Carl McColman

01/05/2025

In other words, you don’t have to experience the Spirit at work in your life, in order for this fruit to be slowly but surely emerging within you.

Read more 👉 https://lttr.ai/AaH1v

01/02/2025

Bec Cranford is one of my favorite people on this planet. We’ve known each other for years (met back in the “Emerging Church” days) but got much more connected thanks to the amazing Spiritual Directors formation program through Zeitgeist Atlanta, where I am blessed to be the contemplative-in-residence. And while Bec calls me a “mentor” the truth is I learn at least as much from her as she does for me. Anyway, we met for breakfast this morning and she gifted me with a signed copy of her new memoir, “The Bapticostal Misfit: Tales of Effing Amazing Grace.” Not only does she describe herself as a “Bapticostal” and a survivor of “southern-fried churchianity,” but she also admits to “floating in the mystical world of ecumenism and interfaith conversations.” She is a spiritual director to people who have been incarcerated or unhoused. Throw Gregory Boyle SJ, Nadia Bolz-Weber, and just a dollop of Thomas Keating into the blender, and you’d get Bec (that’s how wonderful she is). Incidentally, Bec is the woman who created the amazing icon of Howard Thurman that Lerita Coleman Brown describes in her book “What Makes You Come Alive: A Spiritual Walk with Howard Thurman.” Any, here are pictures of us mugging it up over mushroom omelettes and blueberry pancakes this morning.

01/01/2025

Happy New Years! Hope everyone has a year of beautiful dreams come true. If you are interested in deepening your spiritual life as part of your 2025 adventure, I hope you’ll consider connecting with me on Patreon. Visit the link in my bio for more information. I’ve just finished creating a series of 24 meditations based on the Beatitudes, the Noble Eight-Fold Path, and the Celtic Wheel of the Year. This year I’m hosting a series of Zoom calls to explore the theme of Practical Mysticism: Living a mystical life. Also… just a little perk: everyone who joins Patreon at the “Contemplative” or “Contributer” level receives a complimentary subscription to my Substack, “Mystical Journey.”

01/01/2025

Coming soon... if you want to learn more and/or be part of the circle, connect with me at www.patreon.com/carlmccolman

12/31/2024

Today is the last day to get early bird pricing for the Contemplative Prayer Summit! Register here:

The Contemplative Heart of Unity: A Retreat into Oneness through Centering Prayer

12/31/2024

Does God want God's followers to be living examples of compassion and care, or is God mainly interested in our obedience and conformity to a narrow understanding of what “holiness” and “righteousness” might be?

Read more 👉 https://lttr.ai/AaAK6

A reader named Paul wrote to me with the following question: Why is there more often than not such an intolerance, condemnation and even hatred between the different faiths and denominations ? Is i…

12/30/2024

Either way, the moral of the story is the same: contemplative practice is meant to set us free.

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12/28/2024

But it has been a long journey for me to be fully at peace with my own multi-layered approach to spirituality.

Read more 👉 https://lttr.ai/AZ5RN

12/27/2024

Trust in the Wonder of the Spiritual World

12/27/2024

Okay, friends, a public service announcement. Go see "A Complete Unknown." If you love Bob Dylan, or Joan Baez, or Pete Seeger, or Woodie Guthrie, or Johnny Cash, or any of the above... if you're interested in the weirdness of a life dedicated to art and writing... and if you just love music — any one of the above reasons is enough to see this movie. Best movie about music I've seen in quite a while. Timothée Chalamet, Edward Norton, Monica Barbaro and Boyd Holbrook are all uncanny in how much they look, talk, and act like Dylan, Seeger, Baez and Cash. Just a wonderful movie.

12/24/2024

Back in the day I always had a Grateful Dead t-shirt or two in my wardrobe, but it’s been a while since I got a new piece of Deadwear. This year a dear friend offered me this hoodie, and I’m delighted with it. It’s a bit on the bold side for me but why not? And I think it will pair well with .mccolman’s ice-dyed creations. Many thanks to for the miracle.

12/21/2024

Happy Solstice, dear friends. I've written a little prayer for today...

Happy Solstice, Dear Ones.

12/20/2024

It is a long, lifetime process of commitment to prayer, love, discipline and practice.

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12/17/2024

Centering Prayer and Awareness of God — or, why letting go of even "mystical" experiences is part of the Centering Prayer method.

Read more 👉 https://lttr.ai/AZnnv

12/13/2024

Make no mistake: Thurman is not saying we should simply reject communal faith altogether. But his words about institutional religion and mysticism are truly thought-provoking.

Read more 👉 https://lttr.ai/AZgEm

12/13/2024

So it took a prog rock album to open the door for me to the wonders found in the depths of the human heart-mind matrix.

Read the full article: How a Prog Rock Album Helped Me Discover Interspirituality
▸ https://lttr.ai/AZe3J

12/12/2024

Note that I've linked these podcasts to Spotify, but you can find them on Apple or Google Podcasts as well.

Read more: Conversations about Mysticism: Podcasts and a Video Interview
▸ https://lttr.ai/AZdc7

12/06/2024

What 64 looks like…