope, I’ll not quote another here. This whole subject of our dog is too personal to insert an expert quotation from a scholarly journal, a People magazine article, or a Dogs-R-Us catalogue. I’ll say it myself, and I’ll say it plain. “I deeply love this dog, this pup, this waggy-tail, this Tink. Dogs and we-people-un’s are co-interdependent, cohabitants, co-workers (she’s lying on the bed encouraging me to write, even now), and co-conspirators, as we strategically find times throughout the day to break from whatever we are doing to jump on the couch and give each other hugs.

Tink is “a” dog, she is “the” dog, she is "our" dog and we are "her" family. I don’t know what pronouns she would prefer, she hasn’t indicated yet, so for now it’s “she” and “her.” No need for thee’s and thou’s and they's until she makes her wishes explicit. When and if she does, of course I will honor that request.

In the meantime, she is lying on the bed, now looking at me with reproachful eyes. I know she’s thinking, “Get off that computer and let’s head for the park!”

So, I gotta go.

Footnotes

1 White, E. B. (1954). Some Remarks On Humor. In The second tree from the corner (1st ed., pp. 173-181). Harper.p. 198

Why I Write (About Aging)

Sun, 10 Dec 2023 20:45:10 GMT

I write, and read, to connect with so many people living and dead, so many ideas, so much.

The Philosopher with an Open Book

or The Philosopher in Meditation

1640-1650

by Salomon Koninck

Louvre Museum, Paris, France

Photo taken by Michael Kroth, September 8, 2020

Louvre Museum, Paris, France

Photo taken by Michael Kroth, September 8, 2020

Well known, prolific writers (and as well those not known or prolific, I must assume – to wit, note the following essay), feel compelled to share with us why they write and how they write. People like me, aspirationally-fecund, vicariously-hopeful writers, long for these anecdotal “why’s” and “how-to’s.” We want to know why someone like Mary Oliver or George Orwell wrote. I’m guessing a few of these eminent writers, writing about their writing, gloss over the deepest reasons psychological, experiential, or sociocultural. They might be saving some of that for memoirs. But at least some of the best writers don’t skip that key part.

For example, Parker Palmer. I totally connect when he shares thoughts like,

“For many years, writing has been one of my ways of collaborating with life. For me, writing is not about filling my head with ideas, then downloading them to the page. That’s not writing; it’s typing. Writing is an unfolding of what’s going on inside me as I talk to myself on a pad of paper or a computer, a version of talk therapy that requires neither an appointment nor a fee.” ¹

He essentially describes his inner/outer process.

Or Annie Lamott. My soul vibrates reading, “Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They deepen and widen and expand our sense of life, they feed the soul.” ²

Isolation and loneliness are their own pandemic these days. I don’t want to experience them if I can help it. I write, and read in part so I don't have to, to connect with so many people living and dead, so many ideas, so many feelings, so much.

The notion of writing as “unfolding” within myself makes a lot of sense. I am learning about myself and the world as I write this essay, rewrite it, edit it, insert, spiff up, think of something new, add something I’ve seen or discovered over the last few days. When I finally hit “send,” the essay should have coalesced as will have my thinking about it.

The evolution of my own understanding - what I believe to be true - will not, however, be writ on stone. Even if my opinions and sense of the world and my place in it were etched into a block of ice when I published a piece of work, sooner or later my frozen-at-that-time views will – if I’ll let them – melt once more into an ice flow and then a river with many tributaries. As that movement continues, I’ll learn more about the world, write more, and then learn more from doing that.

I write to understand myself and to sort out what I think, what I hope for, what I believe, don't believe, want to believe, and where I fit into the universe. Parker Palmer says writing poetry and reading it is, “...one of the best forms of self-therapy I know.” ¹

Do I agree with that!

That has ever been true for me, though for many years I didn’t realize this self-learning-through-writing was what was happening. I thought I was writing to share my wisdom, experience, and knowledge with others, so they might learn from me. I hoped my writing might become popular, or lead to other opportunities for speaking, or doing other ‘guru-things.”

Beyond the humbling fact that the older I become, the more I realize how little I really know, those are superficial reasons to write. The outcomes may have value, but the deeper reason I write these days is to learn by exploring, testing, growing and developing, and expressing myself. To know myself and all that's around me more profoundly. When that occurs, I am more likely to share something that might be a contribution with others instead of simply cranking out material (“Content is king! Monetize your site! Eat at Joe’s! Best hamburger in the state!) perhaps in those times I’m more able to share a scintilla of my soul with others.

So much about writing is writing to understand. My favorite ‘how-to-write’ type author, William Zinsser, wrote in his book Writing to Learn ,

“…we write to find out what we know and what we want to say. I thought of how often as a writer I had made clear to myself some subject I had previously known nothing about by just putting one sentence after another—by reasoning my way in sequential steps to meaning. I thought of how often the act of writing even the simplest document—a letter, for instance—had clarified my half-formed ideas. Writing and thinking and learning were the same process.” ³

These days, I write to learn about something I don’t know much about... yet. Which is why I’m beginning to write about becoming older. As in, later-life-older.

Overwhelmingly, as the inevitability of death pokes itself into my ribs to remind me it is not far away, as the lapses of memory and inability to concentrate as I used to snuggle closer, as retirement from paid work becomes more not something to plan for but something soon-to-be-experienced, I am both sure and unsure of myself.

I’ve read about this transition, quite a lot actually, and I’m now ready psychologically to write about what lies ahead and within. Joan Didion, sharing how writing gave her entrée to her unplumbed self, said, “Had I been blessed with even limited access to my own mind there would have been no reason to write. I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.” ⁴

What do I want in older age? I have an idea. What do I fear in older age? I have an idea.

What do I think about getting older? As importantly, when I learn about healthy aging, what am I willing to commit to doing to age wisely? Knowledge is one piece of the internal puzzle, but comprehending more about myself, given that information without self-artifice – my trepidations, my gifts, my weaknesses, and my hopes – is a blessing that writing helps me to "get." To interpret my relationship to aging and how I am able and willing to approach it.

I’ve read a lot about aging and I’ve thought a lot about aging and I've observed others aging I've experienced aging, but I don’t fully understand myself yet and my relationship with aging – so I’ll be writing more about it.

Count on it.

Notes

¹ Parker Palmer, Palmer, P. J. (2018). On the brink of everything: grace, gravity, and getting old (First edition. ed.). Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

² Lamott, A. (1995). Bird by bird: some instructions on writing and life (1st Anchor Books ed.). Anchor Books, p. 237.

³ Zinsser, W. K. (1988). Writing to learn (1st ed.). Harper & Row, p. viii-ix.

⁴ Didion, J. (1976). Why I write . New York Times Book Review , 5, 98-99.

⁵ Peter Bevelin on Seeking Wisdom, Mental Models, Learning, and a Lot More. Farnam Street bl og. https://fs.blog/peter-bevelin-seeking-wisdom/

The Philosopher in Contemplation

or The Philosopher in Meditation

1632

By Rembrandt

Louvre Museum, Paris, France

Photo taken by Michael Kroth, September 8, 2020

Louvre Museum, Paris, France

Photo taken by Michael Kroth, September 8, 2020

Why do I write? Because it helps me understand and learn better. And if I can’t write something down clearly, then I have not really understood it. ⁵

~Peter Bevelin

First Snow

Sun, 03 Dec 2023 15:29:22 GMT

There is something magical in snow

December 1, 2023. The early morning view from our library. The first snow of the season.

Rumpled heated throws

Thrown across a lazy couch

Our pup lies sleeping

There is something magical in snow, and the first snow of the season is wondrous. It is enchanting. The quotation on my breathing (aka meditation) app yesterday was "Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present," by Albert Camus. There is nothing like waking up to a white-highlighted, Christmas-wreathed, front-yard-still-lighted-because-the-sunlight-hasn't-actually-made-it-through-the-clouds-to-turn-the-yard-light-off, early morning panoramita (our front window) to settle one's soul. It calls out to give all, all our heart and soul, to that present moment.

Add a puppy curled up on the couch and a blinking candle to the scene and Merlin might have conjured it up.

The present moment.

It's the only time we have, and is too often missed, glossed over, taken for granted, and overlooked.

John O'Donohue, in Walking in Wonder , said, "One of the greatest sins is the unlived life, not to allow yourself to become chief executive of the product you call your life, to have a reverence always for the immensity that is inside you." Going even further, the deeply intellectual-experiential author Rebecca Solnit wrote, "To consider earth holy is to connect the lowest and most material to the most high and ethereal, to close the breach between matter and and spirit. It subversively suggests that the whole world might potentially be holy and that the sacred can be underfoot rather than above." She was writing about holy wells in her book about walking.

The material-holy resides concurrently, immediately.

On the first snow day of the year, it seemed simple to connect the immensity inside us to the immensity of the world around us. The next day, with snow melting and intermittent rain, I took my daily walk around the neighborhood. A couple of blocks away, two youngsters were selling baked goods, their mother was the treasurer and their grandmother, I believe she was, was the cheerleader. Three aunts were buying as well, and I promptly asked if they were aunt-eaters, at which they laughed politely. ("Oh, you're one of those....", one remarked.) The kids, who were the bakers in addition to being the sales force, were raising money to give food to families in need. Last year, they made enough to help three families. This year, who knows?

Well... homemade cookies, made by children, to help feed people during this holy season....what are you going to do?

I bought two cookies.

I went on my way, ate the cookies, and on the way back from my walk bought four more. Only two of those made it back for Lana to eat.

There is a bit of magic in this, would you agree? Or, to put it in a different context, some kind of holy spirit. Kids, families, puppies, snow, neighborhood, rain, and to complete the Thomas Kinkade-ish moving scene, generosity personified and, for me, deep gratitude.

The confluence of the material and the spiritual, our interiority and the world around us, resides in the vastness and intimacy of the present moment. Every one of them. We miss too many of them.

I wonder if the kids will be out selling cookies again today.

Sources/Resources

O'Donohue, J., & Quinn, J. (2018). Walking in wonder: eternal wisdom for a modern world. Penguin Random House.

Solnit, R. (2000). Wanderlust: a history of walking. Viking.

December 2, 2023. Taking a walk around the neighborhood on a snowy-rainy day.

Herman Hesse and the (Later) Seasons of the Soul

Sun, 26 Nov 2023 22:44:28 GMT

“I got interested in aging, as I like to say, when aging got interested in me.”

~ Terry Sanford, in the Foreword to Reflections on Aging and Spiritual Growth , p. 15

Alone

You can travel many roads

And so many trails all over the world,

But remember all paths

Lead to the same finish.

You can ride, you can drive

In twos or threes,

But you must take

the last step alone.

No schooling, no skill

Will suffice or save you

From having to face

Each grave challenge alone.

Herman Hesse, Alone

Hesse and Fischer, The Seasons of Soul , 2011, p. 110

Herman Hesse, who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1946, is well known and lauded for his novels, such as Siddhartha and The Glass Bead Game. He also, come to find out, wrote poetry. Andrew Harvey, in the introduction to Hesse’s collection of 68 poems, T he Seasons of The Soul , maintains that it is in his poetry where:

“. . . you meet most intimately Hesse the man in all his emotional intensity, sometimes scalding self-knowledge, and fierce spiritual struggle, and so experience most completely the inner turmoil and revelations that led to his becoming one of the philosopher-sages of our tumultuous transition” (p. ix).

It might be tempting to write off Hesse’s work as that of an earlier era, he died in 1962, but that would be a mistake. Ludwig Max Fischer, translator, curator, and commentator for The Seasons of the Soul , writes that Hesse, who became popular in the United States during the turmoil of the 1960’s and 1970’s:

“ . . . was food for the heart, balm for the soul, and light for the spirit. A young generation was rebelling against authoritarian structures and the destruction of ideals by unlimited greed, political power plays, and bourgeois complacency. Hesse served as a beacon of authenticity, a trustworthy guide, and a fearless explorer on the perennial paths taken by pilgrims of the inner journey” (p. xiii).

We have a different ‘young generation” these days. They and we (the formerly young generation, now the generation of elders), could use – in fact, I think we desperately need - more such beacons of authenticity just now; more light showing a path through darkness rife with intentional inauthenticity, Machiavellian plotting, unremorseful prevarication, and deliberate dismantle-ification of democratic values of integrity and honesty.

Truth, justice, the American Way (yeah, I grew up on Superman), and good ‘ole plain local, neighborly goodness still permeate the U.S.A., but we’d be fools not to recognize the current threat to freedom, democracy, and the way of life that has been the envy of the world.

Poetry - whether it be Dante’s epic three-canticle, 100-canto journey to hell and back or simply one of Boshō’s keen, spare haikus, precious as a Ruby Roman grape - uses the essential to represent the existential. It requires just the right words, carefully selected and artistically assembled. And a reader open, sensitive, and resonant.

Poetry is an agile way to plunge into the depths of wisdom, and The Seasons of the Soul is a tiny pool, abyssally deep. It is comprised of sixty-eight poems Hesse wrote over sixty-four years. The section I dov e into, The Seasons of Life and the Passage of Time, contains sixteen poems, with titles like Dreaming of Paradise, It Is Too Late Now, Growing Old , and Stages . Why this section? At seventy-one years, I exemplify Terry Sanford’s thought, “I got interested in aging, as I like to say, when aging got interested in me.” I’m interested in learning what I can about aging and in particular, the ways that nourish and flourish mind, body, heart, and soul.

I reckon that means learning about the tough truths as well as the easy ones. It is helpful to know we are alone; but then again, we aren't really, are we? It's helpful to know about death, it's inevitable, right? But knowing about death can give us a much deeper respect for and richer experience of life.

In Alone , Hesse reminds us that nothing comes between us and our final destination. No matter how much valuable support we receive or don’t receive, ultimately death looks into our eyes. It is ours to face alone. “You can ride, you can drive/In twos or threes,/But you must take the last step alone,” he writes. If death looks into our eyes, we can also, I think, look back into death’s eyes. “Death is always with us, in the marrow of every passing moment,” as Zen Hospice cofounder Frank Ostaseski says in The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully . Death “is not waiting for us at the end of a long road,” he says, but is our secret teacher, helping us “to discover what matters most.”

“Death is much more than a medical event,” he says, “It is a time of growth, a process of transformation. Death opens us to the deepest dimensions of our humanity. Death awakens presence, an intimacy with ourselves and all that is alive.”

Believe me, I'm not looking for death, but it's true that I've been thinking quite a bit about it lately, after spending most of my life just trying to avoid thinking about it. My mistake, but it's not too late for me, I don't think. Acknowledging that my time of life grows shorter and shorter has focused my attention on not missing what I have left and to do what I can to live it as fully and healthily (body, mind, relationships, soul) as I can manage. I don't do that well, yet. But you know, step-by-step.

The Pilgrim begins,

I was always on a journey,

I was always a pilgrim,

I have kept little for myself,

all bliss and pain are behind me.

p. 106

This five stanza poem takes the reader on the pilgrim’s journey, “ A thousand times I must have stumbled, ” he writes, and finishes with:

The bright and brilliant world

I had grown to love is leaving.

I never found the pot of gold,

but I know this: my journey was brave.

Sometimes I think my journey was brave – after all, just getting through a day requires courage – sometimes I don’t think it was so at all. Certainly there have been plenty times when it wasn't. Getting older, the opportunity is to look back on an ever-growing lifetime of experiences, decisions, and outcomes of those decisions, can be rich reflection but only if we do not dwell in the past, or even live in the past. Monica Furlong, in a reflection titled A Spirituality of Aging, found in the edited book, Reflections on Aging and Spiritual Growth , emphasizes the opportunity we have to live life fully now, regardless of age. “What I believe can redeem old age, as indeed the whole of life,” she says, “is a passionate commitment to living as fully as possible, whatever the restrictions; to enjoying whatever there is to be enjoyed; to laughing at whatever is there to be laughed at. Intensity is what matters” (p. 49).

Hesse, in Growing Old , writes,

If you can still smile, you will be young,

will still stand strong,

pursue your passions with power,

and bend with forceful fists

the poles of the world together.

p. 104

Laughing at myself, perhaps too often, perhaps even too disingenuously too often less authentically than need be, remains a joy. Laughing at the ludicrousness, silliness, pratfalledness, and irreverence of folks who take themselves way too seriously (here is where I include myself oft-times), is just a cleansing mechanism. It reminds me that I'm a pebble on the beach.

And I can smile at beauty as well. Beauty of spirit, beauty of nature, beauty of word and deed. And with these smiles come tears of course, as well. Irreverence pierces our smug hypocrisy; beauty pierces our heart. When young, it is easy, said Hesse, " but when our heartbeat starts to stumble/a smile becomes a conscious task ." As long as it is a conscious task, it seems to me, it's something we can probably manage to do, now and again. And again.

Henri Nouwen and Walter Gaffney didn't write poetry in their book, Aging: The Fulfillment of Life , but - just a good - used pictures. Pictures of old people. Old people living, loving, hugging, working, caring for others, smiling - and, oh yes, laughing out loud. They also get to the nitty-gritty, the essence, and I'll close with this from them.

"We believe that aging is the most common human experience which overarches the human community as a rainbow of promises. It is an experience so profoundly human that it breaks through the artificial boundaries between childhood and adulthood, and between adulthood and old age. It is so filled with promises that it can lead us to discover more and more of life’s treasures. We believe that aging is not a reason for despair but a basis for hope, not a slow decaying but a gradual maturing, not a fate to be undergone but a chance to be embraced” (pp. 19-20).

Hesse, like Nouwen, Gaffney, Furlong, Ostaseski, and so many others in so many ways, captures the poetic soul of aging.

Sources/Resources

Furlong, M. (1998). A Spirituality of Aging? In A. J. Weaver, H. G. Koenig, & P. C. Roe (Eds.), Reflections on Aging and Spiritual Growth (pp. 43-49). Abingdon Press.

Hesse, H., & Fischer, L. M. (2011). The seasons of the soul: the poetic guidance and spiritual wisdom of Hermann Hesse (L. M. Fischer, Trans.). North Atlantic Books.

Nouwen, H. J. M., & Gaffney, W. J. (1990). Aging (First Image ed.). Doubleday.

Ostaseski, F. (2017). The five invitations: discovering what death can teach us about living fully (First edition. ed.). Flatiron Books.

Sanford, T. (1998). Foreword. In A. J. Weaver, H. G. Koenig, & P. C. Roe (Eds.), Reflections on Aging and Spiritual Growth (pp. 15-16). Abingdon Press.

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael - November 2023

Wed, 22 Nov 2023 20:31:57 GMT

November, 2023 Haiku Narratives

Curator's Note

It goes like this

Our first meeting to share haikus in this way was in September, 2019.

How about that!

It is a lot of fun!

We enjoy doing this so much we thought you might enjoy being a part of the conversation as well, so we started recording them in May, 2020, and had been exchanging and discussing our haikus each month for nearly a year before that. If you watch the clip here, you will see our discussions are very informal and that we laugh a lot.

This is our thirty-seventh recording (You can watch them all here . I'll stop counting once we hit 40 or something like that) , and we hope to continu e. Please let us know what you think, and share this with anyone you think might benefit.

This Month's Haiku Narrative Video Recording

Check It Out:

This is a recording (our thirty-seventh) of our monthly haiku reading and narratives.

You can see them all here:

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, an d Michael

November, 2023 Haikus

Amy's Haiku

Davin's Haiku

Michael's Haiku

Check These Opportunities Out Too!

Our Book!

We are very excited about our book, Framing the Moment: Haiku Conversations . Here is a short description and video describing how and why we created the book, and how to order one or more.

About Us

Extracting the Stones of Madness

Fri, 17 Nov 2023 16:06:13 GMT

You will think of additional stones of madness in our world. The question is, how can we extract them?

Shane and I at the Museo Del Prado, Madrid, Spain. September 21, 2023. They don't let you take pictures inside, so this will have to be it for our visit there.

This year my son, Shane, and I walked from September 13 to September 19 ^th , starting at Puente Reina (Queens’s Bridge), Spain and finishing eighty miles later at Santo Domingo. It was another extraordinary pilgrimage experience. Walking the Camino with Shane these past two years has been one of the great experiences of my lifetime. This was the second year of what will probably turn out to be six years of walking a segment together on the Camino, heading toward our final destination at Santiago de Compostela, a.k.a. The Way of St. James.

One of the side benefits from this year’s walk was visiting the world-class Prado museum in Madrid, Spain.

When in Paris last year, we tracked down the iconic Shakespeare and Company bookstore (well, what would you expect us to do?), and visited the Louvre Museum, my first time. I was like a kid at Toys ‘R Us. In Madrid este año ,we discovered the James Joyce Irish Pub, spending a lovely afternoon/evening chatting it up with the owner, Matt Loughney, who hailed from the wee Emerald Isle himself.

Delightful!

Shane, me, and Matt (the owner) at the James Joyce Pub in Madrid, Spain. September 21, 2023

The highlight for me in Madrid was spending time in the Museo del Prado, one of the finest museums in the world. I regularly marvel at how my interest in art has gone from zero to sixty in just the last decade. The Prado (officially the Museo Nacional del Prado) has the finest collections of Goya, Velázquez, and El Greco in the world, as well as works by other artists I have come to love, such as Raphael, Rubens, and Rembrandt.

Check out The Extraction of the Stone of Madness at the Prado here:

The Extraction of the Stone of Madness

I fell in love with Bosch (the painter this time, not one of our favorite private detectives ). Bosch, that is Hiëronymus Bosch, had several pieces showing, including a very famous one I was already familiar with, The Garden of Earthly Delights . Another, which I had never heard of, but which immediately drew me in, was The Extraction of the Stone of Madness . The painting shows a “doctor” pulling a flower out of a patient’s head. Apparently, this is a take on the view in earlier times that madness is a stone stuck in a person’s brain. Pulling out that stone would, it was thought, remove one’s madness. Wauters (2015), described the painting, saying:

A vast, undulating landscape is the backdrop for a quack-physician wearing an inverted funnel on his head and performing a burlesque sham operation. Under the watchful eyes of a priest and a woman balancing a closed book on her head he cuts into the crown of a tied-down, lumpish-looking man. The picture is completed by a calligraphic distich which seems to be recited by the patient: “Master, cut the stone out quickly / My name is Lubbert Das."

“In early-modern culture,” Wauters writes, “this grotesque treatment is in fact a known

metaphor mocking human foolishness and gullibility” (p. 9).

I knew nothing about any of this before coming upon this painting at the museum. But immediately, I began to wonder if our society has had a stone, or more likely, stones of madness implanted in its collective brain. If so, what would it take to remove them, I speculated.

Our Societal Stones of Madness

I can think of several stones of madness which seem deeply embedded in our world. One stone is symbolized by kicking the ball down the field. Every year that the world waits to go all in on reversing the causes of global warming, for example, the odds against human survival become less and less. One day we will run out of field.

That is a stone of madness.

Every time our world steps even an inch closer to nuclear annihilation, the odds of human survival become less and less. One day someone won’t step back, one day someone’s trigger finger will slip.

That is a stone of madness.

Whenever a democracy like the United States retreats from civility, integrity, compromise, the rule of law, and deep respect for the tenets of a democracy, such as the peaceful transition of power, our precious democracy with all its freedoms, fought for and dearly won, comes closer to authoritarianism.

That is a stone of madness.

Whenever threats of violence, taunts, name calling, and dehumanization of others (such as calling citizens of our country “vermin”) occur without universal condemnation, without total repudiation, then we move in the direction of fascism and away our democratic values.

That is a stone of madness.

You will think of additional stones of madness in our world. The question is, how can we extract them?

Extracting Our Collective Stones of Madness

Dallas Willard, in his classic book about spiritual formation, Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ , says “In today’s world, famine, war, and epidemic are almost totally the outcome of human choices, which are expressions of the human spirit” (p. 13). “Our life, and how we find the world now and in the future,“ Willard says, “ is, almost totally, a simple result of what we have become in the depths of our being—in our spirit, will, or heart” (p. 13). These disastrous conditions haven’t just happened to us, he is saying, “they are the outcome of our choices.”

That should be sobering.

Willard, a Christian author and thought leader, believes that “. . . the greatest need you and I have – the greatest need of collective humanity – is renovation of our heart. That spiritual place within us from which outlook, choices, and actions come that has been formed by a world away from God. Now,” he says, “it must be transformed” (p. 14).

I wholeheartedly agree.

However….

There are various directions transformations occur. Some lead to good outcomes (I am a healthier person), some lead to bad outcomes (I am less healthy). What would be the foundations for transformation most likely to extract these stones of madness?

I propose that the starting place is going back to our spiritual roots. For me, that means going back to the commandments Jesus gave to his disciples in Matthew 22: 37-40.

Jesus said unto him,

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

This is the first and great commandment.

And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (KJV)

These two profound imperatives – love of God and love of neighbor – require actions and practices that enable and move people to have the capability and then the motivation to love and to be a loving person as a way of life. I don’t know anyone who has perfected these, so the quest for becoming more loving is lifelong. It is not enough to say, “I am a Christian,” unless one is working to become more Christlike each day.

Bernard McGinn, writing about Saint Teresa of Avila, described her “place in the history of one of the central themes in the history of Christian mysticism, that is how to relate the demands of contemplation and action, or love of God and love of neighbor” (p. 121). Teresa, author of one of the greatest books in all Christian history, The Interior Castle , was not only deeply contemplative, she was also an effective reformer. She was – and continues to be through her ongoing presence (after all, I’m referring to her here, centuries after her death) – an exemplary stone-extractor.

Incredibly, stones of madness remain in our society. I guess to a certain extent they can never be completely removed, just bits and pieces and chunks. They are, to a certain extent fused with our imperfectness.

If we don’t remove a few of them pretty darn soon, however, our heads will burst, right along with our hearts. And then, no mason will be able to reconstruct the shambles of the rock slide we have wrought.

Sources/Resources

Museo del Prado: https://www.museodelprado.es/en

More about the Museo del Prado: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Prado-Museum

The Extraction of the Stone of Madness (Bosch): https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/the-extraction-of-the-stone-of-madness/313db7a0-f9bf-49ad-a242-67e95b14c5a2

The Garden of Earthly Delights (Bosch): https://www.museodelprado.es/coleccion/obra-de-arte/triptico-del-jardin-de-las-delicias/02388242-6d6a-4e9e-a992-e1311eab3609

The Louvre Museum, Paris, France: https://www.louvre.fr/en

Shakespeare and Company bookstore, Paris, France: https://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/

Wauters, W. (2015). Extracting the Stone of Madness in Perspective. The Cultural and Historical Development of an Enigmatic Visual Motif from Hieronymus Bosch: a Critical status quaestionis . Jaarboek Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen, 2016(2018), 9-36.

Willard, D. (2021). Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ. NavPress. New Paragraph

"The author died in 1516, so this work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer.

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office ) before January 1, 1928. This file has been identified as being free of known restrictions under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights. "

(https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cutting_the_Stone_(Bosch).jpg)

Sometimes I got tired along the way....

This photo was taken by Shane (the scoundrel) on September 13, 2023 in or around Puente La Reina, Spain.

The Fundamental Option In Later Life: Choosing the Kind of Person We Want to Be

Tue, 07 Nov 2023 15:01:18 GMT

“According to this interpretation [of fundamental option], somewhere in the course of our lives we make a fundamental decision about what kind of person we intend to be, about how we have chosen to live our life.”

~Joseph H. Lackner, SM, Virtues for Mission , p. 38

I can’t tell you the exact day or even month when I made the decision to change the person I had become to something different. Looking back, it wasn’t “a” decision, it wasn’t even a conscious decision, but around the time I turned sixty-one I began heading down a different path than the toxic one I had been on. Over time, over the last decade or so, I’ve moved away from being unhealthily anxious, depressed, and wandering aimlessly; and moved toward becoming a healthier person in just about every aspect of life. There were events along the way that were out of my control or influence that moved me in a more positive direction, including I believe divine inspiration (perhaps a holy nudge - or shove...), but much has been the result of what has now become a conscious choice, to live my life in an ever more generative way, a way that leads toward flourishing. I still have a long way, a never-ending way, to go. And will, until the day I die.

My path these days is strewn with flowers and sage, crowding out the few weeds here and there; the sky is a pleasant blue, with white clouds and a glorious sun as far as I can see, interspersed with with dark-grey brush strokes of trouble hither and yon; and the destination in sight, in the distance, the winding ups and downs of the trail still to come, still unseen.*

All this started in my seventh decade.

As one who adores libraries, I loved this statue of "Our Lady of the Library,"

spotted during our tour of the University of Dayton.

I had never heard of the term, "fundamental option,” until my friend and colleague, Davin Carr-Chellman, sent me a copy of Virtues for Mission , by Joseph H. Lackner, SM (Society of Mary). Davin is a professor and the department chair of the Department of Educational Administration at the University of Dayton (UD). UD is a Marianist, that is to say it was founded by and is led by the Society of Mary, Roman Catholic University. I knew nothing about Marianism before Davin went to work there and it’s been fun and rewarding to learn a bit about it. In October, he even gave me a tour of their beautiful and inspiring campus.

Although I’m finding there has been much history and discussion about the idea of the fundamental option, here I’m just considering the simple definition Lackner provided (Karl Rahner and other deep thinkers who have written about this are going to take quite a long time for me to understand.) For now, the simple idea that we can make a "fundamental decision about what kind of person we want to be," is enough for me. That presents a powerful opportunity.

It is no secret that every one of us is getting older each day (each nano-moment, actually). We will all die. Some will die earlier than expected, others later. Some will live a more joyous life than their circumstances might suggest, others may live a more miserable life than their circumstances might suggest. Importantly, within our lifespan, we have the capacity to choose a great deal about how we will live our life. We have the opportunity, each day, to become more and more the “kind of person we intend to be,” as Lackner says when describing “the fundamental option.”

We have the ability to be generous or miserly, to proceed healthily or deleteriously, to live resolutely or negligently, and so forth in every area of our personal choice. Over time, these actions become who we are – we become a more generous, healthy, resolute person or more a miserly, sickly, wishy-washy person. These behaviors become how people describe us and eventually who we understand ourselves to be.

I am not naive about what we can and cannot do later in life, and how hard it can be to change the way we've lived our lives for decades. To be sure, there are many matters which are outside our control or even influence, but it is a mistake to think that we cannot make changes large or small to those choices, that direction, and the kind of person we intend to be in our later years.

When we hit sixty, seventy, eighty, or ninety we can decide to be more forgiving or more vengeful, more bitter or more grateful, to make the effort to make others feel loved or….not.

Sure, early in life we have the most options – we can save for retirement, or not; we can smoke cigarettes for years, or not; we can build relationships or a family, or not. Choices in later life are more constrained, more limited, and are subject to earlier events, what we inherited (and not just money but things like genes) and decisions we have already made.

Just as we make a choice, intentionally or unintentionally, about the kind of person we wish to be at a young age, we can also, I believe, reinforce what we are are already doing or re-choose at later stages of life.

And, to a greater extent than we might think, we can make a fundamental decision about how we will live through the final stages of life.

We are not helpless people, and our choices, both individual and societal, lead to predictable outcomes, as Dallas Willard, writing about spiritual formation, reminds us. “In today’s world, famine, war, and epidemic are almost totally the outcome of human choices, which are expressions of the human spirit,” he said, Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ .

While we don’t have total and often have little control of outcomes, we do have the ability to increase or decrease the odds that something will occur. If I do not take care of my health, the odds are that I will become unhealthy. If I take dance classes, the odds are - even at the age now of seventy-one - that I will become a better dancer, and surely healthier overall. The same is true for society. If we pollute the sky, the odds are that we’ll have a polluted sky. If we support tyranny, the odds are that our nation(s) will become more tyrannical.

There are some, like Sam Harris, who don’t believe we have free will. “Free will is an illusion,” he says, “Our wills are simply not of our own making. Thoughts and intentions emerge from background causes of which we are unaware and over which we exert no conscious control. We do not have the freedom we think we have.”

Do we have free will, or don’t we? I’ve read Sam Harris’ book, Free Will, and though he makes a persuasive case that we lack free will, to me his is a technical argument with little application to most of us in real life. Sure, everything that went before us will influence our decisions, perhaps even as Harris claims makes our choices inevitable, but even if that happened to be true, so what?

For me, this no-free-will viewpoint just lets everyone off the hook. Everyone has an excuse for not taking responsibility for their lives and their impact on others. Explain how we make decisions all you want, but in real, day-to-day life, we can choose how we will respond.

Which brings us to the fundamental option. That is, deciding the “kind of person we intend to be [and] how we have chose to live our life” (Lackner, p. 38).

I don’t care what age you are, what kind of person do you want to be in this next stage of life?

Make it so.

** OK, OK. This scene is painted more idyllically than realistically - there are more than enough little weeds and even some noxious ones, and a few storms along the way, some with torrential rain. But you get the idea. It's wonderful to be alive, eh?

Sources/Resources

Harris, S. (2012). Free will (1st Free Press trade pbk. ed.). Free Press.

Lackner, J. H. (2003). Virtues for Mission . The North American Center for Marianist Studies.

Willard, D. (2021). Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ . NavPress.

The University of Dayton

The University of Dayton:

About UD, https://udayton.edu/about/index.php ;

The Marianists, https://udayton.edu/rector/mission_identity_roots/index.php ; https://udayton.edu/about/mission-and-identity.php ,

Catholic, Marianist Tradition, https://udayton.edu/about/catholic-marianist.php

The University of Dayton, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Dayton

For more about The Fundamental Option

Bonjean Sr, R. D. (1983). Fundamental option in the theology of Karl Rahner and its relationship to moral development. Marquette University.

Coffey, D. (1997). Rahner’s Theology of Fundamental Option. Philosophy and Theology , 10(1), 255-284.

Miller, F. L. (1977). The Fundamental Option in the Thought of St Augustine. The Downside Review , 95(321), 271-283.

Petrusek, M. (2017). Making the Fundamental Option Fully Free: How Human Capabilities Help Clarify Rahner’s Conception of Justice. Philosophy and Theology , 29(2), 433-460.

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael - October 2023

Sun, 29 Oct 2023 23:23:20 GMT

October, 2023 Haiku Narratives

Curator's Note

It goes like this

Our first meeting to share haikus in this way was in September, 2019.

How about that!

It is a lot of fun!

We enjoy doing this so much we thought you might enjoy being a part of the conversation as well, so we started recording them in May, 2020, and had been exchanging and discussing our haikus each month for nearly a year before that. If you watch the clip here, you will see our discussions are very informal and that we laugh a lot.

This is our thirty-sixth recording (You can watch them all here . I'll stop counting once we hit 40 or something like that) , and we hope to continu e. Please let us know what you think, and share this with anyone you think might benefit.

This Month's Haiku Narrative Video Recording

Check It Out:

This is a recording (our thirty-sixth) of our monthly haiku reading and narratives.

You can see them all here:

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, an d Michael

October, 2023 Haikus

Amy's Haiku

Davin's Haiku

Michael's Haiku

Check These Opportunities Out Too!

Our Book!

We are very excited about our book, Framing the Moment: Haiku Conversations . Here is a short description and video describing how and why we created the book, and how to order one or more.

About Us

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael - August 2023

Thu, 31 Aug 2023 18:48:00 GMT

August, 2023 Haiku Narratives

Curator's Note

It goes like this

Our first meeting to share haikus in this way was in September, 2019.

How about that!

It is a lot of fun!

We enjoy doing this so much we thought you might enjoy being a part of the conversation as well, so we started recording them in May, 2020, and had been exchanging and discussing our haikus each month for nearly a year before that. If you watch the clip here, you will see our discussions are very informal and that we laugh a lot.

This is our thirty-Fifth recording (You can watch them all here . I'll stop counting once we hit 36 or something like that) , and we hope to continu e. Please let us know what you think, and share this with anyone you think might benefit.

This Month's Haiku Narrative Video Recording

Check It Out:

This is a recording (our thirty-fifth) of our monthly haiku reading and narratives.

You can see them all here:

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, an d Michael

August, 2023 Haikus

Amy's Haiku

Davin's Haiku

Michael's Haiku

Check These Opportunities Out Too!

Our Book!

We are very excited about our book, Framing the Moment: Haiku Conversations . Here is a short description and video describing how and why we created the book, and how to order one or more.

About Us

And So It Begins

Wed, 05 Jul 2023 13:11:04 GMT

Spiritual Formation In Later Life

July 5, 2023

My professional sabbatical journey starts officially in August, is starting practically now, and started in general at the start of the spring semester, as students and colleagues joined me in a little Spiritual Formation after Sixty lit review group. I'll have until the end of the year to explore the topic of spiritual formation after sixty as a scholarly research topic for this work sabbatical. I have the rest of my life to explore it personally.

My own spiritual formation-after-sixty project really began in the last months of age sixty, just ten years ago. It has been a rich decade. It has been transformational. Before sixty I had no interest in matters spiritual, for the last decade that's what I've come to be most interested in. How much further I can go, how much deeper and more meaningfully, is one thread I'll be following these next months. How my life was turned around is another, how it might intentionally proceed is another, and how – drawing from sources beyond my own personal story – others in later life might take their lives into deeper, more meaningful, richer-in-all-the-most-important-ways places is still another.

This morning, after hearing neighborhood Fourth of July celebrations last night louder than I can remember hearing before, I woke at 5:15 a.m., pushed the coffee-maker button and weighed myself.

189.

189 is a good marker. A good starting place to key off of for the next half of the year. Which will include a 75-mile week walking on the Camino de Santiago with my son Shane in September.

Spiritual health is not the only part of my life that I’ll be attending to these next weeks and months.

Then I addressed a haiku card and walked to the mailbox. The moon was (is?) still shining, the night was fading. The air the cool crisp of a hot summer-day-to-come.

And blessed silence.

I stopped for a moment just to experience it. Then I dropped the card in the box and walked inside to write this, the start of my project journal. Thoughts for what scholars might conclude, were I a bit more disciplined, as the start of an autoethnography.

Today I travel to the Monastery of the Ascension in Jerome, Idaho for a short personal retreat which will be another kind of marker to start this sabbatical.

Over the last days of June I took myself off of all social media, in particular Facebook, unsubscribed from most of my regular sources of news political, and other online, extraneous-to-this-sabbatical-topic, distractions.

Wordle is an exception.

I did not make myself completely bereft of simple pleasures of the mind, eh?

For though I know I have some discipline, focusing on a particular topic is not one that comes naturally – I am interested in too much. I have an endlessly curious mind, it seems. So, just as the most important choice I must make when trying to eat healthily is what is available for my consumption (i.e. not buying bags of chocolates to bring home) the same limitations apply when it comes to what I have available to read. If I want to make good decisions about what I put in my mouth or in my head I have to give myself only healthy options. If it is around, I’m likely to eat it or to eat it up.

I’ll be writing essays about matters of spiritual formation – mine, others, ideas and concepts – over the next months as I explore myself and what others have to say about it. My particular attention will be on later life, not only because I am in later life and want to learn ways to continue my own development, but also because spiritual formation – spiritual development, one’s openness of deeper meaning and depth of experience, one's experience with the divine, transcendence – is one of the few areas where elders can grow even to the very last breath, as other parts of their lives inevitably decline.

I wanna know more about that.

My problem now, as I said before, is there is too much I want to read and experience and discuss. My retreat starts later today, and we’ll see if we can become a bit more mindful about how I spend my time and attention going forward.

Say a little prayer for me, eh?

My Monk In The World Essay

Thu, 01 Jun 2023 05:43:37 GMT

It was wonderful to write this essay for one of my favorite sites - The Abbey of the Arts , and absolutely favorite authors, Christine Valters Paintner.

What an honor!

The topic is walking as a keystone, contemplative practice .

Photo by Michael Kroth, used in the essay.

Read Monk In The World Guest Post here

Photo by Michael Kroth, used in the essay

This was my second Monk in the World guest essay. You can read my first, "Haiku Drop", here

Photo by Michael Kroth, used in the essay

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael - May, 2023

Thu, 25 May 2023 16:44:10 GMT

May, 2023 Haiku Narratives

Curator's Note

It goes like this

Our first meeting to share haikus in this way was in September, 2019.

How about that!

It is a lot of fun!

We enjoy doing this so much we thought you might enjoy being a part of the conversation as well, so we started recording them in May, 2020, and had been exchanging and discussing our haikus each month for nearly a year before that. If you watch the clip here, you will see our discussions are very informal and that we laugh a lot.

This is our thirty-FOURTH recording (You can watch them all here . I'll stop counting once we hit 36 or something like that) , and we hope to continu e. Please let us know what you think, and share this with anyone you think might benefit.

This Month's Haiku Narrative Video Recording

Check It Out:

This is a recording (our thirty-fourth) of our monthly haiku reading and narratives.

You can see them all here:

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, an d Michael

May, 2023 Haikus

Amy's Haiku

Davin's Haiku

Michael's Haiku

Check These Opportunities Out Too!

Our Book!

We are very excited about our book, Framing the Moment: Haiku Conversations . Here is a short description and video describing how and why we created the book, and how to order one or more.

About Us

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael - April, 2023

Tue, 02 May 2023 02:25:45 GMT

April, 2023 Haiku Narratives

Curator's Note

It goes like this

Our first meeting to share haikus in this way was in September, 2019.

How about that!

It is a lot of fun!

We enjoy doing this so much we thought you might enjoy being a part of the conversation as well, so we started recording them in May, 2020, and had been exchanging and discussing our haikus each month for nearly a year before that. If you watch the clip here, you will see our discussions are very informal and that we laugh a lot.

This is our thirty-third recording (You can watch them all here . I'll stop counting once we hit 36 or something like that) , and we hope to continu e. Please let us know what you think, and share this with anyone you think might benefit.

This Month's Haiku Narrative Video Recording

Check It Out:

This is a recording (our thirty-third) of our monthly haiku reading and narratives.

You can see them all here:

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael

April, 2023 Haikus

Amy's Haiku

Davin's Haiku

Michael's Haiku

Check These Opportunities Out Too!

Our Book!

We are very excited about our book, Framing the Moment: Haiku Conversations . Here is a short description and video describing how and why we created the book, and how to order one or more.

About Us

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael - March, 2023

Thu, 23 Mar 2023 21:52:46 GMT

March, 2023 Haiku Narratives

Curator's Note

It goes like this

It is a lot of fun!

We enjoy doing this so much we thought you might enjoy being a part of the conversation as well, so we started recording them in May, 2020, and had been exchanging and discussing our haikus each month for nearly a year before that. If you watch the clip here, you will see our discussions are very informal and that we laugh a lot.

This is our thirty-Second recording (You can watch them all here . I'll stop counting once we hit 36 or something like that) , and we hope to continu e. Please let us know what you think, and share this with anyone you think might benefit.

This Month's Haiku Narrative Video Recording

Check It Out:

This is a recording (our thirty-second) of our monthly haiku reading and narratives.

March, 2023 Haikus

Amy's Haiku

Davin's Haiku

Michael's Haiku

Check These Opportunities Out Too!

Our Book!

We are very excited about our book, Framing the Moment: Haiku Conversations . Here is a short description and video describing how and why we created the book, and how to order one or more.

About Us

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael - February, 2023

Fri, 17 Feb 2023 05:17:45 GMT

February, 2023 Haiku Narratives

Curator's Note

It goes like this

It is a lot of fun!

We enjoy doing this so much we thought you might enjoy being a part of the conversation as well, so we started recording them in May, 2020, and had been exchanging and discussing our haikus each month for nearly a year before that. If you watch the clip here, you will see our discussions are very informal and that we laugh a lot.

This is our thirty-first recording (You can watch them all here . I'll stop counting once we hit 36 or something like that) , and we hope to continu e. Please let us know what you think, and share this with anyone you think might benefit.

This Month's Haiku Narrative Video Recording

Check It Out:

This is a recording (our thirty-first) of our monthly haiku reading and narratives.

February, 2023 Haikus

Davin's Haiku

Amy's Haiku

Michael's Haiku

Check These Opportunities Out Too!

Our Book!

We are very excited about our book, Framing the Moment: Haiku Conversations . Here is a short description and video describing how and why we created the book, and how to order one or more.

About Us

Sloughing

Sun, 05 Feb 2023 16:04:08 GMT

"Transformation lies deep in the folds of time and even in the darkest shadows of memory…Even as our lives move toward their natural endings, we continue to transform, trusting ourselves to God’s love, which is vaster than we can ever imagine.”

~Gunilla Norris, The Light of Evening: Meditations on Growing in Old Age, p. 28

Mick Herron’s book, Slow Horses , begins, “Let us be clear about this much at least: Slough House is not in Slough [a town just outside of London], nor is it a house.” Slough House, rather, is an organizational unit where British MI5 (the United Kingdom’s Secret Service) agents are exiled after they fumble an important assignment. These un-well-regarded agents are known as “slow horses”, and Slough House is a place where the excitement and importance of national security duties have been replaced with humdrummery. Boring work. Inconsequential tasks. Mental abuse from their boss, Jackson Lamb, (played in the TV series by the brilliant Gary Oldman).

As these fictional (and, who knows, perhaps non-fictional) situations seem to evolve, this unlikely group of (well, I’ll just say it) losers, become involved in high-stakes predicaments that threaten the mothership, Great Britain herself. And there, these organizational refugees, who are often talented people who happened to have had misfortune hit them in the middle of their promising careers, do the James Bond thing and find a way to save the world as we know it. They aren’t losers after all (none of us are, actually, y’know) but despite a bit of bad luck or a poor decision or whatnot found themselves carrying the burden of banishment to Slough House.

Slow Horses is the first book in Herron’s Slough House series of, so far, eight novels and more novellas. It’s been made, as alluded to above, into a television series, which is where my wife Lana, and I discovered it. We have relished it. In addition to Oldham, there are familiar actors like Jonathan Pryce and Kristin Scott Thomas, and a host of interesting characters. We’ve seen the two seasons of the show which are available, and the series has been renewed for two additional seasons. So far. I’m betting this series will continue for as long as Oldman agrees to be in it.

Slough House, I think, is a takeoff on the word slough which, according to Merriam-Webster, means “a place of deep mud or mire,” and swamp or backwater. Synonyms include bog, gulch, and bottomland. But perhaps the author was referring to the other definitions of slough which is “to shed or cast off,” “to cast off one’s skin,” to separate dead from living tissue, and to “crumble slowly and fall away.” The noun means the cast-off skin of a snake or something shed or cast off. It can mean getting rid of something unwanted, like a bad secret agent reputation or like discarding a losing card in the game of bridge.

Snakes shed their skins two to four times a year though sometimes as often as once a month. Over time, instead of shedding individual skin cells, like we do, they outgrow their skin, and that is when they “slough it off” in one piece. Humans, on the other hand, lose 200 million skin cells every hour. Over a 24-hour day, we lose around five thousand million skin cells. That’s right. 5,000,000,000 of those dead, little, epidermal flakes.

But that’s not all. Throughout our entire bodies we replace around 330 billion cells every day . We have about 30 trillion human cells, all told. Some of our cells last quite a long time - your muscle cells might last 30-70 years, and some in the brain, heart, and eyes last a lifetime. Still, inside your body cells are changing out fast. In fact, “In 80 to 100 days, 30 trillion will have replenished—the equivalent of a new you” (Fischetti & Christiansen, 2021).

We do this without having to even think about it. Our bodies are evolutionary marvels.

The equivalent of a new me in just a few months.

Wouldn’t that just be da bomb?

People dream of becoming 'the new me'; advertisements claim their products can do it for you.

But it’s not a new me, really, is it? Parts of my body are more durable. And somehow my creaky joints don’t feel all that rejuvenated. And I still have all sorts of other baggage that needs sloughing.

Much of our body runs itself, from shedding billions of cells to the beat of our hearts and breathing. We do have considerable ability to influence it though, don’t we? We can slow our heart rate and breathing or speed them up. We can extend our lives by taking care of ourselves or shorten them through abuse or neglect. We may not be able to live without pain, but we can avoid or mitigate what could cause us to have pain to some extent. We can’t control our cell production/elimination cycle, but we do have considerable ability to influence all sorts of bodily functions for better or worse.

The same is true of the quality of our emotional, cognitive, and spiritual lives, and even our own identity. Much is out of our hands, but much is within our influence and, gradually, the choices we make daily will have a significant long-term effect on our quality of life. The way we live our lives is not the same as this continuous, without thinking, physical sloughing process, but it is analogous.

We can’t slough our skin like a snake does, just like the characters assigned to Slough House can’t shed their reputations in one fell “save the world as we know it” heroic deed. (It seems the same characters are still in Slough House in the second season, after a considerable triumph in the first). We can't change the depth of us immediately, but we can slowly, intentionally, create a modified, more healthy us.

If we care to do that. If you are pretty happy with yourself and your trajectory right now, this is probably all blather. Skip out of here and head over to the guitar. Or the trail. Or to whatever brings you joy.

But...if there are a few things that would/could make a big difference in your life, consider this. James Clear, in his terrific book, Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results: An Easy And Proven Way To Build Good Habits And Break Bad Ones , said, “If you want to predict where you’ll end up in life, all you have to do is follow the curve of tiny gains or tiny losses, and see how your daily choices will compound ten or twenty years down the line” (p. 18). Which tells us that the sooner we start and the longer we continue, the more significant the results will be.

It takes time and persistence and will, but.... "You can do this hard thing," as the marvelous Carrie Newcomer sings.

That goes for writing, exercising, learning a language, becoming more productive, contemplative practice, and becoming better in our relationships with others.

The habits of a deep and meaningful life compound over time, just like saving money.

This compounding effect is such an excellent opportunity for young people, who have oodles of time to shape their lives, but it can also make a huge difference for those of us in later life. We may not have forty or fifty years to build an important habit and to reap its rewards, but if we start now we can make a meaningfully positive difference in our lives and in the lives of those around us.

Of course, if good habits can grow over time, so can bad habits. Charles Duhigg, in The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do In Life And Business, said,

“…habits emerge without our permission. Studies indicate that families don’t intend to eat fast food on a regular basis. What happens is that a once a month pattern slowly becomes once a week, and then twice a week—as the cues and rewards create a habit—until the kids are consuming an unhealthy amount of hamburgers and fries” (p. 26). This Duhigg, said is “the habit loop” (p. 26).

In this sense, then, have considerable ability to decide and to create our own destiny through the habits, routines, practices, and disciplines we choose; or we turn our future over to chance, and the either good or bad we find ourselves in that results. We are, after all, at this very moment the product of the environment, what we were born with, and the choices we have made.

We may not be able to slough our whole skin, but we might be surprised how much we might be able to do with ourselves if we put enough skin in the game.

Sources/Resources

(11-29-16), New insights into skin cells could explain why our skin doesn't leak, Science Daily, https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161129114910.htm . (Retrieved 2-3-23)

Clear, J. (2018). Atomic habits: tiny changes, remarkable results: an easy & proven way to build good habits & break bad ones. Avery, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

Duhigg, C. (2014). Power of habit: why we do what we do in life and business. Random House Trade Paperbacks.

Fischetti, M, and Christiansen, J., (4-1-21). Our Bodies Replace Billions of Cells Every Day, Scientific American , https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/our-bodies-replace-billions-of-cells-every-day/ (Retrieved 2-3-23)

Merriam-Webster, Slough, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slough , (retrieved 2-5-23)

Herron, M. (2010). Slow horses (1st US ed.). Soho Constable.

Pacey, Paddy (10-33-22). Snakes Shedding Their Skins (or Moulting or Sloughing), Whole Earth , https://wholeeartheducation.com/snakes-shedding-skin/ (Retrieved 2-3-23)

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Carrie Newcomer: https://www.carrienewcomer.com/

“Maybe there are people who can achieve incredible success overnight. I don’t know any of them, and I’m certainly not one of them.”

~James Clear, Atomic Habits, p. 7

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael - January, 2023

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Thu, 19 Jan 2023 21:37:56 GMT

January, 2023 Haiku Narratives

Curator's Note

It goes like this

It is a lot of fun!

We enjoy doing this so much we thought you might enjoy being a part of the conversation as well, so we started recording them in May, 2020, and had been exchanging and discussing our haikus each month for nearly a year before that. If you watch the clip here, you will see our discussions are very informal and that we laugh a lot.

This is our thirtieth recording (You can watch them all here . I'll stop counting once we hit 36 or something like that) , and we hope to continu e. Please let us know what you think, and share this with anyone you think might benefit.

This Month's Haiku Narrative Video Recording

Check It Out:

This is a recording (our thirtieth) of our monthly haiku reading and narratives.

January, 2023 Haikus

Davin's Haiku

Amy's Haiku

Michael's Haiku

Check These Opportunities Out Too!

Our Book!

We are very excited about our book, Framing the Moment: Haiku Conversations . Here is a short description and video describing how and why we created the book, and how to order one or more.

Continuing Resolutions, Not Just New Year's Resolutions

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Sat, 07 Jan 2023 19:12:21 GMT

Continuing, personal resolutions can make an intentional, long-term, positive difference in our lives.

“Changes that seem small and unimportant at first will compound into remarkable results if you’re willing to stick with them for years.”

~James Clear, Atomic Habits , p. 7

In early January of every year, advice about creating and committing to New Year’s resolutions bombard all of us. From TV shows to podcasts to newsletters to articles, the importance of reflecting upon, setting, and maintaining these goals overwhelms just about every other topic. The inevitable setting of these resolutions, the energetic and committed effort to honor them and then the subsequent, for so many of us, discarding of them a month, week, or even a day later becomes an annual ritual.

We get into a cycle of setting these resolutions each year and then not meeting them, setting them and then not meeting them again, and on and on. The inevitability of this process of intending and forsaking becomes an expectation and most of us have a chuckle about it, recognizing that we are likely going to be back to our normal ways-of-being come February. But it’s not really something to laugh about, because those failures reinforce that lack of fortitude.

For those who set these commitments and then meet them, it’s a character-building exercise. Doing what one sets out to do builds willpower which, when added to other commitment-completions, builds integrity (we did what we said we would do) and self-confidence (I CAN do this or that, I HAVE before, and I WILL to this). James K.A. Smith, speaking of character development, puts it this way: “Virtues, quite simply, are good moral habits. (Bad moral habits, as you might guess, are called “vices.” Good moral habits are like internal dispositions to the good—they are character traits that become woven into who you are so that you are the kind of person who is inclined to be compassionate, forgiving, and so forth.”

But that’s hard to do. Even with some great resources to help us these days, like James Clear’s Atomic Habits and Charles Duhigg’s The Power of Habit , changing habits or adding and keeping new commitments is a challenge.

I’d like to make the case for establishing “continuing resolutions” instead of worrying so much about “New Year’s resolutions”.

In the U.S. Congress, continuing resolutions are stopgap funding measures, with expiration dates, to keep government from shutting down until agreements can be made. One could argue – I do – that using these continuing resolutions as a matter of course develops a legislative habit of punting the ball down the field rather than making tough decisions. It represents a lack of fortitude rather than resolve, but that’s a whole other discussion.

But I digress – these congressional continuing resolutions are NOT the kind of continuing resolutions I’m advocating for here.

Continuing, personal resolutions can make an intentional, long-term, positive difference in our lives.

Instead of situating one time of year – the new year – as a focal point for goal setting, continuing personal resolutions are the ongoing commitments we make to ourselves that last far longer than a month or even a year. They build self-determination over time. They give us more control over our lives. They give us the power to transform ourselves in ways large and small. They compound over years, as James Clear says and, as Gunilla Norris notes, these tasks don’t have to be gigantic. “It is amazing,” she says, “how very small endeavors can bring us and others delight. Doing BIG things is not likely, but doing small things with great love is possible. Here’s a favorite quote of mind from Helen Keller: I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble .” (italics are from Gunilla Norris)

Continuing resolutions are ongoing commitments to what my colleagues Davin Carr-Chellman, Carol Rogers-Shaw, and I have called, “meta-practices.” These are “undertaken over time… [and] are those disciplines and practices which develop the qualities of profound learning and living. They have no end-point, require regular activity, and may involve a range of exercises to build rich, generative learning.” (We discuss meta-learning and meta-learning in our article, Formation as an organizing framework for the processes of lifelong learning .) We might choose just a few of these (contemplative practice or a daily exercise routine, as examples), but they will build over time and act as powerful support for other habits. Duhigg calls "keystone habits" those which help us to "reprogram the other routines" in our lives.

In contrast to the purpose of a congressional continuing resolution, personal continuing resolutions are firm decisions. They are tied to long-term, perhaps lifelong practices, which might be spiritual disciplines, healthy lifestyle, development of the mind, or relationship-building. They don’t punt the ball down the field, they are habits, routines, and disciplines which occur often, perhaps daily, often "now."

Some synonyms for the word “resolute” are steadfast, determined, decided, persevering, dogged, and undaunted. Antonyms for “resolute” are vacillating, cautious, weak-minded, and hesitant (also, the birds – hen-hearted, chicken-hearted, pigeon-livered). To have “resolve” is to intend, persist, and conclude. A resolution in both the sense of New Year’s resolutions and what I am calling here continuing personal resolutions, is to commit to something, with determination. And committing to something requires going as much as one can from vague to precise. From unaccountable to observable and even measurable because there are so, so many real concerns along with bling and glitter vying for our attention. “In a world of distraction,” Ryan Holiday said, “focusing is a superpower.”

“In a world of distraction, focusing is a superpower.”

~Ryan Holiday, Discipline is destiny: the power of self-control , p. 123

In summary, both New Year’s Resolutions and Continuing Personal Resolutions are helpful. They serve to focus us on what we perceive to be real personal improvement opportunities. Both can make a significant and long term, positive difference in our lives. New Year’s Resolutions however, for many, turn out to be empty promises, made on a whim or even after considerable reflection, that are quickly dropped or which never really “take hold” of us. Continuing resolutions, taken on for long periods of time, perhaps a lifetime, build upon themselves and can actually change who we are and how we live and our quality of life.

“It is amazing how very small endeavors can bring us and others delight. Doing BIG things is not likely, but doing small things with great love is possible. Here’s a favorite quote of mind from Helen Keller: I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.”

~Gunilla Norris, The Light of Evening: Meditations on Growing in Old Age , p. 38

Sources/Resources

Clear, J. (2018). Atomic habits: tiny changes, remarkable results: an easy & proven way to build good habits & break bad ones . Avery, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

Duhigg, C. (2014). Power of habit: why we do what we do in life and business (Random House Trade Paperback Edition ed.). Random House Trade Paperbacks.

Norris, G. (2022). The light of evening: meditations on growing in old age. Twenty-Third Publications.

Holiday, R. (2022). Discipline is destiny: the power of self-control. Portfolio/Penguin.

Kroth, M., Carr‐Chellman, D. J., & Rogers‐Shaw, C. (2022). Formation as an organizing framework for the processes of lifelong learning. New Horizons in Adult Education and Human Resource Development , 34(1), 26-36.

Smith, J. K. A. (2016). You are what you love: the spiritual power of habit. Brazos Press, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

“Virtues, quite simply, are good moral habits. (Bad moral habits, as you might guess, are called “vices.”} Good moral habits are like internal dispositions to the good—they are character traits that become woven into who you are so that you are the kind of person who is inclined to be compassionate, forgiving, and so forth.”

~James K.A. Smith , You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit , p. 16.

How about resolving to develop your inner life this year?

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Sat, 31 Dec 2022 14:57:28 GMT

The inner life is where our deepest struggles, hopes, awareness, virtues, and understandings occur.

“Men (sic) to-day are so overwhelmingly occupied with objective tasks; they are so busy with the field of outer action, that it is a particularly opportune time to speak of the interior world where the issues of life are settled and the tissues of destiny are woven.”

Rufus Jones, The Inner Life, 1917

On the Camino de Santiago, September 1, 2022

Photo Credit: Shane Kroth

How about resolving to develop some aspect of your inner life this year?

I remember distinctly the afternoon I was having a couple of beers with two close friends. This was a few years ago. We were sitting outside 10 Barrels here in Boise. I’d been around these two fellas, both great guys, often over time, and between the two of them we had traveled together, written together, biked together, had many mutual friends, had created many stories together, spent hours over beer and coffee and – well, we were and are friends. They were shocked when I told them that I was deeply depressed and anxious and had been for a long time. The key words here are, “for a long time” because they told me that they’d had no idea.

Apparently, I had been good at hiding it. You know how it’s done; you’ve done it. Acting like there’s not a care in the world while inside you are in turmoil. Putting on the mask. (That’s called, BTW, ‘emotional labor’.) It’s exhausting, right?

"How's it goin'?"

"Great!" ( If you only knew... )

There are a lot of ways I could go with this essay from here, one of them being that your friends and others can’t help you if you don’t let them in on what is going on with you. No matter how much they care about you and would want to help you, if you won’t share your troubles with them, they just can’t.

Another way would be to talk about my path to what I believe now to be a pretty robust and hearty mental health today. It always needs buttressing and growth and contemplation, but I’m buoyed by friends, family, religion, work, and so many other parts and pieces of life that I am grateful for and which enrich each day. The older I become, the more abundant I feel my life becomes along the way.

Still another way, which this essay is about, is to start to explore this “inner life”, as Rufus Jones and others call it. Jones, in his 1917 book, The Inner Life , said “Men (sic) to-day are so overwhelmingly occupied with objective tasks; they are so busy with the field of outer action, that it is a particularly opportune time to speak of the interior world where the issues of life are settled and the tissues of destiny are woven” (p. ix).

Over a hundred years later, it seems still an opportune time to pay attention to this “interior world".

The Habits

Reading Stephen Covey’s The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change was transformational for me. It has sold over 40 million copies since it was first published in 1989 and continues to be a best-selling book, decades after I read it for the first time. What Covey did so well was an earlier version of what Malcomb Gladwell does so well. He took challenging topics, often based on research or ideas which had been around a long time, and made them easier to understand and remember through stories and examples and simple visual figures, and showed how we could apply them to our day-to-day lives.

I became a certified Seven Habits trainer for our company (and other Covey-certified courses as well), and teaching those courses not only was a joy but also deepened my knowledge and my life.

These days, after Covey’s stunning success, it isn’t hard to find others who have written about the “Six Principles of This,” the “Five Rules of That,” or the “Twenty-one Essential Practices for This or That.”

Still, the original Seven Habits is timeless. The habits Covey shares are easy to understand, but like most habits, they aren’t easy fixes. They’ll take a lifetime of attention and yet never be fully mastered. Covey himself wrote, “I personally struggle with much of what I have shared in this book. But the struggle is worthwhile and fulfilling. It gives meaning to my life and enables me to love, to serve, and to try again” (p. 319). The confession I made to my buddies that day at 10 Barrels came years after I’d read and led The Seven Habits courses.

I had backslud.

Big Time.

It's a lifetime pursuit, this.

Foundational to The Seven Habits is the idea of working on ourselves from the “inside-out”. As Covey writes, “’Inside-out’ means to start first with self; even more fundamentally, to start with the most inside part of self—with your paradigms, your character, and your motives” (pp. 42-43).

This beginning point comes from recognizing that true and lasting personal transformation starts with oneself, and by then building and maintaining healthy, generative disciplines, practices, habits, and routines to intentionally change our own lives – not just in what we do , but in who w e are – over time. Elementally, this means developing a deep, meaningful inner life.

Developing the Inner Life

Covey was not the first, of course, to talk about developing the innermost parts of ourselves. Rufus Jones, for example, speaking in The Inner Life , said “The deepest issues turn, not upon the choice of ‘things,’ but upon the choice of the kind of self that is to be, and the most decisive dramas are those that are enacted in the inner world before our private theater” (p. 5). Jones thought the outer and inner life were both important parts of religious life (he was a prominent Quaker of his time), but that people are “overwhelmingly occupied with the field of outer action” (p. ix).

Both the inner life AND the outer life are important and iteratively influence each other. Lots of us just don’t spend as much time working inside ourselves as we do outside themselves. We seek attention and ascension and mentions, with cardinal values intentions in absentia .

In the best case, working on the outside means focusing on one’s long-term physical health, building material assets, family life, and career and life markers of value. A worser case, giving primacy to the outside of ourselves, would be living a life primarily around immediate rewards – food, drink, entertainment, pleasure, celebrity, adulation – at the expense of longer-term prosperity. In other words, giving in to immediate gratification most of the time at the cost of building riches of the most important kinds - long term health, wealth, relationships - via delayed gratification. The worst case, well, it would be the worstest, wouldn’t it?

The inner life might be considered as levels of centeredness. Noncentered people, Fr. Richard Rohr says, are difficult to live with. They have to defend “their reputation, their needs, their nation, their security, their religion, even their ball team.” You might be one of these people if you are, he says, “hurt or offended a lot. You can hardly hurt saints,” he says, “because they are living at the center and do not need to protect the circumference of feelings or needs” (pp. 25-26).

Rohr, a Catholic priest, breaks with contemporary views of the polarity between conservative and progressive, writing that “centered people are profoundly conservative, knowing that they stand on the shoulders of their ancestors and the Perennial Tradition. Yet true contemplatives are paradoxically risk-takers and reformists, precisely because they have no private agendas, jobs, or securities to maintain” (Rohr, Everything Belongs , p. 24). Is it crazy to think that a person can be both conservative and progressive?

I don’t think it’s crazy at all.

That’s one way I would describe myself and hope the description is at least fairly accurate.

In fact, I think it’s who we all really are the deeper we go. Labels do not capture the fullness of who we are.

One aspect of the inner life is the depth of our knowledge and our ability and effort to think and learn and reflect. Another aspect of the inner life is our moral being, our character, and our values. Still another aspect of our inner being is our heart, and the depth of our love and care for ourselves, others, and all creation. Being deep-hearted with others starts from within, from that great gratitude and love we nurture and feel, to selfless generosity overflowing from us to others.

At our deepest levels, when we move deep into the well which feeds our center – call it God or spirit or just the spark of life or the sources of who-we-are – we are much, much more than simply a Democrat, a Republican, a Russian, an American, a Catholic, a Protestant, a Buddhist, a youth, an elder, an employee, or any other label we or others might use. Religion, at its best, is a vehicle for developing the spiritual life. It certainly has been and continues to be for me. Politics, at its best, serves to deepen discourse and to develop substantive courses of action for governments and societies, and to inform our individual perspectives about our role in the body politic and as citizens of our nations and the world.

At deeper levels, we bridge and integrate those humanly constructed labels, those artificial constraints. That is because the inner life is bottomless – there is always a deeper place to go. There is always something we do not know or have never ever heard of or considered. There is always a more profound sense of awe we have not yet experienced. There is always mystery we have not yet, nor in our lifetimes ever will, fully fathom.

At the center of the center, even mind, heart, knowledge, and identity are subsumed by the awareness of being totally present. Some would say at the deepest level – or perhaps in the most present moment - all of these qualities just drop away. Depth psychologist David Benner says that “the search for meaning is really a search for presence, because grand systems of truth or meaning can never satisfy the basic human longing for life to be meaningful. Without presence, nothing is meaningful. But in the luminous glow of presence, all of life becomes saturated with significance” (p. xiii).

What is this relationship between the deepening of our inner life and experiencing complete physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual presence in the moment? Total presence does not depend on thought, knowledge, or even deep feelings at all; and the deepest, most meaningful wisdom might never result in the epiphanal, total presence of a moment. I do think, however, that one can lead to the other iteratively, recursively. I’ll need to think more about that and I’m curious to learn more about this relationship.

All of this is getting too deep for me for now. To paraphrase Will Parker (“Kansas City”, in the musical Oklahoma) , I’ve gone about as fur as I can go.

How about an Inner Life Resolution?

The inner life is where our deepest struggles, hopes, awareness, virtues, and understandings occur. It is where both our beliefs and our uncertainties lie. It is where our quest for truth and meaning and being continues or comes to a stop sign. The outer life – how we act and react and take in the world - is the manifestation of our inner life. The inner life - how we develop, or don't develop, our spiritual, moral, emotional, thoughtful qualities - is the source of how we undertake the journey of our outer life. The longer I felt I had to shield my inner self from the world – to hold that mask tight – the harder it was for me. I had to let as much of it as possible go, to share my vulnerabilities, to be able to work on them.

How meaningful might an inner life resolution this year be for you, your family and friends and relationships, the world, and beyond?

Sources/Resources

Benner, D. G. (2014). Presence and encounter: the sacramental possibilities of everyday life . Brazos Press.

Covey, S. R. (1990). The seven habits of highly effective people: restoring the character ethic (1st Fireside ed.). Fireside Book.

Jones, R. M. (2013). The Inner LIfe . HardPress Publishing. (1917, Originally published by The McMillan Company)

Rohr, R. (1999). Everything belongs: the gift of contemplative prayer. Crossroad Pub. Co.

Waking Down

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Sat, 17 Dec 2022 17:41:44 GMT

Waking down is ritual, tradition, wisdom, discipline – not set, as in cement, but as a living, thickening, saturating, immersing, resonating practice of vigilance. Our continuing vigil for depth.

“I have experienced, and you must have as well, that there is more to waking up than opening one’s physical eyes. It may not be at first light. It may be in the dark when all is quiet. Waking up in a more than physical way is about being present and aware in the here and now, whether we are wearing pajamas or dressed to the hilt.”

~Gunilla Norris, Waking Up, in The Light of the Evening: Meditations on Growing In Old Age

The Philosopher with an Open Book or, The Philosopher in Meditation

Salomon Koninck

Photo Credit: Michael Kroth, The Louvre, Paris, France, September 8, 2022

Every book I have read by Gunilla Norris touches me. Her short essays within richly describe the meaning of what we would consider to be ordinary, daily events. Her observations of simple events, while elegantly and accessibly stated, capture the depth of our human experience. Her essay, Waking Up , is an example.

Waking up, she wrote, is to be present, aware, and in the here and now. “To be alive this very second in whatever capacity is a miracle we often ignore,” she said, and for those of us who are older, “It is urgent to awaken in every sense of the word”. She referenced Rabbi Abraham Heschel’s, “Just to be is a blessing. Just to live is holy” .

She reinforces this idea by saying, “I believe that when we awaken this way, we awaken into reverence and the recognition that everything around us is holy in some way. With awakened eyes, even an ordinary day can be entered with renewed presence.”

It is tempting, when writing about her essays, to use quotations from every paragraph. They are all gems. To make this point, I have only to share the last two sentences in Waking Up . “A day can be tasked, touched and felt, heard, seen, and smelled. To awaken this way is to sense and reverence with all our faculties the wonder of simply being.”

Speaking of slender while at the same time deeply meaningful writing, once I tried to memorize all 49 of the Gathas in Thich Nhat Hanh’s (Thầy, to his followers) book, Present Moment, Wonderful Moment: Mindfulness Verses for Daily Living . “Gathas,” he said, “are short verses which we can recite during our daily activities to help us dwell in mindfulness.” In his book, he shares Verses for Starting the day, such as T aking the First Step of the Day and Brushing Your Teeth ; Verses for Meditation, such as Lighting a Candl e and Following Your Breath ; Verses for Eating Mindfully, such as Serving Food and Washing the Dishes ; and Verses for Other Daily Activities, such as Walking Meditation and Watering the Garden . Each is worth memorizing, marbling it over time into who we are, and practicing its guidance through the day.

I didn’t get that far.

I wrote all 49 of these in my journal, and each week I would try to memorize one of them. These are very short, usually just three or four sentences. I learned several Gathas before something pulled my peripatetic attention away.

Too bad, these are all worth practicing.

Thầy's first Gatha is titled Waking Up .

Waking up this morning, I smile.

Twenty-four brand new hours are before me.

I vow to live fully in each moment

And to look at all things with eyes of compassion.

Isn’t this a marvelous way to start each day? This Gatha, like Gunilla Norris’ discussion of waking up, points to presence, which is to fully experience this moment, this hour, this day. This moment. Abundantly. Whole-heartedly. Whole-body-edly. Whole-mindedly. Whole-soul-edly. Attentively and Intentfully. Comprehensively. This moment.

Which is why I wonder if the idea of waking down describes, complementarily, this desirable experience of presence. Waking is a natural part of our daily sleeping-waking cycle. Each morning it involves physically getting up, out of bed, and getting along with the day. Open to new adventures. Ready for planned and unplanned activities. Up, up, and away.

Waking down suggests deepening, becoming more awake to depth in understanding and aware of the great unknown. Waking down is ritual, tradition, wisdom, discipline – not set, as in cement, but as a living, thickening, saturating, immersing, resonating practice of vigilance. Our continuing vigil for depth.

Unlike the physical act of waking up, waking down is just a metaphor. It’s a way of considering becoming more aware of and comfortable with down. Down with depth. To paraphrase Thầy:

Waking down this morning, I breathe deeply.

The fullness of time is within me and surrounds me

I vow to descend more utterly into the Great Mystery of this experience

And to look at everything I encounter as an invitation for deepening.

(Laughing) Something like that.

Robust simplicity. Waking up while waking down.

It's just a bunch of words which really mean breathe in, breathe out. Experience presence, and deeply. Up, down, and vastly centered.

Sources/Resources

Nhất, H. n. (1990). Present moment, wonderful moment: mindfulness verses for daily living. Parallax Press.

Norris, G. (2022). The light of evening: meditations on growing in old age. Twenty-Third Publications.

Check out books by Gunilla Norris here .

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael - December 2022

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Thu, 15 Dec 2022 20:13:26 GMT

December, 2022 Haiku Narratives

Curator's Note:

We started around three and a half years ago, and since then Davin Carr-Chellman, Amy Hoppock, and I have been writing and sharing haiku's monthly with each other. It has been an enriching and enjoyable way to develop our individual haiku writing practices.

It goes like this: Each person shares a haiku they have written with each other. Usually, as you'll see below, we put them on cards or bookmarks which we can keep ourselves, and often make more to share with others. We either mail these to each other (how nice to get a haiku, hand-addressed, in the mail!) or send them electronically. We each then write a narrative response to each other's haiku, including our own, and then we get together to share our responses. The poet reads their own haiku, the others read their responses to it, and then the author reads their own narrative about it. In that way, we independently think about each haiku and then learn from each other.

It is a lot of fun!

We enjoy doing this so much we thought you might enjoy being a part of the conversation as well, so we started recording them in May, 2020, and had been exchanging and discussing our haikus each month for nearly a year before that. If you watch the clip here, you will see our discussions are very informal and that we laugh a lot.

This is our twenty-ninth recording (You can watch them all here . I'll stop counting once we hit 36 or something like that) , and we hope to continu e. Please let us know what you think, and share this with anyone you think might benefit.

This Month's Haiku Narrative Video Recording

Check It Out:

This is a recording (our twenty-ninth) of our monthly haiku reading and narratives.

December, 2022 Haikus

Davin's Haiku

Amy's Haiku

Michael's Haiku

Check These Opportunities Out Too!

Our Book!

We are very excited about our book, Framing the Moment: Haiku Conversations . Here is a short description and video describing how and why we created the book, and how to order one or more.

Milky Way

Mon, 05 Dec 2022 18:52:15 GMT

Photo Credit: Vincent J. Fortunato

[ Note: There are many ways to photograph the night sky. This is a single 10-sec image taken with a Nikon D750 and 20mm lens set at ISO 1600 and f/1.8.]

Introduction

Vincent J. Fortunato

Each year, friends of ours hold a camping gathering (which they call Highland Hijinks ) on property they own in High Valley, Idaho. The property is gorgeous and provides fantastic views of the night sky. This year, my friend Dan Mackey and I unpacked our telescopes and spent a few hours searching the night sky for planets and deep sky objects, such as nebulas and galaxies, to observe. Of course I had my camera with me. This photo captured a nice juxtaposition of both the Milky Way and the campfire where friends were gathered for the evening; and, to me, demonstrated clearly the interconnectedness between life on this planet and the vastness of the universe that we perceive.

The following sentence from a book by David Hinton called China Root: Taoism, Ch'an and Original Zen ) encapsulates the essence of what we are from the perspective of Ch’an (Zen):

“We are in our original nature the Cosmos aware of itself.

However, on a lighter, relevant, and irreverent note, I thought I would provide the following Youtube link to a scene from Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life .

The Galaxy Song

Lyrics

Whenever life gets you down, Mrs. Brown,
And things seem hard or tough,
And people are stupid, obnoxious or daft,

And you feel that you've had quite eno-o-o-o-o-ough,

Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving
And revolving at 900 miles an hour.
It's orbiting at 19 miles a second, so it's reckoned,
The sun that is the source of all our power.
Now the sun, and you and me, and all the stars that we can see,
Are moving at a million miles a day,
In the outer spiral arm, at 40, 000 miles an hour,
Of a galaxy we call the Milky Way.

Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars;
It's a hundred thousand light-years side to side;
It bulges in the middle sixteen thousand light-years thick,
But out by us it's just three thousand light-years wide.
We're thirty thousand light-years from Galactic Central Point,
We go 'round every two hundred million years;
And our galaxy itself is one of millions of billions
In this amazing and expanding universe.

Our universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding,
In all of the directions it can whiz;
As fast as it can go, at the speed of light, you know,
Twelve million miles a minute and that's the fastest speed there is.
So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure,
How amazingly unlikely is your birth;
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere out in space,
'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth!

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Eric Idle / John Du Prez

Galaxy Song lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

Autumn Leaves by the Boise River in Eagle, ID

Thu, 24 Nov 2022 15:36:34 GMT

The process...has taken me out of my comfort zone

Curator's Note: Photos by my friend, Vincent J. Fortunato, are always stunningly beautiful. Sometimes his lens captures the magnificence of the evening sky and sometimes the delicacy of a flower, but always he finds something that immediately engages our full attention and makes us more grateful for all that surrounds us. I thought this image, taken in early November, would capture the natural beauty we can see every day throughout the year if we keep our eyes open and pay attention. On this Thanksgiving Day we have so much to be thankful for, like these autumn leaves or the snow sitting outside our doors just now.

COMMENTARY

Vincent J. Fortunato

For the past year or so, I have been videotaping my bicycle rides on the Boise River Greenbelt with the goal of editing several videos (set to music) showing seasonal changes along the Greenbelt. The process of switching from editing photographs taken with a DSLR (using Lightroom and Photoshop) to learning how to edit video (using iMovie to start) taken with a GoPro video camera has taken me out of my comfort zone.

Imagine my surprise when I learned that I can grab a single frame from a video clip and create a jpg photo. Like a child in a candy store, I look forward to reviewing previously taken video footage with an eye towards finding those great photos ‘hiding’ among the video files.

This photograph is one such video frame captured by the GoPro while out riding. In the future, I hope to share other such frames taken while riding as well as short (and edited) movies of those rides.

Autumn Leaves by the Boise River in Eagle, ID (11/2/22)

Photo Credit: Vincent J. Fortunato

Haiku

Brilliant yellow leaves

Feel the breath of winter, and

Herald the end of autumn.

~Vincent J. Fortunato

Grace and Gratitude

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Wed, 23 Nov 2022 15:24:51 GMT

It may not sound like much, but for her it was a widow's mite.

“Workplace grace is a gift given unconditionally and voluntarily by an unobligated giver, the giver being human or divine, in a work context.”

~David O’Connell,

Grace in the Workplace: A Process Model of Its Impact

Journal of Management, Spirituality, and Religion .

“Someday, and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do a service for me.

But until that day, accept this justice as a gift on my daughter's wedding day.”

~Don Corleone, in The Godfather .

For most of my life – most years, months, days, moments – I’ve been Michael-centric. I’ve spent far too much of my time thinking about, being concerned about, well, me. My needs, my wants, my concerns. How I felt about it, how I thought about it, how I was worried about it, how I cared about it, how I gained by it, how I lost by it. Others – my parents, my spouse, my friends, my co-workers – should be thinking about me, I just assumed, and helping me and being there for me when I needed them. For which I was grateful but took for granted most times.

Heck, that's still way too true today, and now I know better.

When my grandmother, Grandma Hazel, died, she left each of her four grandchildren $5,000.00. She had been living for years in a small apartment in Albuquerque close to my parents. After my grandfather, Grandpa Milton, died she had had to sell the family farm, located just outside the small Kansas town of Winfield. Going from running a farm in rural Kansas with my grandfather to living in a small apartment in Albuquerque, NM must have been quite a transition. Must have been quite a stripping of much that had been meaningful to her. Yet, she still had her beloved family.

I visited her sporadically. I was glad when I did, but I had other things, big things, important things, Michael-things, to do. I didn’t have nearly as much time for my aging grandmother as I actually had.

When she died, with just the possessions in her apartment to her name, she left me $5,000.00. And my sister, and my brother, and my sister. $5,000 each. It may not sound like much decades later, and perhaps she also left some money for my parents, I don't know, but for her it was a widow's mite.

David O’Connell, in his excellent study about grace in the workplace, defined workplace grace as, “…a gift given unconditionally and voluntarily by an unobligated giver, the giver being human or divine, in a work context.” Setting aside the divine and the workplace for this discussion, we might consider grace to be a gift given to us by another in the same way. My grandmother had no obligation to give me $5,000. I received it after she died, so there was zero opportunity to pay it – in any form – back. If memory serves (often it doesn’t), I didn’t even know it was coming so I could thank her in advance, visit her a bit more, think to drop some flowers off now and again. Another way to look at is that I missed the opportunity to make her pure gift of love into a transaction. I’ll drop by, thanks in advance for the $5,000.

She gave it to us without any expectation of any return. I view it as a gift of pure grace.

Grace is a non-transactional gift. It need not be repaid. Unlike most favors, we are not expected, often we couldn't even if we wanted, to return gifts of grace. There is no quid pro quo. Unlike Don Corleone, in The Godfather, when agreeing to punish two young men who had assaulted the daughter of Amerigo Bonasera, told him, “Someday, and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do a service for me. But until that day, accept this justice as a gift on my daughter's wedding day.”

You owe me a service, Mr. Undertaker. You are in my debt.

Later in the movie he called in that debt.

With the gift of grace there is no “You owe me.” No obligation. No debt. No reciprocity. Anonymous giving, when the receiver has no idea from whom the gift has come, can be that kind of gift (even though in reality we do receive that warm feeling, knowing that someone, perhaps, feels just a little bit more cared for and loved).

More, gratitude and grace are related. And this brings us back to the unearned gifts that we receive from God constantly, including the very gift of our lives.

"Gratitude," Reverend Tish Harrison Warren wrote, "gives birth to joy because gratitude teaches us to receive life as a gift in the moment we’re in. It teaches us that our very existence is a gift.”

And then the part I like the most - we have the ability to become more grateful, generous, and joyful people through our own efforts.

“Gratitude — like ingratitude — can be cultivated," Warren said, and then she tells us how. Through daily practice, saturated in the unearned gifts we experience every moment of every day.

"Thankfulness is a daily practice that becomes a habit that becomes a disposition" she said. "To begin to develop this disposition, we have to intentionally notice our interdependence, and how much we receive from others. Everyone alive is here because someone sacrificed for us, birthed us, fed us, and cared for us. None of us are self-made. In order to exercise the muscle of gratitude, we must live each day acknowledging how much we owe to others," she said.

And then Reverend Warren brings it home. "In my book, “Prayer in the Night,” [she wrote], “To choose joy is to see all existence as a gift, which is why the practice of joy is inseparable from the practice of gratitude."

Hey, I can do that. Practice grateful living. and become a more grateful person over time. Practice humility, generosity, and become a more humble, more generous person over time. Knowing we can't ever be as grace-full as we'd like, as we've seen our grandparents be, we can move more and more in that direction as the days, years, months, and decades go by.

We are more attuned than usual to the importance of being grateful and giving thanks on Thanksgiving Day and during the Christmas and entire holiday season, but we are given gifts, human and divine, throughout the year which we cannot directly repay, and for which we should be thankful each day of the year. At our best we will also find ways to be grace-givers. Perhaps we'll give gifts too which cannot be repaid to us.

Maybe we have a grandmother's gift to give, which will live on, even after we have passed on.

Sources

O'Connell, D. (2022). Grace in the Workplace: A Process Model of its Impact. Journal of Management, Spirituality & Religion , 19(4), 364-389

Warren, Tish Harrison (11/20/2022). Gratitude means noticing our interdependence, New York Times

Maybe we have a grandmother's gift to give, which will live on, even after we have passed on.

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael - November 2022

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 19:54:04 GMT

November, 2022 Haiku Narratives

Curator's Note:

It is a lot of fun!

We enjoy doing this so much we thought you might enjoy being a part of the conversation as well, so we started recording them in May, 2020, and had been exchanging and discussing our haikus each month for nearly a year before that. If you watch the clip here, you will see our discussions are very informal and that we laugh a lot.

This is our twenty-eighth recording (You can watch them all here . I'll stop counting once we hit 36 or something like that) , and we hope to continu e. Please let us know what you think, and share this with anyone you think might benefit.

This Month's Haiku Narrative Video Recording

Check It Out:

This is a recording (our twenty-eighth) of our monthly haiku reading and narratives.

November, 2022 Haikus

Amy's Haiku

Davin's Haiku

Michael's Haiku

Check These Opportunities Out Too!

Our New Book!

We are very excited to announce our new book, Framing the Moment: Haiku Conversations . Here is a short description and video describing how and why we created the book, and how to order one or more.

Spiritual Plateau

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Fri, 04 Nov 2022 14:38:05 GMT

There is no stopping point and there is a long way to go. A long way.

On the plane to Italy. 9-1-13

“To be alive this very second in whatever capacity is a miracle we often ignore.”

~Gunilla Norris, The Light of Evening: Meditations on Growing in Old Ag e, p. 5

On my sixty-first birthday, I was on a plane headed to Torino, Italy. On my seventieth birthday, I was in Spain (actually on the border between France and Spain), on the Camino to Santiago. Over those years, my commitment to, work toward, and progress in my own spiritual development had surpassed any other period of my life. This occurred during the decade of my sixties.

That was unexpected.

The purpose of my trip to Italy, formally, was to teach two courses in Torino for the University Studies Abroad Consortium (USAC). Informally, my goal wasn’t much more than to experience Italy; to enjoy some time with my wife, Lana; and to shake off 35 years of day-in and day-out work for something similar – teaching, but quite different – living in a different country for an extended period of time.

I’ve written about my experience at La Sacra di San Michele , and how it changed my perspective and my spirit in a disruptive – good disruption – way. And I’ve written over the years about the time I’ve spent in monasteries, developing my daily contemplative practices, and even co-authoring a book with Bryan Taylor called Coffee Talk , based on Thomas `a Kempis' book, The Imitation of Christ .

In that time, I’ve had some key learnings about my own spiritual formation. First, no matter how far I go, the further I see there is to go. There is no stopping point and there is a long way to go. A long way. Sure, one could stop, feel pretty good about one’s progress, and sit pat. About that time, something unloving, unacceptable, ungenuine, selfish, and/or mean-spirited pops out of one’s mouth. And then you know that the half mile you’ve gone is not even 1/26 ^th of the marathon of life you are running. There is always more to know, to do, to discern, to grow into and to grow out of. Why leave all that on the table? Or, more precisely, on the trail?

Second, and I’m just speaking for me, a good deal of the richness of this journey comes from learning about the ubiquity of the spirit. The spirituality of my life, yours, all the people and living things of the world, from every religion or political party or what have you, and indeed throughout the worlds and suns and infinity all around, exists. Tapping into that which already exists, being awake enough and still enough and present enough to experience it is the continuing opportunity I have. Loving life. In the present moment. Here. Now.

Finally, what we typically think of as success in this culture – going higher, achieving more, becoming wealthier, being recognized, rising above – just isn’t what I’ve come to value the most. Instead, I’m more interested in going deeper, experiencing more richly, and caring more deeply.

I think part of that is just the process of getting older, moving toward the next stage of life, becoming more comfortable with what I think is really important and discerning better the path towards what is most important. (Similar to, perhaps how Arthur C. Brooks talks about moving into the second half of life in his book, From Strength to Strength .)

Which brings me to my plateau. Instead of Zig Ziglar’s challenge to “See you at the Top”, my quest is to head to the depths. That includes deep space – and the vastness of everything – but essentially involves going deeper in all aspects of my life. The metaphorical plateau I find myself on is not on the climb to the top – heading up, but on the descent to the bottom - heading down. I have been asking myself lately, “Why am I stuck here?” It’s not a bad place, it’s just not the most meaningful space. There is more to learn, more to become.

The time on the Camino with my son Shane was like a rope ladder, giving me the experience and metaphor of pilgrimage (OK, that's two metaphors in one sentence....sigh...) as a way to take a step and then another step, deeper. The mystery of the abyss is that one never reaches the bottom. The mystery of vasting – that is, being present to the vastness of the universe and beyond – is that one never reaches the final inch or even the last parsec.

There is always a step deeper, always a star that’s higher. How can folks go more deeply and more vastly at the same time?

Perhaps it’s by not going anywhere at all. Perhaps it’s just centering oneself where they are.

The plateau has been nice, a place to gather myself up. But there is more to do.

I realize that this essay has been all about me (talk about self-centered!). Writing is, surely, one way I have - we all have - to learn more about what I think, and what I think I know and don't know. But it's also indulgent, when writing for others. To let you know, I'll be writing about spiritual formation regularly over this next period of time, and not just about my own experiences or my own thinking but also drawing from people like Dallas Willard ( Renovation of The Heart: Putting on the Character of Chris t), Robert Atchley ( Spirituality and Aging ), Philip Sheldrake ( Spirituality: A Brief History ), and more. I welcome your thoughts, suggestions for readings or topics on this journey we are all on, like it or not, of our spiritual formation over a lifetime. More on that later.

Peace and blessings, friends. Buen Camino.

On the Camino de Santiago with Shane. The border between France and Spain. 9-1-22

The pl ateau has been nice, a place to gather myself up. But there is more to do.

Pilgrimage: We Don't Have To Go To Spain

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Sun, 16 Oct 2022 00:00:37 GMT

Why Not Head Over to Milwaukee?

I couldn't help myself....I had to buy some cards....

I have been reading American Places: A Writer's Pilgrimage to Sixteen of This Country's Most Visited and Cherished Sites , by the wonderful author, William Zinsser. Zinsser, who wrote perhaps my favorite book about the craft of writing, On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction , takes us to places like Abilene, Kansas (population per the 2020 census - 6,460), where Dwight Eisenhower grew up and was formed into the person who would become the supreme commander of allied armies in WWII and President of the United States. Zinsser picked this unassuming town "because it symbolizes for me an idea that is at the heart of the American dream: that no place is too small or too isolated to produce great men and women in every field--and, in fact, that the smallness of the place is often the source of the values that made them great" (p. 128).

In 1990, Zinsser observed that American families had begun to "hit the road, going in search of the founding ideals they felt the country had lost" (p. 2). "I like," he said, "the idea of pilgrimages, and I decided to make a pilgrimage of my own." He then visited 15 places, such as Abilene, The Alamo, Lexington and Concord, Chautauqua, Montgomery, and then later added Omaha Beach. His essays are short and meaningful and I find his sentences and paragraphs a delight to read. Typical of Zinsser, he doesn't follow the typical route, interviewing tourists for their reactions to the sites. Instead, he "decided to go to the custodians of those places--park rangers, curators, librarians, town historians, Daughters of the Republic of Texas, ladies of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association," and asked them why they thought so many people came each year. He wanted to learn how our national character was formed, he wrote, "and they did" (p. 5).

Zinsser's treks to these tourist attractions re-emphasized to me what Phil Cousineau writes in The Art of Pilgrimage: The Seeker's Guide to Making Travel Sacred , saying he believes, "...in pilgrimage as a powerful metaphor for any journey with the purpose of finding something that matters deeply to the traveler" (p. xxix). With the right focus, preparation, and attention, he goes on to say, "...it is possible to transform even the most ordinary trip into a sacred journey, a pilgrimage" (p. xxix).

In other words, we don't have to wait until we are able to go to the well-known pilgrimage experiences around the world, like the Camino de Santiago or Mecca or Rome or the Wailing Wall, but we can, as Cousineau says, "embark upon a meaningful journey...of pilgrimage, a transformative journey to a sacred place" perhaps as close as the next state, or even the next town or the next mountain range over. He gives examples of a young couple who loved literature, traveling to the poet Robinson Jeffers' house in Carmel, California; Emily Dickinson, he said, "made daily pilgrimages to sacred places in her imagination" (p. 17); or even to a bookstore like the Shakespeare and Company bookstore in Paris (which, it turns out Shane and I made sure we visited when returning from our pilgrimage to the Camino de Santiago . For book lovers like Shane and me, the astonishing Powell's Books in Portland, Oregon is always on the agenda when I'm visiting him in Portland.

There was a line for this Paris bookstore when Shane and I tracked it down, but we got in fast. A booklover's delight.

Did you know the first practical typewriter was invented in Milwaukee, Wisconsin ? I didn't either, until I took a break from a conference in that city last week, headed over to the Milwaukee Riverwalk (yes, not San Antonio), and came upon the Historic Milwaukee's shop . There I discovered that Frank Lloyd Wright was a big deal in Milwaukee and that the typewriter was invented there as well. Who knew?

The next day, I took another stroll, and ran into the Milwaukee Art Museum. I'd never seen an art museum designed like this one, and sadly I missed the times of the day when it actually spreads its wings .

I'm thinking that writers or architects or builders or folks interested in art museums might find a pilgrimage to Milwaukee to be the perfect spot. I discovered just a scootch of it by simply taking a walk. Imagine if you were a typewriter historian....

I had no idea that Milwaukee was such a wonderful place to visit, and an opportunity for pilgrimage. Except, of course, for beer....

Sources

Cousineau, P. (2021). The art of pilgrimage: the seeker's guide to making travel sacred. Conari Press. (2012)

Zinsser, W. K. (2007). American places: a writer's pilgrimage to 15 of this country's most visited and cherished sites (1st Paul Dry Books ed.). Paul Dry Books.

Beginning Our Journey on the Camino de Santiago

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Fri, 30 Sep 2022 15:41:41 GMT

This isn’t really something one just ticks off a list.

Walking above clouds with my son Shane on my 70th birthday.

“For centuries, this cry in the heart for embarking upon a meaningful journey has been answered by pilgrimage, a transformative journey to a sacred center.”

Phil Cousineau

The Art of Pilgrimage: The Seeker’s Guide to Making Travel Sacred . p. xxix

On my 70 ^th birthday I was walking the Camino de Santiago with my son Shane, who at 50 was less than a month away from his 51 ^st birthday. The Camino de Santiago, which translated means The Way of St. James (in French, it is Chemin de St Jacques), is on the so-called bucket list of many people but, to me anyway, it was far more important than being on that now-cliché term, bucket list. It is and has been a place of pilgrimage for millions (200,000/yr these days) since the 9 ^th century. This isn’t really something one just ticks off a list. It turns out to be a commitment to something. Something deep, and something that is both different for different people, and in many ways the same for all people who venture onto the path.

The Way is really a number of ways, starting from different points but all ending up at the “shrine of the apostle Saint James the Great in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain , where tradition holds that the remains of the apostle are buried” (Camino de Santiago). People walk these paths for differing reasons, some simply to test themselves, some to sort out a difficulty they are struggling with, some to experience the beauty of the country, and some as a religious/spiritual experience. The reasons people travel the Camino these days are intimate, personal, and often communal.

One of the beautiful aspects of walking along with others is meeting these pilgrims, who come from around the world. (In the past, these purposes weren't always so voluntary. One’s pilgrimage may have been ordered by the church as penance, or could be ordered as a punishment for a crime.).

Phil Cousineau, in his excellent book, The Art of Pilgrimage: The Seeker’s Guide to Making Travel Sacred , says:

If Mark Twain was right when he said that travel is the death of prejudice, then pilgrimage is the birth of open-mindedness and the rebirth of what the ancient Greeks called xenophilia, the love of strangers, an appreciation of foreign cultures, a passion for understanding what is other” (p. xx).

Xenophilia – the love of strangers, and the opportunity to learn from the richness of that perspective and approach to life.

What an embracing thought, as our country and globe seem to demonstrate the opposite - xenophobia, the fear of strangers -even within our own nations, far more than is healthy.

For this walk, I had three objectives:

Spend meaningful time with Shane
Discern more deeply the direction of the next phase of my life
Experience the present moment, the presence of the sacred, the spiritual, the divine

It wasn’t hard for me to sense the sacred. Simply taking a step on the path, where hundreds of thousands each year – who knows how many millions all told – have taken the deliberate risk of opening their hearts to this “transformative journey to a sacred center,” as Cousineau calls pilgrimage, was enough to feel that presence.

My time with Shane, who organized the whole trip, was beyond meaningful. It was a pleasure, a joy, and I will always cherish this time spent with him.

As to the next phase of my life? Well, at 70, I’m excited about the possibility that these next years might be the one of the richest times of my life.

This year, we spent just a few days on the Camino, and finished just 65 miles of the 500 miles it will take to complete the entire journey. We almost spontaneously, on the trail, agreed to come back next year, and the year after that, and the year after that, until we – son and father – walk into Santiago de Compostela together.

I can’t wait for next year.

References

Camino de Santiago, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camino_de_Santiago

Cousineau, P. (2021). The art of pilgrimage: the seeker's guide to making travel sacred. Conari Press. (2012)

The scallop shell is a symbol traditionally worn by pilgrims on the Camino.

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael - August 2022

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Fri, 26 Aug 2022 00:09:42 GMT

August, 2022 Haiku Narratives

Curator's Note:

We started about three years ago, and since then Davin Carr-Chellman, Amy Hoppock, and I have been writing and sharing haiku's monthly with each other. It has been an enriching and enjoyable way to develop our individual haiku writing practices.

It is a lot of fun!

We enjoy doing this so much we thought you might enjoy being a part of the conversation as well, so we started recording them over a year ago. If you watch the clip here, you will see our discussions are very informal and that we laugh a lot.

This is our twenty-seventh recording (I'll stop counting once we hit 36 or something like that) , and we hope to continu e. Please let us know what you think, and share this with anyone you think might benefit.

This Month's Haiku Narrative Video Recording

Check It Out:

This is a recording (our twenty-seventh) of our monthly haiku reading and narratives.

August, 2022 Haikus

Amy's Haiku

Davin's Haiku

Michael's Haiku

Check These Opportunities Out Too!

Our New Book!

We are very excited to announce our new book, Framing the Moment: Haiku Conversations . Here is a short description and video describing how and why we created the book, and how to order one or more.

Can I Doodle My Way To A Magnum Opus?

Wed, 10 Aug 2022 13:11:59 GMT

"Creativity is the tasty dinner made from leftovers in the refrigerator and staples in the cabinet, no recipe, no safe steps to follow, just a cup here and a dash there, followed by the surprise of a delicious meal."

"Creativity doesn’t have to be the completion of a magnum opus by a world-renowned artist; it’s the spark of something different in an ordinary day."

Can I Doodle My Way to a Magnum Opus?

Carol Rogers-Shaw

I’ve been feeling guilty that I haven’t written a blog entry in quite a while, but the creative energy just hasn’t been there. I can still focus intently when a deadline looms, and I can crank out an academic article for a scholarly journal or a conference proceeding, but I always seem too distracted to concentrate on writing for pleasure and sharing random thoughts. When I want to take a break from academia, it’s easier to hide myself in reading a trashy novel.

So, the question is, how does one find creativity.

Maybe the first step is to consult the collection of story ideas compiled long ago when creative writing came easier. These topics include Nana & the cat-o’-nine tails, the loophole, I’m a believer, a good public speaker, the thumb kiss, the parent call center, wearing a pirate eye patch, the 5 burner stove & charred pizza, the guest book, and tuition moments. As I type out these items from that list buried in a folder within folders on my laptop, I’m wondering if I should send out a survey to friends and relatives asking if any of these topics sound interesting, maybe do a Facebook post, but then I fear they might choose the ones that would be the hardest to start, the bulwarks of writer’s block that argue for avoiding risk and yet require an unnerving creative jump into the unknown. On the upside, if I picked a topic on the list, I could cross it out when I’m done and enjoy the use of Strikethrough, or better yet, Double Strikethrough. I’m a list person so that would be satisfying, but I’m not sure it’s the best route to creativity.

I could always Google it! I think I’ll start there. I’ll begin by searching “how to be creative”… Lo and behold, there are all kinds of articles and numbered lists. Picking one is never easy, but “3 Ways to Be Creative” on WikiHow seems like a less intimidating place to start than “19 Amazing Ways to Be Creative” or “25 Ways to Be More Creative.” I’d like the quickest path to creativity if I’m to finish this blog entry before my hair goes completely gray.

The first piece of advice is to do the 30 circle test. That’s where you draw circles on a paper and then turn them into round objects like an eye, a soccer ball, or a chocolate chip cookie, yet I can’t stop thinking that if I just left the circle blank, I could call it a snowball and be done. Or if I made the circles really, really, tiny and filled them in with a marker, I could pretend they are the periods, dotted i’s, bottoms of exclamation points, and parts of an ellipsis in the creative writing I’m not very successfully accomplishing. It seems to me that what’s needed for real creativity might be to do a rhombus test or an ellipse test, and I start to wonder how they would be different than a trapezoid test or an oval test. Maybe it would be better if I followed the last piece of advice: read more. Then I can just head back to those trashy novels.

Maybe I’m trying too hard to define creativity in terms of divine inspiration rather than looking for it in the small things that filter through daily life.

Creativity is the tasty dinner made from leftovers in the refrigerator and staples in the cabinet, no recipe, no safe steps to follow, just a cup here and a dash there, followed by the surprise of a delicious meal. It’s in the rearrangement of the furniture in the family den that makes the room look bigger, brighter, and filled with things not previously noticed like the beauty of the faded quilt on the arm of the couch, the sunshine slanted across the patterned rug, and the smiling faces in the faded family photos. It’s in the kaleidoscope of colors in the neighbor’s garden, flowers planted carefully as seeds with the foresight of magnificence that will blossom. It’s in the squiggles on the drawing pad pushed to the side of the cluttered desk, doodles that bring smiles. Creativity doesn’t have to be the completion of a magnum opus by a world-renowned artist; it’s the spark of something different in an ordinary day.

If I go back to all those Goggle lists on how to be creative, I do find some kernels of wisdom. Sometimes our routines lock us into predictable, repetitive, and dull daily activities that prevent us from taking a fresh look at what’s around us. Changing those routines might spark creativity. I’d like to start by eating ice cream for breakfast and pancakes for dinner. Part of creativity involves taking risks; maybe I’ll practice saying yes more often than saying no which might offer new opportunities as long as it’s not saying yes to extra work that saps energy and inhibits creativity. Two recommendations that appeal to me are spending more time at play and continuing to learn. Playing and learning seem to be about doing what I love to do, having fun, and stimulating deep thinking. If that’s the road to creativity, it’s a pretty easy drive. Creativity needs time, but it doesn’t have to be a lonely trek; working with others can ignite the imagination, and that creative leap of faith seems less daunting when there are others holding hands during the figurative freefall before the parachute opens for a soft landing.

And maybe sometimes it’s a witty blog that doesn’t say too much of consequence but gives one a chance to say what’s on one’s mind. You never know when creativity might just turn from the hint of inventiveness into the bloom of brilliance. It seems to me that starting small and taking a break every now and then are good ideas. So, I guess I’ll doodle for a while, and then I’ll take a nap.

"Maybe I’m trying too hard to define creativity in terms of divine inspiration rather than looking for it in the small things that filter through daily life."

Curator's Note: Carol is a regular contributor to Profound Living, and is co-author of Step by Step: Living More Meaningfully, Joyfully, and Deeply Each Day . Her essays are always delightfully, and at the same time deeply, written. To see more of her wonderful work, and to learn about her, click the "More" tab, and then "Profound Living Essayists - Regular Contributors".

An Irish Monument and An Irish Memorial

Mon, 25 Jul 2022 23:21:35 GMT

This mournful memorial presents this bleak, cruel episode in history in a gut wrenching and heart penetrating form.

~Marc Christensen

An Irish Monument - Dunguire Castle

The first is Dunguire Castle in County Clare Ireland. The castle sits on a point of land surrounded by water and projects an attitude of just try and take me. It's probably something like 7 or 8 hundred years old and was, amazingly occupied up until about the 1960's when it was donated to Ireland as a historic monument.

An Irish Memorial to the Irish Brutalized in "Coffin Ships"

The other two photos are of a memorial to the Irish brutalized in "coffin ships" during the potato famine in the mid 1800's. Many perished on ships that were worse than slave ships - wallowing in filth without anything approaching proper nutrition - all for the chance to get a better life in America, Australia, Canada, etc.

For those that don't know, during this period, over 2 million Irish were lost to their homeland due to starvation and immigration. Bluntly stated, this was genocide perpetrated by the English who wanted to drive the small Irish farmers off their land so the land could be absorbed by large (English owned) plantations.There was actually plenty of food available but the large plantation owners chose to export grains and other food stuffs for profits abroad.

This mournful memorial presents this bleak, cruel episode in history in a gut wrenching and heart penetrating form. It is placed across the street from the entrance to Croagh Patrick Mountain, a sacred place of pilgrimage, If there's any bright side to this tragedy at all, it is that our country and many in the world have greatly benefited from the wave of Irish immigrants that found their way to our shores.

Dunguire Castle

Photo by Marc Christensen

Coffin Ship

Photo by Marc Christensen

Skeleton Ghosts

Photo by Marc Christensen

If there's any bright side to this tragedy at all, it is that our country and many in the world have greatly benefited from the wave of Irish immigrants that found their way to our shores.

~Marc Christensen

Curator's Note:

We have been featuring photos of the Southwest taken by Marc Christensen. I think they are simply magnificent, and truly meet the criteria of "profound" photos, touching the deepest parts of us as we see, through Marc's lens and short descriptions, the awesome wonder of creation.

Marc, who has contributed many beautiful photos to Profound Living , take n around the world, has recently moved to El Paso, Texas. Now we will be able to observe the splendor of this part of our country through his eyes and lens.

Here are recent SW area photos, with narrative, from Marc

Nature's Jaw Dropping Images

Here are recent photos, with narrative, from Marc's recent trip to Ireland

An Irish Monument and An Irish Memorial

Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland

To see more of Marc's beautiful photography, and to learn about him, click the "More" tab, and then "Profound Picture - Regular Contributors", or start here .

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael - June 2022

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Fri, 08 Jul 2022 19:25:08 GMT

June, 2022 Haiku Narratives

Curator's Note:

It is a lot of fun!

This is our twenty-sixth recording (I'll stop counting once we hit 36 or something like that) , and we hope to continu e. Please let us know what you think, and share this with anyone you think might benefit.

This Month's Haiku Narrative Video Recording

Check It Out:

This is a recording (our twenty-sixth) of our monthly haiku reading and narratives.

June, 2022 Haikus

Amy's Haiku

Davin's Haiku

Michael's Haiku

Check These Opportunities Out Too!

Our New Book!

We are very excited to announce our new book, Framing the Moment: Haiku Conversations . Here is a short description and video describing how and why we created the book, and how to order one or more.

Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland

Fri, 01 Jul 2022 13:21:25 GMT

These are all from the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland but on a clear day you can see Scotland, maybe 20 miles away or so.

~Marc Christensen

Curator's Note: It is always a special pleasure to share Marc's work (see links below as well). His extraordinary photos are imbued with his deep understanding and appreciation of the historical and religious implications of the image. These three photos are ones he snapped (I don't think real photographers like Marc actually 'snap' photos like an amateur such as I do...) on a recent trip to Ireland. He asked if I might be able to share a bit information about the Giant's Causeway and the legend surrounding it. Here I will just tee this engaging story up for you by quoting from Wikipedia and then sharing the link for your further investigation, should this kind of tale fascinate you as much as it does me.

And wouldn't it be terrific to have a name like Finn MacCool?

What it is (I had never heard of it before. You?):

"The Giant's Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic fissure eruption. It is located in County Antrim on the north coast of Northern Ireland, about three miles (5 km) northeast of the town of Bushmills.

It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986 and a national nature reserve in 1987 by the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland. In a 2005 poll of Radio Times readers, the Giant's Causeway was named the fourth greatest natural wonder in the United Kingdom. The tops of the columns form stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under the sea. Most of the columns are hexagonal, although there are also some with four, five, seven or eight sides. The tallest are about 12 metres (39 ft) high, and the solidified lava in the cliffs is 28 metres (92 ft) thick in places. Much of the Giant's Causeway and Causeway Coast World Heritage Site is owned and managed by the National Trust. It is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Northern Ireland, receiving over 998,000 visitors in 2019.”

The Legend - very MacCool!):

“According to legend, the columns are the remains of a causeway built by a giant. The story goes that the Irish giant Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn MacCool), from the Fenian Cycle of Gaelic mythology, was challenged to a fight by the Scottish giant Benandonner. Fionn accepted the challenge and built the causeway across the North Channel so that the two giants could meet. In one version of the story, Fionn defeats Benandonner. In another, Fionn hides from Benandonner when he realises that his foe is much bigger than he is. Fionn's wife, Sadhbh, disguises Fionn as a baby and tucks him in a cradle. When Benandonner sees the size of the "baby", he reckons that its father, Fionn, must be a giant among giants. He flees back to Scotland in fright, destroying the causeway behind him so that Fionn would be unable to chase him down. Across the sea, there are identical basalt columns (a part of the same ancient lava flow) at Fingal's Cave on the Scottish isle of Staffa, and it is possible that the story was influenced by this.

In overall Irish mythology, Fionn mac Cumhaill is not a giant but a hero with supernatural abilities, contrary to what this particular legend may suggest. In Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry (1888), it is noted that, over time, "the pagan gods of Ireland [...] grew smaller and smaller in the popular imagination, until they turned into the fairies; the pagan heroes grew bigger and bigger, until they turned into the giants". There are no surviving pre-Christian stories about the Giant's Causeway, but it may have originally been associated with the Fomorians (Fomhóraigh); the Irish name Clochán na bhFomhóraigh or Clochán na bhFomhórach means "stepping stones of the Fomhóraigh". The Fomhóraigh are a race of supernatural beings in Irish mythology who were sometimes described as giants and who may have originally been part of a pre-Christian pantheon.”

Source (and there's more info there) : Wikipedia, Giant's Causeway

Big Rock Stacks

Photo by Marc Christensen

Columns Flowers

Photo by Marc Christensen

Tiles People

Photo by Marc Christensen

Curator's Note:

Here are recent SW area photos, with narrative, from Marc

Nature's Jaw Dropping Images

To see more of Marc's beautiful photography, and to learn about him, click the "More" tab, and then "Profound Picture - Regular Contributors", or start here .

Book Review: From Strength to Strength - Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Mon, 20 Jun 2022 17:40:12 GMT

Arthur C. Brooks' Book Is Well Worth Your Time and Attention

Arthur C. Brooks’ book, From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Lif e , is one of those books that I am intrigued by but which might sit on my bookshelf for years before I read it . Thus, it was fortuitous that a small group of us decided to make it a reading and discussion choice, because I thoroughly enjoyed both the reading and the discussing of it. I learned quite a bit that I can, have already, and will apply to my own life and work. I think you would as well.

The discussion was enriched because all of us discussers are in the “second half of life”.

(I mentioned this book in an earlier post, Underwriting the Next Phase of Your Life .)

I was first introduced to Brooks through his Atlantic column, How to Build A Life , and a person would find their time well spent by reading his thoughtful, intelligent, well-researched, and engaging essays. He has plenty of scholarly street cred, as the William Henry Bloomberg Professor of the Practice of Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School, and a professor of management practice at the Harvard Business Schoo l. (Harvard...ooooo......) He is also the former president of the public policy think tank, the American Enterprise Institute .

What helps to make his perspective especially rich for me is his life street cred. We learn that his first “life’s dream” was to “become the world’s greatest French horn player, and why that did not pan out for him. Having the lens of a performing artist in addition to that of a social scientist, think tank president and, to the point of the book, being a person who is in the second half of life, gives his narrative perspective and multiple perspectivity. The richness of his personal life is complemented with the substance of science, along with the practicality and experience of public life led at a high level of achievement.

The book is written in the style of so many popular nonfiction books these days. The narrative is both personal and professional. The author often speaks with personal experience about the material, what was learned, and how those “lessons” were usefully applied to their lives and can be to our lives as well. The chapters for these kinds of works usually begin with a real example, written as a story, which the reader is likely to relate to in some fashion; with insights to be drawn from it then explained; anchored with data from research; with some rules for success, or questions to ponder, or activities to try, at the end.

Sometimes, as From Strength to Strength does, there is a story at the start of the book, say in a prologue or introduction, which sets the stage, and at the end of the book there is “the rest of the story” which ties everything up nicely. These stage-setters are often personal examples about how an event “changed my life", which gives the book authenticity, importance, and implies that real people, like us, might be able to change as well. Books like these often “reveal hidden secrets” and promise that a person - any person, and especially a person like you or me – can change their life for the better if they do this or that. Readers lap this stuff up.

As do I.

Many books, often successful and quite useful, have the “he re are the secrets to success” but little more than the anecdotal and the guidance for success. The genre From Strength to Strength falls into additionally bu ilds on, and clearly references, research and theory which has been vetted through journals with blind peer review, and sometimes including or based upon even the author's own work. These kinds of books often stand the test of time and can be valued resources for both scholars and people reading for their own life journey (sometimes these are the same person, eh?) for years to come. They are not fluff.

Three Useful Ideas (out of a bunch more you can find in this book)

The book make s many strong, compelling, and applicable ideas which I found important for me both professionally and personally. Here are just three.

Fluid and Crystalized Intelligence

The first, and the main through-line of the book, is that as we age our fluid intelligence wanes and our crystalized intelligence waxes. Fluid intelligence is “the ability to reason, think flexibly, and solve novel problems. It is what we commonly think of as raw smarts, and researchers find that it is associated with both reading and mathematical ability” (p. 26). Crystallized intelligence is “the ability to use a stock of knowledge learned in the past...it tends to increase with age…” (p. 27).

To summarize, Brooks says, “When you are young, you have raw smarts; when you are old, you have wisdom. When you are young, you can generate lots of facts; when you are old, you know what they mean and how to use them" (p. 27). Recognizing this, Brooks says, and changing our approach to life accordingly, results in good things, most importantly that later life can be rich and rewarding. Ignoring this, or believing we can overcome this natural process, can result in disappointment and unhappiness in later life . Adapting one’s career to this natural aging process can extend it and make it more fulfilling.

That we have fluid and crystallized intelligence is not a new idea. Psychologist Raymond Cattel proposed it in a 1971 book, and it was in textbooks I used in classes I taught decades ago. What Brooks does very well here is to use this idea throughout the book to make the case that many people continue to rely on fluid intelligence when they would be better served to adapt to and to capitalize on, their crystallized knowledge.

Escaping Our Success Addiction

Brooks opens chapter two, Kick Your Success Addiction , with a powerful story about a woman who was both extremely unhappy and extremely successful; who worked long, long hours; and who was worried that the skills that had made her successful were declining. The key line in the entire chapter was her response to Brooks’ question about why she didn’t do what would make her happier. She said, “Maybe I would rather be special than happy” (p. 44).

“Maybe I would rather be special than happy.” Therein lies, Brooks says, a real problem. “She was addicted – to work and, underneath that, to success.” To be addicted to success is to never be sustainably happy, because there can never be enough success, there will always be a striving for more. And with the inevitable decline that comes with age, that means that many people will find themselves in the latter parts of life to be unhappy and unfulfilled. "Working hard and enjoying it," Brooks says "doesn't make you a workaholic" (p. 48). When work becomes the addiction of workaholism, however, there’s trouble. “What workaholics truly crave,” Brooks says, “isn’t work per se; it is success. They kill themselves working for money, power, and prestige because these are forms of approval, applause, and compliments…” (p. 50). There is so much in this chapter worth pondering, as Brooks discusses pride, fear of failure, perfectionism, social comparison (the “thief of joy”, as Teddy Roosevelt is believed to have said as Brooks notes), and self-objectification. Each of which can suck the happiness right out of ourselves.

Satisfaction Is What You Have, Divided By What You Want

Brooks proposes that “Satisfaction = What you have ÷ what want you want” (p.86).

He contrasts this equation with “Satisfaction = Continually getting what you want” (impossible, right?). “Success – Continually having more than others” (someone’s always sitting there trying to have more – fame, money, power – than you have). And “Failure – Having less” (less mental capacity, less ability physically, just having less and then less).

I like Brooks’ equation a lot, so let’s make it a true equation: S (satisfaction) = H (what you have)/W (what you want): S = H/W

S = H/W

What this equation easily conveys is how one can achieve satisfaction – either increase what you have or reduce that you want. If “1” means fully satisfied, then what one has = what one wants. An S ˃ 1 represents more “have” than “want”, which we can call “abundance”. An S ˂ 1 represents less “have” than “want”, which we can call scarcity.

This explains why people who can never seem to have enough (fame, power, wealth) can never be satisfied. Can never be happy. Their “have’s” (whether it is a 1200 sq foot home or a mansion), can never catch up to what they want (two mansions, two mansions and an English castle, etc. and etc. and etc…). It explains why people with considerably less (fame, power, wealth) can be completely satisfied, even living abundantly with generosity, because their wants are far less and therefore more easily attained.

Minimalism is such a popular topic these days, and fits right into this equation. We don’t need to compare ourselves with others – which is a never-ending source of dissatisfaction. The addiction to consumerism – fed by advertising and social programming and social comparison – must be broken before satisfaction can ever reach S = 1. A celebrity culture addicted to worshipping fame must be broken before satisfaction can ever reach S = 1.

On the other hand, reducing one’s wants is often much easier to achieve. Much, much more easily for most people reading this, who have First World problems. Not so easily for those who want – who vitally need – sustainable sources of food, clothing, shelter, and security in order to survive. We can always critically reflect upon how much our wants exceed our actual needs, and then consider how we might reduce those wants enough to bump our satisfaction rating towards and beyond a “1”.

The implications of Brooks’ simple equation are profound.

The Value of Group Discussion

Finally, just a word about book discussion groups. They are rewarding and enriching.

OK, that is two words. Rewarding. Enriching.

I'll add a third - enjoyable and engaging.

OK, that's four - clearly, I'll need more space.

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael - May 2022

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Thu, 19 May 2022 18:27:53 GMT

May, 2022 Haiku Narratives

Curator's Note:

It is a lot of fun!

This is our twenty-fifth recording (I'll stop counting once we hit 36 or something like that) , and we hope to continu e. Please let us know what you think, and share this with anyone you think might benefit.

This Month's Haiku Narrative Video Recording

Check It Out:

This is a recording (our twenty-fifth) of our monthly haiku reading and narratives.

May, 2022 Haikus

Amy's Haiku

Davin's Haiku

Michael's Haiku

Check These Opportunities Out Too!

Our New Book!

We are very excited to announce our new book, Framing the Moment: Haiku Conversations . Here is a short description and video describing how and why we created the book, and how to order one or more.

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael - April 2022

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 17:20:32 GMT

Two Years!

April, 2022 Haiku Narratives

Curator's Note:

We started a couple of years ago, and since then Davin Carr-Chellman, Amy Hoppock, and I have been writing and sharing haiku's monthly with each other. It has been an enriching and enjoyable way to develop our individual haiku writing practices.

It is a lot of fun!

This is our twenty-fourth recording (I'll stop counting once we hit 36 or something like that) , and we hope to continu e. Please let us know what you think, and share this with anyone you think might benefit.

This Month's Haiku Narrative Video Recording

Check It Out:

This is a recording (our twenty-fourth - two years! ) of our monthly haiku reading and narratives.

April, 2022 Haikus

Amy's Haiku

Davin's Haiku

Michael's Haiku

Check These Opportunities Out Too!

Our New Book!

We are very excited to announce our new book, Framing the Moment: Haiku Conversations . Here is a short description and video describing how and why we created the book, and how to order one or more.

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael - March 2022

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Fri, 08 Apr 2022 19:56:56 GMT

March, 2022 Haiku Narratives

Curator's Note:

It is a lot of fun!

This is our twenty-third recording (I'll stop counting once we hit 24 or something like that) , and we hope to continu e. Please let us know what you think, and share this with anyone you think might benefit.

This Month's Haiku Narrative Video Recording

Check It Out:

This is a recording (our twenty-third!) of our monthly haiku reading and narratives.

March, 2022 Haikus

Amy's Haiku

Davin's Haiku

Michael's Haiku

Check These Opportunities Out Too!

Our New Book!

We are very excited to announce our new book, Framing the Moment: Haiku Conversations . Here is a short description and video describing how and why we created the book, and how to order one or more.

Stepping Back, Stepping Forward. Stepping In.

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Wed, 06 Apr 2022 14:00:55 GMT

It's funny, this kind of fun.

“This is the whole of the practice: simply walking, listening, and pausing. We practice presence so that we might cultivate our ability to really hear the voice of nature speaking to us.”

~Christine Valters Paintner

Earth: Our Original Cathedral , p. XV

Green and Pink Trees Spotted While Walking on 4-5-22

Some days I feel as if I have forgotten everything I have learned about peace and quiet and resting into the present moment. I go through the motions of contemplative time, stretching time, writing and reading time. I take my daily walk, but instead of savoring every step and every sight, my mind is disturbed, and I miss just how scrumptious these experiences are, instead of being empty and ready to receive the next gift that shows up. (Fortunately, a couple of days ago I was ready when I chanced upon a beautiful, pink, blooming, lusciously smelling tree as I took my walk.) Even noticing and writing about going through the motions can be a form of going through the motions.

At least I have some idea of what I am missing.

Even thinking about what I'm missing takes my eye off the present-moment ball, eh? Sigh.....

Lots of folks don’t even know they are on autopilot. They just want to get to the next place. Meet the next goal. Win the next argument. Get the next celebrity selfie.

Too often, I am one of those many people. I miss the humor embedded in my shortcomings. Take myself too seriously. Forget that it took even the Buddha and St. Francis some time to get to "just this". Unlike some of the joyous people I know, I miss having fun. Having fun, I propose, is one of the best ways to truly partake of the present moment. When we are having a fabulous time, laughing, smelling, eating, listening, dancing, we are having fun. If we are doing all of that with others as well, we are having fun in the present moment with others.

This morning, in this moment, I breathe in, and out. I pick up my coffee, take a sip, and finish writing this sentence.

It is enough for now, to be here now. I'm having fun, I'm smiling, thinking about the incongruity of having fun in the quietness of the morning, before the day really really starts.

It's funny, this kind of fun.

Moving the Buddha

To cut the weeds grown ‘round him

Now I move St. Francis

I drew this on the back of an envelope I'm sending. I still have to figure out how to spiff up pictures like these digitally for sharing, but it's a start, eh?

And...I'm having fun learning a bit about drawing - yay!

Underwriting The Next Phase Of Your Life

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Sun, 27 Mar 2022 18:09:53 GMT

Developing practices that will last a lifetime is one effective underwriting strategy.

Underwrite:

O.E.D. (one definition): "To set one's name to, subscribe to (a decision, statement, etc.); to agree to or confirm by signature. Also figurative, to support or reinforce (an idea, quality, etc.); to lend support to (a party, etc.)."

Transforming Work: "...using your current job to gain the information, develop the resources, and meet the people that will be required to move on successfully."

Arthur C. Brooks summarizes his bestselling book, From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life , this way (p. 215):

Use things.

Love people.

Worship the divine.

To go from using the strengths that have contributed to our success in younger years, many of which decline with age, to using the strengths we will have in our older years, Brooks says, “requires learning a new set of life skills” (p. 214). What are those specific skills? Well, I couldn’t tell you yet. A group of us are going to be reading and discussing this book over the next few weeks. Brooks is is “the William Henry Bloomberg Professor of the Practice of Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School and Professor of Management Practice at the Harvard Business School. Before joining the Harvard faculty in July of 2019, he served for ten years as president of the Washington, D.C.-based American Enterprise Institute (AEI), one of the world’s leading think tanks.”

Whoosh....Brooks is not an intellectual lightweight.

But he also writes a column for The Atlantic , calle d How To Build A Life , which I regularly read, and has a podcast I tune into from time to time, so when my friend Bob Grassberger suggested getting a group of people together to discuss this book, I was in. And it turns out the book, like his column, is very interesting, readable, and - so far anyway - seems like it is going to be very useful.

But I said yes for another reason.

I’m working on underwriting the next phase of my life.

One of the strategies Patricia Boverie and I proposed in our book, Transforming Work: The Five Keys to Achieving Trust, Commitment, and Passion in the Workplace , was to “underwrite your future job with your current job”. Sometimes, we said, “it just doesn’t make sense to simply give two weeks’ notice, and yet it’s an emotional death sentence to give up and stay where you are”. We defined underwriting, differently than is in common use, as “using your current job to gain the information, develop the resources, and meet the people that will be required to move on successfully”, which means using the current situation one is in to prepare for the future. “Smart people,” we said, “make their current employers successful while at the same time preparing for the future.” One day, you and your employer will part ways. Will you be prepared to move smoothly, meaningfully, and joyfully, into a next phase that you have designed, built, and awaits with an open door?

We wrote the book through the lens of work and careers, but the same underwriting strategy applies to moving into other phases of life, like parenting or, in my case, retiring. How can I best underwrite my current situation so that when I retire, say a couple of years or so from now, it’s not like falling into an abyss.

One can underwrite the next phase in different ways, but here I want to suggest that developing practices that will last a lifetime is one effective underwriting strategy. Practices have particular qualities that are well suited for a life of meaning, joy, and nurture (see Chapter 4: Occupational Intimacy, in Transforming Work, for a description of how having a meaning, joyful, and nurturing workplace plays out. There is also a short section describing occupational intimacy in my book, The Manager as Motivato r.)

Practices do not have to have an end – you may be able to practice right up until the end of your life. They can be a continuous source of meaning and joy, in part because they are also a continuous source of learning. Even when some of our physical skills decline we'll still be able to learn more about, say, crafting, or historical eras. Finally, practices are largely within your control. You can make your participation as large or small as you want, you can choose practices which fit your abilities and interests, and modify them over time, and you get to decide if you want to continue if the practice is making your life more joyful, or not. You can start a practice today, or at almost any time.

For myself, I have just a short list of practices I’m undertaking that I hope will take me in healthy ways to the next phase, whenever it comes. These, some more directly than others, fit the definition of underwriting because they also contribute to what I do for my work. In fact, over time I’ve become smarter about what is called “job crafting”. Dutton and Wrzesniewski, who have been studying job crafting for a couple of decades, define it as “ changing your job to make it more engaging and meaningful”. I became aware of their work many years ago and have always thought that job crafting can give people opportunity, even within organizational constraints, to make what they do more satisfying.

Joining a book discussion group fits Brooks’ criteria, and my own underwriting strategy, nicely. I get to develop relationships with new people who I’ll learn new ideas from and with, and deepen relationships with people I already know (in this case, my long time friend Bob Grassberger). The practices of reading and writing fit nicely here as well (N.B., this essay….). Plus, it’s scalable. This particular book discussion is planned to take place weekly over a month or so. It could, however, become something more, like another book discussion group I'm in, with an entirely different group of fascinating people, that met monthly for over a year to read and discuss Mirabai Starr’s book, Wild Mercy: Living The Fierce And Tender Wisdom Of The Women Mystic. We enjoyed that experience so much that we are going to keep going and discuss another book.

What fun!

I also am reading and trying to grok and incorporate material that fits right into what I do for my job, which is being a college professor. My scholarly work is focused on what we describe as “profound learning” over a lifetime. My colleague and friend Dr. Davin Carr-Chellman and I have been working on this together for several years now. My classes, I believe, are also enriched as I develop new understandings and resources that I hope benefit our students.

That is what I'm trying to do in my situation. What are the ways you can craft your own jobs and careers to underwrite the next one?

When I was young, my dad taught me tennis. Tennis, he would say, is a sport that you can play all your life. And it’s true. Tennis can be a rich part of one’s life and adapted to one’s age and physical capacity. I loved that idea, played hard and competitively when I was young and then more socially (still competitively…) as a got older. But an old injury to my neck and shoulder meant I had to stop playing years ago, and the sport which I had thought would underwrite my physical health and would be a source of community in later years, just isn’t possible. I can’t even play pickleball.

But I’ve picked up hiking instead. As a practice, it has many of the qualities I described above. It can be social. Long hikes with my friend Vincent Fortunato have led to many wonderful conversations over the years. It’s scalable, depending on ability, time, circumstance. It can contribute to other practices, like contemplative work, or photography. And so on. Hiking today is, I am hoping, going to underwrite what will help make life meaningful in the next phase(s) of life. Finally, yes, hiking should be an excellent practice later, but it is also an excellent practice for me right now.

What are you doing now to underwrite the next phases of your life?

Brooks’ first chapter is depressingly titled “ Your Professional Decline Is Coming ”, and he lays out why. The strengths, he says, that make us successful today will not be the ones that will make us successful later in life. “On average,” he says, “the peak of creative careers occurs at about twenty years after career inception, hence the finding that people usually start declining somewhere between thirty-five and fifty” (p. 8). I’ll have to read and discuss more with our group to find out what do with that (what to do, what to do…) little piece of reality.

Yikes!

In the meantime, I suggest that being strategic about life, and thinking about the practices that will take us from this phase of life, meaningfully and joyfully, to the next phase of life is worth starting to think about and to set out about, right now.

Sources/Resources

Boverie, P. E., & Kroth, M. (2001). Transforming work: the five keys to achieving trust, commitment, and passion in the workplace . Perseus Pub.

Brooks, A. C. (2022). From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Dutton, J.E., and Wrzesniewski, A., (March, 2020). What Job Crafting Looks Like. Harvard Business Review https://hbr.org/2020/03/what-job-crafting-looks-like

Kroth, M. S. (2006). T he manager as motivator . Praeger.

Starr, M. (2019). Wild mercy: Living the fierce and tender wisdom of the women mystics. Sounds True.

Also:

Arthur C. Brooks, https://arthurbrooks.com/bio/

Arthur C. Brooks, How To Build A Life, https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/how-to-build-a-life/

We defined underwriting, differently than is in common use, as “using your current job to gain the information, develop the resources, and meet the people that will be required to move on successfully”, which means using the current situation one is in to prepare for the future.

Shaw Mountain Road. Getting Ready for Robie.

The Contemplative Writing of Martin Laird - Nope, Not Today!

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Fri, 18 Mar 2022 15:57:54 GMT

All that came just from starting one, simple, daily practice

One of the results of engaging in a practice is the accrual of information and skills (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual) that develop serendipitously. In that sense, and especially if one has an inquiring mind, practices are generative. They elicit unanticipated ideas, pursuits, and activities. For example, I began writing a haiku a day on January 21, 2019, after reading The Art of Pausing: Meditations for The Overworked and Overwhelmed , written by Judith Valente, Br. Paul Quenon, and Michael Bever. From that has come: A monthly haiku and haibun exchange, discussion, video, and book ( Framing the Moment: Haiku Conversations ) with Amy Hoppock and Davin Carr-Chellman; learning (admittedly, very rudimentary so far) calligraphy; learning, again very much the beginner, crafts; a desire to learn how to use color - as a color blind person I see colors, but in a limited way, so over my life I pretty much dropped anything involving color from my life – no more; daily drawing; and paying attention, especially to nature. To write haikus regularly, one pretty much needs to notice and attempt to capture a present moment.

All that, and more, came just from starting one, simple, daily practice.

The same occurs with my writing practice. For example, I have been thinking about writing an essay about the three powerful books Martin Laird wrote about contemplation: Into the Silent Land: A Guide to the Christian Practice of Contemplation ; An Ocean of Light: Contemplation, Transformation, and Liberation ; and A Sunlit Absence: Silence, Awareness, and Contemplatio n. These are relatively short books, beautifully written and deeply meaningful, each building on the Christian contemplative life. I started writing and realized I needed some information about the author.

I found out that Martin Laird, O.S.A, S.T.L, Ph.D., is a professor at Villanova which, it turns out, is the only Augustinian Catholic university in the United States. You probably knew, but I didn’t, that the" O.S.A." after Fr. Laird’s name means Order of St. Augustine. In tracking that down, I learned that in 1244 a group of hermits in Italy asked to become an order and Pope Innocent IV gave them the Rule of Saint Augustine , and that was, basically, that. The "S.T.L." after his name means he earned his Licentiate of Sacred Theology (he achieved this in 1993, from the Institutum Patristicum Augustinianum in Rome). The far more pedestrian "Ph.D." after his name was bestowed in 1999 from University of London. Smart fellow.

Who knew?

As I was looking up Fr. Laird’s biographical information at Villanova, I discovered that Sister Ilia Delio (also O.S.F., also Ph.D.) likewise is a professor at Villanova, in the same department as Dr. Laird, and though she doesn’t have one of those fancy S.T.L’s, she holds t he Josephine C. Connelly Endowed Chair in Theology . Nothing to sniff at, au contraire. I’m familiar with Dr. Delio through her more public work with the Center for Christogenesis and, specifically, her focus on the Jesuit scientist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. If you were to look briefly at the Center’s site, you might come to the conclusion that she is just another New Age type spiritual writer. You would be wrong. She brings profound depth – way beyond what I can grok – to her work.

What began as the intent to share some wisdom from Martin Laird’s three profound books about the practice of contemplation, became a rabbit hole for me – learning about the Augustinian Order, what a S.T.L is, and now about Dr. Delio – I knew she was smart, but who knew the depth of her education, research, and writing?

Practices never have to end. There is always more to learn. They become ever richer experiences. They result in abundance, often, as people want to share what they have learned or created with others.

One of these days I will write about The Silent Land , An Ocean of Ligh t, and A Sunlit Absence . Today, it’s been fun learning a little, tiny bit about what and who undergirds them.

Sources/Resources

Laird, M. (2006). Into the silent land: A guide to the Christian practice of contemplation. Oxford University Press.

Laird, M. S. (2011). A sunlit absence: Silence, awareness, and contemplation. Oxford University Press.

Hoppock, A, Kroth, M., & Carr-Chellman, D., (2021) Framing the Moment: Haiku Conversations. Independently Published.

Laird, M. S. (2019). An ocean of light: Contemplation, transformation, and liberation. Oxford University Press.

Valente, J., Quenon, P., & Bever, M. (2013). The art of pausing: Meditations for the overworked and overwhelmed. ACTA Publications.

Sites

The Augustinian Order, https://www.augustinian.org/order

For background on the Institutum Patristicum Augustinianum: http://www.patristicum.org/storia

Dr. Delio’s Center for Christogenesis: https://christogenesis.org/

Debbie Bauman

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 14:45:35 GMT

"I thought to myself that the world needs more people like Debbie Bauman."

My Journal Entry - 11-20-16

One Sunday evening in 2016, soon after my wife, daughter, and grandson had traveled to Pittsburgh in order for Grayson to have the kind of medical treatment he needed, my doorbell rang. At the door was Debbie Bauman, and in her hand was homemade dinner. She brought it over because she knew I was living by myself.

I could not have been more surprised or grateful. The food was delicious, but the notion that someone would go so far out of her way to share food from her family’s own table, in such a generous manner, just blew me away. The food was delicious, with dessert of course, and I do believe she also left a bottle or two of beer to wash it down.

I thought to myself that the world needs more people like Debbie Bauman.

The next Sunday evening, my doorbell rang. At the door was Debbie Bauman, and in her hand was homemade dinner. These were all together different dishes, deliciously homemade. I could not believe it. I hadn’t asked for this but seeing her, with such a cheery smile, with something to give that she had personally created, and then sitting down to such delicious food, filled me with much more than what was on the plate. It helped to fill the emptiness of living alone, knowing that Lana, Piper, and Grayson were struggling on the other side of the country.

I thought to myself that the world needs more people like Debbie Bauman.

The next Sunday evening, my doorbell rang. At the door was Debbie Bauman, and in her hand was homemade dinner.

Debbie brought this gift of food, along with that generous spirit, for weeks and weeks and weeks, until I finally suggested that she had done more than enough. I didn’t want what started as a spontaneous, thoughtful act of caring to become an expectation or to be felt as an obligation.

I lived by myself, and our two dogs, for nine months. For a large chunk of that time, Debbie brought dinner to me every Sunday night.

Generous? Yes.

Thoughtful? Yes.

Will I ever, ever forget it? No.

We were new to the neighborhood in 2016. Debbie is one of our neighbors and lives across the street, so we didn’t know her or her family very well yet, and still there she was, every Sunday evening. I have already described one act of generosity Debbie’s husband Rob and son Randy gave us ( What If We All Took Bows? ), and those are just two instances from a long list of examples that I could share. Randy has helped us often, and he won’t take any money from us, when we needed to move something to or from our attic; Rob came over right after we moved in to our house and offered to help me with a special problem that our sprinkler system had – he, and I believe Randy as well, had been regularly helping the single, older woman who lived in our house before us with that and other needs she had. And the list goes on.

And on.

The Bauman family is the kind of family that makes neighborhoods special places of community. And we are so fortunate to be surrounded by other neighbors here who drop a gift off now and again – it could be a book or flowers or a special soup or cookies. Out of the blue. Or out of a special concern. One time, for example, with a storm raging and the electricity out, our next door neighbors Steve and DeNean Wilstead, knowing that Grayson was living with us and needed constant care through electric devices, showed up at our front door offering to hook us up with their electric generator. They could have stayed warm and dry in their house, but they reached out to us with wild, wet wind blowing.

The world needs more people like Steve and DeNean.

Families with kids play in our cul de sac , and I love to hear the sounds of laughing children. We’ve now lived here long enough to see some grow from youngsters to youth to young men and women.

We are blessed with neighbors to our right and left and across the street and down the street, and across the backyard, who are, well, neighborly. Who may have divergent political values (for the most part, we don’t even know what those are), but have deep family values, who care about others, and who are just wonderful to share a street with.

But sometimes an act of kindness can stand out. And that is why I’ll always remember Debbie Bauman, on our front porch, with the gift of Sunday dinner in her hands, a smile and a question or two, “How are you doing?" "How are Lana and Piper and Grayson doing?”, reaching out to share all this with me.

Thank you Debbie Bauman, for bringing me food for the spirit when I had never asked for it, but hungered for it. Thank you Debbie Bauman’s of the world, for acts of generosity.

Thank you and thank you.

Advise and Consent

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Wed, 09 Mar 2022 15:06:06 GMT

If we are destined to repeat history that we don’t know, understand, or even care about, well, here we are.

Allen Drury’s Pulitzer Prize winning book, Advise & Consent , was first published in 1959 and went to the New York Times bestseller list for 102 weeks, at the time the most of any book in history. It was later turned into a stage play and movie, which starred, among others, Henry Fonda, Walter Pidgeon, Don Murray, Burgess Meredith, Peter Lawford, and Charles Laughton. The title of the book is derived from the U.S. Constitution, which says the “the President of the United States shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States . . . ." The story of the book follows the nomination of Robert Leffingwell for U.S. Secretary of State as it proceeds through the U.S. Senate confirmation process.

Leffingwell is a contentious choice and, it turns out as his nomination moves forward, he becomes increasingly suspected of having ties to the Communist Party. This plot line was no small matter in McCarthy-era America and, along with the fascinating and troubling story taking place behind the scenes, gave the book an air of significance. It was a reality check then, when I and so many others first read it decades ago.

I first encountered Advise and Consent as an idealistic, interested-in-making-a-positive-difference-in-the-world young man who was fascinated with the political process. I had been to Boy’s State in high school. The Viet Nam War was the backdrop for all of us, and the conflicts surrounding this conflict raged around the country and even at our small, Kansas college William Kunstler, defense attorney for the Chicago Seven, packed the building (see Banned Books Week ). Though I can’t place the exact time I read Advise & Consent , I know it was during those young, impressionable years and I have reflected often about the similarities and differences between how the U.S. Senate operated then, in more collegial, respectful times, often across the aisle, and how I perceive it does now.

I am re-reading it because I am struck by what has turned out to be Drury’s prescience, or perhaps just documentation of an era that we didn’t learn much from as a nation, that also turned out to be prophetic. If we are destined to repeat history we don’t know, understand, or even care about, well, here we are.

Thomas Mallon, reviewing the book in 2009, a half century after its initial publication, said, “…50 years later, most of the subject matter remains recognizable. Drury’s 99 men and lone woman wrestle with the issue of pre-emptive war, the degree of severity with which lying under oath must be viewed, and the way the coverup is invariably worse than the crime. Part of what kept the book on the best-seller list for 102 weeks is its comforting assumption that many politicians come to Washington hoping to do good.”

Sound familiar? Except maybe fewer people these days buy into the prevenient supposition of good intentions by our elected leaders as much as they did then, in simpler, post-WWII times.

It is a story, the book's cover says, ranging from "a vicious demagogue's blistering smear campaign, the ugly personal jealousies that turn a highly qualified candidate into a public spectacle, to the tragic martyrdom of a presidential aspirant who refuses to sacrifice his principles for his career..."

Each of us, I imagine, will identify contemporary people - perhaps not the same people - we perceive fit those characteristics.

The characters in this book have been compared to leading political players of the day, like Joe McCarthy, FDR, Harry Truman, and Alger Hiss, though Drury makes a particular point to assert that the characters are composites and the story is fictional. It is a story of extremism, fear mongering, zealotry, even blackmail (which results in the suicide of a promising young Senator from Utah, Brigham Anderson). Again, a fascinating aspect of the book for me at the time was the behind-the-scenes story describing how the political-governing process works.

Even more surprising to me, in my naivete, were the descriptions of the short-comings, frailties, and sometimes ill-intent of these elected leaders of the land, who I had considered, as a group of people, to be towering role models of integrity when growing up. My history classes had also somehow failed to mention the murky, unseen people who were out of the spotlight but manipulated the levers of power and public opinion just as surely as did the Majority Leader of the Senate or even the President of the United States.

These days, I worry about sinister players behind the scenes, the unaccountable and unlimited money that exchanges hands in the election process, and the intentional tearing down of trust in our mainstream media and professional journalism by those who benefit from sensationalism and who prey on fearful people.

I worry about how these shadowy, shady characters create manufactured protests and then make false flag accusations about them through their "influencers" in the press or social media.

I worry about the sway and tampering of foreign countries who work to destroy our democratic pillars – like our free elections, free press, freedom of speech, and civil discourse. I worry about the intentional corruption of our cherished democracy by those who would benefit from authoritarian government, with the help of those who think they would benefit personally or who want "to be heard", but won't be at all - who will be shut up for protesting government or stuck in jail - if authoritarianism were to become the coin of our realm.

I worry about the dishonorable, disrespectful behavior of elected members of Congress who act like disruptive, name-calling children (if children were ever allowed to be so discourteous in a public setting), even during some of our most important events of the year, such as the State of the Union speech. How can we ever hope to work together when these types of people profane their office at will?

I worry that the virtues of honesty, character, respect, selflessness, and sacrifice are becoming fond memories of a better time. I worry that the value of knowledge and wisdom and understanding are becoming subsumed by the latest unsubstantiated claims and viewer-titillating sensationalism.

I worry.

As did the fictional Majority Leader, Bob Munson, in this 1959 work of fiction about the swirling forces blowing through the processes of leading and governing.

I worry.

As do real people who care deeply about our country, in the middle of this 2022 democratic work-in-progress.

How will this story end?

Will we as a nation remember and cherish the values, the virtues, and the pillars on which democracy depends?

How will this story end?

Sources/Resources

Advise and Consent , the U.S. Senate, https://www.senate.gov/reference/reference_item/advise_and_consent.htm

Drury, A., (2017). Advise & Consent . Wordfire Press. (Originally published in 1959.)

Thomas Mallon, T. June 25, 2009, ‘Advise and Consent’ at 50 , New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/books/review/Mallon2-t.html

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael - February 2022

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Mon, 28 Feb 2022 21:21:55 GMT

February, 2022 Haiku Narratives

Curator's Note:

It is a lot of fun!

This is our twenty-second recording (I'll stop counting once we hit 24 or something like that) , and we hope to continu e. Please let us know what you think, and share this with anyone you think might benefit.

This Month's Haiku Narrative Video Recording

Check It Out:

This is a recording (our twenty-second!) of our monthly haiku reading and narratives.

February, 2022 Haikus

Amy's Haiku

Davin's Haiku

Michael's Haiku

Check These Opportunities Out Too!

Framing the Moment: Developing a Haiku Practice and Discussion - Online Workshop (Free!) March 9th

Here Is Our Interview With Brian Allain at Writing For Your Life

We had a wonderful interview with Brian, who interviews book authors about their books at Writing For Your Lif e . Writing For Your Lif e provides resources for spiritual writers. Be sure to take a look if you are interested in this kind (or any kind) of writing and want to be published.

Our New Book!

We are very excited to announce our new book, Framing the Moment: Haiku Conversations . Here is a short description and video describing how and why we created the book, and how to order one or more.

Framing the Moment: Developing a Haiku Practice and Discussion - Online Workshop (Free!) Next Week

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Mon, 28 Feb 2022 16:29:38 GMT

You Are Invited To This Short, Free, Online Workshop Next Wednesday, March 9th

Free, On-line, One Hour

Presented by the Garden City Public Library

Title: Framing the Moment: Developing a Haiku Practice and Discussion

Date: March 9: 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. (Mountain Time) Online only (Zoom)

Presenters: Amy Hoppock, Davin Carr-Chellman, Michael Kroth

Presentation Description

The authors of Framing the Moment: Haiku Conversations will discuss how creating a monthly haiku discussion group became a joyful, collaborative, generative practice. There will be time to explore your questions, ideas, and experiences to help you create your own haiku practices. Registration is required.

Presenter Information

Amy V. Hoppock

Two parts of my life inform and inspire most of my writing. I'm a fifth-generation Idahoan who grew up in the shadows of the Sawtooths on the Camas Prairie. The gift of motherhood to my children Reid & Delana. My roots and the future are where I find inspiration and hope.

I'm a Spiritual Director in Training (I'll be certified in late 2022). It's something I was made to do.

If you ever need a good book suggestion, I'm your gal. I read 80 plus books each year. I read everything from spiritual formation, World War II novels, murder mysteries, and books on trees.

P.S. I write a newsletter every Sunday evening. It's called Smaller & Deeper. What if smaller was the goal? What if deeper was the invitation?

I would be happy to have you join the newsletter list at: https://amyhoppock.substack.com/about

Davin Carr-Chellman

My family is the most important part of who I am. Asher, Jules, and Aila are my three wonderful children (Davin and Jules pictured here), and Ali is my amazing wife of 24 years.

I serve as Associate Professor of Education at the University of Dayton and am lucky to have found employment at two other equally remarkable universities along the way: Penn State and the University of Idaho. My work as a faculty member, educator, and researcher is a labor of love. It is generative, life-giving work, primarily from the collaborative colleagues and students who help me.

I am co-editor of Adult Learning , a research journal for anyone studying or practicing adult education, and am Chair-Elect of the Commission for Professors of Adult Education, a national organization of the American Association of Adult and Continuing Education.

I have edited or co-written three books, the most recent of which is Step by Step: Living More Meaningfully, Joyfully, and Deeply Each Day , the second volume in the profound living series. I love academic research and writing, most of which explores human learning, potential, and flourishing. Regardless of the context, my personal and professional ambition is always to be useful.

Michael Kroth

Michael Kroth is Professor of Education at the University of Idaho. He has written or co-authored nine books. His most recent were published in 2021, and are

Framing the Moment: Haiku Conversations; Step by Step: Living More Meaningfully, Joyfully, and Deeply Each Day ; and Coffee Talk: A Transformational Tale Inspired by The Imitation of Christ . He created and curates the blog site Profound Living With Michael Kroth . You can find it here: www.profoundliving.live .

Sign Up for the Haiku Conversations Workshop Here

Practicing Abundance All Year Long - Online Workshop (Free!) Next Week

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Wed, 16 Feb 2022 21:20:59 GMT

You Are Invited To This Short, Free, Online Workshop Next Wednesday, February 23rd

Next week Ali Threet and I will be giving a one hour, free, online workshop for the Garden City Public Library. We would love to have you there, and anyone you might think might benefit. Here are the deets:

Presentation Description

The holiday season, filled with generosity and gratitude, is over. It's natural to heave a sigh of regret and reluctantly jump back into life as usual. What would it be like if we could live life abundantly, not just during those special times, but all of the time? In this fast moving presentation, Ali and Michael will talk about the differences between scarcity, sufficiency, and abundance mindsets; steps to move toward an abundance mentality. Participants will discuss exercises and resources to assist with moving toward a more profound and rich life.

Presenters Description

Ali Threet is the Dean of Students and Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs, at Dixie State University, in St. George, UT. She is also a doctoral student, in the Adult Organizational Learning and Leadership program, at the University of Idaho. Her research topic is "What does an abundance mentality look like in Adult Education?" She is married and has three teenage boys.

Michael Kroth is Professor of Education at the University of Idaho. He has written or co-authored nine books. His most recent were published in 2021, and are Framing the Moment: Haiku Conversations, written with Amy Hoppock and Davin Carr-Chellman; S tep by Step: Living More Meaningfully, Joyfully, and Deeply Each Day , written with Davin Carr-Chellman and Carol Rogers-Shaw; and Coffee Talk: A Transformational Tale Inspired by The Imitation of Christ , written with Bryan Taylor. He created and curates the blog site Profound Living With Michael Kroth . You can find it here: www.profoundliving.live. (Actually, you ARE here, eh?)

Sign Up for the Practicing Abundance All Year Long Workshop

Coming Up - Haiku Workshop - March 9th

Free, On-line, One Hour

Presented by the Garden City Public Library

Title: Framing the Moment: Developing a Haiku Practice and Discussion

Date: March 9: 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. (Mountain Time) Online only (Zoom)

Presenters: Amy Hoppock, Davin Carr-Chellman, Michael Kroth

Presentation Description

Presenter Information

Amy V. Hoppock

Two parts of my life inform and inspire most of my writing. I'm a fifth-generation Idahoan who grew up in the shadows of the Sawtooths on the Camas Prairie. The gift of motherhood to my children Reid & Delana. My roots and the future are where I find inspiration and hope.

I'm a Spiritual Director in Training (I'll be certified in late 2022). It's something I was made to do.

If you ever need a good book suggestion, I'm your gal. I read 80 plus books each year. I read everything from spiritual formation, World War II novels, murder mysteries, and books on trees.

P.S. I write a newsletter every Sunday evening. It's called Smaller & Deeper. What if smaller was the goal? What if deeper was the invitation?

I would be happy to have you join the newsletter list at: https://amyhoppock.substack.com/about

Davin Carr-Chellman

My family is the most important part of who I am. Asher, Jules, and Aila are my three wonderful children (Davin and Jules pictured here), and Ali is my amazing wife of 24 years.

I serve as Associate Professor of Education at the University of Dayton and am lucky to have found employment at two other equally remarkable universities along the way: Penn State and the University of Idaho. My work as a faculty member, educator, and researcher is a labor of love. It is generative, life-giving work, primarily from the collaborative colleagues and students who help me.

I am co-editor of Adult Learning , a research journal for anyone studying or practicing adult education, and am Chair-Elect of the Commission for Professors of Adult Education, a national organization of the American Association of Adult and Continuing Education.

I have edited or co-written three books, the most recent of which is Step by Step: Living More Meaningfully, Joyfully, and Deeply Each Day , the second volume in the profound living series. I love academic research and writing, most of which explores human learning, potential, and flourishing. Regardless of the context, my personal and professional ambition is always to be useful.

Michael Kroth

Michael Kroth is Professor of Education at the University of Idaho. He has written or co-authored nine books. His most recent were published in 2021, and are

Framing the Moment: Haiku Conversations; Step by Step: Living More Meaningfully, Joyfully, and Deeply Each Day ; and Coffee Talk: A Transformational Tale Inspired by The Imitation of Christ . He created and curates the blog site Profound Living With Michael Kroth . You can find it here: www.profoundliving.live .

Sign Up for the Haiku Conversations Workshop Here

Whack-A-Mole

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Sat, 12 Feb 2022 17:02:09 GMT

The minute I think I’m developing a pretty good exercise routine; I find myself eating sugar cookies.

“And this must be our business, to strive to overcome ourselves, and daily to gain strength over ourselves, and to grow better and better.”

~Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, p. 5

The development of myself, to grow, that is, as à Kempis recommends, “better and better”, seems like “whack-a-mole” most of the time for me. The minute I think I’m developing a pretty good exercise routine; I find myself eating sugar cookies. The minute I think I’m developing a pretty good nutrition regimen; I find myself skipping my morning stretching exercises. The minute I think I’m developing a pretty good haiku writing practice; I find I haven’t written an essay in weeks.

When I get a handle on one way I want “daily to gain strength over” myself, well, something else I thought I had under control just isn’t.

Benjamin Franklin, as he took on “the bold and arduous Project of arriving at moral Perfection”, found the same problem. “I soon found I had undertaken a Task of more Difficulty than I had imagined. While my Attention was taken up in guarding against one Fault, I was often surprised by another. Habit took the Advantage of Inattention. Inclination was sometimes too strong for Reason.”

Franklin, seeking moral perfection, had higher goals than I do. I’d simply like to stop eating a whole package of graham crackers just before going to bed.

Franklin had higher aspirations. “I wish’d to live without committing any Fault at any time; I would conquer all that either Natural Inclination, Custom, or Company might lead me into. As I knew, or thought I knew, what was right and wrong, I did not see why I might not always do the one and avoid the other.”

I have a hard time remembering when Valentine’s Day is.

Wait….Monday? OMG!

I like to write but I have found it hard to multi-task lately. Over the last months I’ve added a little haiku writing-creating-producing-sending practice to what I do daily, and it’s enjoyable for several reasons. An outcome of this has been, unfortunately, a diminution of my daily essay writing routine. By the time I’m done haiku-ing, my brain is ready to take on something less demanding than writing an essay, and the day has moved on – I have other matters to attend to, including work I actually get paid to do.

But I won’t have it. I love to do both. So I will.

Routines, habits, and practices – and their power to transform lives – fascinate me. At a time when so much of our lives seems out of our control, these methods of self-discipline give us a measure of power over matters we can influence, that is our own lives. I generally agree with Virginia Woolf, who wrote in 1929 that “Habits gradually change the face of one’s life as time changes one’s physical face; & one does not know it” (as quoted in Daily Rituals: Women at Work , iiix). One small quibble with Ms. Woolf (who I’m indeed afraid of, of misreading at the least) – although our habits may indeed be silently modifying aspects of our lives, we need not countenance their makeup. We can change our habits to better change not only the face of our lives, but also to reveal and deepen our connection to the the heart, soul, identity, and being of our lives.

The subtitle of Mason Currey’s Daily Rituals: Women at Work , is “143 artists on how they paint, write, perform, direct, choreograph, design, sculpt, compose, dance, etc.”. Part of my own daily ritual has been to read one of these women's stories each morning. Not long ago, for example, I read about Patti Smith. She usually writes in bed. She gets up, perhaps completes some exercises, feeds her cat, goes to get coffee with a notebook, and writes for a couple of hours. Then she will “just roam around. ‘I try to take long walks and things like that, but I just kill time until something good is on TV’” (p. 299), she says.

Before this book, I read Currey’s other book, Daily Rituals: How Artists Work , in the same manner. There, he featured 161 artists (novelists, composers, philosophers, poets, painters, and more), and mostly men. After I had finished this latest book, then, I had spent over three hundred mornings with Mr. Currey.

Mason, it’s time you published the next one.

Here are three quick examples of writing practices one finds in Daily Rituals: Women at Work . Octavia Butler’s advice to young writers was to “write every day, whether you feel like it or not. ‘Screw inspiration’, she said” (p. 3). Louisa May Alcott, “wrote in fits of creative energy and obsession, skipping meals, sleeping little, and scribbling so furiously that she eventually had to train herself to write with her left hand to give her cramped right hand a break” (p. 49). Edna Ferber, starting when she was twenty-one and then throughout her life, “sat down at the typewriter every morning at 9:00 a.m. and aimed for one thousand words a day” (p. 85). Over fifty years she wrote twelve novels, nine plays, two autobiographies, and twelve plays.

I imagine Octavia, Louisa May, and Edna let some parts of their lives slip while they concentrated on their regular writing practice. Maybe they ate whole rolls of Oreo cookies, as I am wont to do. (There are many juicy details of the artist’s lives in Currey’s books.)

I’m more like Mr. Franklin, trying to develop a number of "better and better" qualities, it seems, instead of a single, concentrated effort. However, I am woefully like his own description, which I repeat here:

“But I soon found I had undertaken a Task of more Difficulty than I had imagined. While my Attention was taken up in guarding against one Fault, I was often surprised by another. Habit took the Advantage of Inattention. Inclination was sometimes too strong for Reason.”

But he didn’t stop trying, did he?

And neither will I.

I can write both poetry and essays at the same time.

In the meantime, could you pass me the cookies?

Sources/Resources

à Kempis, T. (2013). The Imitation of Christ (R. Challoner, Trans.). Tan Books & Pub.

Currey, M. (2019). Daily rituals: women at work (First edition. ed.). Alfred A. Knopf.

Currey, M. (2013). Daily rituals: how artists work (First edition. ed.). Alfred A. Knopf. Cover image 978-0-307-27360-4.jpg

Franklin, B. (1995). The art of virtue. In The means and manner of obtaining virtue (pp. 22-41). Penguin Books.

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael - January 2022

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Thu, 27 Jan 2022 17:47:41 GMT

January, 2022 Haiku Narratives

Curator's Note:

It is a lot of fun!

This is our twenty-first recording (I'll stop counting once we hit 24 or something like that) , and we hope to continu e. Please let us know what you think, and share this with anyone you think might benefit.

Our New Book!

We are very excited to announce our new book, Framing the Moment: Haiku Conversations . Here is a short description and video describing how and why we created the book, and how to order one or more.

Here Is Our Interview With Brian Allain at Writing For Your Life

This Month's Haiku Narrative Video Recording

Check It Out:

This is a recording (our twenty-first!) of our monthly haiku reading and narratives.

January, 2022 Haikus

Amy's Haiku

Davin's Haiku

Michael's Haiku

Exploring The Life Well-Lived

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Sun, 02 Jan 2022 16:26:56 GMT

How Shall We Form Our Lifetime?

January 1, 2022

January 2, 2022

Re: “How To Live” or “A Life of Montaigne: In One Question and Twenty Attempts At An Answer ”, by Sarah Bakewell

Montaigne wrote 107 essays about his views of life. These, the first of their kind, the form of which had to be “invented” by Montaigne, per Bakewell, were “writing about oneself to create a mirror in which other people recognize their own humanity…”. Montaigne called these “ essai’s ”, which translate to “tests” or “trials” (see “Why Profound Living Essays” ). The essays he wrote are “one of the most captivating and intimate self-portraits ever given, on a par with Augustine’s and Rousseau’s” (Sankovitch, 2021).

As I dive into 2022, the question “How to Live?”, and the response to that question as I actually live my life and observe the well-lived life in others, will be an ongoing theme of the year. To live, rather than to merely exist, to fully experience rather than to merely be, seems the ticket to deep joy. Through strife, life. Through vulnerability, venerability. Through superficiality and distraction, depth and attention. And more attention, and more depth.

And I will be asking others to respond to the question "How to Live" as well.

I memorized the quotation below, written by Jack London, many years ago. At the time, I thought it an inspiring, energizing, risk-inducing, flaming call to arms. Today, with a lifetime of experience under my belt, my view of London’s call to be wild has not changed, except that, looking at it through the long lens of decades, I believe that it’s not the flash of meteor nor the blaze of brilliance that is most important, but that the most valuable is the nurturing of an inner light, not intended to draw attention to itself, that fuels the long journey.

It is the crucible of our pilgrimage – the molding and forming, the continual breaking down of what is not important and intentional reforging of ourselves into what is most important - to truly live - where lies the genuine opportunity for a life well-lived. Not just a morning well-lived, or a year well-lived, or the firecracker of a second well-lived, but a life well-lived.

How to live well the long span of life? Well, as philosophers and spiritual guides much more profound than I have said, that...that......that means being fully present and fully experiencing the present moment, every moment.

It is a paradox, n’est-ce pas ? Living in the present moment, with the intention of making the most of it, but at the same time constructing a rich, generative, rewarding, lifetime. Indulgence or sacrifice? Self-serving or generations-serving? How can one do both? This is worth thinking about, worth exploring.

To start, however, I shan’t forget London, and his cry to live rather than to simply exist, for therein lies the most basic truth. And the most basic question. What would I, and you, "rather be"? How shall we "use our time"?

“I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.”

~Jack London

Sources and Resources

Bakewell, S. (2010). How to live--or--a life of Montaigne: in one question and twenty attempts at an answer (Other Press ed.). Other Press.

de Michel Eyquem Montaigne, S., & Frame, D. M. (1958 ). The Complete Essays of Montaigne. Stanford University Press. https://books.google.com/books?id=GpHgDwAAQBAJ

Sankovitch, Tilde A.. "Michel de Montaigne". Encyclopedia Britannica, 19 Sep. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Michel-de-Montaigne. Accessed 1 January 2022 .

London quotation downloaded from Bartleby.com, https://www.bartleby.com/73/1118.html , Accessed 2, January 2022), with this background. “JACK LONDON, Jack London’s Tales of Adventure, ed. Irving Shepard, Introduction, p. vii (1956). This is generally known as London’s Credo. He is known to have said these words, just two months before his death, to a group of friends with whom he was discussing life and living.—The Bulletin, San Francisco, California, December 2, 1916, part 2, p. 1.”

January 1, 2022 Hiking Polecat Loop

Well....I planned to finish this short essay on 1-1-22, but instead took a hike with my buddy Vincent Fortunato. Now, that was a pretty terrific present moment!

“The wisest man that ever was, when they asked him what he knew, answered that he knew this much, that he knew nothing. He was verifying what they say, that the greatest part of what we know is the least of those parts that we do not know; that is to say that the very thing we think we know is a part, and a very small part, of our ignorance. ”

~ Michel Eyquem Montaigne

What? No Sabbatical?

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Wed, 29 Dec 2021 14:59:39 GMT

Turning disappointments into...something less disappointing

“If you and I are ever to have silence in our noisy hearts, we will have to grow it.”

~ Nurturing Silence in a Noise Heart , Wayne E. Oates, p. 9

Recently, I was turned down for a sabbatical (I have an article about one person's view of the purpose of university sabbaticals - there is more than one view, as the article points out - linked below). It took me considerably longer to accept that decision emotionally and to go on my way with peace in my heart than I expected. I took this setback poorly, perhaps because I thought acceptance of my proposal was a no-brainer; that it was timely, given my career arc; and that the outcomes proposed were so desirable and so evident for both the university goals and my own, how could they not say 'yes'?

“How could they not say ‘yes’?”

Nonetheless, they did not say 'yes'.

This was after their thoughtful review. I missed the university's mark. So be it.

And yet...

My grumbly spirit about this rejection surprised me, as I have been working assiduously over the last few years to develop more and more equanimity of soul. To accept both good news and bad with peace and graciousness. And though I have made progress, this rejection reminded me that I have quite a ways to go. I admit it, I felt snubbed.

If this relatively small disappointment – I’ll live, I still have a job I love, my wife is a gem and my kids rock, this won’t affect my health, I’ll learn from it, I’ll adapt to this unexpected change of plans, la dee dah, la dee dah – caused unwanted cacophony to bang around in my head, imagine if something serious had occurred.

Setbacks, it turns out, are par for the course for even the people who have earned our deepest respect. They use disappointments to become better people. David Brooks, in his excellent book , The Road to Character , after describing the character-building stories of such diverse people as Dwight Eisenhower, St. Augustine, Dorothy Day, A. Philip Randolph, Bayard Rustin, George Eliot, Samuel Johnson, George Marshall, and Francis Perkins, concludes that:

Character is a set of dispositions, desires, and habits that are slowly engraved during the struggle against your own weakness. You become more disciplined, considerate, and loving through a thousand small acts of self-control, sharing, service, friendship, and refined enjoyment. If you make disciplined, caring choices, you are slowly engraving certain tendencies into your mind…If you make selfish, cruel, or disorganized choices, then you are slowly turning this core thing inside yourself into something that is degraded, inconstant, or fragmented (pp. 263-264).

It is a slow process, Michael. Slow.

The good news is that we have the ability to transform ourselves. To form ourselves into the kind of people we wish to be. While so much of what happens in the world seems out of our ability to change, changing ourselves is within our power. While the world does its best to distract us from this task, to weaken our resolve, we…can…stay…the…course. We will never be able to perfectly become what we desire, that is, to become perfect, but we can move incrementally, yet inexorably, in that direction. Over time, we will have transformed ourselves. Isn’t that a powerful, exciting thought?

Sharon Salzberg, writing about equanimity – one of my more continuing challenges it seems – says that “the practice of equanimity is learning deeply what it means to let go” (p. 176). Change is continual, and happening all the time, “without ceasing” (p. 178). We forget that, thinking we “have” something that’s ours to keep. Viewed from a long enough continuum, everything is impermanent.

So what does that leave us?

Pema Chodron, writing in When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times , says “What seems undesirable in our lives doesn’t have to trigger habitual reactions. We can let it show us where we’re at and let it remind us that the teachings encourage precision and gentleness, with loving-kindness toward every moment,” (p. 178) going on to say that the key is to use difficult (and joyful) situations to “use it as a question about how to let this very situation wake us up further rather than to lull us into ignorance” (p. 178). “This is our choice in every moment. Do we relate to our circumstances with bitterness or with openness” (p. 179)?

All this leads to the conclusion that paying attention to the present moment – not being bummed about the past, not obsessing about the future – and making the most of….this…this present moment…is the key.

This moment. This feeling. This opportunity. This disappointment. This prayer. This suffering. This joy.

This breath.

And now this one.

I will keep at it. Hopefully making steady progress and over time, substantial progress.

Right now, I still can’t shake that they turned my sabbatical down.

Take a breath, mister. Take a breath.

Sources and Resources

Brooks, D. (2015). The road to character (First edition. ed.). Random House.

Chödrön, P. (2005). When things fall apart: heart advice for difficult times (Mass Market ed.). Shambhala: Distributed in the United States by Random House.

Oates, W. E. (1996). Nurturing silence in a noisy heart: how to find inner peace. Augsburg.

Salzberg, S. (2008). Lovingkindness: the revolutionary art of happiness (Mass Market ed.). Shambhala.

More about Sabbaticals

Article: Sabbatical As Sacred Time: Contemplative Practice and Meaning in the Neoliberal Academy (or here )

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael - December 2021

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 20:24:43 GMT

December, 2021 Haiku Narratives

Curator's Note:

It is a lot of fun!

This is our twentieth recording (I'll stop counting once we hit 24 or something like that) , and we hope to continu e. Please let us know what you think, and share this with anyone you think might benefit.

Our New Book!

We are very excited to announce our new book, Framing the Moment: Haiku Conversations . Here is a short description and video describing how and why we created the book, and how to order one or more.

Check It Out:

This is a recording (our twentieth!) of our monthly haiku reading and narratives.

December, 2021 Haikus

Amy's Haiku

Davin's Haiku

Michael's Haiku

Step by Step: Living More Joyfully, Meaningfully, and Deeply

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 17:11:25 GMT

Step by Step, Book II in the Profound Living Series is Now Published

Step by Step: Living More Meaningfully, Joyfully, and Deeply Each Day , is the second volume in the Profound Living book series, following Profound Living: Essays, Images, and Poetry . Step by Step is an exploration of what it means to live profoundly throughout our lives. This book was born from the collection of essays and images originally published on the Profound Living website in 2019.

In this book, we look at Living Meaningfully, Reflecting, Deepening Understanding, Being Intentional, Becoming Authentic, Presencing, Leading, and Stumbling Into Mystery. Beautiful, meaningful images introduce each section.

Essayists include Michael, Davin, and Carol, and also Kelly Anderson, Heidi Scott, and Vincent Fortunato. Beautiful, color images by Marc Christensen, Antonia "TJ" Cardella, and Vincent introduce each chapter. Marc's resplendent photos grace the front and back covers, along with Heather Barrett's elegant cover design.

Here we will take each step, step by step by step, along the path to profound living.

It was a joyful experience to write, edit, and to collaborate with Carol and Davin on this new book. We hope it will add to the joy, meaningfulness, and depth of your own lives.

Step by Step: Living More Meaningfully, Joyfully, and Deeply Each Day can now be ordered on Amazon here:

We've Written A Book!

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Mon, 06 Dec 2021 14:46:07 GMT

Framing The Moment: Haiku Conversations

Curator's Note: If you have been following Profound Living for a while, you know that Amy Hoppock, Davin Carr-Chellman, and I have been writing, sharing, and talking about our haikus for around two years now. Well, we just wrote a book with a year's worth of those conversations. It is called, Framing the Moment: Haiku Conversations .

Check out the video to see what we have to say about the whole process and how it changed us personally. One thought I can share for sure - we had fun doing it!

We were so fortunate to have one of our favorite writers and retreat leaders, Judith Valente, write the foreword to the book. Judith's book, The Art of Pausing: Meditations for the Overworked and Overwhelmed , written with Brother Paul Quenon and Michael Bever, was the inspiration for writing haikus, sharing them, and then forming a group to talk about them. Judith's latest book is How to Be: A Monk and a Journalist Reflect on Living & Dying, Purpose & Prayer, Forgiveness & Friendship .

Judith has been a supporter and encourager throughout, and we could not be more grateful.

Framing the Moment: Haiku Conversations is now available on Amazon. Check it out here .

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael - November 2021

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Tue, 30 Nov 2021 00:15:54 GMT

November, 2021 Haiku Narratives

Curator's Note:

It is a lot of fun!

This is our nineteenth recording (I'll stop counting once we hit 20 or 24 or something like that) , and we hope to continu e. Please let us know what you think, and share this with anyone you think might benefit.

Check It Out:

This is a recording (our nineteenth!) of our monthly haiku reading and narratives.

November, 2021 Haikus

Amy's Haiku

Davin's Haiku

Michael's Haiku

Nature's Jaw Dropping Images

Mon, 08 Nov 2021 17:09:38 GMT

"The peak’s grandeur just takes my breath away and humbles me as I stand before our maker’s creation."

Here are three of my most favorite recent pics. Hope you enjoy them. The first is El Capitan in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park, which is on the border of Texas and New Mexico, near Carlsbad, NM. The peak’s grandeur just takes my breath away and humbles me as I stand before our maker’s creation.

The second just beckons a person to drive this road and soak in the beauty. There’s some nearly jaw dropping around every corner.

The final image is of a ranch along the Sunspot byway near Cloudcroft, NM. The aspen are turning and, boy, would I were some years younger and could put a good Quarterhorse between my legs and ride all day.

~Marc Christensen

Photo by Marc Christensen

"[This] just beckons a person to drive this road and soak in the beauty. There’s some nearly jaw dropping around every corner."

Curator's Note:

Here are recent SW area photos, with narrative, from Marc

Nature's Jaw Dropping Images

To see more of Marc's beautiful photography, and to learn about him, click the "More" tab, and then "Profound Picture - Regular Contributors", or start here .

Dangerous Curves Ahead

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Thu, 04 Nov 2021 14:57:23 GMT

One obstacle to steady progress is the battle between the desire for immediate gratification and the sacrifice and discipline required to develop character and to improve the quality of life for all in our society.

“[George] Eliot was a meliorist. She did not believe in big transformational change. She believed in the slow, steady, concrete march to make each day slightly better than the last. Character development, like historic progress, best happens imperceptibly, through daily effort. ”

~David Brooks, The Road to Character , p. 183

I admit it, I did not know what a meliorist was until I looked it up. Having checked it out, I had to agree with Mr. Brooks, and with Ms. Eliot [nèe Mary Anne Evans]. Meliorism, according to the trusty online Free Dictionary, is 1. The belief that the human condition can be improved through concerted effort. 2. The belief that there is an inherent tendency toward progress or improvement in the human condition.”

Wikipedia goes further, explaining that meliorism (from the Latin melior , meaning “better”), among other interesting facts, is “a conception of the person and society, is at the foundation of contemporary liberal democracy and human rights and is a basic component of liberalism.” William James and John Dewey are among the notables who have used this word and concept in their writing.

Well, that little information-hunting jaunt took me quite a bit deeper than I’d expected.

And it gave me pause.

Question: Do I, Michael, ascribe to meliorism? (At least the simplified definition here, I’m sure the idea is much more complex.)

These days, the deep roots of our democratic society - perhaps most notably and observably, the civil discourse and give and take of multiple constituencies - seem to becoming dismantled by forces - some perhaps intentional, most perhaps just situational - which are upending the Great Experiment of Democracy in the United States. This extraordinary experiment has resulted in the slow and steady victory of voting rights; the honoring and protection of freedom of speech and expression; the betterment of a quality of life for all sectors of society, not just in material wealth but in the wealth of ideas and opportunity; and so much more. This has been fought for again and again and again, with blood and courage and the resources of a nation. It’s not been nor is it perfect, but it has been melioristic, if I may be so bold to say. Steady improvement since our nation was founded.

The lives Mr. Brooks portrays in The Road to Characte r – Dwight Eisenhower, Dorothy Day, George Marshall, St. Augustine, Frances Perkins, A. Philip Randolph, Samuel Johnson, Eliot, among others – show similar paths, “They had to go down to go up. They had to descend into the valley of humility to climb to the heights of character”. “In the valley of humility,” Brooks writes, “they learned to quiet the self…when they had quieted themselves, they had opened up space for grace to flow in.” Soon, these folks, “feel themselves in the uplands of joy and commitment…” “They don’t come out healed; they come out different. They find a vocation or calling. The commit themselves to some long obedience and dedicate themselves to some desperate lack that gives life purpose”.

Brooks calls this descent and then ascent the “U-Curve”. Christians might make a U-Curve connection to St. John’s “dark night of the soul”, or to the Paschal Mystery itself. Mythologists might consider Theseus’ trip through the labyrinth to defeat the minotaur. One must go down and something must change before heading back up.

Regardless of the metaphor we might use, the idea that our historic democracy feels like it is crumbling a bit more day-by-day perhaps signals that before our country can move upward, it’s going to have to descend and transform. If, after that, we emerge as a better people, a more loving and caring and generous society, then so be it. I am applying the U-Curve concept, then, to our country, it seems.

Meliorism, if I read it right, improves society over time through “concerted effort”. The road back to a nation of character – civil, respectful, generous, courageous, sacrificial, humble – will take time, patience, and we may not see the results in our lifetime.

How many people and groups care about such matters?

To answer my own, earlier question, do I, Michael, ascribe to meliorism?

Answer: Yes. But also that it may be an arc with fits and starts and ups and downs and forward and backward over centuries.

One obstacle to steady progress is the battle between the desire for immediate gratification and the sacrifice and discipline required to develop character and to improve the quality of life for all in our society. It’s cake now or health twenty years from now. ( “Let them eat cake”, famously attributed, probably falsely, to Marie-Antoinette, has not lost its significance either.) It's quarterly results versus strategic development over time. These are not mutually exclusive, but where do our behaviors tell us our hearts are? Where is our real commitment? Immediate satisfaction or long-term human flourishing?

Character development for an individual – slow steady progress based on sacrifice, intention, and perseverance.

Character development for a nation, for a society?

I suggest it will require the same.

Caution, dangerous curves ahead.

Sources/Resources

Brooks, D. (2015). The road to character (First edition. ed.). Random House.

Character development for an individual – slow steady progress based on sacrifice, intention, and perseverance.

Character development for a nation, for a society?

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael - October 2021

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Sat, 30 Oct 2021 01:07:43 GMT

October, 2021 Haiku Narratives

Curator's Note:

It is a lot of fun!

This is our eighteenth recording (I'll stop counting once we hit 20 or 24 or something like that) , and we hope to continu e. Please let us know what you think, and share this with anyone you think might benefit.

Check It Out:

This is a recording (our eighteenth!) of our monthly haiku reading and narratives.

October, 2021 Haikus

Davin's Haiku

Amy's Haiku

Michael's Haiku

Where Are They Now?

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Sun, 26 Sep 2021 16:00:52 GMT

Perhaps it’s a good time to reflect back about who we’ve been listening to about climate change over the years.

Where Are They Now?

Climate Change Debunkers

Accusing the scientific community

Of being on the take

Snowball hefting

Senators

Profiting

(with the next election's votes)

Politicians

And

Politicizing

Profiteers

Posturing Pundits

and

Punditry Imposters

Now that the world

Is aflame

And their snowballs

Have melted

Where are they now?

It would be interesting to do a study of what sports pundits thought would be the result at the end of the season and how they repositioned themselves after the final standings actually came in. In fairness, many say, “I blew it,” “I sure made a bad prediction”, and that honest acknowledgment makes them more credible. Some are easy calls - 'Bama, for instance, but some are harder to predict and so it's easier to miss the call.

The 24/7 news cycle makes it easy to forget what was claimed just days before, and therefore it’s hard for people to be held accountable for how they honestly made a mistake.

But let's face it, it's hard to 'fess up and say we were wrong, no matter who we are, and we all do.

Politicians seem less likely to hold themselves accountable, in general, for mistaken statements. Politicians seem less likely to apologize and say, “I got that wrong, and we are paying for it as a country.” Politicians seem less likely - are unlikely - to apologize, admit they were wrong, misleading, or deflecting (“I’m not a scientist.” Well, then, listen to scientists!). ( This is true, as we all have observed, irrespective of party or issue. ) The elected officials who can manage a " Mia culpa " or "I was mistaken about that" have my deep respect, because the potential consequences are so personally consequential for them.

Meeting the challenge of the existential threat of climate change should be, and should have been, job one for leaders political, leaders business, and leaders of every type for years and decades. The threat is real and now clearly visible.

The means to meet that threat is open to multiple viewpoints and methods and is over-ripe for deep discussion and planning and action with all parties at the table. We have been slowed and sidetracked by those who have dismissed science and scientists (seems to be more and more of an issue these days). Even if the odds were small – they weren’t – that climate change has been affected by human activity, the potential outcome is so calamitous that responsible people from nearly all ideological perspectives would seem to naturally flock around the goal of cutting off that threat. Alas, this has not been so.

Too late now, we can only hope for mitigation. In our lifetimes, even throughout the lifetimes of our wee ones now, life as we know it is likely to have more storms, bigger droughts, and increasing weather-based threat.

Where are those politicians who said, “The science is not settled?" Regardless of one’s definition of “settle”, the scientific community has reached consensus, and has for quite a while.

From Scientific Consensus: Earth's Climate Is Warming (posted by NASA)"

“A consensus on climate change and its human cause exists. Multiple studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals show that human activities are the primary cause of the observed climate-warming trend over the past century.”

There is no more profound issue facing humankind than climate change.

Now that we can see the effect of this climate change more clearly, with our own eyes, perhaps it’s a good time for reflecting back about who we’ve been listening to about this over the years. Scientists? Or people who cast aspersions upon science? People who have turned out to be prescient, based on data? Or those who whiffed the call completely, sometimes honestly, but in some cases negligently.

Let's face it, it's hard to 'fess up and say we've not been paying attention to the real experts, no matter who we are.

But then, perhaps, we can make better choices in the future.

Sources and Resources

Scientific Consensus: Earth's Climate Is Warming, https://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus/

There is no more profound issue facing humankind than climate change.

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael - September 2021

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Fri, 24 Sep 2021 20:19:53 GMT

September, 2021 Haiku Narratives

Curator's Note:

It is a lot of fun!

This is our seventeenth recording (I'll stop counting once we hit 20 or 24 or something like that) , and we hope to continu e. Please let us know what you think, and share this with anyone you think might benefit.

Check It Out:

This is a recording (our seventeenth!) of our monthly haiku reading and narratives.

September, 2021 Haikus

Davin's Haiku

Amy's Haiku

Michael's Haiku

Weeds and Suckers

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Sat, 18 Sep 2021 14:44:34 GMT

"The proof in the pudding comes when we learn by doing."

Moving the Buddha

To cut the weeds grown ‘round him

Now I move St. Francis

It is always amusing to imagine famous people contending with what just folks like us have to deal with. The battle with weeds or a finicky weed whacker. Cutting tree suckers time and time again (“I want to live!”, they cry.). The interminable wait room at the DMV. The vulnerability of a visit to the doctor’s office. We’re all human and while some can mitigate the inconveniences of life, no one can avoid having a digestive system that might not be working well today. In the middle of a meeting.

It took me a long time to realize that those ordinary moments, those daily difficulties, are often where significant learning can occur. We know that happens in younger years, when mom teaches patience, or coach Joan requires her athletes to be on time, or Scoutmaster Dave has a conversation with one of the Scouts who is not helping out.

The teachability-potential of those moments is no different for adults, but we often only have ourselves to guide us. No parent, teacher, or coach is hovering over us to give us direction. While we have significant others – friends, colleagues, bosses, spouses – who can influence us, each of us determines whether the many little opportunities for learning are harvested or lay fallow. Whether they are just little obstacles to get past or occasions to practice deepening skills and attitudes.

Individually, those learning opportunities seem unimportant, but over time they compound and cumulatively can result in something wonderful.

Recently, I participated in a momentous occasion for a doctoral student, as she defended her dissertation. Imagine, if you will, the sticktoitiveness it took for her to take classes, eschew time otherwise spent on career, family, friends, or just dusting the house for, say, five years. And the real willpower came – comes for most – after the classes had been taken, and the pilgrim steps forth on her own, researching something of import that no other person has completed before. At a doctoral defense, the student should know more about the subject of her research than anyone else in the world. At that time, no one has delved into that particular research question more. Others will build on what she learned, making their own contributions, but for that moment (and with continuing effort perhaps over a scholarly career) she is “the” expert, having set foot where others have not yet trod.

That newly minted doctor worked through countless little and not-so-little tasks to achieve her goal. When I pondered pursuing a doctorate I told my dad, who had been a professor for many years, that I didn’t know if I was smart enough to do it. He told me I was smart enough, and the reason most people succeed or fail as doctoral students is their ability to persevere.

Years later, I believe that wholeheartedly. Once someone has been accepted into a doctoral program, they are likely to have the intellectual ability to complete the work. In large measure, the rest depends on tenacity. Taking a step, and then another, and then another. Overcoming obstacles. Sticking with it. It's true for any meaningful endeavor in life, I think.

...Lewis and Clark. (Do you see the ocean yet?)

...Writing a dissertation. (What's up, Doc?)

...Learning any artistic skill. (Well, I think Bob Ross gave me some good ideas this time.)

...Name your craft, profession, or expertise. (Dance, law, building ships in bottles.)

...Let's put on a show! (Yay Mickey and Judy!)

We do learn by observing others, by reading too, but the proof in the pudding comes when we learn by doing. By giving it a try. Then by practicing just a bit, or more than just a bit, daily or regularly. And when we can do that even when someone cuts us off in traffic or when someone gets the food order wrong, we build those qualities of character that take us to the starting line at Boston Marathon or to the first book we wrote. Or a suckerless, weedless, yes even beautifully manicured,yard.

At least for this week.

__________________________________________________________________________

“ Since you have asked me how one should set about to acquire the treasure of knowledge, this is my advice to you concerning it: namely, that you should choose to enter, not straightway into the ocean, but by way of the little streams; for difficult things ought to be reached by way of the easy ones.”

~St. Thomas Aquinas, How to Study , from White, V. (1944) p. 3

Sources

White, v. (1944). The letter of Saint Thomas to Brother John—"de modo studendi". The life of the spirit (1944-1946), 1(10), 163-180. Retrieved September 18, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/43702009

Gates

Mon, 13 Sep 2021 13:02:06 GMT

"I'm fascinated by gates..."

I'm fascinated by gates...especially those in the Southwest that often open into a courtyard or entryway. They're great imagination builders...what's behind the gate? Is it welcoming or foreboding? Delightfully mysterious or ominous? What might be happening behind these closed gates? Would I be welcomed?

~Marc Christensen

Photo by Marc Christensen

"What might be happening behind these closed gates?"

Curator's Note:

Here are recent SW area photos, with narrative, from Marc

To see more of Marc's beautiful photography, and to learn about him, click the "More" tab, and then "Profound Picture - Regular Contributors", or start here .

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael - August 2021

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Fri, 27 Aug 2021 19:41:56 GMT

August, 2021 Haiku Narratives

Curator's Note:

It is a lot of fun!

This is our sixteenth recording , and we hope to continu e. Please let us know what you think, and share this with anyone you think might benefit.

Check It Out:

This is a recording (our sixteenth!) of our monthly haiku reading and narratives.

August 2021 Haikus

Davin's Haiku

Amy's Haiku

Michael's Haiku

Going Soft

Mon, 23 Aug 2021 14:30:41 GMT

"Why do people like soft things when they are feeling down, or anxious, or afraid?"

It was early this morning when I rolled over in bed and stared up at the skylight covered in raindrops puddled against the dull grey expanse. I wanted to sink back into the mound of pillows and pull the comforter over my head. I didn’t want to face the day. Slowly I got out of bed and went to stand by the back window. The groundhog munching on the wet grass saw my movements and scampered across the lawn, diving into the gap in the stone wall. Yes, I too would like to run and hide I thought before turning back toward the closet. I put on an old, worn, and soft Life Is Good T-shirt and thought about the irony. Then I grabbed yoga pants – also worn and soft, no zippers, no pockets, no seams. I headed downstairs and made a cup of coffee, stopping for a few minutes to rub the dog’s soft belly and run my fingers through the fur between her silky ears. I took my cup of coffee to the couch, curled up, and pulled the lush, velvet throw around me. And then I thought, why do people like soft things when they are feeling down, or anxious, or afraid?

Children hold their blankies tightly and carry their stuffed animals wherever they go. Get-well gift boxes often contain plush socks and fluffy coverlets. We send soft and comfy hoodies to those we want to hug. Is it the sadness, the anxiety, the fear that make us crave softness? I wondered. And then I Googled it. It turns out that in talking about security blankets like the one that Linus keeps with him, Charlie Brown summed it up. He said, “They're just the thing to have when you're tired and discouraged. See? You just sort of scrunch your face into it, and right away, you feel secure.” There are even research studies that back up Charlie Brown’s conclusions; individuals who are experiencing more negative emotions are drawn to products that offer tactile benefits. These feelings stem from our instinct for survival. We are hard-wired to adapt our behavior and seek support when we experience negative emotions (King & Janiszewski, 2011). Those soft things really do help us feel better.

During the lockdown, I imagine there might have been an increase in sales of weighted blankets, sweatshirts and leggings, and fake fur throws as the negative emotions we experienced drove our online shopping choices. There certainly was an uptick in pet ownership as people craved the living contact that they found in their ball of fur. I know I marvel at the softness of the coats of our four-legged family members and feel more relaxed when petting them.

So, softness is important. What about “going soft”? Is that positive or not? If you are going soft, you might be less harsh and more lenient in your dealings with others, not a bad thing. But you can also be more easily manipulated and viewed as weak. Is it a sign of weakness to be more tolerant and less critical? It seems to me that the world can use a lot more of this type of softness, especially in a time of so much distress and uncertainty.

And what about “having a soft spot”? If you have a soft spot for someone, you view them with love and kindness. They might be the ones you send those downy blankets, indulgent Sherpa sweatshirts, and cozy socks. Again, that’s not so bad. We could all use a few more things for snuggling. I wonder how can we all become more soft-hearted and see this perspective as a strength instead of a weakness? How can we shave the rough edges off our personalities and build stronger caring relationships? Maybe we can concentrate on the soft things in our lives that make us feel better and ask how we can model that softness in our interactions. Maybe we can do that if we judge less, forgive more, and show love. That’s not easy. At first it doesn’t seem to make sense that becoming soft is hard to do, yet when we are stuck in rigid boxes, it’s not so easy to be open to more softness.

As I write these words, I’m sitting in my office. There’s a collection of my daughters’ teddy bears behind me on the shelf. There’s the huge, big brown one that slumps on the floor by the standing lamp, the grey one whose spiked fur seems to stand on end, and the soft tan and white ones wearing snug bear-sized T-shirts. They bring back treasured memories and make me ask, "If everyone had something really soft to hold onto and cherish, to wash away the insecurity and depression and dread, would the world become a better place?" I like to think so. And that’s my wish for today, that everyone can find some softness in their lives.

Sources/Resources

King, D., & Janiszewski, C. (2011). Affect-gating. Journal of Consumer Research , 38(4), 697-711.

"That’s my wish for today, that everyone can find some softness in their lives."

I wonder how can we all become more soft-hearted and see this perspective as a strength instead of a weakness?

Curator's Note: Carol is a regular contributor to Profound Living. Her essays are always delightfully, and at the same time deeply, written. To see more of her wonderful work, and to learn about her, click the "More" tab, and then "Profound Living Essayists - Regular Contributors".

White Sands

Tue, 17 Aug 2021 13:06:35 GMT

"One could sit in a single spot all day and be treated to a wonderful show."

White Sands National Monument preserves these unique gypsum sand dunes that glisten and sparkle in the sun. As the fingers of wind sweep over the dunes, ever shifting patterns and shapes emerge. The progress of the sun cast different shadows and hues - one could sit in a single spot all day and be treated to a wonderful show, including children ringing out peals of laughter sliding down the dunes in colorful plastic saucers.

~Marc Christensen

Photo by Marc Christensen, Twin Yuccas

"White Sands National Monument preserves these unique gypsum sand dunes that glisten and sparkle in the sun."

Curator's Note:

Here are recent SW area photos, with narrative, from Marc

To see more of Marc's beautiful photography, and to learn about him, click the "More" tab, and then "Profound Picture - Regular Contributors", or start here .

Curtain Call

Wed, 11 Aug 2021 11:57:06 GMT

Haiku

Night crawls slowly in

As rain greets dancing water;

Sunlight takes a bow.

~Vincent J. Fortunato

Sage Hen Reservoir, August 4, 2021

Photo by Vincent J. Fortunato

About Vincent:

Vincent J. Fortunato is a frequent contributor to Profound Living . See his biographical information here .

Sunrise Over the Sacramento’s

Tue, 03 Aug 2021 12:01:28 GMT

"The clouds were creeping across the desert, scattering showers in random patterns as the sun forced the curtain of dark clouds just high enough to bring a golden greeting."

This photo was taken across highway 70 from the entrance to White Sands National Monument in Otero County, New Mexico. The clouds were creeping across the desert, scattering showers in random patterns as the sun forced the curtain of dark clouds just high enough to bring a golden greeting. The vastness of the Southwest is inspiring to me.

~Marc Christensen

Photo by Marc Christensen, Sunrise Over the Sacramento’s

"The vastness of the Southwest is inspiring to me."

Curator's Note:

Here are recent SW area photos, with narrative, from Marc

The Imitation of Christ - Practices for Daily Living

To see more of Marc's beautiful photography, and to learn about him, click the "More" tab, and then "Profound Picture - Regular Contributors", or start here .

Haiku Narratives with Amy, Davin, and Michael - July 2021

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Fri, 23 Jul 2021 20:01:58 GMT

July, 2021 Haiku Narratives

Curator's Note:

It is a lot of fun!

This is our fifteenth recording , and we hope to continu e. Please let us know what you think, and share this with anyone you think might benefit.

Check It Out:

This is a recording (our fifteenth!) of our monthly haiku reading and narratives.

July 2021 Haikus

Davin's Haiku

Michael's Haiku

Amy's Haiku

The Imitation of Christ VIII - Virtue Development

mk9152@gmail.com (Michael Kroth) — Mon, 19 Jul 2021 21:25:57 GMT

The Practice of Virtuous Living

Author's Note: This essay series, The Imitation of Christ , has been prompted by Thomas à Kempis' book of the same name. I am particularly interested in exploring these practices because of a book my friend, colleague, and co-author, Bryan Taylor, and I are working on, using The Imitation of Christ as its foundation.

These are vast and deep subjects and, as with most of my writing, I learn more and more about what I think and know, and about what I think I think I know, what I don’t know, and what I understand about them, I think, by writing about them. Readers are likely to have additional or differing insights on these themes, and I invite you to join the Profound Living or Practices for Deeper Living groups, and/or the Profound Living page on Facebook if you have thoughts or ideas to contribute to any of these topics.

The Imitation of Christ , my first copy, purchased used at the Mt. Angel Library. Photo by me.

“Most of us have clearer strategies for how to achieve career success than we do for how to develop a profound character. ”

~David Brooks, The Road to Character, p. xii

Until the last few years, I knew almost nothing about virtues, and even less about virtue development. Now, virtue development is becoming more and more integral to the scholarly work we are engaged in, my own personal inquiry and, most importantly to me, my life. To say that the history, qualities, and day-to-day application of virtue was scantily emphasized as I grew up, went to church, and studied in school, would be over-generous.

I can say accurately that in my Methodist family home, even when including my church-going, “Old Rugged Cross”, grandparents, the word virtue was so seldom used that I don’t remember it once. In those days there wasn’t even “Character Counts” in school.

And yet, looking back on what it was like growing up in Kansas, the practice of living with virtue, positive values, and character was an essential and integral part of life. I even wrote song lyrics about it.

When I was growing up in Kansas my grandpa said to me,

Michael in our family we do not call folks’ names,

We never put out little half-truths just to win the game,

The Golden Rule’s our motto, because you must see,

In rural Kansas of the 60’s, character is king.

~Michael Kroth, Where Have Small Town Values Gone

(you can read the whole song and discussion about it here .

In those days, I learned virtues and values by observation and by being told what was important. My grandfather gave up a promising career in education to return from Michigan to manage the family farm in Kansas when my great grandfather died. (Family. Sacrifice. Caring for others.) I watched my grandparents conserve every resource they had from clothes to farmland, repurposing whatever they could until it fell apart before letting it go (they didn’t have recycling bins in those days, but then again, they didn’t have one-use plastic bottles either). (Frugality. Durability. Sustainability.) I saw neighbors helping each other every day and jumping in with both feet when someone was in trouble. (Neighborliness. Generosity. Relationships.)

Those were strong, character-building times, and yet, as David Brooks keenly notes, they were not perfect.

“The research [Brooks was doing] reminded me first of all that none of us should ever wish to go back to the culture of the mid-twentieth century. It was a more racist, sexist, and anti-Semitic culture. Most of us would not have had the opportunities we enjoy if we had lived back then….in so many ways, life is better now than it was then."

But, he goes on to say, “it did occur to me that there was perhaps a strain of humility that was more common then than now, that there was a moral ecology, stretching back centuries but less prominent now, encouraging people to be more skeptical of their desires, more aware of their own weaknesses, more intent in combatting the flaws in their own natures, and turning their weaknesses into strength.”

“There was stronger social sanction against (as they would have put it) blowing your own horn, getting above yourself, being too big for your britches” (p. 5).

It seems to me that virtues and virtue development, especially in times like these when virtues like honesty, fair play, and the Golden Rule seem to have been lost in the socio-politico-techno busyness of getting ahead and winning, need to become, once again, a top priority.

I’m at the very beginning of understanding intellectually what virtues are and have been historically and, more importantly, what it takes to develop them in spirit and in practice. Here are a few pieces I’m starting to put together. The first is that virtues come in a variety of forms.

Types of Virtue

First, a basic definition of virtue (from Virtue Ethics, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) is:

”A virtue is an excellent trait of character. It is a disposition, well entrenched in its possessor—something that, as we say, goes all the way down, unlike a habit such as being a tea-drinker—to notice, expect, value, feel, desire, choose, act, and react in certain characteristic ways."

Further,

“The concept of a virtue is the concept of something that makes its possessor good: a virtuous person is a morally good, excellent or admirable person who acts and feels as she should.”

Aristotle (1951) said there were two types of virtue, moral and intellectual, and that “intellectual excellence owes its birth and its growth mainly to teaching” (p. 181), requiring experience and time, and moral excellence is “the product of habit”, and therefore none of them are “implanted in us by nature” (p. 181). Hence, “nature gives us the capacity for receiving [virtues], and this capacity is developed through habit (italics added)” (p. 181).

Intellectual virtues are one broad category. Phillip Dow (2013) identified seven: Intellectual Courage, Intellectual Carefulness, Intellectual Tenacity, Intellectual Fair-mindedness, Intellectual Curiosity, Intellectual Honesty, and Intellectual Humility. These influence, he says, our lives just as moral character does. Intellectual character deals with the thinking habits needed to find and apply knowledge. It is “the forces of accumulated thinking habits that shape and color every decision we make” (p. 22). These are not light-weight virtues. Jason Baehr, speaking of intellectual character, said “a fully or broadly virtuous person can also be counted on to care deeply about ends like truth, knowledge, evidence, rationality, and understanding; and out of this fundamental concern will emerge other traits like inquisitiveness, attentiveness, carefulness and thoroughness in inquiry, fair-mindedness, open-mindedness, and intellectual patience, honesty, courage, humility, and rigor” (p. 2).

In the Catholic Church, the four Cardinal Virtues are prudence, justice, temperance, and courage (or fortitude) and the three Theological Virtues are faith, hope, and charity. The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes a virtue “as a habitual and firm disposition to do the good. It allows the person not only to perform good acts, but to give the best of himself. The virtuous person tends toward the good with all his sensory and spiritual powers; he pursues the good and chooses it in concrete actions. The goal of a virtuous life is to become like God” (p. 495).

The United Methodist Church, where I hang my religious hat, it turns out doesn’t think much about virtues at all. I searched our website, but there was almost nothing I could find about virtues, so I sent a note to “Ask the UMC” to see what gave. I got a quick response, which said:

“Talk of ‘the virtues’ is not really part of Methodist vocabulary. This is more a product of Catholic and some Orthodox teaching.

What you will find in the preaching of John Wesley, though not within the sermons included in the doctrinal standards, is some attention to what we might now call ‘the fruit of the Spirit’ and what John Wesley (and a good bit of Anglican devotional literature before him) refer to as ‘holy tempers’”.

Holy Tempers. Holy Tempers.

In all my years as a Methodist, it’s hard to remember times when Holy Tempers have been discussed, though my memory isn’t as good as it once was. Suffice it to say, they haven’t been emphasized prominently as something integral to lifelong spiritual formation.

I will have to come back one day and delve more into Holy Tempers and their relationship to virtues. Wesley scholars like Randy L. Maddox (2005) have discussed them and their relationship to what Wesley called the virtuous heart and the virtuous life. He analogizes Wesley’s view of tempers as “tempered steel” (p. 28) such that they have become enduring dispositions which have been developed and strengthened. That holds promise - I'm interested.

Virtue and The Imitation of Christ

Finally, and back to what birthed this essay, comes à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, and his emphasis on virtue. In the very first Chapter of Book I, he writes,

“Surely great words do not make a man holy and just; but a virtuous life maketh him dear to God.”

In Book I, Chapter III, he says,

A humble knowledge of thyself is a surer way to God than a deep search after learning. Yet learning is not to be blamed, nor the mere knowledge of anything whatsoever, for that is good in itself, and ordained by God; but a good conscience and a virtuous life are always to be preferred before it.”

And in Chapter XXV, Book I, “ Without care and diligence thou shalt never get virtue.”

When I first read this “how-to” book, I was struck by the emphasis on what to do , instead of simply what to believe . Live virtuously, says à Kempis, and the book is filled with ways to do that – to think humbly of ourselves, resist temptation, avoid rash judgment, live in truth and humility, be charitable, and resist pride, as examples. He placed much emphasis on living a good, simple, virtuous life. Writing as a Catholic, and for Catholics (indeed, this was written before the Protestant Reformation), The Imitation of Christ became the most important Catholic devotional book and, after the Bible, the most read devotional book. Practicing virtuous living is an essential part of what this book has to say.

Imitating Christ means imitating Him. Practicing, on a day-to-day basis, the virtues he exemplified. Walking the talk. Step-by-step. Camino after camino.

Resources/Sources

Aristotle. (1951). Aristotle: Containing Selections from Seven of the Most Important Books of Aristotle... Natural Science, the Metaphysics, Zoology, Psychology, the Nicomachean Ethics, On Statecraft, and the Art of Poetry . Odyssey Press.

Baehr, J. (2011). The inquiring mind: On intellectual virtues and virtue epistemology . OUP Oxford.

Brooks, D. (2015). The road to character (First edition. ed.). Random House.

Catechism of the Catholic Church . (1997). (2nd ed.). Doubleday.

Dow, P. (2013). Virtuous minds: intellectual character development for students, educators, & parents . InterVarsity Press.

Hursthouse, Rosalind and Glen Pettigrove, "Virtue Ethics", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2018 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2018/entries/ethics-virtue/>.

Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ , The John C. Winston Co.

Maddox, R. L. (2005). Shaping the Virtuous Heart: The Abiding Mission of the Wesleys. ” Circuit Rider, 29(4), 27-28.

The Imitation of Christ (Wikipedia), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Imitation_of_Christ

Willard, D. (1990). The spirit of the disciplines: understanding how God changes lives. HarperSanFrancisco.

More thoughts about virtues:

“Recently I’ve been thinking about the difference between résumé virtues and the eulogy virtues. The résumé virtues are the ones you list on your résumé, the skills that you bring to the job market and that contribute to external success. The eulogy virtues are deeper. They’re the virtues that get talked about at your funeral, the ones that exist at the core of your being—whether you are kind, brave, honest or faithful; what kind of relationships you formed” (Brooks, 2015, p. xi).

“…individual intellectual virtues tend to ‘flow’ from something like a desire for truth or knowledge…” (Baehr, 2011, p. 6).

“Your intellectual character consists of your inner attitudes and dispositions toward things like truth, knowledge, and understanding” (Dow, 2013, p. 11).

“My central aim is that we can become like Christ by doing one thing—by following him in the overall style of life he chose for himself.” (Dallas Willard, p. ix)

Other Essays in The Imitation of Christ Series

The Imitation of Christ I - Was I Serious About Living A More Meaningful Life?

The Imitation of Christ III - It Would Take A Lifetime Just to Get This Starting Chapter Right

The Imitation of Christ IV - Examine Your Conscience

The Imitation of Christ V - Embracing the Sacraments

The Imitation of Christ VI - Temptation

The Imitation of Christ VII - The Practice of Prayer

“Surely great words do not make a man holy and just; but a virtuous life maketh him dear to God.”

~The Imitation of Christ

Golden Dawn on the Rio Grande

Mon, 19 Jul 2021 13:47:42 GMT

"In the desert southwest, the river is a life giving source for farmers and residents. "

This one I have entitled this "Golden Dawn on the Rio Grande." In the desert southwest, the river is a life giving source for farmers and residents. The river is often entitled "The Rio Sand" as it goes dry for months at a time. During the summer irrigation season, New Mexico sends water down from reservoirs to irrigate both in southern New Mexico and Texas. As one can imagine, there are constant disputes about the amount being distributed. Mexico must receive her fair share as well. On an early morning walk, I captured this sunrise reflecting off the water in the rio. A brilliant morning like this shouts the magnificence of God's creations.

~Marc Christensen

Photo by Marc Christensen, Golden Dawn on the Rio Grande

" A brilliant morning like this shouts the magnificence of God's creations. "

Curator's Note:

This is the seventh of seven days of photos taken by Marc Christensen which we are sharing this week. Marc, who has contributed many beautiful photos to Profound Living , take n around the world, has recently moved to El Paso, Texas. Now we will be able to observe the splendor of this part of our country through his eyes and lens.

Here are all of this week's photos, with narrative, from Marc